Trellys Fishing Report
Offshore
We have seen some fantastic fishing this past week with Barrel Tuna remaining on the top of most anglers list with boats heading out to hopefully cross paths with one. Most of the action has been east of the RIP towards Western Port with fish ranging in size from 80kg right through to 140kg. Fish have seemed to have changed their diet from whitebait to pilchards by some reports which will make them much easier to catch….. USUALY! Cody and Jiles have been giving the barrels a bit of a touch up lately landing fish to over 100kg. Trolling skirted lures is working very well as well as dropping pilchards into the bait balls. Most fish have been holding between 25-50 metres. Snapper Offshore have been a bit tricky these past weeks but there is starting to have a few reports come through, no massive size or numbers of fish yet but they are just starting to go now. Fishing the 50 metre line is usually the best depth for them this time of year.
Corio Bay
Inside the Bay has continued to see some great Calamari fishing off Clifton Springs with anglers finding lots of squid holding about and some pretty impressive sized ones too. Casting artificial jigs in a size 2.5 or 3.0 is ideal for this area. Snapper have been pretty hit and miss but with persistence some anglers have been finding some impressive fish to over 7kg. Clifton Springs seems to be the current hot spot as of late however most of the popular spots across the bay should all start firing up soon.
Queenscliff
Queenslcliff Calamari have again been hot and cold this past week, some anglers have been finding it a bit of a struggle to get into them and some are belting them. They certainly aren’t holding in one particular area at the moment but when you find a patch make sure you work it as they could all just be holding tight together. The Otways has been fishing very well for Wild Brown Trout with just about every river, stream, creek fishing well. Some to mention are the Cumberland, Smythes, Kennet, Aire, and Bahram to name a few. Small shallow hardbodies and soft plastics are great to use, fly fishing works well also.
Goulburn River
Leading into the current river rise and the rain event this week there were some great reports of 3/4 Yellowbelly being caught in an afternoon session of fishing in the heart of Shepparton and down towards Murchison. Those fish were mostly caught on Spinnerbaits and scrub worms so hopefully once the rivers drop again the same action-packed sessions continue Now it’s not unusual for us the get spring time river rises and over the next couple of weeks we will see plenty of water flowing down the Goulburn River. What we have learnt from previous rises is that the fish will still feed in the freshly flooded banks. Casting small square bills or dragging football jigs through the timber will work in these flooded areas but the key is to find the spots with less flow so any back Eddie or even directly behind bigger trees. Carp and Natives will still be caught on worms but you need to up the size of your sinkers if it’s flowing but we suggest to target the areas with less flow as explained above.
Kialla Lakes
The positive that has come from all this rain is that Kialla lakes is now yet again full, it was a tricky couple of months with the lower levels but now the water is high the fish will feed on the edges.
We have already had reports of Yellowbelly being caught by floating worms just off the bank in around 1/2ft of water. Other reports that have come in are of those slowly dragging football jigs in the shallows or slow rolling Tn60s. As the water clears up, we would think the edge bite will continue to improve and last year there were a lot of fish caught on the following lures, X-Rap6 Jerkbaits, Jackal Piku Piku and also bent minnows with all 3 lures working best in the evening. Bait fishing will also continue to improve once this water settles but, in the meantime, floating worms or just letting them drift just off the edge will work fine for both Yellowbelly and Redfin.
Lake Eildon
Eildon is predicted to spill and go over the 100% mark this week which will mean plenty of freshly flooded banks for fisherman to target. The water temps are still low for prime-time Yellowbelly fishing but there will still be plenty of Yellowbelly and Redfin pushing shallow to feed in these areas. if your Casting lures we suggest small divers or 2/3 inch soft plastics in these areas especially if it’s shallow. If the banks are deeper you can switch to mask vibes or TN60s as Yellowbelly and Redfin love both. Prior to the rain event this week There had been plenty of reports of trout being trolled up with the trust tassie devil working best. The stand out colours were both pink and whites.
Waranga Basin
There is still plenty of Redfin action at the basin with a heap of reports from those fishing from the banks with both lures and bait. With all the rain this week we should see a rise and that will only Improve the bank fishing bite as the fish will push shallow to feed in the freshly flooded banks. Casting small soft plastics such as the 2inch Keitech easy shiners or slow rolling small divers has been a favourite for those casting lures. Bait fishing has been best with those using night crawlers under a float with it not uncommon to catch 10/20 fish in an hour if you can find the active schools. There has also been plenty of activity in the channels leading in and out of the Basin so if the fishing gets tough at Waranga you have a plan B and that’s to target the channel systems.