Trellys Fishing Report

Corio Bay

The weather has settled a little bit but has still made it quite difficult for anglers to get out and chase a fish but anglers that have braved it had pulled some good fish. The Rocks of St Helens have been a good one this week with some nice snapper being landed. Anglers braving the elements launching baits like Pilchards have been landing snapper to 5kg, a good trick is to wrap your baits in bait buddy to ensure they don’t fly off or get damaged on the cast.

 

Bellarine Peninsula

Out the front of Leopold has seen some quality King George Whiting been taken this week as the rough seas have definitely stirred it all up for them. Anglers have been finding large numbers and quality fish in about 4 metres of water. St Leonards has been fantastic location for whiting this past week also with not just reports of lots of fish but some big ones amongst them with baits landing numerous fish over the 40cm mark and getting past 45cm. good feed there!

 

Offshore Barwon Heads

Although the weather has been pretty unfishable the past week and there isn’t anything official to go off but we can expect the Barrels to be out there and pretty hungry. With a few weeks of no pressure they could go bonkers. Might need to burn some fuel to find them but could be very good fishing. 

 

Otway’s

This weekend will be the start of the 2024/25 Victorian Trout Season which means we can go back to fishing for Trout in rivers and streams. The Otway’s each year is a fantastic area to go chase some wild Brown Trout with fantastic scenery. Small shallow diving hardbody lures are a fantastic choice when chasing them, in particular original Rapala F3 and F5’s Smythes Creek would be one of the best systems to fish in the Otways, well worth fishing that one!

 

Goulburn River 

The river is now back running high in Shepparton but just like last year we can use the higher water to our advantage. The early spring time Yellowbelly fishing was great on the initial rise and now the water has settled at this high point it’s now perfect time to target the freshly flooded grassy banks. The Yellowbelly in the past have pushed shallow to feed on these flooded banks. Small square bills, soft plastics and football jigs all worked great last spring when the banks were flooded so we would expect this to be the same. Search for areas with less flow and target the water away from the main fast flowing river. Bait fishing in the shallows can also be great with scrub worms always working great. Floating them or lightly weighting them in backwater is a deadly way to chase Yellowbelly. 

 

Broken River 

 

Just like last week the hot spots have been below both weirs out towards Dookie and Benalla. The flowing water is holding plenty of fish and slow rolling Tn60 jackals working best. Elsewhere along the broken we are getting reports of legal sized Yellowbelly being caught on smaller Spinnerbaits. Night crawlers have been the best baits for those targeting both Yellowbelly and carp with some monster carp being caught lately. As the weather warms up the fishing should continue to improve in the broken and if we get a decent flush of water make sure you target both weirs and the Yellowbelly push upstream to the base of both of them. 

 

 

Irrigation Channels 

 

The Yellowbelly have been on the bite with some big fish reported this week amongst plenty of smaller Yellowbelly around the 30/35cm range. ZX43 blades in black have been working great fishes vertically around drop bars and bridges with a sharp flick of the rod working best just jumping the lure off the bottom.Casting Spinnerbaits and divers around bridges has also been a great way to target Yellowbelly with some nice fish coming from the channel out towards Shepparton east. The inlet channel at the Waranga Basin has also been a great location with some big Redfin being caught on beetle spin rigged soft plastics. Scrub worms have been the stand out baits for Yellowbelly with plenty of reports of Yellowbelly being caught in the main eastern channel. 

 

 

Arcadia Fish Out Pond

 

As the weather warms up, we should start to see more Yellowbelly being caught from the fish out pond with some big Yellowbelly stocked in the dam. In the past Slow rolling Bassman Tubbys has been a great way to chase Yellowbelly in the pond with the lure worked close to the banks best.

Black gulps rolled through the tree branches has also been a great technique for Yellowbelly with some good fish holding tight to the leafy trees. Unweighted bunches of worms and large scrub worms have been great baits for those fishing the pond for Yellowbelly with drifting the worms around the trees a great way to chase fish at the pond. 

 

 

Trout Opening 

 

It’s almost here the 2024/25 trout season is only days away. We have been selling plenty of small divers, spinners and worms to drift in the mountain streams and rivers.So don’t be shy after your weekend on the water come in and brag about your success, we can’t wait to see all your photos and hear your stories.

 

 

GOULBURN RIVER FISHING FESTIVAL 

 

Celebrate the opening of river trout season THIS Saturday at the Goulburn Fishing Festival 2024! On top of 2,000 stonker rainbow trout stocked into the Goulburn River and Eildon Pondage for fishers and their families to catch, Victorian Fishing Authorities have an epic line-up of guests who’ll be on-stage to entertain throughout the day at Lions Park, Eildon. So that you can learn a thing or two, fishing expert Lee Rayner Fishing Edge will be sharing his fishing knowledge live on stage at 10am and 1:40pm, with the opportunity to ask questions. Want to learn how to cook your catch? Our resident chef Gary Constantine will be live on stage with trout cooking demonstrations. There’ll also be live music from talented young local artists from Paul Ray Music Group. 

 

Here’s the stage schedule for the day: 

 

9am – Live music, Clayton Hunter (Paul Ray Music Group) 

10am – Tips and tricks with fishing expert, Lee Rayner 

10:30am – Cooking demonstration with Gary Constantine 

11am - Live music, Ashleigh Davan (Paul Ray Music Group) 

11:30 – Cooking demonstration with Gary Constantine 

12pm – Raffle draw 12:10pm – Live music, Tayla Anne (Paul Ray Music Group) 1:10pm – Cooking demonstration with Gary Constantine 

1:40pm – Tips and tricks with fishing expert, Lee Rayner 

2:10pm – Live music, Amahli Hutchins (Paul Ray Music Group) 

 

 

Lake Eppalock

With the last weeks weather bringing some very poor weather for lake fishing, not many reports have come through. However, prior to the change some good redfin and the odd yellowbelly have been caught.  Trolling has again been the choice while trying to find the schools of redfin that are on the chew, with the RMG Poltergeist in the 8 meter variant being the choice to get down to the fish. Once people have found some schools, flicking a variety of blades and 3 inch plastics has been effective in plucking out good sized reddies and even the odd yella.

 

Campaspe River

A handful of reports on yellowbelly being caught on the warmer days using TN60’s and smaller hardbodies such as codger 10 & 15ft divers or 15ft old mates. Fishing heavily timbered, and skinnier water slowly has proved to be the choice of areas holding fish that are on the chew.

 

Cairn Curran

At the current time, not many reports have been coming from the lakes with the very poor weather and high winds. However, the odd carp and small yellowbelly has been caught off the bank using worms. As the weather calms, fishing the rocky points with TN60s and mask vibes can produce some good numbers of both redfin and yellowbelly as the weather heats up. Trolling these banks will also be an effective way to find schools of redfin and the odd yellowbelly. As the lake is still quite dirty, bait will still be more effective than lure fishing. Dropping worms around trees and drop offs, as for bank fishing, trying to find areas of rocky points and steeper banks will be the choice.

 

Loddon River

 

The system has slowly started to fish better. With smaller hardbodies proving more effective than spinnerbaits. Serpentine has still been fishing slightly better than the rest of the system, with some decent yellowbelly being caught using small hardbodies such as 10ft codgers or similar. Fishing slow and tight to the timber has been the most effective way of getting onto a yellowbelly. Bridgewater has been slightly slower than the surrounding parts of the system. Prior to cod closing the odd cod was caught on bait in front of the caravan park and bridge. Bardi grubs or cheese was the choice of baits. As we come into warmer weather and the yellowbelly start to fire up, flicking TN70s and profishent chainsaws tight to the structure and slowly retrieving will be the choice as the fish slowly start to warm up.

 

Caruso Res

Fishing the rock walls with soft plastics and spinners has both yielded redfin and the odd small trout. Again fishing slowly to entice the bite has be critical. Using 2.5-3inch plastics such as Daiwa bait junkie minnows and curly tails or z man slim Swims have been the choice.