Trellys Fishing Report
OCEAN GROVE/BARWON HEADS
The offshore fishing at the moment is seriously red hot at the moment and showing no sign of slowing down. The Bluefin Tuna bite at the moment is fantastic, it did start a little later than previous years but the fish are here now and going strong. There definitely is a mixed variety of sizes at the moment with fish ranging from 5kg through to over 40kg so it does pay to be prepared and perhaps run a slightly heavier setup just in case a big one comes along. Trolling skirted lures with the aid of a teaser or spreader bar, Pakula Flippy Floppys are famous for this work. When the fish are on the surface boats have had great success casting surface lures into the schools of fish, Nomad Riptides and Maria Popqueens have been by far the standout lures. Kingfish continue to be quite productive out in the deeper water all along the coast from Point Lonsdale through to Aires Inlet. Anglers sounding around marking fish have been having great success dropping knife jigs on top of them with kings to around 85cm being extracted up. On hot days it’s quite common to spot them cursing on the surface and just like the tuna casting surface lures into them to get the bites. Maria Rapidos and Nomad Riptides have been popular stickabits as of late. Mako sharks have seemed to be in great numbers right along the coast at the moment with plenty of sharks being caught off our local area.
Torquay to Aires Inlet in 60 metres of water has been very productive with lots of makos hanging around between 20-50kg. Finding some empty water to drift and let out a big burley trail can be tricky with all the boats zooming around for the tuna but if you can get away from them its well worth it. Peri from Trellys Geelong alongside Owen Westwell ventured off Port Fairy on the weekend in search of a mako and after a 4 hour fight with no harness the shark was released boat side and estimated around 150kg.
BELLARINE PENINSULA
St Leonards through to Queenscliff has been fishing very well for Squid and whiting over the past week to anglers sticking inside the bay. Out the front of Swan Bay right through to the area known as ‘Bourke Street’ has been quite productive with plenty of fish getting around to 40cm. Calamari have been going good in similar areas but in particular Swan Bay yet again proves to be the current hot spot.
GOULBURN RIVER
Those fishing upstream of Shepparton continue to report good numbers of Cod and Yellowbelly being caught predominantly on bait. Big scrub worms, shrimp and chicken has been the most successful baits with Murchison and Toolamba being the hot spots. Those who have had some luck on lures have reports back to us with 4D Spinnerbaits in orange and black or the Pirate Vibration bladed Spinnerbaits working best on the cast. Trolling medium sized hard bodies around the 90/120mm range has also worked well in these areas.
BROKEN RIVER
The Broken River got a nice little flush of water this week which instantly fired the fish up. Heaps of fish have been caught on Spinnerbaits and smaller swimbaits. Prior to the rain surface fishing was still working a treat for those chasing cod especially up stream of Casey’s Weir. Bait fishing this week has been a good with Yellowbelly taking a fancy to a hook full of fresh shrimp.
LAKE MULWALA
There has been some monster cod caught this week at Mulwala with casting swimbaits and surface lures being a very successful method. Some reports we have had were those sounding up the bigger fish and casting swimbaits such as the Zerek Affinity’s or the Jackal Gigantarels. Cod Dog Surface lures and Balista Tremmors have been the stand out for those chasing big fish off the top in low light periods. Bait fishing close to town on both Mulwala & Yarrawonga sides have also been good this week with plenty of 40/75cm fish being reported. Cheese, Yabbies and Bardi Grubs have been the best choices for bait.
IRRIGATION CHANNELS
The fishing has stayed consistently good this week in the irrigation channels with reports of Cod, Yellowbelly and Redfin being caught in the channels around Waranga Basin, out towards Arcadia and down around Shepparton East. The stand out lures this week have been Spinnerbaits for cod, Tn60s for Yellowbelly and Soft plastics on a beetle spin rigged jig head for Redfin. The reports we are getting are that Night Crawler worms and small Yabbies being the best baits to catch all 3 species with it not being uncommon to catch Cod, Yellowbelly and Redfin in the same area in a session on bait.
BLUE ROCK DAM
The Dam just continues to produce good sized Bass, Blue Rock has been known for a heap of small bass but this summer the sizes of Bass being caught has been consistently larger then years gone by. This week a few reports of Bass being caught trolling smaller hardbodies or Tn60s in the main basin or casting reaction type lures like Spinnerbaits & Chatterbaits up the river deep in the timber. Bait fishing with worms has been working well for carp and Redfin on the grassy banks in the main basin or bobbing yabbies around the trees for bass.
INTERSTATE - Blowering Dam
Trelly's Shepparton staff member Nick Brown stopped into Blowering for a quick fish on a recent trip. He managed to land a Yellowbelly from the Bank at the Pines Camping area after about 30 minutes of casting. Nick caught his fish on a rocky point Slow rolling a Diawa SS Jig Spinner with a 3 inch Keitech Easy shiner in Green Pumpkin Chartreuse colour. Speaking with a couple of others at the camp grounds they reported that there had been heaps of Redfin being caught off the banks or in about 10ft of water with Spinners or bright coloured soft plastics working best. If you're heading away on a trip interstate pop into your local Trelly's and stock up and make sure you let us know how your trip went we look forward to hearing and reporting about more trip's interstate.
