Ballarat

SHEPPARTON Nick Brown

teamriverrats@hotmail.com

The Goulburn River spent a good couple of weeks pumping hard, which made fishing in August tricky. It was a shame because we were having the best cray season in recent memory. Hopefully the next flush of water will fire up the springtime yellowbelly bite.

Spring is all about yellowbelly. Casting smaller spinnerbaits, hardbodies and lipless crankbaits are best if you’re chasing yellowbelly.

For those bait fishing this spring I would suggest using scrub worms or small yabbies but, once the water temps rise, I would switch to shrimp.

BROKEN RIVER

I have had a couple of reports this past few weeks of yellowbelly being caught with scrub worms being the best baits.

Downstream of the Archer Street Bridge or around the junction has been some hot spots.

There were also some reports of crayfish being caught in the Broken River and the crays taking a liking to fresh baits while chasing fish back in August.

If we get some spring rains, the Broken River normally fires in spring especially around the two weirs.

SHEPPARTON LAKE

The Shepparton Lake has been fishing well this past month with plenty of reports of trout and redfin being caught.

Flyfishing around the boat sheds has resulted in some nice size trout as bait fishing in this area has worked.

Worms or Powerbaits around the grass hill or small spinners or plastics have worked near the skate park end boat ramp casting along the weed edges.

MOOROOPNA REC

RESERVE LAKE

The small lake near the football oval can be a little gem and I have had numerous reports of carp, redfin and trout being caught.

Those targeting carp have been using corn or night crawlers fished hard on the bottom.

Raising your baits off the bottom is the key if you’re trying to catch a trout or redfin, with bait float fishing the best method.

Casting small blades or plastics also work well in the Lake.

WARANGA BASIN

The basin has been fishing well when weather has permitted.

There are plenty of redfin being caught trolling around the caravan park on Codgers and RMG Poltergeist Crazy Deep in white or green.

Some redfin up to 40cm have been reported amongst plenty around the 18-23cm range.

Drifting baits or casting soft plastics around Harrimans Point has been productive with black or silver plastics rigged on a 1/4oz jighead.

BENDIGO Roger Miles

codhuntertours@bigpond.com We are heading into the spring months, and with the current conditions I am unsure what the upcoming season will have in store for us.

Our winter rainfall has been below average, and the amount of inflow into our impoundments has been minimal so far. This trend looks to be changing though, as recently we have started to receive some good, consistent rain events. At the time of writing this report, we have just received some good rainfall, a nd our catchments are currently saturated and are primed to produce some good runoff.

What is a given is the increasing number of native fish in our local waterways, thanks largely to some very good fish stocking from Victorian Fisheries over the past few years. Hopefully our local waterways can receive some good stockings again this season.

LAKE EPPALOCK

Lake Eppalock is currently at 49% of capacity and continues to rise very slowly. The catchments south of Lake Eppalock (Upper Coliban, Lauriston and Malmsbury reservoirs) are receiving some reasonable inflows at this stage but the catchments still need to receive some large amounts of rainfall before they reach capacity. With the current trend I would not anticipate this happening until October at the earliest. If and when these other catchments reach capacity, only then will Lake Eppalock get major inflows and water levels increase significantly. Hopefully this does occur and water levels go above the high water mark from last season. Higher water levels going over increased amounts of vegetation has a huge positive effect on how productive the next season of fishing will be.

Redfin are currently the main species being caught by anglers fishing Lake Eppalock. Casting soft plastics and vertically jigging soft plastics and ice jigs have been the preferred method for most anglers. The numbers of redfin being caught has not been great, but small numbers of quality redfin measuring above 40cm have been landed by those experienced anglers putting in the time and effort. Locating a good concentration of redfin has not been easy, and anglers need to be prepared to hunt around in order to find them. The occasional golden perch has been caught as a welcome by-catch by those anglers chasing the redfin. By the end of September, water temperatures will be starting to increase nicely and we should start to see a good increase in catch rates of golden perch at Lake Eppalock.

CAMPASPE RIVER

Water clarity is currently good at the majority of locations along the Campaspe River. The water conditions however can change very quickly at this time of the year. Heavy spring rainfall can produce volumes of dirty water running into the system, dramatically reducing water clarity. As always in the spring months, it pays to keep an eye on the weather and conditions, and plan your trip accordingly.

This time of the year is the prime time to catch a large Campaspe River redfin prior to spawning. The Campaspe River does not typically produce large numbers of

From page 94 has seen plenty of anglers, walking around its shores, casting flies and lures, with the fishing being a bit hit and miss currently. The water level is slowly rising, and my thoughts are Moorabool this spring will be full once again. I, like others, are hoping the fishing is as good this spring as it was last year, with quite a few trophy sized browns being caught. I’m looking to upgrade from my previous 4kg PB on fly to a fish over the magical 10lb mark.

At Newlyn Reservoir and Hepburn Lagoon the fishing has been a bit quiet this year, compared to last year for whatever reason. Once again with rising water levels and increased insect activity, I’m sure we will see the trout come on the bite once again. We should see an increase in golden perch catches over the next couple of months. Rising water temps will help switch the perch into feeding more aggressively.

redfin, but if you put the time in there are some quality fish waiting to be caught. My preferred areas to target the redfin are along cumbungilined banks and along the edges of weed beds. Good lure options for the redfin are spinners, soft plastics and small hardbody lures.

As we see the water temperatures starting to increase at the end of September, we should start to see the golden perch starting to feed more aggressively. Last season we experienced a cold start to spring and the golden perch were slow to fire up! Hopefully we’ll receive some warm weather earlier in spring to help these great fish get in a feeding mood.

Good lure choices for the golden perch over spring are small profile spinnerbaits and small to medium sized hardbody lures, with suspending hardbody lures being a great option earlier in the spring months when the water temperatures are cooler.

When fishing in spring it pays to have a good colour selection in your lure arsenal, depending on what the water clarity is like when you are fishing. When the water clarity is poor, I prefer using colours with a good amount of UV paints. Colours such as fluoro pink, fluoro orange, chartreuse and fluoro purple can be great options. When water clarity is good, colours such as white, purple and black are great options.

CAIRN CURRAN

The water clarity is currently good at this location, and water levels are rising very slowly. At the time of writing this report, Cairn Curran was at 55% of capacity. While inflows have been minimal at this stage, the water catchments are now saturated and primed to produce some good runoff if the area receives some heavy rainfall.

Fishing reports from this location have been minimal. Redfin have been making up the majority of anglers’ captures. The odd brown trout has also been caught at this location, as well as the occasional golden perch caught by anglers chasing the redfin.

By the end of September water temperatures should be increasing and helping to bring the golden perch on the bite. There are plenty of anglers that are anticipating another very good season of golden perch fishing at this location this season. Cairn Curran really came to the fore as a great location to target golden perch last season. The numbers of golden perch caught at this location last season were terrific. While a lot of the golden perch were smaller in size, another 12 months of growing will see increased numbers of good golden perch being caught at Cairn Curran this season. LODDON RIVER

Water clarity is currently very good at most locations along the Loddon River. However, as always in the spring months, the water clarity can change very quickly after heavy rainfall.

The recent productivity of the fishing in the Loddon River has been slow. There has been the occasional golden perch caught, and small numbers of redfin. Water temperatures should start increasing during the month of September, and the feeding activity in the golden perch will increase.

When targeting the golden perch at this time of year, it pays to remember the water at depth is still relatively cold. Therefore, the metabolism in the golden perch is still reduced, and it pays to keep retrieval speeds very slow. It’s also a good tactic to work each piece of structure well before moving onto the next structure. By this I mean, put a lot of casts into an area, and consider changing your lure a couple of times before moving. Being patient and working good structure well is often the secret to success at this time of year.

Finally, a reminder that the Murry cod season is closed from 1 September to 1 December. I encourage anglers to do the right thing and not target Murray cod during the closed season.