It's the peak of the fishing season here in the south west; this week we have been treated to some hot, flat days which allowed thousands of local and visiting anglers to hit the water in search of some finned friends. We' ve had some great reports coming in; not only from the ocean but in our local rivers and lakes too. There's plenty to go over this week, so let's take a look at what's been caught!
Saltwater
Wednesday morning this week brought the weather offshore anglers dream of; glassy seas, swell under 2m and hot, muggy conditions.Interestingly, the fishing in close was pretty quiet for most, however those fishing out deeper (100m) did much better. The water temperatures are still pretty cool (Portland harbour was only 16.6 last weekend), and therefore kingfish reports have been pretty quiet. Portland's Lee breakwall has seen a few rats landed, and there are a few bigger fish to be found around Julia Percy Island and the surrounding coastline, but reports are definitely quieter than usual on the kings for this time of year. Tuna have been a little quiet too, but Warrnambool has seen some good numbers of school fish caught to the east, as has Julia Reef near Portland. Max Fry scored some nice fish before Christmas casting the Daiwa Saltiga stickbaits at surfacing fish. The barrels are STILL out there though, with fish coming from the Portland area in the last few weeks. That's nearly a year round barrel bite now! One target which has been around in big numbers recently is the pelagic sharks - makos, threshers and also porbeagles.Sam & Ashley Crow scored a monster of a mako recently off Port Fairy, a capture which always attracts a bit of a crowd at the cleaning tables! The boys had four shots at makos that day, so there is certainly plenty out. Portland has also had some nice makos coming in too, and in amongst those have been quite a few porbeagle sharks - which do look a little similar to a mako, although a little shorter and fatter. These pelagics don't grow as large as makos, and are usually more of an open water species found past the shelf, but have been showing in closer recently. The thresher shark is another pelagic which can often be found very close to shore; some anglers recently have encountered several of these in one day! They're often encountered whilst trolling live baits in search of kingies on the Julia Reef. Threshers are a very effective hunter, being highly manouverable in the water and using their oversized tail to stun baitfish. Often this is registered on the rod as a solid whack, with no hookup, before the shark returns quickly to take down the wounded bait. All three of these shark species are excellent eating but it is important never to waste any of these sharks; don't kill it if you won't eat it.
Inshore, whiting fishing has been excellent over at Portland (in behind the golf course and closer to the town) yet patchy at Warrnambool and Port Fairy. This is normally a great time of year for a whiting evening session, so fingers crossed the next few weeks see more consistent catches. If this is something you're wanting to have a crack at, it's pretty simple; set yourself up on some patchy reef/sand, in a calmer bay, and send out a berley trail. Fish pippies (or fresh nippers/worms) on a paternoster or light running rig, and the period on sunset is often best. Using flasher hooks on your rigs, such as the Black Magic pre-tied rigs, makes a big difference to catch rates too. The squid have been fishing quiet well around Killarney, casting size 3.5 jigs over the deeper channels.
Estuaries
The estuary perch have been firing in all of our local systems; with some huge fish in amongst them! Anna Cumming scored her first fish over 50cm earlier this week, a monster of a fish taking a Jackall Suisen cicada off the surface. Anna and Andy put in some serious hours on our local rivers casting all manner of lures, so this is certainly a well deserved fish - even better when it takes a surface lure! This fish was taken not too far from Tim Vincent's 54cm perch, also caught off the surface just before Christmas - so there are some big fish out there to be caught in the Hopkins, Curdies and Glenelg Rivers. Good lures to try for the perch time of year include deeper soft plastics (eg Nomad Live Ops Spectre, Daiwa Bait Junkie Flick & Prawns & Hurrican Sprats) during the day, before switching to shallower lures near sunset (eg Daiwa Double Clutch, Ecogear SX40, Nories laydown & Zipbaits Rigge). Everyone loves a surface bite though - and for this you can't beat a walker (eg Daiwa Slippery Dog 65 and Shimano Ligen 66) or a cicada (Jackall Suisen, Megabass Siglett & Tiemco Soft Shell). In fact this sort of fishing has been so popular we've basically sold out of every cicada we have - although more will be here soon! The bream have also been biting very well in all of these rivers (although Hopkins a little slower), as well as the smaller Fitzroy, Surrey and Yambuk systems. Andy Cumming recently had a ripper of a trip over to Yambuk scoring some nice bream further up in the system. Casting plastics, hardbodies and surface lures around the edges can be a great way to spend a summer afternoon when the south easterlies kick in and it's too strong to fish offshore. Arm yourself with a 1-3kg 7 foot rod, a 2000 sized reel with some 6lb (PE 0.6) braid and 6lb leader, and get amongst it!
Freshwater
Rocklands has been fishing very well for all the anglers and campers making the trip up over the New Years period. Some ripper cod and yellowbelly have been caught, both from the boat and shore, lures and bait. Young Darcy Rivett scored his very first Murray Cod from Rocklands, a nice fish around 70cm. Jaz Bowater also scored some nice yellowbelly out of the kayak, running a Stumpjumper just on the moonrise. This is a great destination to visit over summer, with millions of native fish being stocked over the last 6 years. Murray Cod (to 90cm) and golden perch/yellowbelly (to 65cm) dominate catches, but there's also plenty of introduced redfin, carp and a few trout to be caught. The lake is is also home to a small number of gigantic Australian Bass to 60cm, and has been stocked for a few years now with estuary perch - so there is no shortage of variety! Many fish are taken landbased, right from the campsite, using scrubworms and yabbies. Trolling divers out of kayaks and boats is also highly effective; and casting spinnerbaits, swimbaits and surface lures accounts for plenty of Murray Cod. The southern end of the lake from the wall to Glendinning is the most popular area, but plenty of fish get caught all the way up to the top end near Hynes and Mountain Dam. Further north, both the Wimmera River and Lake Bellfield (Halls Gap) have been producing great yellowbelly and a few smaller cod.
This coming weekend is looking pretty windy and average for fishing, so it's a good time to reset, tie some rigs and prepare for the next batch of good weather - best of luck!