Dec 26, 2025

Trellys Fishing Report 26th December 2025

Well as forecast the extreme heat arrived, followed by a fantastic soaking of rain which may cause a few headaches for anybody heading out fishing over Christmas.
There is nowhere that I am aware of that will not be suitable for fishing, but patches of dirtywater may make it harder to fish with lures.
I do not know exactly where the dirty water will be, but being from Wangaratta I have a fair idea of where it will be in the Ovens River, so make sure you read the Ovens River report below as some other waterways will be similar, particularly those without lakes on them.
Overall I think this rain event was a Christmas gift sent from Heaven to us fisherman.

Goulburn River
The Goulburn River has been fishing red hot lately for both trout and Murray cod with a few Yellowbelly also turning up around the Shepparton area.
My Facebook news feed has been lit up with Murray cod photos from the Goulburn River.
Nobody says exactly where they are fishing which is understandable, but most photos
appear to be from Nagambie all the way downstream.
The cod have been caught on both bait and lures, and have been caught both from the bank and by boat.
Upstream there has been some nice trout caught closer to Eildon, including a monster 15lb rainbow trout that was caught by Michael Lane.
Of all the rivers in the state, I believe that the Goulburn is fishing the best at the moment.

Waranga Basin
There have been a few redfin caught in the Waranga basin recently, some of which have
been decent enough to keep for a feed. There has also been the odd Yellowbelly turning up as well.

Lake Nillahcootie

I have actually had 2 different people tell me that they fished at Lake Nillahcootie recently
and caught absolutely nothing.
It’s hard for me to imagine that there is nothing biting at Lake Nillahcootie at this time of the
year. I wouldn’t hesitate to head over there and go fishing off the bank with a bunch of
worms at the moment, despite the couple of bad reports. It just usually fishes pretty well at this time of the year.

Ovens River

Between 80 to 100mm of rain fell right across the Ovens River catchment in the recent
rains. This has sent a decent flush of water down along the Ovens River. The river in
Wangaratta rose from 8.07 meters to 9.12 meters. That’s a rise of just over a meter.

For the record, I do not know of anywhere along the Ovens River in Wangaratta where the
water is that deep, but that is how the Wangaratta gauge has always read.

As I type it is lunch time on Christmas eve, and the river in Wangaratta has dropped to 8.74meters. It’s dropped over 30cm already and is starting to clear up in town.
Downstream at Peechelba the river is still rising, but most likely about to peak.

So essentially, the flush and dirty from the recent rain is around Peechelba on Christmas eve, so after Christmas the whole river should be falling and clearing up.
The banks will be very muddy for some time after this flush.
I suspect most natural flowing rivers will be the same. Rivers with lakes on them may not
have even had much of a flush as the lakes would have held the water back.

In the week leading up to the flush, the water got quite dark and the fishing had slowed
down a little bit. Fish were still being caught, just not as many.

I was catching quite a few Murray cod on the new 70mm Old Mate from Trelly’s. This is
quickly becoming one of my favourite all round lures for Murray cod and Yellowbelly.

“Fluro Dog” is the colour that has been working for me. It can be found by clicking the link below:
https://www.trellys.com.au/products/old-mate-lures-
70mm?_pos=3&_sid=8a6f60808&_ss=r&ref=i68jzcdpol2e

The day after the rain I fished the lower Ovens River with bait ahead of the flush. The river
looked amazing and the fishing was red hot. I caught 6 Murray cod on bait. 5 on Tasty
cheese and 1 on Jan Juc Worms.
I caught 6 Murray cod, and had no sign of any other fish. No carp, no Yellowbelly, no Trout
cod etc…

Cairn Curran Reservoir
There have been some nice Yellowbelly caught at Cairn Curran recently, along with the odd Murray cod.
The fish have been biting on small vibes (Lures that vibrate).

To find out more, check out Brenton Clarkes latest video where he is fishing with vibes at
Cairn Curran:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjcuiAo2ge4