Great angling opportunities in Bendigo region

BENDIGO

Roger Miles codhuntertours@bigpond.com

Anglers wanting to catch a fish in the Bendigo region are currently being spoilt, with many good options available. It is up to personal preference as to what species you would like to target, and at what location. With the conditions being favourable at most locations, it is just a matter of getting out on the water and doing some bait fishing, or presenting some of your favourite lures to the fish. More often than not, you will be rewarded with some good fishing.

LAKE EPPALOCK

Water clarity is continuing to slowly improve at this location, while water levels are slowly declining. At the time of writing this report, Lake Eppalock was at 94% of capacity, which is exceptional for this time of the year.

The great redfin fishing has continued at this location, with some very high numbers being caught.

Unfortunately, a lot of anglers are only managing to catch small redfin. If you want to catch larger models, you may need to work hard to find them. The bait schools are moving around a lot, and the larger redfin are also moving around, so you may need to cover a fair bit of ground to find a good concentration of larger fish. If you pick a location and you are catching a lot of small fish, don’t stay there too long – 10-15 minutes at the most. Move to another spot, and repeat until you find what you’re after. You may not have to drive to the other end of the lake; if you have suitable structure you may only need to travel a short distance.

The best concentrations of redfin are currently being caught in 2-5m of water. Good lure options have been soft plastics, soft vibes, blades and ice jigs.

Reasonable numbers of golden perch are still being caught. Trolling the edges of the rocky shorelines or around the edges of timber has been productive with small to medium hardbody lures. Trolling 1/2oz single willow-style spinnerbaits has also been effecctive on the golden perch and the occasional Murray cod. Casting lipless crankbaits has been a good option for both species.

The most productive fishing in the Campaspe River has been in the section below Lake Eppalock to the Avonmore Bridge area. The water clarity has been the best in this section.

In this section of the river there are ‘limited access’ areas. Please do the right thing when walking the banks and fishing the river. If there is no public access, always ask permission from the local property owner before fishing the river. Never leave any rubbish behind. Don’t be afraid to pick up any rubbish you see, even if it’s not yours. If you walk through gates, always leave them as you found them. Try not to disturb any stock animals if possible.

The fishing has been good in these shallower sections of river, with good numbers of golden perch and some quality Murray cod being caught. Hardbody lures, spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits have been working well. During periods of low light, surface lures and swimbaits have been good options on the Murray cod.

The fishing in the boat able sections of the Campaspe at Elmore and Rochester has been slow. This is mainly due to the water taking