Trellys Fishing Report
The Bellarine Peninsula
The King George Whiting bite inside the bay is still going strong with some great fishing on offer with yet again soft plastics dominating the fish. The current hot lure still remains to be the Gulp Hollow Belly Worm with the addition of stinger hooks to help stick them. Fishing the tide changes has definitely helped but the fish seem to be biting most of the day. The spoil Grounds next to Alcoa Pier right through to Clifton Springs with bag limit captures on offer and some fantastic sized fish too. Calamari remain in good numbers along the Peninsula with plenty of them holding from Clifton Springs all the way down to Queenscliff. Yamashita and Shimano jigs prove to be a standout jig at the moment.
Offshore
Offshore has still got plenty of fishing options on offer with the snapper still going strong in the deeper water and the pelagic species starting to really heat up. The Snapper are still being caught out in 50 metres of water with bait fishos and anglers dropping jigs all finding great success. Jigs do seem to be the standout at the moment landing the better quality fish and slightly better numbers. Gummy Sharks are also in good numbers in similar areas too. Bluefin Tuna remain a popular target species offshore with large numbers flocking offshore to get stuck into the local action. Trolling skirted lures with the aid of a spreader bar and diving lures doing some serious damage. When the fish are often sighted on the surface, slowly approaching them and launching surface lures into them has been a lethal tactic also. Yellowtail Kingfish are also in respectable numbers along the coast with most anglers picking them up either in the jig or casting topwater lures into the schools on the surface. Even casting blind off Charlemont reef in 20m of water with poppers has been raising fish to the top. Other anglers have also been heading down the coast and finding good numbers of Mako Sharks starting to show up, drifting with a heavy burley trail in the deeper water has been raising plenty of fish.
Otway Rivers and Streams
The Otway’s have been fishing very well over the past week with anglers landing great numbers of Brown Trout on both fly and spin tackle. Adam from Trellys Geelong had a crack over New Year’s landing plenty of fish on fly as well as an Australian Grayling, a rare capture.
Goulburn River
Plenty of fish have been caught this week with many locals and tourist coming into our Shepparton store. There has been a lot of cod and Yellowbelly caught on bait with heaps of fish caught using Scrubworms and Trellys chicken.Another bait technique that has been successful this week has been bobbin yabbies around snags. Some locals have been fishing live yabbies like a football jig or just reaching out with their rod and bobbin the baits next to snags. There are heaps of small carp in the river at the moment so we are now seeing a trend of lures that match the hatch. Some like cod have been caught mimicking these small carp with small swimbaits or divers in a silver colour. Small wake baits have also been great this week as a lot of these schools are active on the surface. There has yet again been some solid trout being caught in the upper Goulburn. Small spinners have worked great for those chasing both rainbow and brown trout. Small Strike Tiger nymphs and X-Rap 4s have been other lures accounting for good sized fish. Bait fishing by floating worms and power baits has again been a great method chasing these quality fish.
Broken River
It’s been a golden week in the broken with heaps of Yellowbelly reported. Lure fishing has been the stand out with single bladed Bassman's or small square bills working best. We are getting some reports of Yellowbelly and cod being caught on weedless fish traps also in a carp colour. Bait fishing reports have also been regular with fresh shrimp and Scruby's working best.
Lake Mulwala
Mulwala is full of activity with plenty of boats on the water during the holiday periods but this has not affected the fishing. We are getting reports of plenty of cod being caught with trolling being one of the best methods. We have had some reports from those Trolling along the original river drop offs with Balista Smoke 80s, 25ft Old Mates and Big Cod Dogs with some cod reported up to 90cms. The Topwater bite has been there with some monster cod caught on the new Bassman Wake Walkers up around Bundalong. Bait fishing from both the Yarrawonga & Mulwala foreshores has been another great way to spend your time at Mulwala with Bardi grubs being the best cod bait and Scrub worms working well for Yellowbelly. If you're looking for something different on your Mulwala trip, we have been hearing reports that the Mulwala channel has been fishing well for Yellowbelly and cod with Tn60s in brown dog or peacock working best.
Lake Hume
There has been some huge Redfin and Yellowbelly reported this week at Lake Hume. Trolling for Redfin with Balista Smoke 65s or RMG crazy deeps in bright colours such as pink or orange has seen Redfin up to 40cms caught. There are still plenty of smaller Redfin active in schools and it’s not uncommon to get 2 fish on one lure when trolling. The big Yellowbelly have been mostly caught in the trees vertically grubbing trees with black gulps on 7gr black Bassman jig heads.Some locals have reported a lot of tail taps on their plastics so rigging a stinger has upped their catch rates of Yellowbelly when they don’t fully engulf the lures. Bobbin yabbies or drifting worms in the trees has also been a method for those chasing Yellowbelly. Bait fishing has not only been successful in the trees but also off the banks with many Redfin still being caught on night crawlers with grassy banks the best spots.
