The weather gods have come good finally with some really
nice days that have got the juices flowing again for the offshore crews after a
very quiet stint. Lakes and rivers are also fishing well just like they have
done for the past couple of months.
Offshore: If you’re like me and love a feed of fresh flake
then this is your time to get out and into the shark fishing. Some brilliant
captures have been hauled in lately both in close and at the shelf. Some of the
boys from our workshop headed out to the shelf where they were over run by
school sharks. They weren’t looking for these tasty sharks but more on the hunt
for blue eye trevella or hapuka in the 400-500m depths of water. Nevertheless
they had a good feed on their hands anyway. One boat that has been getting some
brilliant school sharks in shallower water is that of Salty Dog Charters. Dan
and Phil have been putting their clients right on the money each time lately.
The past few trips have seen some cracking school sharks and some big gummies
come aboard. Along with the sharks have been some decent eating pinkie snapper,
nannygai and the odd tuna when they come across a patch. Closer in around the
40-50m mark there has been a wide variety of fish showing up on the reefs and
broken ground. Everything from gummies, snapper, nannygai, flounder and barber
perch have been getting landed by those fishing hard on the bottom with baits
such as pilchards, squid and fresh cut baits. If heading to the shelf is your
thing then there has been some great fish being caught. Blue eye trevella have
been a big hit and miss for some but Lewis Holland and Luke Smith got stuck
into some big ones recently. Using a mixture of jigs and baits in 400-500m of
waters which is hard work if not using electric reels. Lewis scored fish of the
day with a very solid blue eye on one of his first drops. He also dropped
something very big on a jig which he thinks was a hapuka as it was a very
violent fight most of the way up before pulling hooks. Although it’s a very
long way out to the shelf the best part is nearly all the fish that you find
out there taste amazing and certainly make up for all the km’ spent driving and
fuel burnt. Tuna have had a bit of a
revival in the past couple weeks but I think this was solely due to the fact
boats weren’t able to fish for them due to the weather and sea conditions.
Numerous tuna over the 80kg mark have been caught recently by anglers mostly
trolling skirts behind spreader bars. There has been a fair bit of bait in the
Portland area from Cape Nelson to Bridgewater Bay which is a fairly big area so
keeping an eye out for any likely signs will be very important.
Estuaries: the Hopkins River has seen some great bream
recently by anglers fishing both bait and soft plastics along the shallower
areas. None bigger though than Mason Hunts 47cm bream which he caught behind
the mud flat. Once they get this big are a serious handful on light gear
especially this time of year when they pack on the weight in preparation for
spawning. Max Fry and his dad Janaka have been getting some belters too both
off the bank and out of their boat. Casting soft plastics such as the Z-Man
Grub in Gudgeon and the Hurricane Sprats in super shallow water they have
landed bream to 45cm. Along with these blue nose bruisers there have been some
nice perch too mixed in the same areas. The water is beginning to come good
with some good tides pushing water onto the mudflat. Hopefully we will see it
continue and maybe the possibility of some more mulloway come into the system
to surprise anglers targeting the bream and perch. Down east at the Curdies
River there have been some great capture of both bream and perch on soft
plastics and vibe style lures. Pure Fishing rep Michael Moore had a great day
with bream and perch hitting all sorts of lures. His best results came on the Cappuccino
Berkley Nemesis powerbait rigged on a light jig head. The secret weapon in this technique was the addition
of the Gulp slime to his lures. This is a powder scent that when your lure is dipped
into it then back into water it turns into a slime and attracts the fish like
you won’t believe. Other notable captures have been a 47cm perch that Declan
Betts caught on a lightly weighted soft plastic too.
Freshwater: our lakes across the South West have again produced
some excellent fishing for both redfin, salmon and trout. Lake Purrumbete is
the pick of the lakes filled with redfin if you’re after a feed of these
freshwater fighters. Victorian Inland Charters skipper Ken Carman has been
putting his clients onto some great reddies with bags that cover the whole
cleaning table, on soft plastics. Finding schools of redfin is fairly easy this
time of year and simply jigging a plastic through the school is sometimes all
you need to do. The hardest part is finding out what lure colour and weight jig
head they want on any particular day. A lot of anglers are now turning to the
more natural bait fish colours unlike other years where it was red and orange
plastics to try replicate a baby redfin which the bigger ones eat due to their
carnivorous nature. Lakes Aringa and Elingamite have also been producing good
numbers of redfin this week; it’s the time to go! The upper Glenelg River has
had over 2000kg of carp removed this week to reduce the biomass of this
invasive species. It’s a shame just how rapidly the carp bred and grew once
present in the Glenelg, however it is great to see the Glenelg Catchment Management
Authority working on the problem. Alongside the carp, good numbers of native
fish such as estuary perch, river blackfish and Australian bass to 3.8kg (53cm!) were
caught, showing a healthy system.
The weekend isn’t looking ideal for a fish but you could
definitely have a fish in the rivers if you’re keen. Good luck!