Trellys Fishing Report January 16, 2026
Trellys Fishing Report 16th January 2026
Since I compiled my last fishing report we have had extreme heat and widespread bushfires. My heart goes out to everybody that has been impacted by these fires.
I want to write a little about the impact of bushfires on our fisheries, from my observations having experienced a lot of bushfires in my area over the last 25 years.
From what I have noticed, immediately after the bushfires the streams are fine. The springs that feed the streams tend not to get burnt as they are wet. However, the riparian vegetation along the streams gets burnt out leaving a lack of bugs and other food for the fish.
The first step to recovery is rain, but only light rain. Heavy rain will wash too much ash and debris into the streams which can cause problems.
The fire zones need light rain, enough to stimulate plant growth which will help hold the ground together when heavy rains turn up.
In the past, many of my favourite trout streams have burnt out, but have made a full recovery. At the same time, thunderstorms with heavy rain after bushfires have caused fish kills in the Upper Murray River (2019) the Buckland River (2003) and to a lesser extent, on the Buffalo River (2006 and 2019)
In all cases, the fishing has recovered, some spots just quicker than others and some required some intervention by fisheries officers such as trout recovery stocking in the Buckland River and Macquarie Perch relocation in the Buffalo River.
So hopefully we can start off with some light rain over the fire zones before any heavy rain turns up.
Now onto my fishing report for this week…
Ovens River
The Ovens River fished quite slowly for a couple of weeks after the flush that moved through at Christmas time. In the last week it has started fishing quite well for Murray cod again. It isn’t fishing as well as it did in December, it never really does at this time of the year but it certainly has improved with some quite nice sized Murray cod turning up.
I even managed to catch nice 64cm Murray cod myself, on a Blue Dog Diver Lure.
Blue Dog Divers can be found here: https://www.trellys.com.au/products/blue-dog-diver?_pos=1&_sid=ddc4c901e&_ss=r&ref=i68jzcdpol2e
As we get deeper into summer the Ovens River will likely become more “hit and miss” which is a pattern that will continue throughout autumn.
Kiewa River
The Kiewa River has been fishing quite well for Murray cod, particularly downstream around Kergunyah.
I have heard one report of some “big trout” being caught up closer to Mt Beauty. That is all I know. I am not sure how big, or what they were caught on.
Lake Hume
Lake Hume is ticking over nicely as it has been for most of the summer with Yellowbelly, Redfin and of course carp being caught. These fish have been caught on both bait and lures, and by boat and shore-based anglers.
Lake Hume is currently at 34% capacity. The upside to it being so low is that there is more room for people to spread out and find somewhere quiet to fish.
Waranga Basin
I finally made my way over to the Waranga Basin this week. While over there I fished the Waranga Western Channel and Greens Lake too. I will report on them separately below.
The fishing started off slow. I caught my first redfin around 30 minutes after I started and it was tiny.
About an hour before sunset small redfin started busting up. I managed to catch around 12 – 15 tiny redfin on a Strike Tiger nymph soft plastic in “Whitebait Pearl” colour.
Right on sunset I put on a TT switchblade lure to help me cast out further and caught a nice redfin around 28cm and a nice Yellowbelly around 40cm.
When I say caught… both fish got off at my hand, but I am still counting them!
Greens Lake
I was surprised by how much water is still in Greens Lake at Corop. I waded out chest deep and fished for half an hour but didn’t catch any fish.
There is certainly still enough water in there to make the lake a viable fishing option. I can’t help but think that my luck would have been better had I stayed until dark. But I wanted to be at the Waranga Basin then.
Waranga Western Channel
I fished the Waranga Western Channel at 3 locations between Corop and Rushworth. The fishing was extremely slow. I managed to catch just 1 tiny redfin on a Strike Tiger nymph soft plastic.
Murray River
The Murray River has been fishing well in numerous locations, but this week I have seen a couple of photos of nice Murray cod caught around the Albury area including the magnificent fish caught by Adam Forbes below Lake Hume, pictured below. Well done Adam.
