Fishing Report
Corio Bay
The outer Harbour of Corio Bay has continued to provide some fantastic fishing this past week despite the dicey weather we have been having at times. The usual locals to the bay have been in good numbers (Pinkie snapper, whiting, snook, salmon and flathead) but there has been reports of lots of gummy sharks cruising about. Word has got around that some anglers are nearly getting a fish a trip with some fish reaching near 10kg which is a great fish for inside the bay. The best way to target the gummies would be to just fish how you would for snapper but throw out a few slightly bigger and bloodier baits as the gummies simply cannot resist. Calamari have been in good numbers up towards indented heads, anglers have been landing bag limit captures after finding a patch of fish holding in an area. Size 3.0 jigs have been doing very well.
Offshore
Offshore has improved a bit with the fishing over the past week being red hot with Tuna and Kingfish both on the chew. Anglers trolling skirted lures (with a spreader bar) and hard body divers have been picking fish up to 15kg. At the moment fish are often seen on the surface thrashing through schools of baitfish and casting stick baits into the commotion has been working very well. West Coast Poppers and Stick baits have been working very well as of lately accounting for lots of fish.
Barwon Estuary
The Barwon River Estuary is fishing quite well for Silver Trevally and Australian Salmon all on the chew. Anglers fishing about an hour either side of the high tide have been picking good numbers of fish. Fishing with baits such as pilchards and pipis have been working very well and so too has soft plastics like the Berkley Power bait Nemesis 3” curl tail.
Barwon River
The Freshwater part of the Barwon River has continued to offer some fantastic fishing this past week with Redfin and Perch in good numbers to keep everyone entertained, Small soft plastics and hard body lures have been a standout. The Carp have been on the go bigtime with anglers having some absolute blinder sessions with some anglers landing over 10 fish a session with some reaching over 6kg. Peri and Adam for Trellys Geelong had a good session after work during the week landing lots of fish between 2 and 5kg.
Goulburn River
The cod have still been very active in the Goulburn over the last week with some good reports coming in. Bait fishing around Murchison and Toolamba has been a consistent reported method and area with Trellys chicken baits being the stand out baits. Frozen grub and shrimp have also been baits used successfully this past week. Those fishing around Shepparton and up stream of Nagambie have reported Back that Casting lures such as Old Mates, Balista Dynos and Spinnerbaits has been a great way to target both cod and Yellowbelly. Surface fishing in low light or overcast times is still producing fish with a couple of reports of someone drifting down the river with their surface lure slowly moving behind the boat and being smashed by a cod.
Shepparton Lake
The lake is now producing some good fishing with more reports coming in. Bait fishing around the grass hill with worms has been a great way to catch Redfin, Carp and silver perch. the best ways to fish your baits have been either under a float or super lightly weighted. Lure fishing has picked up again this week with some nice Redfin being caught on Rapala XR-6s with the fish smashing the lure on the pause. Remember the fish the jerkbait on a slack line to keep it in the strike zone pocket around the weed edges
Kialla Lakes
Finding Bait is the key at Kialla lately, those catching fish are finding plenty of smaller fish and the bigger ones feeding around them. In the evenings you will find the Redfin will push super shallow and bust up these small Bait fish in a foot of water. Just like the Shepparton Lake jerkbaits have worked great at Kialla this week in the shallows. Small chatterbaits and beetle spin rigged plastics have work deeper during the periods where the sun is up. Bait fishing with worms has been great lately with catfish, carp and Yellowbelly being caught off the sand bars or around the willows.
Lake Mulwala
The fishing has been next level at Mulwala with heaps of fish around the 80/100cm mark being caught. Casting swimbaits at fish picked up on the Sounders has been a great way to chase them lately with fish being caught around the deeper drop off ledges. There has also been Cod have been caught around the bridge in Yarrawonga with fish holding tight to the structure. There has been some Reports of good fish being caught on Bait with down towards Bundalong and also around majors the stand out areas. The best baits have been cheese, Bardi grubs and chicken. We have also been getting reports of some cracking fish caught just below the dam wall near the markers. Both bait fishing and casting Mumblers has been successful in this area. There isn’t just big fish being caught below the wall with plenty of 50/70cm fish reported.
Blue Rock Dam
It’s top water time at blue rock with so many people reporting solid bass off the top. There hasn’t been a stand out lure with some catching them on a walk the dog type top water and others on cicada type baits. Some days the fish are reacting to moving baits in either style or other days they are wanting a bait that is reasonably still. If they are not chewing on moving baits spend time just shaking your rod tips so that you just put off a little ripple with the cicada blades or a little plop with the walk the dog type lures. Some fish are smashing top water after a minute pause after the movement so be patient. If you're looking at bait fishing at blue rock then make sure you stock up on plenty of worms with heaps of smaller fish being caught on worms whether that be Bass, Redfin or carp. The grassy foreshore banks near the main boat ramp have been the best area for bait fishing and we expect it to be that way for weeks to come.
