Trellys Fishing Report

Trellys Fishing Report

CORIO BAY

The Inner Harbour of Corio Bay is still proving to be the number 1 Snapper location with plenty of anglers landing fish to 80cm. Fishing off Wagim Walk with baits such as pilchard and squid have been accounting for a lot of snapper captures, soft plastics have been working well also. Anglers fishing out of small tinnies and kayaks have been having the best success as they can get there lures right into the structure, please be aware that you are not allowed to fish off the yacht club pontoon and piers. There has also been plenty of quality other species cruising about at the moment including flathead, salmon, trevally and whiting in the same area.

 

CLIFTON SPRINGS

Clifton Springs has been pretty slow at the moment with the cold weather and cold water making the snapper quite tricky to catch, there are still some reports of anglers finding a fish here and there. The Bellarine Light Game and Sport Fishing Club had their annual Ron Kitchen Memorial Snapper Competition with the winning fish weighing in at 4.5kg. Most members were fishing the Quarries and the Point Richards spoil grounds.

 

QUEENSCLIFF

Queenscliff is still providing some fantastic squid and whiting as of late, the grass beds up to swan bay have been holding good numbers of fish and some quite big ones too. The squid in the bight have also been chewing quite well, as per usual fishing the slack tide has been best as you’re not drifting quicker than your jig can sink.

 

 

BARWON HEADS

Offshore Barwon Heads has been a Snapper hot spot lately with fish holding in great numbers, straight off the bluff in 50 metres of water has been super productive. Gone fishing charters has been knee deep in the action lately getting customers stuck into heaps of snapper to 4kg.

 

 

PORT WELSHPOOL

Port Welshpool has been a popular location over the past week or 2 for big Snapper and gummy sharks with lots if reports coming through of fish exceeding 8kg in weight. Peri Stavropoulos and Bryce Nurnaitis from Trellys Geelong ventured down landing Snapper to 5.5kg in weight.

 

 

WURDI BULOC

Wurdi Buloc Reservoir has been a popular location for Trout and Redfin with anglers getting stuck into some nice fish. Both species have been chewing well on shallow hardbody lures and the humble Mudeye has been accounting for its fair share of fish also.

 

LAKE EILDON 

After the quiet week last week lake Eildon is back with plenty of reports coming in this week. The water temps still are not great but there slowly rising this will see more and more Yellowbelly being caught either casting blades or lipless crank baits at points or vertically fishing gulp grubs on the trees. These grubs are great for Yellowbelly & Redfin but hold on some big cod seem to enjoy a feed of Berkley Gulps and last week there were a couple decent sized cod caught while chasing Yellowbelly. A lot of the big cod this week have been caught on traditional methods casting big swimbaits and surface lures. One thing that is a constant is live sonar is taking over at Eildon with almost all big fish being caught fishing this way. We are yet to receive the Hummingbird mega live units but when we do it will be a game changer for those wanting to use the hummingbird version live sonar. If your keen to get back to basics Bank fishing down at Bonnie Doon can be a great way to spend a couple of hours and the Redfin and Carp seem to be biting on worms with the odd Yellowbelly being caught on yabbies. 

 

 

LAKE NILLAHCOOTIE

Bait fishing from the bank or up around the top end of the lake has been the best over the recent week and with lake is still sitting around 100% we would expect the edge bite to continue. Shrimp, scrub worms and Yabbies are best for the Redfin or Yellowbelly with carp catches being reported on corn. Trolling has been a tad quiet recently with the water clarity not being as good as it could be. Old Mates in the green frog colour, Codgers in purple and pink & Balista Dynos have been stand out life’s in the past at Nillahcootie so arm yourself with some of those lures for your next trip to up your chances.

 

 

DARTMOUTH 

The annual “Dartmouth Women’s Fishing Classic” was held last weekend and by all reports it was an absolute ripper event. There were plenty of fish caught on all kinds of methods and we would expect with the cooler and wet weather around for a little longer the hot bite period will continue. 

 

 

 

WARANGA BASIN

There is plenty of water in the basin and this has pushed a lot of smaller fish up into the shallows. These fish are feeding on the grass almost all day long and also in low light periods off the top. Small cicada lures like the micro pompadour or the megabass Ciglet. Lightly weighted soft plastics like the 2inch easy Shiner or the Trellys curl tail grubs have worked well in the shallows. Those fishing from a boat when the wind has permitted Reported trolling White & Orange halcos along the rock wall at the Tatura end or out the front of the boat club. Yellowbelly up to 42cms & Redfin around 30cms have been caught mostly in the mornings in these spots with a lot less numbers caught deep but they have been a better quality of fish. Bait fishing has been a little slow this week with most of the reports coming in being those casting or trolling lures

 

 

LAKE HUME 

We have had many people pop into our Shepparton store lately pre and post Hume trips with most stocking up on Halco Crazy deeps on the Redfin colour or the 55mm Old Mates. Trolling has been the best method for Redfin with ice jigs working well in the schools. Those who have been casting have stocked up and reported that zx40 blades in black and gold as well as TN60 jackals in PeaCock colour working well for Yellowbelly on the rocky points or in the trees. Bait fishing has been a little quiet this week but with the water temps slowly rising we would expect that to change. Unweighted worms or 2/3 shrimp drifting around trees has been a successful method in the past. 

 

 

 BROKEN RIVER 

The Broken has been a little quiet this past week with the odd report towards Benalla floating in but nothing to get over excited about. With some rain expected we maybe experiencing a little rise in the Broken and if that’s the case the fish should bite leading into cod opening. 

 

IRRIGATION CHANNELS

The local irrigation channels around Shepparton east & Waranga Basin have fished well this past week.Small Diving lures, Tn60 Jackals, Bassman Shortys and Keitech 3inch easy shiners in Green Pumpkin Chartreuse. Drop Bars have been very productive especially On Spinnerbaits & Jackals. The soft plastics have worked well in open water or around weeds. Some have been rigging with a beetle spin some just standard on a 7gr Bassman Jig head. There have been a few locals reporting Getting tail tapped by the Redfin. Cutting the plastic down in length a little or running a tiny assist hook can be the answer but also can get a little snaggier. Hardbodies have been very versatile with them working well either cranking them in the calmer backwaters of to the side of drop bars or out in open water almost anywhere along the channels. Bait fishing with yabbies and scrub worms in the wash around 20mt from a drop bar has been a great method recently with both Yellowbelly & Redfin being reported using this method. There has been plenty of by catch cod caught recently in the Irrigation systems so all signs are good for next week’s cod opening.

 

 

 

 

GOULBURN RIVER 

The river has been sitting higher then normal which has made fishing a little slow around Shepparton this week. The water was expected to drop to a steady level for cod opening but with some recent rain it could stay higher.  Those who did fish over the last week mentioned that cod were starting to take over the bite compared more frequent Yellowbelly catches in previous weeks. It’s only a short wait until cod opening so make sure your still only targeting Yellowbelly before December 1. The Goulburn downstream of the Eildon Pondage has been fishing well with trout being caught on smaller Rapala hardbodies and small celta spinners. Bait fishing with Powerbaits and maggots under floats has accounted for some fish as well as worms.

 

 

BLUE ROCK DAM 

The spring jig bite is finally in full swing with plenty of bass around the 28/35cm mark being caught regularly. These fish in the sticks will give you plenty of grief as they are a dirty fighting fist especially up the river arm at Blue Rock. A slow drag or a rod shake is a great way to get the bass to bite your jig with slower the better and you must feel the bottom at all times. If your new to jig fishing A great way to test what your doing is to cast your jig on the grass at the boat ramp or at home and watch what it does with what ever technique you use. It should imitate a yabby so a slow drag is much better then a long lift. It’s not only Bass being caught there have also been some small Redfin along the boat ramp foreshore being caught on worms or casting small Spinners.