The whiting were biting
LAUNCHING at St Leonards on Saturday morning, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck headed up past the Indented Head abalone farm in search of squid, which as it turned out were well and truly on the bite.
The only obstacle they faced was the strengthening northwesterly wind, which by 10am prompted their return to the boat ramp, although both took respectable catches of squid, the largest of which weighed 1.7kg.
On Sunday afternoon, Andrew was out again off Indented Head with Mark and Tina Sesar. They found a good patch of whiting around 3.30pm, and — with an incoming tide and southwesterly breeze — they had comfortable fishing for two hours, finishing with respectable catches, their biggest fish nudging 42cm.
Seeking whiting off Curlewis on Friday afternoon, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien found fish aplenty, but for the main part they were on the small side. All were certainly legal-size but most were in the lower 30cm range, and they were hoping for bigger game.
That was their lot up until almost sunset when they decide to try a little closer toward the shore before heading in. A good move as it turned out, for they finished with a total of 30 keepers, with eight of those measuring from 35-39cm.
FRESHWATER
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports lean pickings during the club’s weekend competition, with barely a murmur from Tullaroop and Cairn Curran reservoirs. However, club member Trevor Perry had been taking some nice trout from Talbot Reservoir (between Ballarat and Avoca) lately, so Kevin and wife Amber headed up there. They did no good, but neither did Trevor, who was also fishing there but at least he missed a couple of good bites that were obviously trout.
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports the fishing has been slow, possibly because of the weather, but chinook salmon up to 2kg were there for the taking, with Les Broughton from Geelong and members of the Bannockburn and Greensborough angling clubs picking up their share.
Trout were scarce, but Chris Farrugia picked up a 1.8kg brown on a bibbed minnow trolled at a depth of 9m using a down-rigger.
WERRIBEE
John Bish caught a goodsized gummy shark off Werribee South last week, but also reports being bitten off a number of times. While it’s hard to say what the culprits were, we have seen an increase in the presence of school sharks over recent years, with reportedly similar experiences on Corio Bay, so they would have to be among the prime suspects.
ANDY ASKS:
Geoff, what’s happened to the silver trevally? I’ve fished the Queenscliff Marina lately and all I can catch is under-size and barely-sized Australian salmon and a few mullet.
Andy, you certainly aren’t Robinson Crusoe: While we can blame low water temperatures for the recent drought of snapper catches from the bay, I’m not sure why silver trevally have been absent.
Historically speaking, a good many trevally have been caught in the Queenscliff Harbour and from Bell Reef under the white lighthouse in September. So with rising water temperatures from now on, we’ll undoubtedly see a big improvement, not only in the numbers of trevally but in the whole fishing scene.