Inner Harbour
Garfish remain a popular target species this week with reports still coming through of anglers finding good success inside the Corio Bay Inner Harbour. Most land based locations are fishing quite well in particular the Grammar School Lagoon, St Helens rock wall, Lineburners boat ramp and the Geelong Waterfront. As we always mention burley and tiny baits suspended under a pencil float in the burley is key. Fishing at night has yet again proved to be a productive time to chase them so it’s worth investing in some LED light up pencil floats, serious game changer.
The Geelong waterfront has come onto the radar this week with some nice reports of a variety of species including Pinky Snapper, Silver Trevally, Salmon and some solid Flathead (up to 55cm). Anglers casting soft plastics have been having the best success in landing all these species of fish however you can expect to pick up plenty of fish on bait too. As we go deeper into the cooler months this area should expect to only fish better, offering some great fishing when most other options are slower and to escape the potential hectic weather that is thrown at us.
Bellarine Peninsula
St Leonards remains the King George Whiting capital of the Bellarine at the moment with anglers still finding themselves amongst some hot fishing. Fresh Squid and Quality Australian Pipis are the go to bait when fishing here with a strong tide helping the fish chew harder and longer.
Offshore
Offshore Barwon heads has had its Barrel Tuna bite quieten down a bit over the past week or so but it’s still well worth putting some time in and having a crack as there are still fish being caught most days. The bite has been further west towards Torquay on onwards with the fish feeding on a variety of bait such as Pilchards, Whitebait and small squid. Gummy Sharks remain in fantastic numbers offshore with still plenty of fish being caught. Fresh Salmon or Blue Throat Wrasse cut into chunks are two of the best baits you can use offshore for Gummy.
Wurdi Buloc
Wurdi Buloc has been producing some nice Redfin this week with anglers making the most of some ice weather over the weekend landing Redfin to 35cm on a variety of lures with soft plastics proving to be the standout lure. As mentioned in previous reports this time of year you can expect to have some Brown and Rainbow Trout to make an appearance.
Goulburn River
The rain we had last week has made the river very dirty which has made the fishing difficult this last week.We are getting the odd reports of cod being caught but it’s mostly been reports of carp on worms this week.A positive thing is that the start of cray season saw a heap of reports of both small Crays and legal ones in nets from Murchison down to Undera.
The Goulburn is a very underrated cray fishing river with some big Crays caught over previous seasons.
Kialla Lakes
The edge bite is back thanks to the influx of water from the rain last week. Small hardbodies like the jackal chubby’s and jerkbaits have worked great with smaller Keitech and Strike Tiger plastics also a great option on the rocky edges.Around the willow trees there is still some Yellowbelly being caught on scrub worms with the odd Redfin also biting in these areas.If you’re fishing out deeper casting tn60 jackals rigged with a beetle spin will be your best option with a super slow technique being the best.
Waranga Basin
We are still hearing of some good sessions at the basin lately with some nice sized Redfin being caught.The boat ramp at Harriman’s point is now re open after a bit of maintenance and this has been plenty more reports from that end of the basin.The banks running parallel to the road leading to Harriman's ramp have been very productive both shallow in the afternoons and deeper during the day. Casting ZX43 Blades and also small soft plastics has been great in this area.Along the main rock wall at the Tatura end we have been getting reports of good numbers of Redfin being trolled up on both stumpjumpers and codgers in12/15ft of water.Bait fishing from the banks is resulting in plenty of carp and the odd pan sized Redfin captures with night crawlers being the best baits.
Lake Mulwala
There has been some big fish caught at Mulwala lately with plenty of local anglers heading to Mulwala to chase big cod.Those using live have been chasing cod by pitching mostly swimbaits or big soft plastics on the flats and old river bed.Surface fishing down towards bundalong has also been a great way to target the bigger cod with some meter plus fish caught on the Bassman Aussie Crawlers recently.Bait fishing from the banks has been a little slower but we are still getting the odd report of cod being caught on chicken around both the Mulwala & Yarrawonga foreshores.Downstream of the weir in the river there has been some nice sized Yellowbelly and cod caught on Spinnerbaits behind the Yarrawonga caravan park.
Lake Eppalock
A little low on reports this week for eppalock, the few that we did have was people getting a few redfin but not heaps, mainly using bait or jigging blades on a school. Moving into winter don’t be afraid to go up to a 4inch plastic in a curl tail grub for redfin as this slightly larger size can get the gib ones to big, expect less fish but usually the ones you do get are a nice size. No major yellowbelly catches this week, the few that were caught were on hardbodies trolling.
Campaspe River
A handful of nice cod reported to the shop this week, a 77cm , 68cm, 62cm and a 81cm all caught by different people in separate sections on the river from Axedale to Rochester. One was on surface two on swimbaits and one on a weedless plastic. Bait junkie have a great range of color in a 6.2ich plastic if you’re wanting to try weedless, a stiff heavier rod will help get those hooks in when striking takes/hits. No great yellowbelly reports this week but to be expected this time of year.
Cairn Curran
A few anglers having some luck from the bank but heavily dependent on weather conditions on the day, some nice redfin and some trout were caught along with a couple yellowbelly. Out on the lake deep diving hardbodies and bait is mainly what’s getting the bites. Some nice cod caught down at the spillway surface just before first light and spinnerbaits once its in full sun has been what’s getting some nice cod
Bridgewater
A report on some nice cod caught trolling over the last week on Australian Crafted 90mm hardbodies, with one being a early 90’s fish. All were caught in a one and half hour bite window in the late afternoon! A few land based anglers had some minor luck with cheese getting two just below legal and a 57cm. No real reports on yellowbelly this week as this time of year most anglers targeting that elusive big winter cod!
Serpentine
A few young anglers in the shop this week managed three surface cod and two on spinnerbaits this week, heavily working each section of the river making sure work different angles on the same log. No major sizes but very nice to get a few cod in a session this time of year. Bassman Scopebait in purple was the spinnerbait of choice and the Ballista hunchback was the surface lure that got the fish. A few bait fisherman managed a couple small yellowbelly and a few carp using worms.
Bendigo Family Lakes
A very large carp caught this week going 87cm and weighing close to 10kg’s caught sight casting with a 2.5inch grub. A decent amount of redfin in the past week at Weeroona, Neangar and Crusoe mainly on soft plastics, blades and worms, a few good-sized ones just over 40cm coming from Neangar and Weeroona. If taking the family down worms are good easy bait that will generally always get something to bite.
