HEAD OF THE CLASS
FLATHEAD TOPS CLUB OUTING
TAKING advantage of the remaining good weather last week, the Lorne Aquatic and Angling Club’s third fishing competition this year produced 28 nice fish. Lorne’s Carolyn Griffiths caught the largest, a 60cm flathead that came from 25m of water.
Whiting were the main catch, though, with Mal Hunter taking the biggest at 535g. His son Jack took out the junior section with another nice one of 510g.
Bottom fishing offshore from Barwon Heads in 30m of water last week were Kane Ardiri, sons Ashton and Joseph, and granddaughter Phoebe.
They were off to a good start, taking some reasonable pinkie snapper and gummy shark before Kane hooked a bronze whaler of possibly 30kg, which ultimately escaped. After that they spied some action at the surface that turned out to be tuna.
Breaking out the appropriate tackle, they were kept busy for an hour or so taking several, as well as a kingfish that Ashton caught on a jig among the tuna.
CORIO BAY/BELLARINE PENINSULA
EARLY last week, Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar fished the morning high tide change in perfect weather off Point Richards, but the whiting were hard to find.
And, with grass whiting, small leatherjackets and other unwanted fish taking their baits, they continually kept on the move.
Eventually they found a good pod of whiting off the east end of the mussel farm.
Using pipis and squid for bait, they finished with a bag limit catch, the biggest measuring 42cm, along with several nice flathead, including one of 51cm.
Mike Windsor, of Clifton Springs Boat Hire, reports good fishing prior to the weekend. On Wednesday, Bill McHardy and Steve Kent caught good bags of whiting to 40cm, and some good size flathead using pipis for bait just 300m off the boat ramp.
They said they would have caught even more had it not been for the number of small pinkie snapper that moved in on their baits.
Rod Ludlow, of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head, also reported excellent fishing before the unseasonal weather rolled in, with any amount of flathead being taken on the drift out in the deeper water.
Closer in, squid were the main catch, Rod said. And there were some good ones up to a kilogram or so, along with the welcome appearance of some good-size whiting.
Among those to find the whiting on Wednesday were Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley, who picked up 18 fish to 42cm just north of the No 6 West Channel marker before the pinkies moved in on their baits.
FRESHWATER
ANDREW Ketelaar had a fantastic session at Wurdiboluc Reservoir on Saturday using soft plastics in the Berkley power-bait minnow three-inch range, and Nories Wasabi Spoons.
He finished up with three rainbow trout, including one beauty of possibly 2.5kg.
Andrew recommends fishing this water early in the morning or late afternoon for best results.
Redfin remain the main catch at Lake Purrumbete, with South
Australian John
Ireland scooping the pool using live minnow for bait.
Werribee’s
Jeff Bice also fished
Lake Purrumbete and, trolling Tassie Devils along the surface, caught a nice brown trout of 3.15kg and nine chinook salmon, each around the kilogram mark.
Most of the larger chinook seem to be down deep near the bottom, though, and among those to pick them up was Brighton’s Lauren Pearce, whose catch included one of 2kg that took a fillet of pilchard.
Ollie Asks:
Geoff, congratulations on having an artificial reef in Corio Bay named after you; but where is it?
Thank you, Ollie, the reef in question at the entrance to Corio Bay between Portarlington and Kirk Point.
GPS co-ordinates, in the Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA94) format are 38° 03.436’ x 144° 36.588’.
It’s on the north side of the Point Richards shipping channel at a depth of 8.5m and consists of six 6x4m modules within a 38x18m rectangle, which is marked.
Construction involved 330 tonnes of basalt, capped with 33 tonnes of limestone and seeded with about three tonnes of mussels and about 130,000 native oysters.