Trellys Fishing Report
St Augustines
School holidays are here and there sure is plenty of fishing options available. Starting off with the local watering hole, St Augustine’s in Belmont has been stocked and topped up with Rainbow Trout read to be caught! Fishing either the bank or jetty with a light running sinker rig to a small hook with powerbait for bait will put you in the best shot at a fish. Bit of burley certainty helps as these fish are very tuned to the sound of pellets hitting the water as when they grew up in a hatchery that meant feeding time!
Geelong Waterfront
The Geelong waterfront is another great option to take the family for a fish these holidays as it offers great accessibility and often sheltered from strong winds (if we are given wild weather). Can expect to catch Pinky Snapper, Salmon, Flathead and whiting and often all on the same rig and bait. Can also expect Garfish to rock up in big numbers too so have some pencil floats handy just in case they rock up whilst you’re chasing other species.
Bellarine Peninsula
The Bellarine Peninsula is still offering some solid whiting fishing to anglers still heading out for a feed. St Leonards remains the hotspot for the whiting with still lots of reports coming through of anglers finding bag limit captures and some solid fish amongst them too. Fresh Squid proving yet again to be the standout bait.
Surf Beaches
The Surf Beaches have had some big swell this past week which hasn’t made it easy for the salmon with only few reports coming through but with the swell dropping we can expect it to fire up aging. Casting metal lures and working them back with a medium to fast retrieve usually gets the attention of the cruising salmon and results for a few hook-ups.
Lake Bullen merri
Lake Bullen Merri has come back onto the radar this week with some improved trout fishing as the Tigers come onto the chew. Anglers casting from the bank have been finding some good success with spoon style lures working well and also bent minnows. Anglers Trolling the lakes edges have also been picking up plenty of tiger trout with classic Rapalas and Tassie Devils doing the damage.
Goulburn River
The River is now running high and making all things fishing very tough. There has been a couple of reports of carp being caught in Shepparton up shallow on the freshly flooded banks. Worms and corn have been the best baits for those chasing carp. Cray fishing in the flowing water has been a little difficult lately with little reports coming in due to this. Prior to the river rise the crating was amazing so once the levels settle, we would expect this to be the same so make sure you keep aneye on the levels and get back on the water as soon as they do settle. Up towards Nagambie we are getting a couple of reports of Yellowbelly being caught on scrub worms and also a couple of cod have even been reported with tn60 Jackals being the lure of choice.
Broken River
There have been some local school kids spending plenty of hours on the banks of the broken lately with a hand full of fish reported by these young fellas. Cod on chicken near the foot bridge to Kialla lakes, Yellowbelly on small Spinnerbaits closer to archer street and a heap of carp all along Broken River Drive has been the feedback we have got this week which is great to see especially with the Goulburn running hard.Up towards the weirs there has been a few crayfish caught on chicken while anglers have been targeting cod and again plenty of carp caught around the edges on night crawlers.
Shepparton Lake
The lake is now stocked full of trout for the school holidays and the weather lately has been perfect to target them. The frosty foggy mornings are perfect for the trout with a heap being caught this past week. Floating powerbait and worms near the grass hill has been a hot spot lately for trout with a heap of people targeting this area. Those using lures have been casting small soft plastics around both boat ramps and also the stretch between the Grass hill and the skate park. Trolling from a kayak with Tassie devils has also been a great way to target the trout with the rowing lanes being the best spots to chase a trout on the troll.
Botanical Gardens Dam
The botanical Gardens Dam in Kialla is a great location to take the kids these school holidays with the banks easy to access for kids and adults. We have only ever heard of carp being caught from the dam but don’t let that turn you off because you can catch 4/5 fish in a session fishing the edges.
Unweighted baits in the shallows are a great way to target these carp with worms and corn working great. Those who want to use lures can find plenty of active fish on the edge using both small jerk-baits and small bent minnows. The key is to go super shallow or site cast the carp followed by super slow and subtle movements of your lure. Don’t be scared to pause the lure for 3/5 seconds between movement as the carp will cruise and eat the lure on the pause.
Waranga Basin
The Basin is still producing good numbers of Redfin with some promising reports coming in lately.
Like previous weeks the soft plastics bite has been great with some nice fish being caught slow rolling 2/3-inch soft plastics from both the bank and in a boat. If you’re fishing from the banks, it’s best to keep your rod tip higher just to keep your soft plastic from dragging along the bottom the entire retrieve. Small spinners and jerk-baits have also worked on the edges off the bank with Redfin being caught around bigger rocks and also submerged trees. Trolling DT14s in around 12/15ft of water has been a great way to target some bigger Redfin with fish up to 35cms reported using these lures. Smaller profiled lures such as the 10ft old mate and codgers have been accounting for plenty of numbers of fish with the average side being around the 20/28cm range with the odd 30+ cm Redfin being caught on the smaller lures.
Lake Eppalock
A few nice catches reported this week, the odd cod caught the past week, a 42cm redfin along with a 47cm yellow belly. A couple anglers came across some nice schools of redfin and managed to bring up some solid numbers mostly using worms and blades and ice jigs in about 8m of water. Bank fishing this week was a bit tougher however with catches being few and far between, changing wind directions probably didn’t help but trying to find a protected bay is probably the way to go this weekend if the wind picks up bad. A few more cod encounters with anglers using 7–9-inch soft plastics and 1oz spinnerbaits near rock walls.
Bridgewater
Far quieter this week with only one catch reported to the shop of a 66cm cod that ate a 1oz mumbler. Not to say there wasn’t more fish caught as the last couple weeks it has fished well. If fishing from the bank cheese and chicken is bait of choice, worms / corn if targeting other species like redfin, carp & yellowbelly . Hardbody lures and top water would be our other choice in loud colours.
Serpentine
A bit of rain the past week has made fishing a little tough, no great reports to the shop this week with a few anglers who tried bait did not manage to get onto any fish and few other regular fisho’s tried bank walking casting lures but also did not manage any fish. The water from reports looked good but possibly just too cold. As they say never give up as you never know when the big one will want to eat.
Campaspe River
A few cod this past week on weedless plastics and surface lure’s, The bait junkie plastics being very popular choice lately and the ever popular cod crackers. Both managing to get some nice fish this past week. A few yellowbelly but none of any great size reported. There has been some solid redfin catches the past week on soft plastics.
Cairn Curren
Spinnerbaits seem to be what’s working here for cod, mainly 1oz in white or purple/black. A couple nice cod caught in the lake and a few down at the spillway along with a couple yellow belly and some nice sized trout too on spinners. Redfin catches from the bank are far less at the minute with most of them currently holding in deep water around the 6-8m mark. Lures like the RMG 8m divers are a great little lure for getting down deep.
Bendigo Family Lakes
Trout Trout Trout, reports from Crusoe and Tom Thumb are plenty of trout being caught early morning or late afternoon. Worms, Powerbait, spinners, small hardbodies and soft plastics are all great choices for targeting them, any lure that mimics a rainbow trout is a great option on these stocked fish. A few smaller redfin being caught too but still not in large numbers. If using plastics strike tiger 1.5inch grubs or 1 inch nymphs are great options.