Apr 24, 2026

Trellys Fishing Report 24th April 2026

Well there’s no way of sugar coating it, things are slowing down in the freshwater fishing world. Every year around this time the fishing slows down as the water cools, and fishing reports become harder to come by as many anglers turn their attention to their winter hobbies such as deer hunting and football.

There are still many die-hard anglers that fish all year round, reports do still trickle in and we do still catch fish, we just need to change our tactics a bit and in this report throughout the cooler months you will see what is working in various locations.

Loddon River

Once again this week I have seen several photos of Murray cod and Yellowbelly being caught in the Loddon River around the Bridgewater and Serpentine areas.

Most fish seem to have been caught on lures, but I did see one photo of a large Murray cod caught on cheese in the Laanecoorie area.

Lake Mulwala

My mate Sandy, who you may have seen on YouTube under the name “Camo Man Adventures” took his kayak to Lake Mulwala last week. He caught 3 Murray cod. Two of them were caught trolling from his kayak and one was caught casting lures. The fish were all legal size. (56cm, 59cm and 60cm)

Sandy was fishing near the Kyfins Reserve area and said that the weed in the lake is out of control at the moment. Due to the weed, Sandy caught his fish in deeper channels away from the weed.

Lake Buffalo

A few people have told me that they have fished Lake Buffalo recently, most being last week near the end of the school holidays.

From all accounts the lake is fishing slow but ticking over. Most said that they caught a few small redfin, but nothing big and that they had to hunt around a bit looking for schools of fish.

So, in a nutshell, Lake Buffalo is ticking over slowly but not firing on all cylinders.

Ovens River

My stomping ground, the Ovens River is fishing quite slowly, but like Lake Buffalo there are a few fish biting.

The greatest tip that I can give anybody fishing the Ovens River at this time of the year is to practice the 3 P’s. Patience, Persistence and Perseverance. Fishing in the Ovens River is a waiting game in the colder months and can be a test on endurance. It can be tempting to pack up and go home after a few hours with no bites!

A couple of days ago I went bait fishing for carp in a lagoon on the lower Ovens near Peechelba. Using worms and corn as bait I fished for 2.5 hours, and in that time I hooked and lost one huge carp, which took the corn. That was it. So, I headed to the river and fished with worms.

I fished from 4pm until almost 7:30pm and caught 2 Yellowbelly, both well after sunset. I caught the first one around 6:15pm when it was about 75% dark, and the second one, a magnificent 47cm fish after 7pm when it was pitch black.

I fished for the entire afternoon for those fish, including 1.5 hours after dark, but was rewarded for my patience.

I fished the King River with bait last Sunday afternoon. I was with my friend Sonny. I bait fished, and Sonny used a combination of bait during the afternoon and lures at sunset.

Between us we caught 1 carp around 50cm long on worms and 1 tiny trout cod, also on worms. 4 fishing rods for 3 hours and we caught 2 fish.

Waranga Basin

Mick Marshall fished the Waranga Basin with his friend Heidi last week where they managed to catch a few nice sized redfin. Mick was trolling from his boat, and although he didn’t catch very many fish he caught some nice ones and got a feed of redfin.

It was quality over quantity for Mick and Heidi.