Devils snare big trout
Purrumbete running with browns and redfin
JOHN Clements, of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park, reports the lake provided trophy-size brown trout for two of the usual suspects at the weekend — Tim Beusmans catching one of 4.45kg and Phillip Pirotta catching another of 4.8kg.
Both were caught deeptrolling 26g Tassie Devils with downriggers. Phillip also caught a 2.3kg rainbow trout with the same approach.
A good many other trout have been caught, with Stan Rae, of Norlane, winning a recent competition held at the lake with a catch that included a brown trout of 1.4kg and four smaller rainbow trout.
John also reports redfin are still being taken in good numbers, and caught a respectable bag of fish from 700g to a kilogram himself, using scrubworms and minnow for bait.
Other freshwater reports have come from Lake Bolac along the Glenelg Hwy where Brian Jones’s catch included a 1.5kg rainbow trout on Berkley Powerbait.
Corio Bay/ Bellarine Peninsula
With snapper off the bite, as is usually the case at Christmas, Jason Treloar and Harley Griffiths were hoping for at least some good size pinkies after a daybreak start off Point Lillias. However, those that they caught were barely legal size and returned.
Their persistence paid off, though, with better fish, including one close to 3kg, while using pilchard for bait.
Derrick Hargreaves was in much the same area, catching several pinkie snapper of legal size and a couple of flathead. But when they went quiet, he trolled over the weed beds with a deep running lure, catching a couple of good size snook.
Mike Windsor, of Clifton Springs Boat Hire, reports flathead have been the main chance of late, and among those to catch them was David Ridley, who found a good patch in the deeper water off the boat harbour, picking up several to 38cm using squid for bait.
On Saturday, Brad and Glen McPoyle fished offshore from Portarlington where their catch on bluebait, included some bigger flathead to 57cm. And, fishing nearby off Point Richards, were Rob Lomas and Clinton Cole, who also picked up a good catch of flathead using soft plastics.
Rod Ludlow, of Beachlea Boat Hire, at Indented Head, reports that squid have been plentiful over the past week or so, along with pinkie snapper to a kilogram, not to mention modest catches of some really good size whiting.
Gummy shark have also been present in the deeper water, said Rod, with client Shaun, and his companion, catching a nice one among the mixed bag of fish they caught out near the Prince George Pile.
Gummies have also been present offshore, particularly off Barwon Heads where Daniel Johnson caught one of about 10kg while fishing with Matthew Petts at the weekend. They also cut free a sevengilled that would have been close to 100kg.
Portland tuna
Although tuna seemed to have disappeared from Portland, Dale Cannon went out wide for a look anyway. Spying surface activity nearby, he headed over that way, hooking several tuna, and releasing all but two, the largest of which weighed 34kg. Colin asks: Geoff, I was interested in your reports of snook being caught from Corio Bay. Can you suggest when, where and how I might catch them land-based?
Colin, in my pre-teen years, I was shown a basic technique of catching snook from the old (now demolished) Parkside Pool along Hearne Pde, by a Mr Page.
It involved stripping a good length of line on to the jetty, then casting out a pilchard rigged on a flight of ganged hooks, which was then retrieved slowly by hand. On feeling a bite, the line was released and allowed to run out for several feet before the snook (which we referred to as pike back then) was hooked.
Back in the 1980s, I was one of several folk to catch them land-based on bibbed minnow lures from the North Shore rocks. This was provided low tide allowed access at either dawn or dusk; an approach that should be valid today.
One evening, I saw a large snook caught from the Rippleside jetty by a man who had suspended a pilchard beneath his float — so there is a good start.