This week’s cold snap has certainly put a halt to most anglers’ aspirations of getting out for a fish. There were some brave anglers that didn’t worry about the cold snap so let’s have a look at what kept their rods bent this week.
Saltwater: The tuna fishing off Port Fairy is firing on all cylinders for the crew onboard Salty Dog Charters. This whole week has seen the school fish gorging themselves on the lures. 6 way hookups were a regular occurrence on Wednesday where the customers quickly had their bag of fish filled. There is a huge amount of bait off Port Fairy which is what is keeping the tuna around. Trolling small skirts in the 4-6″ size range that look like a white bait or small pilchard are your best starting options. Keeping a good eye on where birds are flying can give the main pack of tuna away, so a keen eye is invaluable this time of year. Birds sitting on the surface are often thought to be inactive but they may have just finished working a bust up so having a troll in that area is always worth a try. Usually dragging a deep diving hardbody through these situations can prove deadly as the fish have gone deeper and these lures bring them back up. The shark fishing offshore has slowed down considerably which is a shame as it was shaping up to be a great season for them but I’m sure we will see another run of these big breeders come back through. Salmon are still up and down with some anglers finding them and others coming up with donuts. Best areas have been Port Fairy’s East Beach and the Yambuk beach also. Casting metal slugs in the 40-60g range are your best bet to be able to cast out the back if the schools are holding deeper. We have just received our first shipment of the new Nomad Ridgeback casting metals into the Tackle Shack which will be deadly on both salmon and school tuna.
Freshwater: the local rivers have been getting fished hard this last week due to the cold weather and there have been some nice fish caught on both hard bodies and soft plastics. The water is quite low for July in many areas, with a mere trickle flowing over locations that typically produce big fish this time of year. With the low water levels the deeper pools are your best bet and these can be fished with a soft plastic such as the Keitech Easy Shiner and Swing Impact, or the old faithful Powerbait T-Tail in black and gold.
Estuaries: the Glenelg River has been fishing very well down the bottom sections for those casting soft plastics along the drop offs. These fish are usually congregating to spawn at this time of year so they can be difficult to catch. Adam from the Tackle Shack fished up at Pritchards last weekend, where between 9 anglers they landed only 1 perch the whole weekend. Plenty of fish showing up on their sounders but they just had a severe case of lockjaw. Xavier Ellul from the Tackle Shack also went to Nelson last weekend with Luke Gercovich and Allistar Bourke where they landed some solid bream down the bottom section of the system. Casting Daiwa Bait Junkie soft plastics was the key to their success.
With the end of financial year now past us most of the local angling clubs have either held their AGM or are holding it very soon, so I thought for the next few weeks I would have contact details for a different club each week. First on the list is the Koroit and District Angling club which is once again under the reign of Phil McCosh. This club has one of the most diverse competition schedules of any club around and are a family orientated club. If you would like any more information you can message their Facebook page or email them on koroitangling@gmail.com.
This weekend looks like being a hit and miss one with showers expected but there should be some windows of opportunity there regardless. Until next week tight lines and best of luck!