Geelong

GEELONG Neil Slater

slaterfish@gmail.com

Well, lockdown again put a bit of a dampener on the local fishing. Thankfully, the weather was ordinary. It’s a good time to check over stuff to make sure it is ready for the fishing season ahead. I replaced the wheel bearings in the boat trailer, checked over the safety gear and replaced the boat’s BBQ Shapes that expired in 2016.

The Barwon River went into minor flood at the time of writing. It is high and coffee coloured and best avoided. I’m sure if you sat there long enough with a bunch of worms, you’d get an eel at least but there are better options.

The good news for freshwater fishos is that the local reservoirs are filling and expect them to keep doing so with wet month’s forecast ahead. West Barwon Dam near Forrest overflowed for the first time since 2014. The dam is stocked with trout, has free electric BBQs and is very picturesque. The trout here love a mudeye under a float and just about any lure will work. Wurdee Buloc (74% at the time of writing) and Stony Creek (67%) are also worth a look for smelting trout this September. First and last light is the best bet for fish activity in the shallows and Stony Creek is your best option for clear water.

Soft plastic enthusiast Paul Mayer reports there has been some good schools of salmon around the mid-40cm range popping up around Corio Bay. Paul has found quite a few pinkie snapper around the structure with plenty of small ones in the mix.

Snotty trevally have been caught off most of Corio Bay’s piers with early mornings being the best time. Chicken, pipis and pilchard fillets have all been popular baits while smaller soft plastics like single tailed grubs and cut down turtle back worms have worked for snotty trevally.

Paul says the garfish have been thick from the Grammar School Lagoon to Limeburners boat ramp.

Trelly’s Tackle staff member Adam van der Lugt has been fishing down at the

Geelong waterfront catching plenty of gars too. Adam has been using silverfish cut into small cubes suspended about 1.5m under a float and a frozen berley log to hold the fish where you are and keep them biting. Adam notes they have been awesome on the plate and now has some quality bait in the freezer for snapper season. Wangim Walk, the wave attenuator near the Royal Geelong Yacht Club has been fishing well for pinkie snapper, snotty trevally, salmon and whiting. It has been quite a consistent producer of late and salmon have come within range of lure casters with some regularity as well. Pilchard pieces or bluebait has been best for pinkies and flathead while pipis has seen the odd whiting caught.

Michael Galvin has been doing very well on the calamari just off Clifton Springs. Michael has fished with a few mates and had 12 bag out sessions out of 12 trips so I’d say he has the place wired squid-wise! Michael says one of his more successful jigs is the Rui KR39.

Curlewis has seen a few whiting from legal length to 35cm caught by anglers fishing in depths from 4-6m of water. Moving around is the key here as they have been quite scattered.

Rod Ludlow from

Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports calamari have been biting but they have been scattered and of varying sizes. Governors Reef to Grassy Point, flathead have been plentiful in 8-12m of water.

Towards the end of September sees snapper awaken form their cold season slumber and begin to move into Port Phillip and Corio Bay. Known Bellarine snapper hotspots include Clifton Springs and Portarlington either side of the shipping channel. Time your trip to coincide with a tide change and you’ll be in with a good chance. Top baits include pilchards, squid, silver whiting and redbait. Early on in the snapper season normally sees the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay get the first run of big fish but the Surf Coast also cops some whoppers either side of eight kilograms on occasions. Also found off the Surf Coast this time of year is bait stealing draft board sharks. Sometimes they’re so thick you cannot keep a bait in the water and you’re better off moving.

Wayne Tempest had a go down at the Barwon River estuary for mulloway recently. Wayne doesn’t mind working for his fish and after a 1.5 hour drive, two hours to catch a few squid and three hours of endless casts with big fresh baits. Wayne says he was just defrosting his fingertips and ‘bingo’ his rod bends and reels screams and he grassed a respectable mulloway. Wayne says he has caught many larger models but this was a most memorable fish being land based! Wayne’s quote was “Easy? – Never! Worth it? – Always mate!”

The Barwon estuary has also been fishing well for silver trevally lately. They were biting up as far as the thunderbolt before the dirty water forced them closer to the mouth of the river. If the forecasts of more rain hold true, there could be too much freshwater coming down the Barwon estuary to successfully

target freshwater species. The only hope here is if the high tide brings in some clean saltwater below the bridge.

The Queenscliff boat harbour has had a solid run of silver trevally. Zach Groves flicked me a report to say he got stuck into some cracking silvers that measured in from 45-49cm! Zach was using 2.5’ Bait Junkie Minnow in pearl gudgeon colour.

September should see the trevally continue here while out around the corner in Victory Bight, can see some XXL calamari show up in numbers. Some are either side of 3kg and they actually pull a bit of line off a reel. Skewer style squid jigs baited with fresh fish rule here but you’ll still catch a few on artificial jigs when they’re angry enough.

Lorne has seen a few snapper and school sharks out offshore and there was also a fair run of tiger flathead, which is a nice surprise. Typically, tiger flathead are a November specialist and have been missing for a few years so let’s hope we see a few show up off Barwon Heads like years past.

Lorne Pier is always worth a look and anglers have enjoyed catching whiting, flathead, pinkie snapper, calamari, salmon and the everpresent grass whiting. FISH HARD – DIE HAPPY!

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).

Plenty of garfish are hanging around inside

Corio Bay. Photo courtesy of A. van der Lugt. It’s calamari mayhem around the Bellarine Peninsula in September.

Give the Queenscliff Harbour a go for silver

trevally this September. Photo courtesy of Z. Groves.

Zach Groves with one of many silvers he hauled from Queenscliff using soft plastics.