Trellys Fishing Report
Corio Bay
Near glass seas, bays and lakes saw anglers spread right across the region. Keeping it local the Geelong waterfront and other local landbased hot spots were offering some good fishing for small Australian Salmon and Pinky Snapper. If fishing off the rocks, Bluebait, Pilchards and Squid are proving to be great baits or if fishing near structure its well worth giving Soft Plastics a run as they prove time and time again to work very well.
Bellarine Peninsula
The Reports of the Bellarine Peninsula over the weekend were certainty hot and cold amongst the many boats out there. Having such calm and clear water with lots of boat traffic deffinitly makes it challenging but some anglers proved that theory wrong with some great captures. Clifton Springs right through to St Leonards had King George Whiting on the go, again some boats either gone none or a few and some bagged so it was quite patchy. Same goes for the Calamari, some anglers smacked them and others struggled.
Southern Port Phillip Bay
The South Channel offered some quality Gummy Shark fishing this past week with some solid reports coming through of anglers landing some good sharks. Fishing the tides with fresh baits like Salmon and Calamari (plenty around to catch at the moment) should see you in for a good shot to land a few.
Queenscliff
The Queenscliff Bight is starting to fire up with the Giant Calamari that come in every year to spawn with reports of some serious models being landed. Fishing the slack tide is the key time to be in the area with either big artificial jigs like a size 4.0 or baits like small salmon, Silver Whiting and if you willing to sacrifice a King George Whiting they are amazing baits.
Offshore Barwon Heads has seen a pretty hot run of Barrel Tuna come through and holding out the front of the heads. Anglers Trolling skirted lures have been finding the best success and also dropping pilchards on bait balls has been working well too. Stefan Uzur from Trellys Geelong landed a nice fish last week weighing in at 140kg.
The Barwon Estuary has had a good bite of Silver Trevally this weekend with landbased anglers actually having the best success, in particular the Sheepwash area and the Barwon Heads boat ramp. Bit of Burley in the water helps with small baits or soft plastics should result in a few fish!
Goulburn River
The late season Cray reports are still coming in with some big Crays caught in the Goulburn this past week.
There hasn’t been just 1 stand out area as we have had reports from many locations such as Toolamba, Moira Park, Shepparton and down towards Bunbartha.
The late season cray run has crossed over with some early season Yellowbelly reports.
It’s still pretty early for the spring Yellowbelly bite but this week has been the best week for reports in months.
Scrub worms have been the best baits with some legal sized yellas caught around Murchison.
Trolling in Shepparton behind the Shepp Lake has also been a great way to chase Yellowbelly with numerous reports coming in this week.
It’s almost cod closure time but we have had reports of some bigger cod being caught around the 70cm mark off the top also in Murchison. With a couple weeks left we suggest if you’re chasing a decent cod then go big with your lure choices.
Irrigation Channels
There has been an early run of Yellowbelly in the channels as they start to fill back up. Like last week Spinnerbaits around bridges seems to be the best way to chase them along with in the flow downstream of drop bars.
Those fishing with bait have reported Yellowbelly also feeding shallow around rocky banks and weed. Having your bait either drifting or the ability to float about the bottom is the key as you don’t want your worms to get caught up in the flow and pushed into the rocks or weed.
The period of refilling is also a great time to chase Redfin with this being the best bite period in previous years. ZX43 blades in black are a favourite this time of the year as the extra weight makes the blade easier to work in the flow.
Arcadia Fish Out Pond
There is still trout being caught in the pond with a hand full of reports coming in this week. Small soft plastics and power baits has been the best way to target these trout with the fish holding a bit deeper in open water.
We also had a report of a couple of cod caught on chicken this week and one on a square bill hard body with these cod being caught around the trees.
Lake Eildon
There has been some promising trout reports lately with trolling pink Tassie devils being the best way to chase the trout.
There has not been any stand out area of the lake with most just covering water until they find an active area then just focusing on those areas.
There has been some big cod caught recently at Eildon with live sonar and big plastics being the combination reported regularly.
This new technology has changed the way many fish at Eildon and the numbers of big fish seem to be growing year upon year.
If your not using live then you can just focus on areas that are holding bait which can be picked up on most fish finders.
Trolling big divers has also been a great way to target cod recently with some cod around 80cms reported later trolling during the middle of the day
Lake Eppalock
Fishing with lures from the boat, casting along the rocky banks or over the grass beds has seen a number of yellow belly being caught recently. Lure’s such as your Jackall mask vibes in 60 and 70mm have worked really well. The most popular colours at the moment seem to all be dark in colour. The odd Yellow belly has also been caught using black Gulp grubs around trees or bobbing blades. Bank fishing has also been having some great luck around rocky ledges casting small hard bodies. Bait fishing has seen a few decent redfin caught but from most reports they have been average size using worms.
Serpentine
A few local anglers have had some luck recently using weedless soft plastics around the 7” size getting some good-sized cod. No real word on any yellas just yet but hopefully with he weather starting to turn those warmer days may start producing some nice fish, ½ - 5/8 single willow spinners baits will most likely do very well
Cairn Curren
Some Yellow Belly have been getting caught around the yacht club trolling small hard bodies such as your Australian Crafted 50mm. These lures get down nice and deep and will be key to being in the strike zone for a good Yellow Belly. Another good option to try is around the pine trees near the wall, the depth there is deep and does hold good fish. If chasing redfin try using lures such as your RMG’s to try to pick up where the school is then bounce soft plastics or vibes through the school. Bait fishing with worms has worked ok for good numbers of yellow belly, unfortunately a lot of the fish are smaller in size being around 30-35cms. Try bait around trees or around rocky ledges. Bait fishing from the bank has also been a great option with late afternoons being a standout time to target these fish. Small 1/0 hooks with a scrub worm will be best.
Campaspe River
The water clarity in this river is pretty good with reports of yellow belly being taken around the Elmore weir and around Barnadown on small spinnerbaits such as your Bassman Compact series in brighter colours. Another one that is working great at the moment is the bassman jaw knocker 3/8oz in brighter colours. Cast these lures tight to structure and around the reedy edges and you should be in with a great chance of landing a nice yellow belly. Bait fishing has also been working great in this river with fresh shrimp an absolute standout. However shrimp still aren’t out in great numbers but if you’re able to get a few they make great bait. I’ve had reports of some yellow belly being caught up to 55cm in recent times. Late afternoon seems to be the standout time to target these fish.
Bendigo family lakes
Crusoe
The lake is very clear at present with trout being taken on a running sinker rig with a very small hook with a bit of powerbait. The most popular one is sherbet followed closely by rainbow bait. Small spinners such as your Vibrax have caught some good trout in the lake as well as the odd redfin. Bait fishing with worms has also been doing ok but no substantial catches.
Weeroona
Still fishing quite slow not much to go off here, the odd carp and redfin but not great size or numbers.
Tom Thumb
A few good sized redfin one the weekend using 3” plastics and a few large carp were caught in the afternoon. Parts of this lake you can actually sight cast the carp put the lure a bit past the fish as to not spook it then try and work the plastic or lure across its path, this can be a really fun way to fish on light gear, strike tiger 1.5” grubs are a great option for this.
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