Trellys Fishing Report
Corio Bay
Another great weekend for fishing with lots of reports coming from Corio Bay with anglers picking up some nice fish. The inner harbour is producing some nice fish with pinky snapper, flathead, salmon and whiting. The Stingaree bay spoil grounds have been hosting some hot action especially for those casting soft plastics, the famous Gulp Turtleback worm again is standing out the best. Limeburner’s and St Helens rocks has been popular for landbased fishos with Flathead, Garfish and Pinkys. Mainly fishing at night as the fish come in close to feed, as we get some nasty rough nights it’s well worth having a go for a BIG Winter snapper in these locations too.
Outer Harbour
The outer Harbour is still fishing well for better sized snapper with fish to 4kg being taken from what you would call your “traditional Snapper Spots” (Spoil Grounds, Channel, Quarries, 9ft Bank). Pilchards, Squid and any other fresh bait have all been working well and ideally fishing on a tide change or first and last light. Garfish have been in good numbers in close around Clifton springs for those fishing in super shallow with pencil floats in a burley trail. Fishing super shallow water like 1 to 1.5 metres seems to be the sweet spot on where they are hiding but keeping a solid consistent burley trail is definitely the key to success
Offshore Barwon Heads
Offshore Barwon Heads has been hot with Gummy Sharks with anglers getting amongst lots of sharks at the moment. Gone Fishing Charters has been right amongst the action, the other day Chris and his crew landed a 9 sharks with a mix of School and Gummy Sharks. Salmon chunks are by far the best bait on either a running sinker or paternoster rig.
West Coast
Down the west coast between Portland and Port Macdonnel there has been a hot Barrel Tuna bite with this past week reports of fish being caught daily with sizes ranging from 50kg right up to 150kg. Trolling skirted lures and hardbodies have both been doing the damage and so too has bait fishing, it really has been that good a bite the fish are snatching up most things. Peri Stavropoulos from Trellys Geelong fished alongside his brother Aston Stavropoulos down at Port Mac over the weekend with Aston landing his first tuna weighing in at 107kg bled and gutted.
Goulburn River
We are still getting reports of some legal sized cod caught off the banks around Seymour with bait being the best way to target these fish. Bardi Grubs, cheese and chicken have been the best baits from the reports we are getting from the Seymour region. Down stream towards Nagambie has slowed down a little with the odd cod being caught trolling and casting medium sized hardbodies such as the 15ft Old Mates and the Balista Smoke 80s.
Bait fishing around Raftery’s Road has been a great way to target natives this week with reports of both legal cod and Yellowbelly being caught on small yabbies and scrub worms. The numbers of fish are starting to drop off but there is still plenty of quality fish getting caught. Around Shepparton there has been some cod caught by casting Spinnerbaits near the footbridge and also around the broken junction. If you’re chasing carp, we have had a report of 20 caught in an afternoon session towards Undera with worms being the best bait.
Broken River
The numbers of fish being caught in Broken River is now starting to drop but like the Goulburn there is still some quality fish being caught. These fish seem to be around the 65/70cm range which in tight skinny waters can be great fun. Casting small Spinnerbaits and also small jointed lures such as the Jackal Swing Mikey 72. The natives seem to be feeding shallow so if you're off the bank try to focus on fishing horizontally across the shallows or if your casting across the river make sure you land it as close to the bank as possible. Bait fishing with chicken has also been a great way to chase cod with a couple of legal sized fish reported this week from around the Dookie area near the truck stop.
Kialla Lakes
The lake is super low at the moment which can make it hard for those using heavy lures or deep diving crank baits. There are still some good fish being caught out of the lake but they are eating small baits such as 2/3 inch strike tiger or Keitech plastics and also jackal chubby 38s.
The key has been fishing along drop offs as the fish are still sitting reasonably shallow in the warmer water and ambushing lures as they come up the edge. The Redfin have been reasonably active in the willow trees with floating worms the best way to target these fish as you can get the worms super tight to the structure. You don’t need to be super deep with the worms a foot under the float has been best.
Lake Eildon
It’s starting to cool off at Eildon which will see native fish numbers drop off but it will also see some big fish come out to play. We are starting to get more regular reports of big cod being caught in low light periods with pitching big plastics using live sonar being the best way to target these giants. If you don’t have live sonar, it will just be about big long casts to cover as much water as possible. The surface bite hasn’t shut down completely with some good fish still having a go at top water with recently the Bassman Aussie Crawler and Balista Tremors the best lures for this stile of fishing. We haven’t had many Yellowbelly reports recently with only the odd Yellowbelly being caught trolling rocky banks. Redfin still seem to be biting off trees and the grassy edges with black gulps on a 7gr Bassman black jig head being the best way to target these fish.
Lake Eppalock
Central vic lure casters comp on the weekend went well with some very solid yellowbelly being caught. All up the numbers were 33 yellowbelly 1 cod 105 redfin between 101 competitors. Lures seem to be going best in the 4-8m diving range at the minute. When the fishing slows down make sure to use scent on you’re hard body / soft plastics as this can make all the difference.
Campaspe River
A couple nice mid-size cod this week on a good mix of lures, spinnerbaits , surface and weedless plastic’s, Elmore once again doing ok with bait fishing, the lower section near the Murray river has seen a couple of nice cod on chicken this past week.
Cairn Curran
Dity water at the minute here, smaller yellowbelly still being caught here on yabbies and small hard bodies when conditions suit, some really good sized redfin have been caught in the last week using blades in gold/black color way. Bait really being the main option here though that’s doing well.
Loddon River
Not much to go off here this week with no reports in the shop but we would say stick to using those hardbody’s this time of year as they tend to do well. Make sure to keep giving surface a go each trip in early morning or late afternoon as you never know when you will tempt a cod into taking something off the top! We have been using surface lures with a white belly lately.
Laanecoorie
Nothing in the shop this week from here, we can only assume that if you take some bait you might do ok, with a fair few different species on offer here scrub worms are a great option as just about all fish in this water way will eat then, small yabbies being another great choice. If casting lures hardbody’s this time of year are doing great so pick out some of your favorite colors and give it a crack.
Bridgewater
Trolling seems to be going well here at the minute for cod and yellowbelly, with a handful of nice fish pulled up over the weekend on old mate 15ft divers and Bassman tubbys, both great hardbody’s with a very good swim action. Casting these lures at the structure usually proves deadly too. If your doing some family bait fishing this weekend take some chicken as its really been doing well lately locally.
Serpentine
A couple nice cod this week on spinnerbaits rigged with a soft plastic from bassman in the natural greens colors doing the job, with word that there was a few yellowbelly caught this week too on Tn50’s. profishent have some great option very similar in some really good colors worth trying out. Surface seems to have slowed down a fair bit here the past week but still worth trying.
Bendigo Family Lakes
Weeroona – Tom Thumb – Crusoe Res
All Three lakes producing some good redfin this week on worms and soft plastics as well, Crusoe even saw a large yellowbelly this weekend which is great to see. Don’t be afraid to throw small to mid-size hardbodies here as this may be what temps those larger fish into eating as it appears like a good meal.