Oct 09, 2026

Trellys Fishing Report 9th October 2026

After battling quite a nasty head cold for over a week, I finally found some time to go on some decent fishing adventures this week.

I have managed to catch fish in most places that I fished, but carp seem to be making up quite a lot of my catches at the moment. It’s amazing how prolific they become after a flood event.

Ovens River

I have fished in a couple of spots along the Ovens River this week. I’ve fished in the main river and in a couple of tributaries and anabranches.

I can’t believe the number of carp that I have been catching, some of which have been very large.

One large carp spurted out a heap of eggs as I was dispatching it. I think I caught it just in time. No doubt there are thousands of others about to drop their eggs that won’t get caught, unfortunately.

I have also caught a few Murray cod as a by-catch while angling with worms. I refuse to cast lures into the Ovens River system during the spring months. My theory is that the cod that I catch on worms are cod that are actively feeding. Cod hitting lures are more likely to be aggressive cod chasing a threat away from their eggs. A bit like a magpie swooping people near its nest.

If my theory is right, I only catch hungry cod and not spawning cod. Nobody will ever know, I guess, but it makes sense to me.

I also leave my known cod baits like cheese, large yabbies, etc. at home until December and mostly just fish with worms in the hope of catching a Yellowbelly. Despite doing all of this, Murray cod still turn up regularly in the closed season and are quickly unhooked and released, occasionally after a quick photo.

Waranga Basin and Greens Lake

I fished the Waranga Basin on Wednesday afternoon. I went to Greens Lake and Lake Cooper first. Both lakes are very shallow. Lake Cooper is pretty much unfishable and will likely dry up early in summer. Greens Lake still has water in it, but it is very low and I did not catch any fish in the half an hour that I was there.

Waranga Basin is looking great. It’s pretty much full and the dirty water is slowly settling and clearing up.

The fishing was slow, but I did manage to catch 4 small redfin right on sunset. There was no standout lure. I caught one each on a soft plastic and a bullet minnow, and 2 on a bladed spinner.

I was talking to a local there that said there have been quite a few nice Yellowbelly caught near one of the inlet channels, and then this morning I saw a photo of a lovely Yellowbelly caught near an inlet channel.

So there are a few Yellas biting near the inlet channels at the Waranga Basin, and a few small redfin late in the day around the edges of the lake.

Murray River

The Murray River seems to be fishing very well through all open sections of river at the moment.

I fished it at Howlong and Rutherglen earlier this week. I caught carp at both places, one of which was 78cm long.

I was fishing in the middle of the day though, with full sun on the water. I suspect that had I fished until sunset I may have had more chance of catching a better quality fish.

The Murray River upstream of Lake Mulwala is quite dirty at the moment. Lake Hume has had the plug put back in after a small release of water recently, and the river is flowing with dirty flood water from the Kiewa River.

As these flood waters recede, I suspect water releases will increase from Lake Hume and the Murray River will start to clear up.

Down around Mildura, Fred and Helen from the YouTube channel “Aussies” have been catching some fantastic Yellowbelly, along with no shortage of carp. This channel really is so Aussie. A lovely couple of retired Aussies living their best lives catching some terrific fish. Have a look at the great fishing they have been experiencing in the Murray River in the Mildura area:

Just a reminder that the Murray River is closed to ALL forms of fishing between Yarrawonga and Tocumwal at the moment until the 1st of December.