Trelly's Fishing Report

Fishing while in the Victoria’s Circuit Breaker Lockdown
The following has been taken from the Coronavirus Website in regards to the first week of the Circuit Breaker Lockdown.
"Recreational fishing and boating are permitted as long as it doesn't require use of a facility (the opening of a closed jetty or pier) and within 5km of your home for up to 2 hours once per day, and with members of your household or 1 other person."

Lake Victoria Shepparton
There have still been some good Trout getting caught in Lake Victoria with a few up around 40-50cm being caught while casting small hardbodies and small soft plastics. Little rapala minnows and similar have been accounting for a few more of the bigger fish while soft plastics are good for getting numbers. First light and last light into the evening are the best times to get onto a few Trout. Redfin are being caught while fishing soft plastics along the top of the weed and into the top 30cm of it. Small soft plastics like the 2.5” Bait Junkie minnows are a good lure to give a go if looking for a few Redfin. If the fishing is slow try dressing up your plastic by rigging it on an underspin Jighead or by attaching a beetle spin to the front of your Jighead, this really Gets the Redfin going. Josh from the Native project fished Lake Victoria this week and caught some nice Trout on soft plastics including this solid Rainbow he Caught on a Strike Tiger soft plastic.

Shepparton Region Channels
For those fishing their local Channels there are plenty of Carp around to keep the kids busy. Worms or a bit of corn fished with a light sinker is a great way of getting onto a few carp out of the local Channels. There are still some Yellowbelly to be caught around the bridges and drop bars in most Channels from Rushworth to Murchison. Casting Plastics rigged with a  beetle spin along with other reaction baits like small Spinnerbaits are a good way of finding a few fish. Small Hardbodies and square bill crankbaits are also a great lure to work in the Channels as they dive fairly shallow but have a great action.

Murray River
The Murray River is still fishing well this week although the action seems to have slowed down a little from the awesome bite we saw a couple of weeks ago. Surface Lures like the Balista Tremor and Kingfisher Abela are great to cast amongst the snags and have been working at most times of the day, however early morning and late afternoon have been the best times to throw these big surface lures. During the day large Spinnerbaits like the Bassman Codman DT have been the best lure to cast around the snags to find some larger fish. Matt Langford made the Trip down from Queensland and got stuck into some Great Cod over the past week. This one was spotted by Matt on his Garmin Livescope and Caught on a White and Yellow Bassman Dt. It Measured a chunky 113cm.

Matt Is one of Australia’s Best Bass Anglers and usually runs fishing charters in our Premier Bass Dams up North. If You ever want to try your hand at catching Some Aussie Bass go to Matthew Langford-Aus Fishing on Facebook and get in touch with him.

Lake Hume
Redfin are still going great out of Lake hume while trolling RMG Poltergeist and casting small vibes around the Schools. 60mm Mask Vibes are a great lure to use while casting at the school and have been helping to find some of the larger fish amongst them. The exciting news to come from Hume over the past week are the recent captures of some big Trout. Trolling around Apex Park (The Pines) has been a great spot to find a few Trout. Flatlining minnow style lures and Tassie Devils in the morning is a great way of getting a few, once the sun rises a bit it is best to go deeper, using a downrigger to get to the right depth. Andrew Caught This Cracker Trout from Hume Earlier this week.

Barwon River
The Barwon River mouth at Barwon Heads has seen the best run of silver trevally we’ve seen for a while. Anglers using bait, lure and fly managed good bags of fish within their 2 hours of permitted fishing time. Salmon and whiting were also caught amongst the trevally. Anglers that live near a boat ramp have been blessed with the ability to fish from a boat and a number of anglers made use of this at Torquay. Fishing close to the ramp, they caught bags of whiting to 40cm and flathead. Carp, redfin, estuary perch and eels were caught throughout the Barwon River from Breakwater Bridge all the way up to Fyansford by those that live close by. Lures accounted for a number of fish but with the river slightly discoloured from recent rains, the trusty scrub worm will work a treat on all fish mentioned. One dedicated carp angler has suggested throwing out burley at the end of your session to keep the fish in the area if you plan to fish there again the next day, a good way to make the most of your 2 hours of fishing time.  

Surf Coast Beaches
Salmon are always a great winter option and lately fish to 2kg have been caught from beaches along the coast with Jan Juc being a hot spot. Casting metal lures into the gutters or using half a pilchard or whole bluebait are your best options.

St Helens
The St.Helens Boat Ramp rock wall has been producing snapper to 3kg over the last month or so and will make a great fishing option if you live close by. Squid and pilchard are effective baits with the odd flathead being caught as by-catch.