Canberra

CANBERRA

Toby

Grundy A decade or so ago, I rediscovered my passion for fishing after a long absence from the sport. The trigger which lit the fire was a trip to Merimbula wharf in autumn. My wife and I were staying with friends and my mate, in a matter of fact kind of way, mentioned there was a wharf nearby and that his colleagues spoke highly of the fishing. I remember standing on the edge of the wharf, looking down the 5m or so to the water below, then back to my 2-4kg spin stick and wondering how I was going to pull anything up. In the end, I was right to wonder as we hooked and lost three salmon and only managed one small tailor.

Last week, I revisited Merimbula wharf because, yet again, the weather has closed in on Canberra and we are looking at another extended period of tough fishing conditions. The fishing at Merimbula was outstanding. There were marauding salmon smashing surface lures, tailor-crunching divers as well as the usual suspects like trevally, flathead Back to where it all began. There are plenty of salmon about.

The cod are still hitting surface lures.

and bream hitting plastics. In short, it was a brilliant trip and this time, I came prepared and managed to land plenty of big salmon at the wharf.

I think April is going to be a real test for local anglers, and it may be that trips to the coast interspersed between a few lean local sessions might be the secret to keeping keen and positive as we head towards the colder months.

LOCAL LAKES

Lake Burley Griffin is still fishing reasonably well despite the recent rain. Yes, the action has slowed somewhat but there are fish on the chew in a variety of locations across the lake. This is because the fish have to feed heavily to put on condition for the cooler months, and the lake does remain quite stable because of water being constantly released at the Scrivener Dam spillway.

Flash and contrast are the key elements when choosing a lure in a likely location, with a black paddle tail plastic coupled with a beetle spin being my go-to, especially if I’m fishing areas like the rock

wall behind Lennox Gardens. It is here that the golden perch feed most prolifically in the run-up to winter, with dusk being the best time to try this area. If you’re after a cod, there is an interesting stretch of water behind The Boat Shed restaurant, where it is possible to work both really deep and quite shallow sections of the lake. The green fish love this spot because the bait tends to hold just off the shallow rocks. Spinnerbaits are a good choice if you’re fishing this location.

The fishing action on Lake Ginninderra is starting to slow. I had a really productive patch on Lake G throughout summer, but once the heavier rain came through, the fish shut down and it has been harder to coax the better native fish into taking a lure. I went back to the drawing board and

dropped my line and leader down to 6lb braid and 4lb fluoro leader, and downsized my jigheads as well, but this has had little impact. It might be a while before the fishing action on the lake improves because there is more bad weather incoming. Still, Lake Ginninderra is sometimes hard to predict, and it may be that the fish will fire again for a brief period before the cold weather really sets in.

Lake Tuggeranong

copped a lot of rain, but this lake bucks the local trend and does produce even when conditions are terrible. There have been some good cod caught near the dam wall over the last few weeks by bait fishos using yabbies and worms, while the lure fishos have caught a fair few reddies and some golden perch by hitting the dam wall and the bays near the dog park. The Jackall TN60 in peacock is my lure of choice when fishing Lake Tuggeranong during April because the cod and yellas need something

with a little extra noise and shine.

The Murrumbidgee River is in flood again, which is a bit of a shame as it was fishing well through February and into March. It will be some time before the river settles, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities to catch a green fish. I target the quieter backwaters during periods of flood, and though I never catch any really big fish, I do get plenty of smaller fish on spinnerbaits and surface lures. SURROUNDS

Googong Dam has been fishing particularly well for several months now, and this has continued into April. There have been many big cod caught in recent weeks by anglers vertically jigging vibes, and also by those casting swimbaits near recently-submerged timber. The redfin fishing has to be experienced to be believed, with many anglers catching over 100 fish a session. The Googong reds, when in the mood, will hit almost

anything, but wriggler-style plastics in green seem to be the one lure that they will hit again and again. Golden perch tail the reddie schools, especially at this time of year, so size up your leader, especially if you’re fishing from the bank.

Smaller cod are feeding in the back waters.

Googong is really kicking off at the moment.