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Calm
seas and some good fishing to boot have been the news this week and anglers have
taken off with this window of opportunity and made the most of it. One major
river played host to a major tournament and got a welcome release from the high
water levels.
Saltwater: There has been some action on the barrel front over at Port MacDonnell this
week. One crew stopped by to load up on our flake ice to look after the 2 barrels that
they landed. The boys put the short corner in and ran it through a school of
fish and before they could get the second rod in, the first one was taking off at a rapid speed. They put the second in and after traveling a short
distance that too was eaten by the second fish and they had a double! After a hard
fought battle the boys had both fish boatside with one being 120kg and the
other between 100-110kg. These fish took a Bonze Exocet in Paris and a Jaks
Zeus in Angry Skittle. These two lures have accounted for stacks of barrels
over the years and are just a trustworthy pair to have in your arsenal. These
boys said the tuna were feeding on small redbait with the Paris skirt being a
brilliant choice when these fish are feeding on redbait schools. Spreader bars
are a great choice too for the tuna and can bring non feeding fish up to the
surface where your lures are. One thing to remember is that when you’re towing
one of these spreader bars they move a lot of water and mean that you need to
use heavy gear to hold drag. Closer to home the school tuna have really slowed
up at Port Fairy and just aren’t playing the game for anyone heading out. There
are patches of fish off Warrnambool and down the coast but they are very
patchy. On the bottom fishing front there is still some great gummy and school
shark action for most heading out. Using fresh baits such as salmon, mullet,
wrasse and other flesh baits will hold you in good stead. Brad Jubb and Darian
Innes landed some nice shark off Warrnambool last weekend in great conditions.
Along with the shark fishing there is still some quality nannygai and snapper
around mixed in with the shark. Some anglers have turned to the jigs to target
the nannygai which has turned out to be very productive! Using slow fall jigs
bounced in front of their faces they can’t seem to be able to help themselves.
To spice up the jig a bit more you can cheat by putting a squid tentacle on one
of the assist hooks and slowly lift it up and down.
Estuaries: The Hopkins River played host to 46 teams battling it out in round 3 of the
2024 Vic Bream Classics series this past weekend. In very challenging
conditions the bream made it super hard for the teams to get 10 fish. One team
that managed to land their 10 bream and subsequently took out the round was
Team Daiwa’s Jesse Rotin and Kate Callow with 10/10 bream for 5.97kg. Jesse and
Kate used a combination of Daiwa 3” Wave Minnows in Bloodworm fished on a
1/12oz jighead and a 1/8oz jighead along with a Daiwa Kodachi hard body. The
Kodachi is only 40mm long but can be cast long distances and dives to
approximately 1.5m of depth. Corey McLaren and Adam Brown finished up coming 2nd with 9/10 bream for 5.5kg leaving them one half decent fish short of a victory. They fished a Hurricane Sprat 85 Hybrid
all weekend on a Daiwa Bait Junkie 1/12oz jighead fished through a huge school
up at Tooram Stones. On the Sunday it was all over by 8.30 and luckily had their bag by then as they just couldn’t get another bite for the rest of
the day. The boys were also lucky enough to take out the heaviest perch award. Corey and Browny also took out the Graeme Taylor Memorial award; given to the team that weighs they heaviest bag on the Sunday of the tournament; the second year in a row these boys have won it! Coming in 3rd was
another local team the Old Codgers (Barry Thomas and Stu
McKinnon) with 9/9 for 4.94kg. Coming off a win at the Glenelg River it was
great to see them back it up and claim another top 3 result. The boys fished a
range of soft plastics and blades up around Tooram Stones also. This school up
river is next level and will probably have dispersed by now after the river
mouth was opened. The Glenelg River is still producing some solid EPs and
bream on the edges down the lower and middle regions. The Warrnambool Offshore Light Game Fishing Club fished there for a club competition last weekend, with anglers catching some nice bream and estuary perch, although mulloway reports were very quiet.
Freshwater: A lack of flows are still making for sluggish trout in most areas, particularly those with heavy fishing pressure such as the Merri bridges. The Hopkins is running at a gross muddy green colour, although Andy Cumming has reported this hasn't slowed the fishing or taken condition off the fish. We really need some good rain to flush out the Hopkins, and bring up flows and turbidity levels in the Merri/Mount Emu Creek to get the fish active. Lake fishing has been excellent recently however; good rainbows have been coming from Elingamite, and nice browns and redfin in Bellfield and Fyans further north. Lake Purrumbete has remained quiet aside from a few redfin being taken on soft plastics aboard Victorian Inland Charters. The star of the show has been Lake Bullen Merri which has seen some awesome action on tiger trout for those casting the shorelines with soft plastics and hardbodies. Trolling with Tassies has also seen a few fish taken. Colby Lesko scored himself a nice bass there a few weeks ago, using Live Scope to fish deep with soft plastics over schooled fish at first light.
This weekend is looking great for a fish so we reckon get out there and make the most of it!