Trellys Fishing Report
Corio Bay
Some calm weather over the weekend gave anglers a great opportunity to fish right across the region with a variety of fish on the chew. Starting in the bay and for landbased anglers St Helens rocks has been a hotspot again this week with Pinky Snapper and Flathead showing up in decent numbers. Launching baits like squid and blue bait have both been working well rigged up on a paternoster rig. Coming into winter we can expect the rocks here to fish better and better, especially on a super windy night. The inner and outer harbour of Corio Bay has had snapper to 6kg on the chew with a variety of locations fishing well. The channel, Alcoa Pier, Stingaree Bay, Spoil Grounds, Clifton Springs and Quarries are a few areas well worth having a poke around. Fishing the lead up to the tide change has proved to be the prime to fish and when the fish have been feeding at their best. Pilchards, Squid and Slimy Mackerel have all been a good bait as of late.
The Bellarine Peninsula
In close along the Bellarine Peninsula with the calm nights we have been receiving it has given anglers good opportunities to go for a walk in the shallows for a flounder. With a bit of luck anglers have been getting amongst Flounder, Flathead, Whiting, Squid, Bream and plenty of other critters. To do this style of fishing the right conditions are everything, a light southerly wind is idea for this area.
Queenscliff to St Leonards
Moving around towards Queenscliff and St Leonards the King George Whiting have remained on the chew in this area with the big tides certainty making a big difference to anglers results. Big numbers of fish are about with fish between 35 – 42cm being caught.
West Coast
Down the west coast the Barrel Tuna have rocked up at Portland in big numbers and as close as 5km from the boat harbour. 8 – 10 inch skirted lures have been a favourite for the Tuna the last few days with the colours Paris, Lumo and Big Dog doing damage and so to have divers.
Wurdi Buloc
As far as Freshwater goes Wurdi Buloc has been producing some good trout and redfin for the landbased fishos. Casting from the rock walls with Spoons or shallow jerkbaits have both been working well. If you’re fishing low light conditions then Bent Minnows are also well worth a throw.
Goulburn River
There has been plenty of water heading down the Goulburn River these past weeks but hopefully for us all it’s starting to settle back down. During the rise there were some promising reports of cod being caught in many different areas. Around seymour was a great area to target cod with a cod over 80cms reports using cheese. Back downstream around Nagambie there were some reports of legal sized cod caught trolling size 1 stumpjumpers with greens and purples being the colours of choice. Around Murchison there were cod and Yellowbelly reports casting smaller compact Spinnerbaits and also on medium sized chatterbaits. Shepparton reports were mostly from those using bait with cod and Yellowbelly caught on scrub worms and small yabbies. There have been plenty of card caught this past week especially when the river was pushing over the banks. Worms or corn fished under a float worked well around any flooded banks or some people just used a piece of unweighted stale bread drifting down the river.
Irrigation Channels
If they channels haven’t been fully dropped yet they will be shortly with the annual draw down period among us. This can be one of the best periods to fish the channels as there is less water to search in and also the fish concentrate in common areas. We usually find that the bridges, syphons and drop bars are the holding points for fish on the draw down. Around the bridges casting square bills or small cranks works great with the fish usually keen to bite especially before it gets too cold.
In the deeper water around the drop bars and syphons a beetle spin rigged plastic or tn60 works great as you can keen these lures close to the bottom. Bait fishing is also a great way to target fish when the channel is low but remember to stick to the main structures we don’t find many fish get caught out in the open when the water is low. Scrub worms floated around the bridge pylons is a great way to chase cod and Yellowbelly and we would expect this to be the same leading into winter.
Waranga Basin
The cooler months usually see’s the numbers of fish drop off at the basin but don’t let that out you off fishing it because the quality of fish seems to get better in the colder periods. There is still plenty of smaller fish biting off the edges in the early morning with small crank baits working best for those using lures. Worms are a very popular bait for those fishing from the banks and this has been the case this week with some nice eating sized Redfin caught on night crawlers. Out deeper the bigger fish have been more active with trolling being the best method. Rapala DT14s have been a great lure lately and get down nice and deep, it’s a buyer profile of lure and the bigger fish have seemed to be reacting to it well. If you like smaller lures the small 10ft old mates run in around 12ft of water have also been producing good sized Redfin. There is still the odd fish being caught on points casting zx40 blades but this has mostly been in the mid morning once those fish on the edge head deeper.
Lake Eppalock
The changes in temperature seem to have slowed fish numbers a little this week with reports of a little less fish caught, some anglers still managing to bag a decent amount of redfin with bait being the best option. A few solid sized yellowbelly caught on the profishent blades fishing around structure.
Campaspe River
Not a great deal of info in the shop this week but the info we have had is a few people doing well using bait, chicken is a great option as it stays on the hook very well, cutting raw chicken breast into cubes and adding some garlic sauce into a zip lock bag letting that smell soak in overnight is a great way to add some really good scent to it. We did have some reports of small cod being caught on codgers downstream of Elmore.
Cairn Curran
Smaller yellowbelly still being caught here on yabbies and small hard bodies when conditions suit, some really good sized redfin have been caught in the last week on strike tiger grubs in a range of different colors. Small 2.5 – 3 inch paddle tail plastics are another great option for redfin, locally we have found white to be a great color choice. If you’re out in the boat trolling lures like the rmg’s consider rigging a soft plastic curl tail a little bit above it as if you find a school and one gets eaten usually the other will as well.
Loddon River
A handful of people in the shop this week who had fished the Loddon and reported that it was very slow with most reports people only managing a single fish, Hardbody’s being lure of choice that got the fish. Small surface lures doing well rather than larger one’s.
Laanecoorie
Nothing in the shop this week from here, we can only assume that if you take some bait you might do ok, with a fair few different species on offer here scrub worms are a great option as just about all fish in this water way will eat then, small yabbies being another great choice. If casting lures hardbody’s this time of year are doing great so pick out some of your favorite colors and give it a crack.
Bridgewater
Bridgewater did see a few yellowbelly caught on the weekend trolling, we did have a regular in the shop who managed a surface cod around the 55 mark on a cod cracker on Sunday morning. A few people managed some success using the good old cheese over the weekend getting a couple cod and some carp but by most reports fishing was fairly slow.
Serpentine
A nice surface cod was caught near serpentine on a Taylor made with the cod going just shy of 75. Overall though a pretty slow week here, some nice yellas on half ounce spinner baits in more natural colors early in the week but not much word coming into the weekend. 10ft old mates could be a good option for those yellowbelly.
Bendigo Family Lakes
Weeroona – Tom Thumb – Crusoe Res
All Three lakes producing some good redfin this week on worms and soft plastics as well, motor oil / white / yellow / bloodworm all colors doing really well right in curl tail and paddle tail, plenty of carp in weeroona and tom thumb being caught on worms and corn.