Ballarat

BALLARAT Shane Stevens

Ballarat and district anglers have been treated to some very good fishing over the past month, with many of our fisheries producing excellent catches of brown and rainbow trout and the odd redfin. The angler numbers this year appear been disappointed on my recent trips with Wayne Rigg. We have been drifting along the shorelines, casting lures into the shallows, and have been rewarded with excellent catches of brown and rainbow trout. We have been using a variety of lures, my favourite being the Bent Minnow surface lures and shallo- diving hardbodied lures in a variety of sizes

and colours.

The weather has dictated our catches, I believe. One session we had bright skies and little wind, which was not ideal. We still managed to land six trout, a mixture

of browns and rainbows in varying sizes 35-45cm.

On another trip, we had overcast skies and a good, gentle breeze – the ideal conditions that I’m looking for. We landed seven trout, once again a mixture of browns and rainbows, this time ranging in size from 40-50cm. We also had quite a few other hook-ups and follows. I think the different weather conditions certainly had the trout in feeding mode. We have caught them off the surface and subsurface, with the surface lure performing better with the cloudy conditions.

On a disappointing note, we have noticed there has been little or no sign of trout feeding on smelt. Hopefully this will change. I know myself and other anglers definitely look forward to chasing the smelters, as this fishing is exciting and frustrating at the same time.

I’m hoping the excellent fishing continues, moving forward for those of us who like to chase the winter trout.

Lake Wendouree continues to produce some excellent catches, mainly of brown trout, from reports that I have received. Myself and

Pete Cartledge have ventured out on Wendouree casting lures, which I believe is the most productive method of catching fish during the winter months. Pete, a relative novice to casting lures, was straight into the action on our last trip, casting out his Bent Minnow and latching onto his biggest trout: a 45cm brown. A few casts later he was into another, but unfortunately the hooks didn’t hold on to land it. We had a couple of other trout snooping around our Bents, including a ripping 55cm brown that I landed.

Wayne Rigg and I have

hit up Wendouree on a few occasions also, once again casting Bents. We have landed brown trout on every occasion in varying sizes, including a ripper brown of 55cm caught by Rigzy.

Ben Young, who is one of the best anglers going around, has been out on Wendouree, once again casting lures. Ben generally likes to change his tactics up, casting micro chatters, varying the plastics he uses, also small hardbodied lures and Bents until he finds the right method. Ben has landed some excellent midsized redfin ranging from 30-40cm, and lovely browns up to 56cm.

We are hoping the fishing on Wendouree continues throughout the winter months. Going on the last few years, it’s generally pretty tough, but if you put in the hard yards you will be definitely rewarded for your efforts.

Moorabool Reservoir has seen plenty of angler activity, with fishers walking around the shorelines, casting lures, flies and the odd angler fishing baits. The fishing reports have definitely slowed down, with the odd report of anglers catching one or two.

Moorabool is a drawcard to all, given the amount of trophy brown trout of 8-10lb that have been caught in the past 12 months. I have been out a few times myself over the past month; given it is only 20 minutes from home, I go there a lot. I have been catching the odd one or two on fly and lure, in the 35-40cm size.

When walking around the shore there are plenty of foot prints in the receding water level. There has been a noticeable lack of feeding fish activity, which seems to be the same situation on most of our waters. At Moorabool during the winter months, you will generally see trout smashing through schools of smelt, which once again can be exciting and frustrating at the same time. Hopefully over the coming months the trout will switch their attention to feeding on these small bait fish.

The author has landed some nice-sized rainbow trout from Tullaroop Reservoir on Bent Minnows.

to be a lot higher than in previous years, but I’m sure numbers will drop off with the onset of cold, wintery weather. Those of us who are prepared to battle elements and put Lake Wendouree has produced the goods again for Ben Young, who landed this 56cm brown trout casting Bent Minnows. Image courtesy of Ben Young.

Peter Cartledge with his new PB 45cm brown trout, caught on a T23 Bent Minnow.

Wayne Rigg was once again on the money, landing a magnificent spawning coloured 55cm brown trout.

on our winter woollies and wet weather gear, will hopefully will be rewarded for our efforts.

I mentioned last month that I was going to put in some time and effort into one of my favourite winter fisheries, Tullaroop Reservoir. I certainly haven’t Tullaroop Reservoir has produced some excellent fishing for Wayne Rigg over the past month on hardbodied lures.