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Welcoming Whiting
  |  First Published: March 2006



The fishing around Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula has been red hot in early February with whiting, snapper, pike and flatties really coming on.

Anglers fishing the mouth of Swan Bay have taken some thumping flatties to 4kg, which are true monsters for Port Phillip Bay. There have been some nasty easterlies around lately but if you can avoid them, like the Torquay fishos recommend, then you are in for some great fishing.

Brendan, from Ray Long’s, has found plenty of salmon around The Rip using fly gear while Brian has taken his fair share of snapper, pike and flatties using soft plastics. To get amongst the local flatties and pinkies use blue ocean, sunrise and albino Fire Tail Assassins. Berkley Gulp 3” Minnows also work well.

March is the peak time for kingfish, so head to the reefy structure with plenty of heavy tackle, live gars, squid and poppers. They can often be found near schools of salmon or over very deep reef areas, busting baitfish with birds diving all around them up on the surface. This where the fun really starts with surface poppers, light spinning and fly gear so keep an eye on the horizon – not all salmon schools contain only salmon!

Whiting have made a welcome surge along the Bellarine Peninsula with all the popular spots producing fish. Good places to try include: Point Henry, Point Wilson, Clifton Springs, Barwon Heads, Torquay and Avalon with the best 40cm fish coming from St Leonards and Queenscliff. Most of these whiting spots are sprinkled with shallow reef and are also giving up some reasonable calamari.

Many of the local charter boats have reported more than average numbers of salmon in the lower half of Port Phillip Bay this season. With fish from 1 to 3kg being landed on most methods, the fishing can be red hot! Please remember common courtesy when approaching boats already on schools. Approach at idle, cut the motor and wait for the school to come to you.

Gummy sharks made a very welcome return to the Bellarine Peninsula and have been providing great sport near The Rip with some salmon around as well. Kelby reports that the sharks have been very thick offshore with predominantly blues, a sprinkling of makos and the odd seven gill being seen. The biggest mako Kelby has heard of tipped the scales at a whopping 225kg!

Gordon from Scriv’s Geelong Bait and Tackle reports Rob Ryan recently boated a nice 16kg gummy off Torquay and agrees with Kelby – the blue sharks are flat out off Barwon Heads, but the makos are a little bit thinner.

Point Richards Renovation

Point Richards will be re-built by the end of June with additional deep water ramps completed by the end of 2006.

Last January the Bellarine Bayside Foreshore Committee of Management secured in excess of $440,000 from the State Government. An elevated four-lane ramp will extend 10m past where the concrete ramp now stands.

Caught a few on the Bellarine Peninsula? Send me an email with the anglers name, catch, size, what caught on and where (without giving away your secret spot!) and a picture if you like to --e-mail address hidden--

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