Canberra

CANBERRA

Toby

Grundy I usually start my September report with a quick wrap of cod season. For this report, I thought I’d revisit a snippet from my report way back in December of last year.

The yellas are moving into the shallows at LBG. Plenty of reds are taking lures on Lake Ginninderra.

Cod season 2021-22 is here and the anticipation is reaching fever pitch in Canberra. The ACT has been in lockdown for long periods of time and only in the last few weeks have we seen the easing of restrictions and this has increased the level of excitement concerning cod season as anglers can now travel to fishy locations.

I always keep my eye out for new release cod lures, which always seem to drop (ironically) during close season. I like to fish with a lot of new lures during the opening weeks of cod season because I find the fish have usually wised up to the usual suspects like spinnerbaits but will readily hit something they haven’t seen before. This year I’ll be focusing on surface lures and the first thing I’ll be casting is the new DStyle Hatch. I’m a big fan of lighter cod lures and the Hatch is the perfect mix of a light lure coupled with plenty of size and big wings to create maximum disturbance across the water (December 2021).

I can honestly say that I am glad I cast that DStyle Hatch 80mm through the season because it resulted in my new PB Murray cod of 111cm, which I caught a few weeks before cod close. I had spent the better part of a decade chasing a metre greenfish on surface and

one finally stuck. To my knowledge, it was one of the larger metre cod landed in Canberra this season and watching the beast inhale that winged surface lure is burnt into my memory. I think catching that fish was mostly down to the lure (the fish had never seen one before) and fishing those low light periods through the cooler months, but it has got me thinking about my strategy for spring. If the cod tend to wise up to the usual suspects like spinnerbaits then the same can probably be said for golden perch and bass. So, for spring, I’m going to be casting a few new lures, like the Bait Science ‘Twitch Worm’ and testing out my theory that fish like the new stuff better than the old stuff.

LOCAL LAKES

Lake Burley Griffin is fishing quite well. The redfin are hitting lures right in close to the shoreline along the concrete walls behind Lennox Gardens.

These fish will take a soft plastic of between 65-80mm simply hopped parallel and a few centimetres out from the wall. Basically, the fish are almost underneath an angler’s feet at this location.

The golden perch sit pretty close to the redfin at this time of year and can usually be found a few metres out from a reddie school. If in a boat or kayak, head to the overhanging willows that line the banks at Weston Park. This area holds some big yellas and they will chase a plastic or TN50 out from their location or hit a lure on the drop.

Lake Tuggeranong continues to be a bit hit and miss despite the solid amount of rain, which hit Canberra towards the

end of August. Usually, the lake really fires after a good drenching but this time, the natives tended to stay out deep rather than move in the shallows for a feed. I can’t explain why this is the case but it has made for some frustrating fishing. That said, the carp and reddies are feeding up right across the lake and both species can be targeted using Wriggler style plastics in darker colours. I like fishing the point behind the skate park at this time of year as the

baitfish tend to sit in close to the shore in this spot and this does bring the bigger reds into casting range.

Lake Ginninderra has been a mixed bag of late. Usually, Lake G is my go-to spring fishery but the lack of water clarity has meant that the fishing has been pretty slow and the really big yellas haven’t come on the bite as yet. That said, I’ll continue to fish the lake on a weekly basis because the golden perch in the lake are some of the largest in the ACT and, in my opinion, fight the best. As always, there are plenty of redfin about with large schools holding just on the edge of the weed beds near the car park behind the college. These fish will hit small divers fished slow along the middle of the water column. SURROUNDS

Googong Dam isn’t producing the big numbers of redfin and yellowbelly yet but the golden perch that have been caught lately have been in excellent condition, with some also exceeding the 60cm mark. Googong is another fishery that I’ll hit weekly right through spring and, as soon as I start seeing roving packs of redfin smashing bait on the surface, that’ll be my cue for throwing small surface

poppers for the giant reds that live in the dam and easily exceed 45cm.

If fishing from a boat or kayak, head to Bradleys and cast vibes right along the rock walls and if fishing from the shore, take a walk to Shannons Inlet and cast unweighted creature style plastics close to the sunken shrubs at the entrance to the inlet.

The result of a lot of river walks, and worth it!

The author picked the DStyle Hatch 80mm because it was a new release.

Googong is starting to warm up.