Ballarat

BALLARAT Shane Stevens

The winter chill has definitely hit home now, with many of our lakes and reservoirs being deserted. Only the die-hard fishos are out and about. For those anglers who have rugged up

Wayne Rigg trolled up this lovely 46cm rainbow trout using

a Daiwa Double Clutch. Image courtesy of Wayne Rigg.

and put on their thermals, the rewards have been there for them, with some magnificent trout being caught around the district.

Tullaroop Reservoir has

Igor Krasnowsky landed this magnificent 2kg chunk of a rainbow trout from Moorabool Reservoir on a Red Buzzer fly suspended under

an indicator. Image courtesy of Igor Krasnowsky.

been the top fishery over the late autumn/early winter months, with anglers catching some quality rainbow and brown trout. The excellent fishing will continue for those anglers who are prepared to hit the water in August. The trout are mainly feeding on small bait fish/ smelt. The ‘smelters’, as they are referred to, can be very frustrating to catch but at the same time very rewarding. Quick, accurate casts are the order of the day, and it takes a bit of luck to know which direction they are chasing the smelt, to get your fly or lure in front of the feeding trout. The trout generally target the schools of smelt in most of our waters during the winter months as it’s generally the only food source that they have to feed on, due to the

colder temperatures stopping any insect hatches.

Steve Angee heard that the trout were on the chew at Tullaroop, so he thought he’d better venture up for a look.

Steve’s method of choice was casting hardbodied lures from the shore. He went to one of his favoured areas to fish only to find the wind was blowing into that area, so it was time for plan B. He headed up near the dam wall and started casting a Bent Minnow along the shoreline. Steve said he’d covered a lot of water with no joy, then his luck changed – a rainbow trout nearly beached itself trying to eat his Bent Minnow. Then, on the very next cast a massive bow wave started chasing his Bent, and all of a sudden it was engulfed. Steve said the trout took off like a freight train, and certainly pulled some string, and after a good battle he landed a very nice male brown trout estimated between 5-6lb. After a few

happy snaps, he was released to fight another day.

Wayne Rigg and Trev Holmes thought they’d try their luck trolling lures at Tullaroop recently. The boys launched the boat at the dam wall and trolled their way down around the Galloways area, landing some very small redfin on deep diving hardbodied lures. The trout were proving to be a bit elusive until Rigzy decided to try a Double Clutch lure which was hammered straight away by a 45cm rainbow trout that went like the clappers. After a few photos it was released. The boys said there were a lot of trout chasing smelt but not consistent enough for them to cast lures at, although there was enough action to get me interested in another trip.

Ezra Dowling has been targeting the smelters at Tullaroop over the past few months fly fishing. They are frustrating to catch, especially in glassed out conditions. For whatever reason, the calmer the conditions, the more they feed on smelt at Tullaroop, which is opposite to what you would think. Ezra has persisted and been rewarded for his efforts, catching some lovely brown trout to around 4lb. The most successful fly pattern he has used over the past few months has been an olive damsel fly pattern, generally stripped pretty quick. If you can get that fly in front of them quick enough, they have been happy to eat it.

Tullaroop will continue to fish well, that’s my prediction right through to

the start of summer. Fingers crossed we get some very good rains and the water levels will rise over new ground for the trout to move into the shallows to feed. I am so much looking forward to this, especially after the fishing we had last spring.

Lake Wendouree has really slowed down, with not many fishers and few reports filtering through. Ben Young certainly knows how to catch them at Wendouree though, catching some lovely browns from when other anglers are struggling to get a bite. During the winter months Ben likes to target Wendouree mostly from the shore, casting soft plastics, he picks the shores where the wind has been blowing into, generally early mornings on his way to work. Ben then prospects with plastics, his favourite being an Ecogear Powershad. One recent early morning session Ben worked one particular area, got one follow then he worked back over the same area on his way back to his car when a magnificent brown trout of around 60cm nailed his plastic. Ben said the brown put up a great fight before being landed, and it was released to fight another day. Lake Wendouree will continue to be tough for the next month or so before we start to see a few insect hatches occur and the fishing improve.

At Moorabool Reservoir the water level is slowly on the rise. The fish are still in spawning mode with the odd one moving into the shallows chasing smelt. The weed beds, which have hindered our fishing for the past few months, are now just under the surface. For those anglers who haven’t been fishing Moorabool for a while when the water level was low, it’s an optical illusion at the moment. A lot of flies and lures will get fouled up on the weed until the water rises a lot more, unless you are using surface lures or stripping files really quick. For those who have fished Moorabool recently, the areas that are clear of weed are reportedly the areas to target.

Igor Krasnowsky, who regularly fly fishes Moorabool, has landed some lovely rainbow trout up to 2kg. Igor has been using a different type of set-up when fly fishing Moorabool. He has been fishing a Red Buzzer fly pattern under an indicator, a method that works extremely well in very weedy lakes is New Zealand. You look for pockets of clear water in amongst the weed and cast your fly into the pockets, and the indicator holds the fly up over the weed. The cruising trout then come along and eat the fly. I haven’t used this method myself, but I do know it is deadly overseas. It’s something other fly fishers could to think about with some of our other weedy lakes in the district.

At Moorabool Reservoir the fishing will improve, like all other waters in the district over the coming months as water levels rise, exposing new ground for the fish to feed on. The newly flooded ground will flush out food sources like worms and grubs that trout love to feed on. Exciting times ahead for us anglers.

Ben Young landed a ripping male brown trout from Lake Wendouree casting an Ecogear

Powershad. Image courtesy of Ben Young.

Steve Angee landed this ripper brown trout from Tullaroop Reservoir on a Bent

Minnow. Image courtesy of Steve Angee.