Decisions, decisions: which bank shall we fish?

Happy Easter to all, and may you have a happy and safe holiday, if you get one! Along with hosting Easter, April also hosts great fishing conditions at Lake Eildon. Schools of yellowbelly and redfin will still be present in the headwaters leading into the lake, and these fish will take lures, yabbies worms and just about anything else that you float, cast or troll by them. Murray cod are ever present, and also remain active throughout all parts of the lake. At the time of writing this report, the lake level is still hanging around 96% and looks great.

It is all hands on deck for the preparation of the Lake Eildon Fishing Challenge, which will run from May 19-21. This year they have an all-terrain buggy as one of the major prizes, which is something that many competitors will have their eye on. Sign up, have a fish and have a great time – you never know what the outcome will be!

The Lake Eildon Fishing Challenge once again will be hosted by the Jerusalem Creek Marina and Holiday Park, and the competition is their annual charity fundraising fishing event for Variety, the Children’s Charity! Now in its 6th year (7th if COVID did not happen), the event will attract great characters to the lake who favour this competition over many others.

To illustrate the kind of fishing on offer, here are the results from last year’s competition.

Over 300 fish were registered, which of course means there were more recorded fish than actual entrants. There were also more than double the amount of fish registered on the previous year, with the 2021 event only seeing 144 fish recorded (there were also the odd reports of crayfish and Ugg boots, however not many turtles were recorded this year). While not everybody was able to get their name on the board, over $40,000 in prizes were handed out, including high end Murasame Murray cod rods, Spotters polarized sunglasses, a Haswing Electric Trolling Motor, an Evinrude 40hp outboard and an absolute abundance of fishing lures such as Asakura, Dino, Obsession, Megabass, Zerek, Bridge Water Lures, Got 8 and others, thanks to the huge amount of sponsorship the comp received.

From the photos emailed in, it looks like there were a lot of smiles on faces over the weekend, which is what it is all about. A couple of familiar names were once again reeling them in, with one boat recording over 25 fish and a certain cod fisho recording three legal or longer fish.

So, grab a pen, mark the date, and get ready for the greatest fishing competition in the world.

For more information visit lakeeildonfishingchallenge .com.

• Jerusalem Creek Marina &

Holiday Park is a friendly, family-orientated caravan park, and makes the perfect home away from home. While there you can opt to hire one of their Boatel floating apartments, hire a boat or book a fishing guide at competitive prices. For more information on all of these services and other attractions in the area, visit jerusalemcreek. com.au, or give them a call on (03) 5774 2585 or email info@jerusalemcreek. com.au.