In Depth Fishing Report 5/7

Well it’s been a bumper 2 weeks with some cracking fish being caught both offshore and in our local rivers and lakes. Catches included a new pending world record bluefin so let’s dive in and check it out.

Saltwater: as mentioned above there was a new pending world record bluefin tuna caught by Brandon “Grub” Cole. The 120.4kg barrel was caught locally on 15kg line class and took a solid 4 hours to land- essentially on line most people would use for snapper! With his partner Laura Higgins behind the wheel during the battle helping him out it really was a team effort for sure. The fish took a liking to his Pakula Evil Angel skirt in the spread. Best of luck with the record claim Grub and we hope it ticks all the boxes for you. Closer to home there doesn’t seem to be a lot of tuna action which is strange for this time of year when we should have football field size tuna schools busting up on the surface. There have been a few patches of fish popping up but they are here one minute and gone the next which tells me there isn’t enough bait to hold them here for long periods of time. One fish that has found the bait schools in close has been the salmon with some quality fish being caught both off the breakwater and the beaches around Warrnambool and surrounds. Ollie Sharp landed some crackers off the beach at Peterborough using soft plastics cast into the gutters. Typically anglers will use a metal lure to get the casting distance but the soft plastic is definitely a more lifelike option that also provides a natural feel when the fish hits the lure and misses it. They just will keep coming back until they eat it properly. Added with a bit of scent then you really have an irresistible offering to salmon and other beach hunters. Offshore proper sees some quality shark fishing still on offer. Gummy and school sharks are a real possibility for those making the run offshore. Water depths anywhere between 40-70m are a great starting spot and then you can head deeper if you want to. In the deeper water theres some big snapper getting caught by anglers on both bait and jigs. Luke and Jack Smith along with Don and Lukas had a great day with them landing snapper to 7kg. Sounding bottom until they found likely marks was the best way of tracking the schools down. Luke said he uses his fish finder to mark the bottom and then begins dropping jigs and baits onto of these schools. I wouldn’t mind betting that these are the same snapper that we see make their way into Port Phillip Bay to spawn every year and they are just moving through to do so. Closer in there are still some solid nannygai and pinkies kicking about in the reefs so there’s plenty of options depending on your commitment levels.

 

Estuaries: the Glenelg River is open and flowing out to see after extremely high waters and lack of flow from the lack of rain forced the Glenelg Hopkins CMA into opening it on Monday afternoon. They were hopeful that it was going to be able to open naturally but due to the lack of flow it was near impossible to do so. The fishing over there has been pretty good for both bream and estuary perch lately with lots of that mid-sized fish keeping anglers busy. Soft plastics and vibes have been the standout type of lures for the anglers hitting up this system. As a rule of thumb when choosing a vibe colour for bream and perch especially this time of year you can’t really go wrong with a black one. I’ve said it time and time again but it’s really the most effective colour and it doesn’t seem to matter which brand you choose as long as it’s black you’re in the game. Soft plastics wise it can be a bit more of an open book with what colours work best. In my experience there are 3 stand out colour types to focus on that will put you in good stead to catch some decent fish this time of year. The old faithful Motor Oil is a must have for any lure angler wanting to catch fish through the colder months and summer too. There are endless amounts of brands that have developed a plastic in the motor oil offering but there are some clear standouts in the business! The Z-Man range in the Grubz and Slim Swimz have been a staple for anglers for over 10 years now and although they have slowed up due to the pressure of having every man and their dog casting them they still catch fish! The second colour choice is bloodworm and just like the motor oil there are heaps of choices again but sees some clear stand outs for sure. Bloodworm originated and got its head start through the Squidgy Wriggler which caught a hell of a lot of big fish and tournament victories. Nowadays there is Hurricane sprats in any of the shapes in the Sickle colour, Daiwa Bait Junkies and Rapala Creepers in bloodworm colours. The other colour type to have in your tackle box is a more natural baitfish pattern and boy oh boy is this a whole other can of worms! But I’ll touch on a couple of my favourites that have accounted for a lot of fish over the years. The first one is a Z-Man Slim Swimz in Bad Shad which is fairly close to the bait fish that are in our local systems. The next one is an oldie but definitely a goody and that is a Berkley Powerbait 3” Dropshot Minnow in Watermelon Pearl. As a kid growing up these plastics were all me and my mate cast and they accounted for a hell of a lot of fish for us. My last one would have to be my favourite plastic for the Hopkins and Glenelg River and that is a Z-Man Slim Swim in Green Pumpkin. These lures have certainly been a game changer in the Hopkins especially for fish that are on mud flats. It’s my clear standout plastic and one that I always tie on first now just cause I have confidence in it. All these plastics still account for a lot of both estuary perch and bream and can be used in both deep and shallow water. The Hopkins River has begun to fish better since its last opening with Allansford and District Angling Club holding a competition on the 23^rd of June. Biggest bag went to Paul Lamb who caught 5 bream for 3.22kg. The heaviest fish went to Aiden Gordon who landed a very respectable bream of 996g. In the senior female section Bec McLaren caught a 409g bream to take the cake!

 

Freshwater: the Merri and Hopkins River are holding good numbers of trout in the middle sections of these rivers. Plenty of nice fish have been caught by anglers using hard bodies and soft plastics fished slowly. Nikolai De Bono has been catching some quality trout in the Merri while fishing with his dad Jackson. Fishing around the Platypus Park area is a great place to start due to its influx of snags that the Glenelg Hopkins CMA have placed through there and this just means there is some good cover for the bait fish and predators too. Luke Holscher has also been getting stuck into some solid trout on soft plastics while fishing with his dad Leon. The boys have been fishing fairly hard and been rewarded with 3 solid trout on their soft plastics. I don’t think I have seen a year where soft plastics have been more productive than this one. Whether that’s due to more people using them but either way there certainly sees more fish getting caught on plastics. The Fish Arrow Flash J Shad in either 2 or 3” is a standout plastic for trout around the South West due to their natural colours that really resemble all the bait fish in our system. The great thing about these plastics is they are a sinking plastic so you can fish them on a slightly lighter jighead and still get them down in the water column. I would suggest fishing with a heavy gauge hook just in case that fish of a lifetime comes along. The last thing you want is to straighten a hook out due to using light gauge hooks. Leaders in the realm of 6-10lb is needed when the big fish come out to play and when the water becomes dirty you can go up to 12lb as they won’t be spooky at all. You can also fish bigger lures when the water dirties up.

 

With some nice weather over the weekend here’s hoping you all get out and land some good fish.