Old favourites are loving the warm water

GEELONG Neil Slater slaterfish@gmail.com

March is a great time to fish the region. The water is at its warmest so kingfish and tuna are getting everyone excited while the old favourites, snapper, flathead and whiting have been going great guns.

The region has copped more rain keeping the Barwon River in Geelong less than clear in town. Clarity improves slightly the further upstream you go. The 2018 release of estuary perch have found their way a fair way upstream and some are approaching 28cm. they can be caught in numbers on some days and other days they’re very fussy. Small minnow pattern or single tailed soft plastic lures have worked well when they’re in the mood.

Redfin to 35cm have there has been a fair run of silver trevally and King George whiting. The trevally were nudging 50cm last month and lately around the 40cm mark. The whiting have been a little sporadic as well. Surf Coast anglers have boated quality fish to 4kg drifting in 30 to 55m and the shipping channel inside Corio Bay has also produced fish to a similar size. David Curwood flicked me a message asking what was biting as he had a few nights at Mannerim and was dragging his tinnie down from Melbourne. I figured the whiting and squid had best strike rate at the time but he was keen on snapper so I suggested the shipping channel. Talk about a hot tip! David and his mate hooked six solid fish boating three of them up to 76cm using pilchards! David says they hit the water at the crack of 10am and had the mad session for an hour after using old pilchards with his hands covered in 2-stroke and sunscreen. Preparation is the key here folks.

Corio Bay seems to be teeming with pinkie snapper from undersized bait stealers to 35cm fish.

Point Henry, Point Wilson, Curlewis and Stingaree Bay Spoil grounds for boaties while land-based anglers should try Limeburners and St Helens rock walls, Cunningham, St Leonards and Portarlington piers have all produced pinkie snapper on pilchard fillets and soft plastic lures.

Rod Beer loves fishing around St Leonards and managed to land a ripper gummy shark that weighed in at 16kg recently. A lot of the big gummies caught on the Bellarine are out deep and love a bit bait of fresh salmon if you can get it.

Chris Pitman from the new Drysdale Bait & Tackle says the squid fishing off Clifton Springs has been fantastic with some real whoppers approaching a kilo in size. Chris notes that Portarlington Pier has been fishing well for king found on the local jetties and lately has had a crack at drone fishing!

Gummy sharks have been fairly busy inside been caught by anglers using single tailed grub plastics up around Queens Park. The technique here involves keeping the lure as close to the bottom for as long as possible with small movements of the rod tip to entice a bite.

Further downstream in the Barwon River estuary, but mostly showing up on the incoming tide in the bottom half of the estuary.

Pipis or pilchard fillets will get you in with a good chance at the silvers while squid or pippies puts you in the frame for a feed of whiting.

Snapper have been biting well in the region

George whiting and a few pinkie snapper to 50cm.

Chris has had a few goes at the Clifton Springs whiting and noted they were on the smaller side while the larger fish have been caught closer to Queenscliff.

Eleven-year-old George Ross loves fishing out off Clifton Springs with his dad Lenny. On a recent trip, the father-son team boated a pair of solid gummy sharks and a good sack of whiting to round out a fine seafood basket. Lenny says George loves fishing so much that he can often be

Port Phillip Bay, along Bass Strait and down the Surf Coast.

Dave Reynolds fished with Grant Greenwood where they boated four solid gummies before 9am fishing the spoil grounds off Breamlea in around 50m of water. At this depth, squid is great bait as it hangs on after those pickers have had a peek at your bait.

Manish and his son Aideanna were fishing in 5m of water on board Queenscliff Fishing Charters and Scenic Tours when Aideanna’s rod screamed off. It was going so hard, dad took over for a bit and fought what turned out to be a solid gummy shark right to the boat. As soon as the gummy hit the deck, Aideanna claimed the catch – well done Aideanna!

The southern bluefin tuna and kingfish have been hot to trot in the region. Tuna round 15kg have been fairly common but some 40kg models have shown up from Breamlea to Anglesea in around that 30m mark. Green teasers and/or green skirted lures seemed to be doing the most damage out there. Mick Allardyce had a day out off Barwon Heads recently where he found plenty of smaller kingfish in 16m and lots of pike over the shallow reef areas. There has been some larger kingfish around the 10kg mark caught by anglers jigging and live baiting in the Rip. Top live baits include calamari by-catch by anglers trolling for tuna or they can be caught trolling or jigging reef areas.

The team at Trelly’s in Geelong suggest Anchoring up in 20-30m with a continued his good form out at Wurdee Buloc Reservoir near Moriac bagging redfin to 35cm casting vibe lures. The reservoir is still nice and full so well worth a look if you’re chasing a few reddies.

Work colleague Michael Helwig hiked up Cumberland River near Lorne in search of trout recently. Michael’s lure was inhaled by a beautifully marked brown around 30cm first cast which made the hike well worth it!

The Commodore of Lorne Aquatic and Angling Club says the flathead are jumping in the boat at Lorne with good numbers of tiger flatties amongst them. Those targeting flathead have also caught a lot of small gummy sharks which is good news for the years ahead. Snapper are also biting well with a fair few over 4kg for those fishing deep. Whiting have also moved in and some quality fish have been caught by boaties fishing around the reef areas.

The Lorne Pier is really fishing well with big snapper, whiting, trevally, flathead gummies, calamari and one bloke even landed a 1.3m mako shark by walking it along the pier back to shore so it could be gaffed!

I dropped in for a brief spin off the pier after I inhaled a salad roll in town and had one angry salmon attack my lure without hooking up. Other anglers had caught salmon to around 40cm on bait and lures while I was there. and small, but legal length salmon. Make sure you have quality tackle as they have been testing it out. Out off Barwon Heads, kings have been caught as

Wurdee Buloc has produced redfin for Hugh.

FISH HARD berley trail can attract them and dropping back an unweighted squid strips should tempt a kingfish home for dinner. tough to get you where you want to go and then get back to where you need to be. With a great day’s fishing and fun in between.

You’re going to love your new Savage. The oldest name in Australian boating, knows how to build strong, reliable units that are a workhorse out on the water. They’re built tough to get you where you want to go and then get back to where you need to be. With a great day’s fishing and fun in between.

Hugh Hanson has

Time proven design features offer strength, durability and safety at prices that seem like ‘mates rates’.

Time proven design features offer strength, durability and safety at prices that seem like ‘mates rates’.

Adam Skurka had his yearly trip to Princetown where he found the easterlies making beach fishing difficult. He did manage a few salmon to 50cm though so still had his traditional fish and chips in the campground.

Catch a few around Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula or Surf Coast to Lorne recently? Send in a report to slaterfish@ gmail.com with “FMG” in the subject field or give me a call on 0408 997 348. Please include where (without giving away your secret spot!), when, what on and who caught the fish. Pictures are always great, but please make sure they are at least 1mb (file size).

We’re Australia’s oldest boat builder. Since 1898 we’ve learnt one or two things about boat design.

Like – simple and practical are best – reliability is paramount –and every model must have all the essentials you need for a safe,fun day with your family or mates.

We’re Australia’s oldest boat builder. Since 1898 we’ve learnt one or two things about boat design.

Like – simple and practical are best – reliability is paramount – and every model must have all the essentials you need for a safe, fun day with your family or mates.

So whether you’re buying a Savage dinghy or a Savage Cabin we’ve got what you need at an incredible, value price. Without any of the expensive extras.

So whether you’re buying a Savage dinghy or a Savage Cabin we’ve got what you need at an incredible, value price. Without any of the expensive extras.

Everything we’ve learnt in 123 years, we’ve put into our boats.

Everything we’ve learnt in 123 years, we’ve put into our boats.

You can feel it the moment you hop onboard.