Trellys Fishing Report
Outer Harbour
The Landbased snapper fishing has continued to highlight the local fishing this week with fantastic reports continuing to come through. St Helens has been a popular one this week with reports of fish to 3.5kg being taken. Silver Whiting and Pilchards remain a popular bait at present, rough nights and dirty water is the key to success. Portarlington and St Leonards are all over reports at the moment with plenty of fish coming from both structures producing plenty of fish, IF YOU CAN GET A SPOT. It is packed down there but the fishing is phenomenal, fish to 6kg are being landed with lots of fish ranging between 1-3kg. Most baits are working well being launched out on a running paternoster rig. Does pay to bring a smaller rod as there are plenty of fish being caught in close also. At Portarlington the fishing inside the harbour has been great also with anglers casting small soft plastics picking up good numbers of pinkie snapper, trevally and salmon.
Anglers fishing from boats are finding great snapper reports and again most of the outer harbour is producing fish. Some area worth trying are the channel, Spoil Grounds, old channel off Portarlington, Quarries, Alcoa and 9ft Bank. Due to the water temp still being low its key to be fishing particular times when the fish are more likely to chew such as first/last light and tide changes. Fresh baits certainty help too.
St Leonards - Queenscliff
St leonards to Queenscliff has been fishing very well for King George Whiting with reports of anglers finding fish to 45cm, not all anglers are bagging but the quality of the fish at the moment are fantastic. Don’t be surprised for this time of year to pick up some pinkies and gummies whilst chasing them too.
Goulburn River
The fishing has started to improve out of sight now that the river levels have started to steady. We are now getting regularly Yellowbelly reports with Murchison, Arcadia, Shepparton and down towards Undera all producing good numbers of fish. Those bait fishing have been finding small yabbies and scrub worms have been best for the Yellowbelly with carp also liking the scrub worms but not so much the yabbies. Those lure fishing have been catching Yellowbelly casting TN60 in peacock or browndog colours and just doing a slow steady retrieve with the off pause. Trolling Spinnerbaits is starting to become very popular and we have had some reports this week of legal size fish trolled up this way.
Broken River
Just like the Goulburn now the broken is settled the fishing is only getting better and this past week has been that. Some decent sized bags of fish have been reported with lure fishing around the weirs being the best. TN60 jackals and small Spinnerbaits have been working great just below both weirs with lightly rigged black gulps working a little further down especially around any weed or reeds. There has also been some good reports of Yellowbelly and carp being caught on night crawlers in the heart of Shepparton near broken river drive. This is a pretty easy area to access the river along the walking tracks so if your looking to find a few new spots give this area a go.
Kialla Lakes
The water has now settled into a great fish able level in Kialla and completely different fishery compared to previous months. The water clarity is great and the heights mean there is plenty of water near the grassy banks. This past week we have had reports of all kinds of techniques used to catch both Redfin and Yellowbelly. The stand out lures have been nettle spin rigged soft plastics, Bent minnows, XR6 jerkbaits and Tn50 Jackals. The rigged plastics and jackals have been working best with a slow retrieve and the other 2 lures have been working best on the pause, so a few flicks of the rod tip then a 2/3 second pause and a lot of the time as you go to flick the rod the fish has already taken off with the lure. Those fishing with bait have found it a little more difficult this week but we have still had a couple of reports with Redfin and Yellowbelly caught on scrub worms right on the drop off around 4/6ft away from the banks.
Waranga Basin
The Yellowbelly are now active in the basin with a heap of reports coming in over the last week or 2. Targeting any kind of structure is the key with chasing Yellowbelly in the basin so try and can find some larger rock piles, old fence post or the main rock wall.Zx40 blades fished either vertical or on a cast has been great with the black and pinks working. Soft plastics like the 3 inch easy shiners or black Gulps have also been a popular lure for the basin lately, Bait fishing has been great for Redfin both off the banks or in a boat with the key to keep moving until you can find a active school of fish.