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
Fishing and Boating News
Work Began this week on the New Native Fish Hatchery just outside of Shepparton. The new hatchery will expand Victoria’s breeding and stocking of warm water native fish including Murray cod, golden perch, silver perch and freshwater catfish. The new hatchery will future proof Victoria’s future stocking program and, is expected to be operational by late 2021 and producing fish by 2022.
Goulburn River
The Goulburn has been fishing slowly with a bit of black water being pushed down it earlier this week. Around Shepparton there are still a few people getting onto some smaller Cod on baits such as Chicken and Cheese. Bait fishing around the Boulevard and behind Aquamoves have been the best areas. Around Toolamba and Murchison there are still a few fish getting caught off the top in the morning and on shallow divers throughout the day. In the Goulburn around Seymour there have been some good numbers of mid-sized Cod getting caught on Chicken and Cheese. Peter from Seymour has been landing plenty of nice fish including this one he caught on Chicken last week.
Shepparton Region Local Lakes
The Local Lakes around Shepparton have been fishing well for Redfin and Yellowbelly. Victoria Lake in Shepparton has had some alright numbers of Redfin getting caught while casting Keitech Soft plastics rigged with a Bassman Beetle spin. Using a kayak or small tinny to get to the centre of the lake has been the key to getting onto the Redfin out of Victoria Lake. Kialla Lakes have been fishing alright with some good numbers of Yellowbelly getting caught while casting small hardbodies near the willow trees. Clay got this nice Yella out of Kialla's Main Lake on Tuesday while casting a 55mm Codger.
Waranga Basin
Waranga Basin has been fishing well with plenty of Redfin getting caught while trolling in the shallow areas of the lake. Double Clutches and Shallow Rapalas in white have been going extremely well with two and sometimes even three fish being landed on a single lure (don’t ask me how that works but we’ve seen photos to prove it). Continually trolling over sections where you’ve had success or anchoring up and working plastics like Keitech 2” Easy Shiners in white or dropping baits has helped with getting onto good numbers of fish. Most Redfin are fairly small but there have been some bigger ones amongst them. Soft vibes and Ecogear ZX40 Blades have been working well with Tempting the bigger fish. Shane got this mid 40’s Redfin on a Nomad Vertrex Swim while casting at a School of Redfin in shallow water.
Nagambie
We had a report out of Nagambie of a 96cm Cod and 75cm Cod caught by the same angler within 20 minutes of each other. These two fish were caught out of the same hole on the river showing that there are still plenty of great fish on the go at Nagambie right now. Bait fishing has been a great way to get a few fish on the board. Bardi Grubs and Chicken are both great baits for around the Nagambie region. When bait fishing from the boat it pays to take that little extra time to tie up both ends of the boat which stops you from spinning and keeps your baits in the strike zone for longer.
Mulwala
Central Vic Lure Casters hosted a pro series event at Mulwala over the weekend which saw good numbers of Cod getting caught, there were a lot of mid-sized Cod getting caught on spinnerbaits with the bigger fish for the comp going around 80cm. Most of the bigger Fish have been getting caught after dark on either swimbaits or surface lures such as the Coddog Surface lures. Jed Griffin had a great night last week catching this 112cm tank on a swimbait at Mulwala.
Bundalong
Bundalong has been fishing well with some nice fish coming in on both bait and lures. Baits such as Bardi grubs and Yabbies are a good start but chicken and Mozzarella cheese are both handy to have in the boat. Trolling along the edges has been successful with size 1 Stumpjumpers and 15ft Old Mates. Casting spinnerbaits such as 4D double Colorado in White or brown have been going alright along with Surface lures cast in the late afternoon and into the night. James Woods landed this new PB of 86cm while fishing at Bundalong over the weekend.
Loddon River
Clarity in the Loddon river around Newbridge and Laanecoorie is rather poor. Anglers are having success on lures that contain a rattle such as your 90mm Australian Crafted. During early mornings and late afternoons surface lures are still having some success. The standout lure at present is the Bassman Aussie Crawler, this lure has a big presence and can help to entice any size cod out of their holes when the water is clean or dirty.
Around Bridgewater the clarity is a little bit better since the recent rains with smaller swimbaits such as your Jackall Chibitarel in brown dog doing the damage. Murray Cod of all sizes find it hard to resist this lure as well as some good sized Yellow belly. Make sure you fish tight around the structure and persist. During the middle of the day spinnerbaits have been doing alright on the drop. If chasing Yellow Belly try using tn60’s all colours seem to be working at present.
If bait fishing and chasing Yellow Belly fresh shrimp on a small hook have been going great. Alternatively chicken has been working great on Murray Cod.
Cairn Curran
Cairn Curran is still fishing great, with good numbers of Yellow Belly being reported from this lake. Trolling around the pine tree area or in front of the yacht club have seen anglers rewarded with some good sized Yellow Belly. The standout lure has been smaller Australian Crafted in 50mm, or the RMG’s in 3m depth. Another option is to move around the trees and drop vibes such as your TN60s or ZX40’s and jig them and try to get fish this way, it has proven to be a very successful way to fish.
Bait fishing has also seen a number of fish caught, the best bait is fresh shrimp or scrubbies fished from the bank.
Campaspe River
Unfortunately this river has also dirtied up since the recent rains. Anglers persisting with casting lures have had some luck on smaller hard bodies such as your 15ft old mates, Trellys Tree Frog Colour has been the pick of choice lately. However if you are able to get out early morning or late afternoon surface lures have also worked relatively well. Pompadours in this river are still going well and are an absolute must for any keen angler to get a Murray Cod off the top.
Bait fishing seems to be the most productive at the moment with the water clarity the way it is, using small hooks and fresh shrimp have seen anglers rewarded with some good sized yellow belly around the elmore weir. In between Axedale and Barnadown anglers using Trellys chicken or fresh yabbies have had some luck on murray cod measuring upwards of 60cm.
Lake Eppalock
Lake Eppalock is fishing well currently with anglers reporting good bags of redfin. Trolling small RMG’s in crazy deep in the Trellys colour (white) has been doing the damage for a lot of anglers recently. The best technique is to troll along in around 15-20ft of water until you’ve located the school then try bobbing for good numbers of fish.
Yellow belly have also started to make another appearance in this lake with anglers having great success trolling australian crafted lures around the rocky ledges or steep drop offs. These fish can also be found stacked up against trees so it is worth trying to use soft plastics and bouncing them around the structure.
Bait fishing has also been a great option from the bank or boat. With anglers catching good fish using small yabbies or big scrubbies.
Bendigo’s Family Fishing Lakes
Little silvers and reddies are being taken on small spinner’s around Crusoe Res. They are best worked around the weed beds or any structure. Fisheries also released a lot of small minnows into this system so using small soft plastic minnow lures have also seen many anglers rewarded with some good sized fish. Bait fishing has been a little slow but people using sherbet powerbait have managed some rainbow trout.
There is always fun to be had chasing carp out at Lake Weeroona. Small hooks on light line is the key, bait of choice is corn or bread. However worms are also an effective bait to entice the carp. Some of these fish measure 80cm plus!
Lake Tom Thumb has also seen small redfin caught using spinners. Bait fishing has seen big carp also caught using corn.
Geelong Inner and Outer Harbour
Some quality fish showing up around all parts of the bay this week with Pinky Snapper dominating the reports from the inner and outer harbour. The inner harbour has been holding good numbers of fish tight to the structure from the Yacht Club right through to the north shore being the best location. Worm style plastics such as gulp turtleback worms are a safe bet when targeting snapper in these areas and are heaps of fun pulling them out of the sticks, there is also great access for smaller boats, kayaks or if you're trying to escape the weather. The outer harbour has also had a few quality fish on the go with Clifton springs being the current hot spot with snapper to 60cm showing up in reasonable numbers.
Curlewis Bank/ Portarlington
Calamari are also still holding in good numbers along the Curlewis bank and towards Portarlington, in the same areas as mentioned in previous reports. Basically over weed beds between 3-4.5 metres is going to be the safest bet in finding squid and once again natural coloured jigs working very well.
Offshore Barwon Heads
Offshore has still been giving anglers plenty of options with multiple species still biting very well. The tuna are still generating lots of attention with plenty of success being had amongst the boats, trolling skirted lures behind spreader bars once again remains to have the most successful technique. Casting stick baits into the schools of fish on the surface has too been producing the goods with plenty of tuna still being caught doing that and once again Maria pop queens proving the number 1 slayer.
Kingfish reports are still coming through and showing no sign of easing up with still plenty of good captures getting around. Marking fish holding deep and dropping jigs on their Heads has been very effective in getting stuck into the action with depths between 25-50 metres over reef structure holding plenty of fish. As well as jigging, dropping live baits and squid strips down should result in plenty of fish as well.
Otway Streams
The Otway streams have been a fantastic option as of late with the average weather we have been coping as it allows you to escape it and still get your fishing fix. The Cumberland river has been a popular location for Brown Trout, casting small shallow running minnow lures upstream is definitely the way to go and is tonnes of fun.