Canberra

CANBERRA Toby Grundy

The fishing through late July has been slow here in the ACT. The rivers stayed in an almost perpetual state of flood for weeks at a time, and the lakes filled close to capacity which meant that a lot of anglers looked further afield for their angling fix. However, the lockdowns limited the options available outside Canberra.

Sam Hancox with a plasticmunching Googong goodoo. Fishing parallel to the reeds on LBG is a great way to connect with a golden perch.

Though things have been quiet here of late, there is light at the end of tunnel because the river is starting to slow a little and the local lakes are settling. This means we could be in for a bumper end to the cod season, provided the fish are still hungry after enjoying the bait bonanza, which really exploded after all the flooding. I know I’ll be casting big surface lures to round out the

2020-2021 cod season. The Jackall Mega Pompadour and big Mudeye paddlers, along with the Kingfisher Mantis, will form the backbone of my tackle arsenal during the final weeks of August. The trick will be to use a lure which will move as much water as possible, so the fish can find the lure and hopefully when they do, they will be willing to strike as the fish build up bulk in readiness for breeding season. LOCAL LAKES

Lake Burley Griffin (as mentioned above) is starting to settle. The lake has been a bit of a mess in recent weeks, with constant rain causing a lot of debris to run into LBG and muddy the water. The fishing has been tough because of this, as the fish have fed up around

the edges on a variety of forage and so don’t need to feed as often now. It’s also hard for them to see a lure.

That said, some anglers have found success by using beetlespins attached to paddletail plastics and working these lures slowly along the edges of the concrete wall behind the yacht club. There are some big weed beds a few metres out from this location, and the

fish sit in the weed looking out towards the open area before the concrete ledge. There have been some decent redfin caught and a few medium size golden perch. A couple of really nice cod have also been caught by anglers using Livescope or jigging out deep in the rowing lanes, including a metre fish landed on a ZX blade by an angler targeting redfin.

Lake Ginninderra is hit and miss. There have been a few very nice captures, including several large golden perch and the odd medium-size redfin, but on the whole, this winter hasn’t yielded the same quality of fish as in the past. Those anglers who have caught fish consistently have been using jigs coupled with creaturestyle plastics fished slow along the edges of submerged weed near the carpark at Diddams Close. There have also been cod caught by anglers using spinnerbaits in the middle of the lake. Hopefully, like LBG, the water will continue

to settle and we’ll get some bumper golden perch action this coming spring, as Lake Ginninderra holds some of the biggest yellas in Canberra.

Lake Tuggeranong is my

pick of the local spots this month. I will fish the dam weekly throughout August because the constant rain has really fired up the native fish population. There have been so many big cod caught in the lake recently, with most anglers in the know keeping photos of their captures off social media so as not to tip off every local angler about the red-hot bite. I was speaking to one angler a week or so ago who very kindly showed me a few pics from a recent session on Lake Tuggeranong where he landed three fish to 90cm. All were caught using swimbaits. I’ll focus my attention on the flats at dawn and dusk for cod but I’ll also try below the spillway as the golden perch tend to push up into this area and feed in turbid water, and will readily hit a Jackall TN50.

Yerrabi Pond is fishing inconsistently to say the least, but I want to mention this unique waterway because there have been some good captures of late. The big yellas which form the staple for anglers through winter haven’t shown up in their usual numbers this winter, but there have been plenty of big reds caught by anglers using small spinnerbaits and blades. The whole pond can be fished in a few hours so try as many locations as possible, but ‘Blue Chair’ is where there is often a fair bit of action.

The Murrumbidgee River is starting to slow down but still resembles chocolate milk in appearance. The next few weeks will be critical in terms of whether or not the river fires before season close. If we

don’t get too much more rain, the cod will hit lures at back end of this month, especially big, loud surface offerings cast around new snags formed after the flood.

Googong is high and the water is murky but the fishing has been pretty good. Again, we haven’t seen the same numbers of big cod caught compared to last year, but there have still been some great captures, including several fish over the metre mark. The redfin have also been on the bite, with many anglers cleaning up by focusing on the shallow banks and casting near the sunken shrubs which now line most of the dam.

Late August will be the time to try for a cod on surface.

Swimbaits and surface lures will account for a lot of cod through late August.

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