Trolling up some solid autumn Murray cod

SHEPPARTON

Nick Brown teamriverrats@hotmail.com

There have been some amazing reports from the Goulburn recently, particularly from those anglers trolling in the heart of Shepparton. Some solid fish have been reported just upstream of the boat ramp in the 70-80cm range. Trolling StumpJumpers and Codgers has been the best way to chase those bigger fish. A lot of the areas are not the standard snaggy cod spots; some great fish have been caught trolling straight banks with limited snags, so make sure you cover all the river, not just well to cap off a great weekend for them. To follow that up, the next weekend they won all three days of the Central Vic event held at Mulwala.

Great fishing and well done to the Blows, who go into the Cod Nationals as red-hot favourites!

Looking back, the fishing has been steady in recent the good-looking areas.

Cod are still chewing on surface lures, with the Trelly’s Pompadour (black and orange) working well. A technique that has been effective has been to cast the Pompadour tight to structure, and just shake the rod tip. This will imitate a big moth buzzing on the top. Do this for 10-15 seconds, and then commence a slow roll back to the boat. Sometimes the cod will weeks. One of the anglers that hit a purple patch was Mick Massier, who decided to have another fish the night after the Dash 4 Cash. In a 2-hour period Mick managed smash the lure within three seconds, while at other times you’ll need to do it for a longer period of time.

Bait fishing reports have been dominated by carp. A heap of families have been heading down with some worms and getting their kids 10-15 carp in a session.

SHEPPARTON LAKE

The lake is now producing some good fishing, with more reports to land eight Murray cod, all measuring over 72cm, with the largest measuring a whopping 130cm. His lure of choice was the Bone Focus 130. key at Kialla lately. Those anglers catching fish are finding plenty of smaller models, and the bigger ones feeding around them.

The local kids have been having a ball below the weir, catching many cod on a regular basis. It’s great to see how many kids are out and about after school, heading straight for the river. Young Nash McNamara was lucky enough to get himself a boat recently. It’s great to see dad putting the boat in for him most nights, and Nash heading downstream with his mates to tempt a cod or two. They have been catching plenty, with some good legals amongst them.

• If you’re visiting town, call into Lake Mulwala Fish Camp & Ski, the shop with the big green cod out the front (Opposite the Post Office) in Mulwala, or our Yarrawonga store located between Rivers and One Zac in the heart of town. We are Yarrawonga/ Mulwala’s fishing specialists and specialize in all things ‘green’! For any information on the upcoming events or fishing reports give us a hoy on 03 5744 3133.

In the evenings you will find the redfin will push super shallow and bust up these small baitfish in a foot of water. Just like the Shepparton Lake, jerkbaits have worked great at Kialla in the shallows.

Small Noike Kaishin chatterbaits and beetle spin rigged plastics have been effective when fished deeper when the sun is up.

Bait fishing with worms has been great lately, with catfish, carp and yellowbelly being caught off the sand bars or around the willows.

WARANGA BASIN coming in. Bait fishing around the grass hill with worms has been a great way to catch redfin, carp and silver perch. The best ways to fish your baits have been either under a float or super lightly weighted.

There is still plenty of redfin action to be had at Waranga Basin, with some bags of 30/40 fish reported. There has not been a stand-out method, with mixed reports coming from anglers bait fishing from the bank or fishing out wider in 10-12ft fishing around Harrimans.

Worms and small yabbies have been the best baits, and corn has also worked for those chasing carp.

Lure fishing has picked up again, with some nice redfin being caught on Rapala XR-6s. The fish have been smashing the lure on the pause. Remember to fish the jerkbait on a slack line to keep it in the strike zone pocket around the weed edges.

KIALLA LAKES

Finding Bait is the in around 8ft of water has seen high numbers of smaller fish caught, with the banks near the caravan park being very productive. Casting small chatterbaits, blades and beetle spin rigged plastics along the rock wall has been a great way to target bigger fish, with some nice yellowbelly also being caught.