Wangaratta

WANGARATTA Robbie Alexander

I really like August. It’s the last month of winter and spring is so close that you can feel it in the air.

Quite often late in August we start to see an

This little yellowbelly was caught last August in the middle of Wangaratta.

A stocking filled with dry dogfood is a cost effective and convenient cray fishing bait.

increase in fish activity as the days are getting longer and the sun is just starting to feel that little bit warmer.

MURRAY COD

August is a time of the year that many dedicated ‘big cod’ specialists really like. It’s a time for those guys to cast their huge lures into the well-known big cod waters like Lake Eildon, the Murray River etc. For me, it’s a time to throw a couple of baited lines in and wait patiently for a hungry Murray cod to swim past.

Last August a couple of mates and I managed to catch quite a few Murray cod. The 2020 COVID cod in the Ovens River in August and finding more success than we expected.

We did not catch any cod on lures, nor did we try overly hard. Most of our fishing was bait fishing. For me it was two baited lines, one with worms and one with cheese, and I managed

to catch cod on both.

The key to Murray cod fishing success in August, as I found out last year, was to practice the ‘three Ps’: patience, persistence and perseverance. I worked out that if I sat there for long enough, eventually I had a half decent chance of catching an August Murray cod. This year I will be doing the exact same thing, subject to river conditions of course.

If you’re heading to Wangaratta this August and want to wet a line, just find yourself a nice spot to sit in the winter sun, drown some bait and relax. If you’re still closed in August, the trout fishing is restricted to lakes and dams. Lake William Hovell is the main trout fishing lake in the Ovens River system. It is already full now and will still be full in August, that is one thing that I can guarantee.

stocked in time for the winter school holidays each year. These include Merriwa Park Lake in Wangaratta, Glenrowan Recreation Reserve, Tronoh Dredge at Harrietville, Lake Sambell at Beechworth, Alans Flat waterhole at Yackandandah to name a few. All are stocked with yearling rainbow trout in

time for the winter school holidays, and will all still be worth fishing in August. REDFIN

August is a terrible time of the year to target redfin in this area – possibly the worst time of the year. Any redfin that I have caught in August has been a fluke, and usually a by-catch while targeting other species.

If there is redfin in the waterway that you are fishing then you may pick one up, however I personally will not be heading out anywhere to specifically target redfin in August.

I will be going to Lake William Hovell at some point, fishing with bait targeting whatever comes my way. I often catch trout there, and occasionally I fluke a redfin or two during August, however I would never head there in August to intentionally target redfin because it is usually quite slow. YELLOWBELLY

August is a time of the year when a few yellowbelly may start to move. I expect the yellowbelly fishing to be a bit slow, however I will not be at all surprised if I pick one up while angling in the Ovens River. Last year I caught one on worms while angling in the middle of Wangaratta during August.

If I was going to set out after yellowbelly during August, I would probably go a bit further away and try Lake Nillahcootie, focussing on the shallow water and in the sun.

I do know that during August the yellowbelly fishing can really fire up in the western part of Victoria, particularly around the Mildura area, however it is much colder here than it is there, and the yellowbelly usually start to really bite about a month later. CARP

Carp are a great fishing option at any time of the year. They generally slow down quite a bit during winter, however they still bite well enough to make them a viable target species.

Lake Moodemere is my favourite carp fishing spot in the cooler months, however last year there was a definite surge in carp numbers in the Ovens River during August and September, which provided me with a lot of bait fishing fun. CRAYFISH

August is the last month of the year when the catching of Murray crayfish is allowed. Cray fishing season closes at midnight on 31 August.

Where to go craying is largely dependent on the river conditions. Finding nice calm backwaters can be a struggle when the river is really high. If all else fails, the top end of Lake Mulwala from Majors Creek to Bundalong is always worth a try. There are a lot of little crayfish in that area, and some large females. Finding a large male can be a challenge because it is such a popular cray fishing area. And just a reminder, that area is NSW, so NSW rules and regulations apply.

Catching trout cod in a crayfish net using dog food in a stocking for bait is the author’s special skill.

2020 Victorian lockdowns forced us to learn to fish our local waterways better. Brett Corker caught this nice Murray cod on cheese in the middle of Wangaratta.