Ray Long Fishing Report
On The Bite 30 Mar 2010
OPTIONS GALORE AROUND GEELONG
With Easter upon us and many getting a well deserved break I though it might be a good idea to give everyone my suggestions on where to catch a fish over this holiday period.
For those not heading away try the Barwon River for some fun on the redfin, while you will have to battle through the small fish there are plenty of quality redfin some pushing the kilo mark at present. Lures will be your best bet with slow working quality bibbed minnows clearly a stand out. Eco Gear SX 40s have proven there worth of late accounting for all the best bags of fish I have seen. The area from Landy Field down to Breakwater has been good, with Buckley Falls down to the Queens Park Bridge my favorite.
Anyone prepared to travel for some freshwater action need look no further than Lake Fyans, here redfin captures have been nothing short of fantastic with a mix of both bait and lure successful. Mudeye fished around one metre below a float will see success as will casting and trolling bibbed minnow lures.
Lake Purrumbete has been producing some nice trout on both mudeye and gudgeon fished at three metres down, with trolled lures such as tassie devils in the gold colors your best choice, downrigging at ten metres will bring even more success.
Lake Bullen Merri has been rewarding anglers with good numbers of small trout averaging 900 grams. Try Powerbait fished on the bottom or troll at a depth of eight metres and you will catch a few.
Corio Bay will be see a lot of attention over the next few days but there are plenty of options for those confined to the shore. North Shore rocks will be at its best fished on the incoming tides late in the afternoon. Use both pippies for the whiting and blue bait for a mix of flathead and small snapper, a lure cast of an evening should also produce the pike that this location is noted for.
Fishermans Pier will fish well for trevally but only until the sun rises so hit this spot nice and early. Chicken as always will be the bait of choice here.
Soft plastics anglers can’t go past the area between Cunningham Pier and the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, using worm patterns in either three or four inch lengths will see a variety of fish landed including flathead, trevally, snapper and grass whiting, fish ultra light jig heads here for your best results.
Boat anglers should try the Stingaree Spoil grounds on the run up to high tide here a mix of whiting, flathead and snapper can be taken, while pippies will have the whiting on the bite blue bait is your best option for a snapper or flathead. This same area is also great for all those using soft plastics, with both worm and baitfish patters worth a try.
Fishing the outer harbour on soft plastics is currently your best method with any number of flathead and snapper available. While the spoil grounds off Leopold are great also look to the Wilson Spit here the broken ground on offer seems to be holding good numbers of the larger snapper.
Whiting numbers are best between Bird Rock and Point Wilson, here both early morning and evening will see the fish biting best, both fresh squid and pippies are the baits, this area will also produce some quality flathead.
As we push down to Clifton Springs whiting captures will dominate with the eastern corner of the mussel lease the area, both fresh squid and pippies are equally as good, early morning is the go here.
Edwards Point fished before and just after sunrise will see you catch the squid that are in good numbers here at present. Small dark colored jigs are working best with any of the quality Japanese style jigs worth using.
Swan Bay a favorite of mine will fish well on the run up tide, anchor up and set a liberal berley trail and don’t move, sometimes it can take a few hours for the big flathead to work up your trail but they will come. As a by catch expect leatherjacket, whiting, garfish and gummy shark.
Queenscliff Cut has seen silver trevally taking soft plastics with curl tails and turtleback worms best, fish the two hours of the high tide running off for the most action. Here bait anglers should use chicken and fish and hour either side of high or low tide.
Bell Reef is holding numbers of squid giving both shore and boat anglers good fishing, early morning and evenings are a must in this area, once again small dark colored jigs seem to be producing the best captures.
Without travelling to far fish the either the Bight or the edge of Coles Channel, here whiting to 40cms will be encountered, the ebb tide is best here, as is fresh squid for bait.
Surf fishing starts to get into full swing from this weekend and results have been showing up to those fishing most of our popular surf beaches. While salmon can be taken from Jan Juc and Bancoora most have been taken late evening and have been small. Personally I have been fishing both Eastern View and Fairhaven with the latter far more productive over the past two weeks. While casting metal baitfish lures has seen the better fish beached, around the kilogram size, casting the light tackle and using soft plastics has seen huge numbers of small fish averaging 400grams, a lot of fun on the low tides and ideal for the kids when the conditions are calm.
Estuary fishing sees most anglers at Barwon Heads, here bait choice is critical with fresh baits such as bass yabbies, sandworm and shrimp the only way to get the better captures. Soft plastics work well here also and a mixture of Gulp minnows in three inch and fry also in three inch will have trevally, salmon and whiting only to willing to bite, fish the first two hours of the run out tide as this always sees the action hot up.
Both the rivers at Angelsea and Airys Inlet are bream havens but once again bait choice will determine your results, here fresh live bait is a must but if the kids need a fishing fix just use peeled prawn and the small bream, mullet and salmon will have them entertained for hours.
Portland will be the offshore destination as the conditions are shaping up to be ideal, albacore to 27kg, Bluefin of varying sizes and any number of striped tuna will give anglers an opportunity to tangle with some awesome game fish over the coming days.
My number one tip for some fun this long weekend is to fish the large salmon shoals that are holding up in the vicinity of the Point Wilson pier, here casting small metal baitfish profile lures into the surface action is number one closely followed by soft plastics fished the same method, remember to stay outside the no go zone in this area.
Would love to see a few photos of your catches over the Easter break, hopefully you do get into the action, just email a pic to info@raylongtackle.com.au
To those that have been chasing the new APEX PREDATOR game lures, they have just arrived into stock just in time for the Bluefin Tuna season, check them out now. Also received back in stock the HIRIMITSU 2.5 Squid Jigs, having pre sold half what we received they will be in short supply again over the coming weeks.
Good luck and hope to see you all on the water somewhere, Brian, Brendan, Jeanette, Ray and Hudson.