Trellys Fishing Report 19th June 2026

Trellys Fishing Report 19th June 2026

As we plunge deeper into winter, fishing reports are getting harder to come by.  The other fishing channels that I follow on YouTube have all slowed right down and the many fishing pages that I follow seem to be swamped with advertorial posts, funny (and not so funny) fishing memes and spam accounts. 

Given the great fishing that I have experienced myself recently this is a bit surprising. Whether it’s because people write off winter as a bad time of the year to go fishing, or because they are all deer hunting and playing football I don’t know.

So this week I will give some winter fishing tips and explain what is working for me and include a couple of brief reports at the bottom. 

Winter fishing can be a challenge, but the rewards are there for those willing to brave the cold. 

The most active fish in the winter months in my area (North East Victoria) are carp. They slow down a little bit in the cooler weather, but they still bite and can be caught regularly. 

Look for shallow water in the sun. Places such as Lake Moodemere that are shallow and basking in the sun are ideal. 

In lakes such as Eildon or Hume (and any others) look for shallow bays with muddy banks. 

Carp will move into these areas to feed, especially as the water is rising like it is in a few lakes now. 

You don’t need to cast out far as carp will often be in the shallows enjoying the sun and foraging around newly flooded grasses. 

In rivers look for calm backwaters. Big shallow backwaters with little to no current are best. 

Muddy bottoms with submerged grasses are ideal if you can find them. 

Most other fish such as Murray cod and Yellowbelly prefer to sit down deeper amongst the timber hiding, waiting to ambush their prey. 

For this reason, I like to fish in areas that allow access to both types of habitats. For example, if I am in the Ovens River where I do most of my fishing, I will look for a large backwater, sit at the mouth of the backwater and cast one line into the backwater targeting carp, and the other line into the deeper water in the main river targeting everything else. 

I fish Lake Hume and Lake Eildon every winter at least once or twice where I try to adopt a similar approach.

Last winter I was fishing near Kennedy Point at Lake Eildon. The rod on the right was cast off to the right in shallow water not far from the bank and the rod on the left was cast out further into deeper water as close to a dead standing tree that I could find. 

The rod on the right caught a couple of carp and the rod on the left caught Redfin, 1 Yellowbelly and a couple of roaches.

Yellowbelly are a rare winter catch for me, but if I have a line on the water I have a chance, and even if I don’t catch a decent fish I almost always catch a carp or two to keep me entertained.  

Finally, I almost always use worms when doing this type of fishing. Worms are the best all round bait that catch everything. 

Sometimes when I am fishing in the ovens River in winter, I will use 1 line baited with cheese to specifically target Murray cod and the other with worms. 

In lakes it is always 2 rods with worms for my winter fishing adventures. 

I almost always use either a paternoster rig or a running sinker rig with a size 4 baitholder hook and the lightest sinker that I can get away with on the day. 

I hope these few pointers can help you catch a few winter fish over the coming months. 

Now a couple of brief reports from this week..

Ovens River

The Ovens River and its main tributary the King River have been fishing unseasonably well lately. 

Yesterday morning I fished the King River on private property. I caught 1 Murray crayfish, 1 small trout cod and 2 carp. Well, I caught 1 carp and lost the other one, but I am counting it anyway!

All were caught using worms as bait. 

Yesterday evening I fished the Ovens River in Wangaratta where I caught 1 small crayfish, 1 Murray cod and 2 trout cod. Again, all fish were caught using worms for bait. 

Both crayfish were caught on my fishing lines while targeting finned fish. 

Lake Mulwala

I bought a new drone last week and took it to Lake Mulwala to take some drone photos and videos.

While there I was talking to 3 different anglers at Majors Creek and the general feedback was that they were getting a few fish but having to work hard for them. 

One falla said that he uses a livescope fish finder and can see the fish but has been struggling to get them to hit the lure. 

Lake Dartmouth

Again this week there have been quite a few trout caught at Lake Dartmouth. Lake Dartmouth is the best trout lake in Northeast Victoria for winter fishing and generally fishes consistently every winter.