| geelong corio bay & beyond with geoff wilson |
Dated: 24 August, 2012
 | Jeff Weir from Queensland with Saturday’s Corio Bay snapper.
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Corio Bay
Keen fisherman Jeff Weir of Gympie Queensland, who was visiting family members in Geelong last week, went out fishing on Corio Bay with nephew Pat Gough on Saturday.
Making an early start, they were anchored up in front of the old wheat pier by daybreak but had to wait until 8.00 am for a bite. It was a good one though and Jeff eventually bought in a Snapper of 5 kg.
Last Wednesday evening, Metin Ugur fished from the North Shore Rocks using a squid head for bait, and at 7.00 pm, caught a beautiful Snapper that turned the scales at 8.5 kg and of which he sent in a photo.
Freshwater
Last Tuesday, Brad Andrews thought he had made a poor decision arriving at Lake Tooliorook at 5.30 am in a howling gale. Never the less, he made his way around the shoreline where there was some shelter from the wind and baited up with Berkley Powerbait.
However, with no bites for almost three hours he was almost ready to call it quits when he caught his first fish, a good size Rainbow Trout. From then on though it was mayhem with every bait being taken. After reaching his bag limit in almost record time, Brad weighed his largest two fish at 2.2 and 3 kg respectively.
 | Metin Ugur with the 8.5 kg snapper he caught from the North Shore Rocks last week.
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On Saturday, Simon Werner and his twins Jayden and Kassidy 14, along with Peter Begg and his twins Bryce and Lauren, also 14, braved the wind at Wurdi Boluc Reservoir and were well rewarded for doing so.
Fishing from 11.00 am till 4.00 pm, and using mudeyes for bait under floats and scrubworms on the bottom, they caught a total of 13 trout, 12 browns and one rainbow, the largest of which was a 1.2 kg brown.
Portland
Fishing aboard Adamas Charters offshore from Portland last week was Craig Banfield and his family; originally from Geelong, but now living in Michigan USA and over here during their summer break.
After catching a variety of fish including Snook, pinkie Snapper and pike at Lawrence Rock and offshore from Cape Grant, they headed out into 50 metres or so to half a pike under a balloon in a berley trail.
A good move as it turned out for Craig hooked a lively mako shark that put on a stunning aerial display before becoming entangled in the leader and bought alongside.
Crater Lake stocking
Following an online post I made criticizing the suspension of stocking Lakes Bullen Merri and Purrumbete with Brown Trout in favour of chinook salmon and Rainbow Trout, I received the following rational from Anthony Forster of the department of primary industries:
• Because the Crater Lakes are the only reliable place to establish a quality Chinook salmon fishery, this should be the primary stocking focus for these waters.
• To get the best out of the Chinook salmon fishery, we need to reduce the trout biomass in these lakes.
• Because Brown Trout live longer (4 years +) than Rainbows, they add more to the fish biomass and consume more prey over time.
• Rainbows offer a significantly better rate of return to anglers than Brown Trout.
• Since the Brown Trout have been stocked (1990's), the Chinook salmon performance has not reached it's full potential.
• The 2 year suspension of Brown Trout stocking and reduction Rainbow Trout stocking will give Chinooks every chance to reach trophy size.
• We have stocked record number of Brown Trout over the last few years and there are many other high quality Brown Trout waters available to fisher e.g. Lake Toolondo
 | Craig Banfield with his mako shark off Portland (Photo Adamas Charters)
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However, my view is, considering that Brown Trout and chinook salmon have historically co-existed successfully in both of these waters over many years, and because Brown Trout, not rainbows or chinook salmon – neither of which have reached trophy size in these waters since the 1980s – have long been the traditional target species of dedicated freshwater anglers, the decision to cease stocking Brown Trout in these waters is – in my judgement at least – is inappropriate at best.
In addition to that, the trout biomass argument becomes irrelevant in Lake Purrumbete because of the burgeoning population of redfin whose only predator is the Brown Trout.
John asks:
Geoff I saw a channel 9 newscast recently that blamed recreational fishermen for the illegal catch and sale of bluefin tuna: Do have any information on that please?
John, I saw some of the footage and requested a link from channel 9 only to be told it was not available on line and it would cost me $110 for a copy: A bit beyond the odds I thought.
The term “recreational” delineates activity done for pleasure from that done for profit. Recreational fishermen had nothing to do with the unlicensed commercial activity that lead to the arrest portrayed on the newscast.
What must be clearly understood is that the people involved in this operation were not – by definition – recreational in any way shape or form. This was a commercial operation conducted by people who had no licence to conduct such an operation which had no recreational component.
You may contact me on geoffw10@optusnet.com.au or visit www.fishingknotsand rigs.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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