This weekend just gone saw a lot of anglers heading away
in search of some peace and quiet before the Christmas madness hits. Reports from
far and wide were sent in this week with a variety of fresh water and salt
water species making an appearance.
Freshwater: we often leave the freshwater report until
last, but during these past couple of weeks there is one
place that needs to be mentioned! The Rocklands Reservoir is fast becoming
a fishing mecca for anglers looking to catch their first Yellowbelly or Murray
Cod. These native fish are a couple of species that really have taken off in popularity around the south west thanks to the Victorian Fisheries
Authorities fish stocking programs. One angler who enjoyed the opportunity to
target a cod in relatively close proximity to Warrnambool is Brenton Bishop who caught a
nice 2.9kg Cod over the weekend. Brenton was fishing in Koroit and District
Angling clubs yearly competition held up at Rocklands. Across the board it was fairly
tough for their members especially those fishing the banks where there was no
fish caught at all, not even a carp. Other reports have seen some great cod
caught to 75cm by those anglers casting lures such as spinnerbaits and topwater
early in the day around sunrise. Black and purple spinnerbaits have been a
favourite of many freshwater anglers for a while now and this season is no exception. Slowly rolling one of these dark coloured lures through a fallen
tree or log will be your best shot at a cod or yellowbelly. Going off previous
years where the yellowbelly have moved down the system to the dam wall we will see a lot of fish being caught down that end of the dam. Just
make sure if you are going down that way you know exactly where you can fish
and where you can’t in relation to the wall and ski zones etc. Closer to home
and the Merri River is still producing some great trout fishing for those
pounding the banks and trolling in boats. The water still has a bit of colour
to it which is a good sign going into summer. Once it cleans up, we should see
some big redfin begin to get caught above the weir as they have done for the
past few seasons. Brent Saulitis landed a solid 57cm trout on his favourite
hard body (Daiwa Presso) during the week. A lot of anglers have been having trouble getting the trout to take
a hard body so they have been using a soft plastic for them. Not only do they
swim more naturally, but they feel more lifelike once they hit them.
Estuaries: The Glenelg River fished very well during the
Warrnambool and District Angling Clubs competition held over the weekend. Although, hot fishing was only found by those using live crabs. If you were to try lures, then you hardly troubled the scorers. Lewis Holland was again in
fine form taking out the biggest bag for 10 fish over the weekend. His bag
which averaged 902g is a great bunch of fish in a system that isn’t known
for its quality of bream. Dudley Wright landed his new PB bream that weighed a
whopping 1.422kg and was also caught on a live crab at the bottom of Taylor’s
Straight. Jessica Lane kept her great season going with yet another heaviest
ladies fish that was a serious bream that weighed 1.259kg. Many anglers stayed out all
night in search of a mulloway with no success at all. Not even a run, which is a
sign that all the mulloway in the system are either lower than they were
fishing, or higher. The next morning a nice mulloway was caught down the bottom
around the poles but that was the only one heard of for the weekend.
Lots of fish were sounded up near Sapling Creek but unfortunately none were
caught.
Offshore: Brad Bugeja only had his Stabicraft 2400 a
couple of weeks before he took it out in search of a barrel tuna. His first
trip in the new set up saw him land a 123.6kg fish trolling a skirt. This boat
was kitted out with all the fruit and one that I’m sure he and his family will
enjoy for years to come. Xavier Ellul also scored yet another barrel whilst fishing with a couple of mates off Portland, landing the fish very quickly in the session. The tuna season just seems to be going forever now and
doesn’t look to have a finish line in sight. School fish have turned up at
Lorne and west of Port MacDonnell, so it’s only a matter of time before we see
more of those summer fish turn up. Our Tackle Shack is stocked up with all your needs for
summer and we can point you in the right direction to get your rod bent and your
reel screaming. The snapper fishing has been good when conditions allow those
to head out on the inshore reefs using jigs and soft plastics. Chris Holloway
had a ball landing some solid snapper, couta and calamari on metal jigs fished
over likely looking ground.
The weekend is looking like a fishable one with light
winds and little swell on Saturday especially. If you get out best of luck and
tight lines.