Hi, welcome to another week of fishing in Geelong, or should I say 'Christmas In July'. You are probably asking yourself what the hell is this guy on about, well think about it, I can't remember when we last had a Christmas so ugly. Heavy rain, gale force winds, hail stones and lightning was the best way to sum up the weather on Christmas Day in Geelong, mind you Boxing Day was not much better, but at least I suppose we have this weekend to look forward to.

The bureau tells us it is going to be a bumper weekend in the 30s, then again they said Christmas Day was going to have shower or two but mostly fine. How wrong can you be! Fishing reports this week have been pretty hard to get due to the bad weather but there are some areas that are still performing. Lets go fishing!

Corio Bay
By boat:
Snapper are plentiful in the bay at the moment. Stephen Roth and myself last Saturday managed to pick up 40 snapper from Point Wilson to Corio Bay, but unfortunately as a combined total they couldn't make up the legal size limit of 1 fish. (Ha Ha only joking). Most of the snapper were around 26cm in size and although they were under the legal size limit they were still a lot of fun and it was good to see such large stocks of juvenile snapper in Corio Bay.

It doesn't matter where you go in the Bay at the moment you will come across these small snapper. Flathead are still plentiful throughout Corio Bay although Point Henry and Point Wilson seem to be the better areas for larger flathead around the 1 1/2lbs mark. Most other parts in the Bay you will encounter flathead about 28cm in length.

Whiting are becoming more of a common catch for boating anglers fishing from Avalon Beach to Point Wilson and over the sea grass beds off Clifton Springs. Better catches of whiting to 35cm are being taken on fresh squid or pippies in around 3-4 meters of water. Colin Heselwood of Corio reported that some larger snapper had been taken close to the shore on the north west side of Corio Bay.

By land:
Reports this week have been few and far between, but dedicated fishos who have braved the elements have been rewarded with some great table fish. The pump house landing at the back of the phosphate has been producing excellent catches of both silver and snotty trevally. Best methods have been setting your hook along way up from your sinker so the bait is suspended above the weed, 3-4 feet is a good starting length. WA pilchard fillets have been the biggest producer. Other common catches on the same bait have been small flathead, banjo sharks, salmon and the odd King George whiting.

St Helen's has been quite, where as Griffins Gully Jetty on the other hand has been producing pinky snapper to 31cm in small numbers, plus the odd flathead and garfish. This area is a common place to find large schools of silver trevally; unfortunately fishos refuse to use berley so common catches of these fish don't occur.

An Indonesian billionaire has just bought Cunningham Pier, so it looks like fishing may stop here for good. But for now between the hours of 7am-11am you can catch silver and snotty trevally, mullet and garfish, if the tide is right, on pippies and fresh chicken... berley helps.

Bellarine Peninsula
St Leonard's
Fishing still continues to be excellent. Good catches of squid, whiting and flathead are being reported. Boating anglers are doing quite well around the White Lady and the Sub and into the mouth of Swan Bay, for the better catches of whiting.

Swan Bay
Top Spot.Gummy shark up to 4kg are a common catch on pilchards and, if you are using berley, monster garfish to 52cm are good fun. Water temps are up and that means big frogs (flathead). Some great fathead to just shy of 6lbs where caught over the last weekend. The best method is to drift a live bait across the flats at high tide for a chance at one of these monsters and also a chance of trevally and mullet from the jetty. Lakers Cutting is another good spot to try with silver bream to 900 grams being caught on live shrimp.

Queenscliff - Point Lonsdale
Reports have not changed from last week. Snapper are being caught at Bell Reef and inside the causeway at Queenscliff. Silver trevally to 500 grams are common and at Point Lonsdale there are whiting near Cottage By The Sea and small snapper in The Bight. At Point Lonsdale and Point Nepean large salmon to 6lbs are being caught and as per usual squid to 2.5kg are abundant.

West Coast
Barwon Heads
Although the jewfish are still very quite, fishing has been very good. Excellent catches of salmon to 3lbs and whiting to 32cm have been caught. Also pike are being taken at the precise moment of dawn and dusk. Further upstream good bream to 780 grams have been reportedly caught on Bass yabbies and sandworm near the sheep wash. Outside the mouth the small inshore reef complexes have been producing good pinky snapper to around 1kg along with plenty of reef fish. Pilchards are best.

Anglesea
As long as the mouth stays open bream fishing will continue to be superb. Most fishos catching bream to 800 grams on small crabs, Bass yabbies and garden worms. Small mullet have moved into the river so beware the fisho who uses pippies as the mullet are in plague proportions.

Sorry about the shortage of reports, next week will be better as fishos will return from their festive activities. The phone rang hot this week, thanks everyone for your calls and well wishes for the Christmas and New Year period and also thanks for the emails. The Fishing Show on 87.6 FM is off air this weekend for a short holiday break and will be back on the 5th January 2002. Just remember the bite line number is there to try and help you when fishing so please feel free to call me on 0418 547 957.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

GOOD FISHING TO YOU ALL TILL NEXT WEEK!

See John's previous report here.