Surprised by a snapper
Unexpected hauls for those who braved bad conditions
AFTER Collan Erard and son Brooklyn launched at St Helens early last week, their first task was to head over to Leopold to catch some squid, both for bait and for the table.
Mission accomplished, they headed toward the Mountain View Quarries, where — just on the tide change — Brooklyn’s rod buckled to the weight of an obviously good fish.
At first they thought it was a gummy shark, but it turned out to be a snapper that weighed 3.6kg. Flathead were also on the bite and they caught quite a few of those as well.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that although very few boats ventured out during the latter half of the week, the only decent fish sighted were several goodsized flathead that were caught from the jetty one evening just on dusk.
Freshwater
Michael Evans and a companion tried their luck on the upper reaches of the Hopkins River before the rain fell last week to find the water very clear but, while a number of good-sized brown trout followed their lures, they had no takers.
Pushing along in search of deeper pools, one featuring a partially submerged fallen tree showed particular promise. Casting his pink minnow-type lure alongside resulted in a heart-stopping strike by what turned out to be not a trout but a 50cm estuary perch.
Trevor Holmes of Victorian Inland Charters reports that South Australian client Caitlyn Wright fished Lake Toolondo last week, where her catch included a brown trout of 43cm and a redfin of 47cm, both of which took a bibbed lure.
There are some good-sized redfin on offer from the lake, said Trevor, as his clients Matt and Jayden could attest. They too took a good catch of redfin, the biggest measuring 49cm, on their morning charter.
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park said that only a few hardy souls braved the weather at Lakes Bullen Merri and Purrumbete, but with not a great deal to show for it.
However, the bush telegraph had it that Bullen Merri produced several rainbow trout and Chinook salmon to approximately 1.5kg, while a 1.9kg brown trout was weighed in from Lake Purrumbete.
Portland
Down Portland way, Bob McPherson reports that, despite the rough weather, a surprising number of offshore enthusiasts have been heading south from Lawrence Rocks in search of tuna, of which there are plenty. The trouble is that they are relatively small, with an upper limit of about 12kg.
Upstate
Formerly of Barwon Heads, keen mulloway fisherman Jamie Behrens has been a resident of Bli Bli on the Maroochy River in Queensland for some years, and it would appear from the photos of big mulloway he has sent me over that time, he has lost none of his big fish skills.
Jamie says autumn and winter are most productive for the big fish and, on Friday, he sent me a picture of his first fish for the year. 1t measured 1.29m and weighed just on 20kg. We used to catch fish like that from the Barwon until recent years. Maybe they’ve all gone up there.
Steve asks: “Geoff, as you know, I’ve caught a number of school mulloway from the Barwon estuary lately but no big ones. My question is: What effect would the recent rain have had on the estuary, and would fishing for them in discoloured water be productive?’’
Steve, should run-off from recent rain have been sufficient to discolour the water and lower the salinity, most fish within the estuary, including the mulloway, would move downstream toward the mouth, but we won’t yet know if that is going to happen.
Should we get a full fresh, the best area to fish would be along the transition line between the discoloured water flowing downstream, and the cleaner water forging upstream from the ocean on the incoming tide. This is because mulloway prey on smaller fish along the edge of the discoloured water, and it’s these fish that make the best live baits, and which should be fished beneath a float.