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| geelong, corio bay & beyond with geoff wilson |
Dated: 10 July, 2012
 | | Dale Johnston with one of the snapper he caught from Corio Bay's inner harbour last week. |
Corio Bay
With ongoing reports of Snapper from Corio Bay, Woodend reader Dale Johnston, wife Caroline and sons Nathan 8 and Daniel 10, came down to Geelong last week to try their luck.
Anchored up in front of the Western Beach moorings in calm weather and using pilchards for bait, their first sign of action came around 2.00 pm when Dale’s lightest rod buckled to the tune of a decent Snapper which greeted the scales for a verdict of 4.8 kg.
Baiting up the lines once more, they were scarcely through admiring the catch when the same rod performed another song and dance heralding the capture of a second Snapper which also weighed 4.8 kg; a pigeon pair in fact.
It just goes to show that you don’t always have to spend long hours throughout the night to be successful on Corio Bay’s famed winter Snapper.
Western District
Rod van der Poppe of the Petrel Angling Club reports that seventeen members fished Lake Bullen Merri and Purrumbete at Camperdown for the Prestige Caravans trophy over the weekend but all prize-winning fish were redfin from Lake Purrumbete.
Paul Mann took the heaviest at 545 grams and the heaviest bag at 1.89 kg while Paul Armstrong took the second heaviest at 499 grams.
Doug Lucas reports that last Wednesday, Don Swain fished Lake Purrumbete where he caught several Brown Trout, including one that weighed 3.2 kg. These were all taken in the last hour of daylight trolling a Rapala CD 5.
Doug also reports that last Tuesday afternoon, Peter Hargreaves fished the Aire River, which is presently open to the sea and tidal, for a respectable catch of bream to 39 cm. Although Peter tried a variety of baits, the only bait that proved successful on the larger fish was spider crab.
On the beach
Fishing the high tide from Jan Juc on last Thursday evening’s high tide were Keith Berry and Tom Robinson. Using whitebait and cut pilchards for bait they took a respectable catch of salmon including some around the kilogram mark.
Hoping for something a bit more interesting they stayed on into the night baiting up with fillets from some of the salmon they caught and hooked a good fish which unfortunately bit through the leader. Perhaps it was a shark, or even a large Tailor.
Tough Life
Last week I reported the discovery of a satellite tag in Discovery Bay near Portland that had detached from a tuna recently tagged near Cape Pillar in southern Tasmania which created a good deal of interest.
These tags accumulate valuable data including light intensity, ambient temperature and depth, all of which can be read on recovery after the tag detaches, pops up to the surface, and transmits its location like an epirb.
Dr Sean Tracey of the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies revealed that data from a second tag attached to another tuna at the same location, and on the same day as the first, showed that this tagged fish had been eaten, probably by a great White Shark.
Recovered data showed there was no exposure to light for five days before the tag began transmitting, during which time the ambient temperature rose 14 degrees – not warm enough for the gut of a mammal but too warm for smaller sharks – before falling to that of the surrounding cold water and registering exposure to light once more before popping to the surface.
 | Data recovered from the second satellite tag from the unfortunate that was tagged in May and recovered in June of the this year.
"It is then obvious when the fish was eaten as the temperature jumps up by about 13 degrees and the dive profile changes in particular the maximum depth of the dives. You can then see when the predator has either passed or regurgitated the tag and it has sunk to about 1200m. This would suggest that it must have been stuck to a chunk of meat, most likely indicating that it was regurgitated, which is again an indication that a shark had eaten it. The tag then breaks away from whatever was causing it to sink and it floats to the surface and begins transmitting. I do not hold high hopes that we will get this tag back as it was last heard from heading towards New Zealand."
(Supplied courtesy of Dr Sean Tracey of the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies)
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Norman asks:
Geoff, in last week’s report you mentioned that anglers had caught Snapper and Gummy Shark while berleying up in 40 metres of water off Barwon Heads. I’ve tried out there many times but all I’ve caught is a few wrasse and other unwanted species. So what is the secret?
Norman, if I were to be glib I could just say that – apart from favourable weather of course – both berley and patience, and plenty of each, are required for this exercise. And that wouldn’t be far from the truth.
The folk who do well at this exercise often spend hours at anchor putting berley over the side before the more desirable species move in and that may take some time. Once you give up and move you’ve lost the game, the fundamental elements of which are baiting and waiting.
Contact me on geoffw10@optusnet.com or visit www.fishingknotsandrigs.com
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Geoff Wilson
Fishnet Pro Angler
Email : geoffw10@optusnet.com.au
Fishing reports may be sent by e-mail, or mail to Geoff Wilson:
PO Box 384,
Geelong 3220. |
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