Ray Long Fishing Report
On The Bite 17 Jun 2010
PLASTIC FANTASTIC
With generally settled conditions this past week there has been little excuse not to be somewhere on the water.
Clearly the best captures this week have been to those using soft plastics, no better report than the one from Tim Carroll, his brother and father. Over two days of fishing the Corio Bay inner harbour they landed snapper to 2.5kg, salmon to 45cms and a few trevally and flathead, while most soft plastics they used worked they did find that the Gulp and Squidgy minnows and flick baits ideal. Danny Ford also worked the moorings in and around the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, here any number of salmon were taking his squidgys, some pushing 1.2kg but Danny’s best fish a snapper of 4.2kg was clearly a stand out.
Trevor Sheavils fished land based around the bay over the long weekend and found fish easy to come by on his Gulp three inch minnows and turtleback worms, catching and releasing any number of snapper to 45cms along with salmon estimated to weigh close to one kilo. Trevor found fish at Rippleside, North Shore rocks and the Geelong waterfront.
Danny Holt has been chasing the whiting of late and found his bag limit catch achievable on every outing this week from the vicinity of Bird Rock. Pippies have been the bait but Danny informs me the best action is occurring the first two hours of the run off tide.
Similar reports of whiting came from Kirks Point this week, with most fish running between 32 and 36cms, here pippies were also the bait.
Xavier Johansen put two all night session on the bay last weekend and was rewarded for contending with the freezing nights landing four snapper between 4 and 6.5kg. Using a variety of baits he found the fresh squid he caught earlier from off the spoil grounds near Hermsley were best. The Wilson Spit was the location giving the good results. Xavier also caught and released seven small gummy shark along with a number of rays.
Squid are still holding along the south shore grass beds, Henry Bolton tried casting small jigs from the shore between the Clifton Springs boat ramp and Hermsley, here on two occasions he landed his bag limits, small dark natural colored jigs were ideal.
Salmon shoals are working close to shore between Point Wilson Pier and Werribee, when the conditions are calm the birds are finding the fish and are then easy to locate. Being in the shallows anglers are finding trolling is not working well, you are best to drift and cast small baitfish profile lures or soft plastics in the action and hang on.
Swan Bay has continued to reward those keen enough to fish after dark for the gummy shark, this week the best we saw was taken by David Shaw, at 6kg cleaned and taken from the jetty, not a bad result.
Queenscliff Cut has seen the silver trevally continue to reward anglers with great sport, here soft plastics are best with Shaun and Henry Stevens having three hot sessions on the lure. Catching and releasing over fifty fish, there best around 1.5kg, turtleback worms and curl tail grubs were working a treat. For those using bait generally your best time is on the two hours running up to high tide, this is when Chris Stamalos and Mark Sesar found the fish right on the bite, using bluebait and squid along with a good berley trail they had ball catching a fish almost every cast during this time of the tide.
Surf anglers had a disappointing long weekend due to the large shore break discoloring the water along much of our coast, but if you found clean conditions the fish were there for the taking. John Mole and I landed fish at Fairhaven on lures, while most were smaller than over the past weeks they were still there when the water cleaned. Joe Farnsworth fished close to Lorne here he landed around twenty fish to 2kg on lures, all the action happened on the run up to high tide, once again this caused the water to clear and bring the fish on.
Lorne Pier was somewhat quiet but a few nice salmon were taken here with the tide high, once again this was when the water was cleanest, I also some quality whiting landed on pipes and squid.
Bluefin Tuna have been all the talk for many weeks now with the best fishing coming from Port Fairy but maybe the mantle needs to now go to Apollo Bay, closer to home and with many of the fish just a few kilometres offshore this area is well worth your efforts. This week has seen good numbers of fish landed on trolled lures such as X Raps, Vibes and skirted Pakulas. It must also be noted that good numbers of fish are being taken on soft plastics cast into the bust ups. Bill Hartshorne host of the renowned fishing show Fishing Life managed to land fish even on fly tackle this week, look for this footage on Aurora over the coming month.
Freshwater has seen Lake Purrumbete fishing well to those trolling tassie devils, gold and holographic colored lures have been best fished either flat lining or at around five metres. Casting small soft plastics along the lake margins has also bought success with a mix of both brown and rainbows available.
Lake Bullen Merri has been your best option land based, here rainbows seem to have taken a liking to Powerbait in a variety of colors fished on a running sinker rig fished just on the drop off found in close to the shore. Those trolling this lake are also doing well with rainbows close to 2kg now in reasonable number’s, same style and colored lures as Purrumbete are the go here.
Wurdi Buloc has seen rainbow trout to 1.5kg, browns to 2kg and some quality redfin close to 900 grams. Both lure and fly are working, best lures have been vibrax spinners, tiger minnows and shallow running bibbed lures. As for fly Tom Jones, Mrs Simpson and BMS patterns are all you will need.
Jamie Parsons has been fishing worms just down stream from Breakwater, here he has landed reasonable numbers of eel along with a couple of tench, his best close to 2kg. Jamie has found the eels have been coming on the bite an hour before dark, but have been going quiet by around 7pm.
Remember our STOCKTAKE SALE is still running and every day we have been adding more GREAT OFFERS, so call in and check out our huge range.
This week’s exclusive SPECIALS are as follows.
SHIMANO EXAGE 10000FA Spin Reel, ideal heavy duty surf or offshore model, normally $199 but we have 10 ONLY at just $99 each, be quick for this one.
We also have 15 ONLY SHIMANO TORX 9FT 2 piece 5/8KG Spin Rods, these are ideal for those casting lures off the surf for salmon, Normally $79 but until these are gone you can have one for JUST $40.
Also the 150mtr spools of Flourocarbon leader line we had last week at just $15 per spool is still running but stock is getting down, call for current availability.
Hope to see you all on the water somewhere, Brian, Jeanette, Brendan, Hudson & Ray.