Trelly's Fishing Report
Bellarine Peninsula, Queenscliff, Surf Coast, Lake Eildon, Shepparton Lakes, Goulburn River, Shepparton Region Channels, Waranga Basin, Loddon River/Cairn Curran, Campaspe River / Lake Eppalock, Bendigo Family Fishing Lakes
Goulburn River
The Goulburn River has been fishing extremely well over the past week with plenty of great fish getting caught including some great captures of fish around and over the metre mark. Bait fishing has been the best method of catching these bigger fish especially throughout the day when they have been shut down a bit because of the heat we had over the weekend. Cheese and Chicken have been the most successful baits for getting onto some great sized Cod out of the Goulburn.
Will Pyke (Pictured Left) Caught this 92cm Cod out of the Goulburn north of Shepparton on Cheese over the weekend, will reported that Mozzarella Cheese was the stand-out bait with half a dozen more Cod caught around 60cm in the same session as this bigger fish.
Surface lures in the Early morning have been the most successful for the lure fishos with pre-dawn starts being the Key. around Murchison has been a good place to start however there have also been some great reports from the Rafterys Road area. Yellowbelly have also been getting caught on shrimp and medium sized Yabbies around Murchison and Toolamba.
Broken River and Broken Creek
The Broken River has been fishing alright with some good numbers of Cod getting caught between Gowangardie Weir and Benalla on surface lures and spinnerbaits throughout the day once the weather warms up. There have also been some nice Yellowbelly getting caught on spinnerbaits while targeting Cod.
The Broken Creek has seen some nice numbers of Yellowbelly getting caught on mid sized spinnerbaits such as pirate 1/2oz willow blades and Bassman shortys. Bright coloured spinnerbaits have been working the best including Green/Yellow and black with Orange tips.
Nagambie
Nagambie got hit hard over the long weekend causing most of the fish to shut down especially north of the Nagambie Waterski club. Around the Wineries saw some good numbers of mid sized cod getting caught mostly on bait such as Chicken, Yabbies and Cheese. Fishing in the morning before the main heat kicked in was the key to getting into some alright numbers of fish. Adam Watt Landed this 97cm chunk of a Murray Cod at Nagambie over the long weekend.
Yellowbelly around Nagambie are best targeted around some of the willow trees with shrimp and scrubbies however there are still plenty getting caught on Yabbies on the usual likely looking fallen timber along the river banks.
Waranga Basin
The Redfin have finally fired up at Waranga Basin, there have been excellent numbers of fish landed in a single session, however it has been a struggle sifting through all of the smaller fish to find a bigger one. Once worked out there are plenty of Redfin over 40cm getting caught with some reports of 45-48cm fish landed too. Most fish have been getting caught in quite shallow water early in the morning and then off of the drop offs as the weather warms up throughout late morning and mid-day. Casting soft vibes and blades such as Ecogear ZX43’s and aaaaaaaaa as well as bobbing ice jigs amongst the schools has been the best method of landing a good amount of fish. Sounding around until you find a solid school and then working on them to create a feeding frenzy has been the best method for most anglers.
Shepparton Region Channels
The Channels around Stanhope have been fishing well for Redfin and Yellowbelly over the past week with some good numbers of Redfin getting caught along with some great sized Yellowbelly amongst them. Casting Ecogear ZX43’s and ZX40’s around drop bars has been the key to finding a good batch of fish.
Lake Eildon
There have been plenty of nice fish getting caught out of Eildon over the last week from Redfin to Cod. Murray Cod have been getting caught around Jerusalem Creek, The Main Arm and In the Goulburn arm. Throughout the morning surface lures in some of the shallow bays and flats have been producing good Cod and then progressing to big spinnerbaits along the rocky edges as the sun rises has been producing some great fish. The team from Victorian Inland Charters have been getting their customers onto some great Cod out of Eildon including this true beast that Theo Caught on a Spinnerbait. Measuring 110cm with a massive gut that Eildon Cod are renowned for.
In Eildon Yellowbelly have been getting caught out of the Deletite arm on Yabbies and vibes cast towards the rocky points or standing timber later in the day. Working the edges and finding sections with good feed has also helped with landing some solid fish. There have also been some nice Redfin getting caught around Bonnie Doon off of trees in around 6m of water. With the water dropping there are new trees and structures getting exposed daily which is helping provide a few more nice trees to tie up to and target a good feed of Redfin.
Loddon River
The Loddon is still fishing great from below Cairn Curran through to Serpentine. Water clarity around Bridgewater is very clear, so make sure if you’re using spinnerbaits, let them sink all the way to the bottom as a majority of these fish are being caught on the drop. There are plenty of Yellowbelly around at present so using spinnerbaits or baits like fresh shrimp and scrubbies have been a great way to catch a few of these fish.
Local angler Bailey was able to head out and find a healthy fish recently landing it on a Jackall Eruption Jr. 1/2oz. Now stocked at Trellys Bendigo.
Early mornings or late afternoons still seem to be the most productive times to get out and land that good fish.
Bryce from Trelly's Bendigo also made the most of his time out on the water landing 2 nice sized YellowBelly on Spinnerbaits.
Cairn Curran
Anglers trolling around the yacht club have had good success using small hard bodies such as small codgers in bright colours, these lures are accountable for numerous amounts of good sized Golden Perch or Murray Cod.
Occasional redfin are starting to be caught while trolling with RMG Poltergeist crazy deep. Once you’ve found a school try casting plastics such as your strike tiger nymphs in orange spawn. It’s also worth casting a rapala x-rap jig into these schools to get good numbers. There have been some reports of some good quality Redfin getting caught.
Fishing from the bank around the rocky ledges and close to the trees, anglers have been rewarded with some good sized YellowBelly taken on scrub worms or small yabbies.
Campaspe River
The Campaspe is fishing well at present with a lot of smaller Cod being caught. Anglers walking the banks have had great success using 1/2oz or 5/8oz spinnerbaits in the Bassman Codman range. Cast as close as possible to the snags with a nice slow retrieve and you should be in with a good chance. Local anger Peter was able to get out during the week and catch a nice little cod on the Trellys exclusive Stumpjumper.
Anglers have also seen plenty of YellowBelly being caught on small hard bodies such as your 70mm Australian Crafted lures, brighter colours working well.
Bait fishing from the bank has seen anglers rewarded with some good sized cod caught on trellys special chicken, or scrub worms fished from the bank. Plenty of Carp, Redfin, Cod and Yellowbelly are being taken.
Lake Eppalock
Lake Eppalock has really come alive over the last few weeks! If you’re after a good feed of redfin these fish can be found in good schools in around 20-30ft depth. The best way to locate these schools is to keep your eye on your sounder and troll with a small hard body. Once you’ve hooked up go back over the area and anchor up. Try using ice jigs or gillies bobbins and you should end up with a good amount of fish. A majority are small, but there's always a few bigger ones mixed in amongst them.
If chasing Yellowbelly try Jackall Mask Vibes along the rocky ledges and you should be in with a good chance, alternatively it is also worth trying to bob plastics around trees, the Gulp black Minnow has been a great option around this structure and has seen plenty caught this summer. Also there are a lot being picked up trolling White RMG poltergeist crazy deep. John from Kyneton Angling club landed this football of a Yella on a purple Stumpjumper over the long weekend.
The mighty Murray Cod in Lake Eppalock has been very hard to come by. Some lucky anglers that have put in the time have got these fish along the rocky banks trolling bigger sized lures such as your Cod Dog’s or 90mm Australian Crafted.
Bendigo’s Family Fishing Lakes
In Crusoe Res The water has risen in recent weeks which has put water over the reeds and rocks on the side of the banks. The Redfin have started to slowly come on the bite around the rock walls and around the grassy/weedy fronts. Casting small 2.5” plastics such as your daiwa bait junkie in brighter colours has seen some anglers rewarded with some reddies measuring around 30cm.
If bait fishing try using powerbait in sherbet to increase your chances of catching some stocked trout.
Lake Waroona still sees plenty of carp being caught, the best way to catch these fish is a very small sinker and small hook. Bait of choice is fresh worms, corn or bread.
Lake Tom Thumb still has plenty of Redfin moving around. These fish are relatively small in size and a lot of these fish are being caught on a small sinker and hook. Worms seem to be the bait of choice. Alternatively casting spinners such as your celta’s has also been a great option to catch these redfin.
Bellarine Peninsula
King George Whiting remained a popular target species for anglers with the whole Bellarine peninsula producing some good results. Clifton Springs seems to be the best location at the moment, although the fish aren’t getting into any record breaking size they are in good numbers and not a far drive from the ramp at all. Calamari are still holding in good numbers around the same area as the whiting, in particular over the weed beds in around 3.5 metres with natural and pink coloured jigs working best.
‘The Rip’
‘The rip’ has had a few exciting reports this past week with a few Yellowtail Kingfish starting to pop up and some quality fish amongst them too. Jigging and live baiting have been the preferred methods to target them and there seems to be a few quality fish amongst them too. Australian Salmon have been in good numbers inside the rip with boats trolling white occy skirts finding plague numbers of fish. Ranging in size from about 600g to 2 kg they sure do make up some great fun and fantastic bait.
Offshore Barwon Heads
Offshore Barwon heads is still where all the fishing hype is at the moment with the Bluefin tuna and kingfish still being on the top of most angler’s priority list. Tuna are still be quite difficult to catch but persistence is definitely the key. Lachlan and Ken Oliver made the most of the good weather on Sunday getting amongst the local tuna action with Rapala X-rap Extremes being their preferred lure. Casting lures into the surfacing schools has also been producing plenty of fish but as mentioned persistence is definitely the key with the boats putting in the most casts getting the most fish.
Kingfish still seem to be holding in crazy numbers right along the coast with fish ranging between 55- 70cm in some of the best numbers we have seen in recent years with plenty of larger fish amongst them too. Trolling occy skirts and jigging have been the two main techniques to target them but when the fish are on the surface then top water lures are the way to go.
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