| geelong & corio bay with geoff wilson |
Dated: 28 February, 2011
 | Simon Olsen with the snapper that ate a porky.
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Corio Bay
On returning from a fortnight at South West Rocks in northern NSW, where the weather kept him ashore for all but two days, Simon Olsen, along with his father Peter, took the boat for a run on Corio Bay’s outer harbour last Thursday.
Naturally, the rods were aboard and a bait over the side produced a Snapper of 7.7 kg in 8 metres of water at about 6.00 pm. Simon catches a lot of Snapper so that was no surprise, but finding a 15 cm porcupine fish inside it’s stomach certainly was.
On Friday afternoon, Andrew Phillips, along with Colin Radley and Trevor Lawrie took 35 whiting, the biggest 39 cm, from 4 metres of water, just out from the Mountain View Quarries. Andrew and Colin went out for a repeat performance on Saturday morning, returning this time with bag limit catches. Baits used were pipi and squid.
Bellarine Peninsula
On Friday, Simon Olsen and brother Darren fished off Indented Head where they had no trouble catching several southern calamari and cuttlefish before breaking out the whiting gear.
They eventually took a bag limit catch of whiting as well, no thanks to the numerous undersize pinkie Snapper taking their baits; not to mention the aggressive southern calamari that took an unhealthy interest in their hooked fish, claiming quite a few of them.
Last Wednesday after work, Steve Botsios, along with Michael and Steven Treadwell, headed off with the boat in tow to Swan Bay.
 | Steve Botsios with his Swan Bay gummy shark.
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Fishing at the entrance with fresh squid for bait, there was very little doing until 7.00 pm when Steve hooked a big Gummy Shark that kept him busy for 25 minutes or so. Steve’s measured the gummy at 1.68 metres and estimated it to be over 20 kg.
Offshore
On Friday, Garry Lawes and Mick Vlahopanogos took a run out into 68 metres of water just around to the east off Port Phillip Heads hoping to berley up a shark. It took about three hours of berleying before a 70 kg mako shark took one of their baits and finished up on board.
Continuing their drift with both game tackle and bottom fishing tackle out, it wasn’t long before a Snapper outfit baited with squid took off resulting in the eventual capture of 2 metre Thresher Shark.
 | Leigh Lester and Des Fielder with their 93 kg mako shark (Photo Bob McPherson).
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Jeremy Barnes was hot to trot when he heard that Striped Tuna were about offshore from Barwon Heads and headed out only to find they wouldn’t take any of the lures he presented them with.
However, his friend Mark Stewart, who was nearby, managed to catch three but he was among the lucky ones. It just goes to show that fish can be abundant yet hard to catch.
Portland
On Saturday, Bob McPherson of Portland, along with Glenn and Frank Green and Daniel Cumre, took a run out to the 1000 metre line where they caught three bluefin tuna, each around 22 kg.
About 6 kilometres closer in, Marty Montalto was among those to pick up the same size fish in 400 metres of water.
Bob reports that mako shark numbers have increased off Portland as well with several being taken on the weekend. The biggest of these weighed 93 kg and was taken by Leigh Lester and Des Fielder.
 | Glenn Green with a bluefin tuna from Portland on Saturday (Photo Bob McPherson).
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Western District
Doug Lucas, along with Des Donovan, fished the Aire River which is now open to the sea. They located the bream downstream from the bridge where they took a bag limit catch of keepers, releasing close to a hundred that were undersize.
On Friday, Paul Mayer and his friends Scott and Adam travelled to Apollo to take part in the ‘Big Catch” competition held over the weekend. Not in vain either for Paul tied for the biggest salmon at 52 cm.
He caught that one from Marengo beach where seals had herded literally tonnes of Australian Salmon in close to the beach on Sunday morning, a situation which saw a fish taken nearly every cast.
Paul also fished the Ford River where his approach with Ecogear SX 40 lures, accounted for a couple of bream around the 40 cm mark and three Brown Trout, the biggest just on 2 kg.
Fishing night
On Saturday 05/03/11, Torquay Tackle and Sports, 73 Beach Road Torquay, is hosting a game fishing information night from 7.00 pm. Presenters will be lure designer and manufacturer Peter Pakula, and Williamson Lures’ product engineer, Andrew Jones. To make a booking for this event please ring 03 5264 8207 right away.
Ben asks:
Geoff, I hooked a Thresher Shark recently while trolling a lure for salmon but it escaped. Telling my mate about it, I was told Thresher Shark are now a protected species, but I can’t find anything on the internet: Is that true?
Ben, to the very best of my knowledge there has never been a ban on the capture of Thresher Shark gazetted in Victoria?
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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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