A long weekend for many of us is ahead, so there should be plenty of time to get out on the water.
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When it comes to fishing, we are fortunate to live in this region. We have so much access to water, providing ideal conditions to fish. We have deep dams and an abundance of rivers and streams and are located in one of the state’s irrigation districts.
We have plenty of artificial waterways that provide plenty of habitat for fish. And when it comes to salt water, it is just a tick over three hours to some of the best saltwater spots to fish.
One of my favourite spots is Dartmouth Dam. It is about three hours from home, located in the north-east of the state. Dartmouth is the largest-capacity dam in Victoria.
It is deeper than most, at over 250m in places. While there is not much to catch at that depth, the dam is full of some of the best trout in the state.
It is also one of the remaining breeding spots for Macquarie perch, a native fish that is highly endangered. The other breeding places are in Eildon and the upper Yarra River, near Launching Place.
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It’s less than a month until you can press the start button on the cod season. Yes, December will be with us sooner than you can say, “Murray cod”. In the meantime, you can only catch and keep cod in Lake Eildon.
The cod in Eildon are not considered breeding stock, so anglers can catch and keep them from that waterway; the bag and size limit still applies. But from December 1, you can take fish from all other rivers and streams in Victoria and NSW.
Fishing in our region has been patchy; anglers are catching good hauls of yellowbelly, some up to 4kg. When fishing in the Goulburn, Broken and Murray rivers, it is worth casting bait and lures to tempt these native fish, which I consider second only to Murray cod.
The warmer weather is slowing the trout in the dams, but in the rivers and streams in the north-east, the fishing is starting to pick up; anglers fishing the holes and banks are reporting both brown and rainbow trout in good numbers.
Both lures and baits are working, hard body and soft plastics work well, and bait such as worms, yabbies, mudeye and shrimp are getting results.
Redfin are also on the bite, and without a doubt, the best place is the Hume Weir near Wodonga. Closer to home, try among the trees in Lake Eildon, especially around Peppin Point; they are also on the bite at Waranga Basin at Harriman Point.
The Hume Weir is also a top spot to fish for yellowbelly, trophy-sized trout and cod.
To a lesser degree, the Hume is considered a Victorian waterway, unlike Mulwala, which is a NSW waterway. Keep that in mind when getting the appropriate fishing licence. This applies to fishing the Ovens River; most of this is Victorian until it runs into Lake Mulwala.
It’s time to go saltwater fishing, according to Rod Lawn, who operates Adamas Fishing Charters out of Queenscliff. Rod said he was catching some snapper but not real big fish yet. He said that while there were indications the big snapper were on the move, he thought it might still be a week or so before they came on the bite.
In the meantime, he is bagging plenty of pinky-size fish as well as flathead, salmon, calamari squid and silver trevally, among others, including whiting.
Rod said both sides of the heads were worth trying, as far north up the bay to Mornington and off the heads around Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads. Rod said fishing the rip for salmon on the run-out tide trolling an “occy”, a small soft plastic squid-shaped lure, was the best way to catch salmon.
Look for birds diving on the bait ball or the fish breaking the surface, then troll around the edge of the bait ball — that way, you don’t scare them away.
Rod said the fishing in Western Port Bay was about the same; he said fishing the edge of the shipping lanes off Hastings was one of the best spots, as well as the steelworks.
North of the border at Eden, John Liddell said he was getting reports of good catches of reef fish, but it was still relatively quiet off the shelf. John said the crew from Freedom Charters were keeping busy with table fish such as snapper, morwong and gurnard. In the deep sandy bottom near Green Cape, they were catching big flathead.
Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said the fishing was about the same. Graham said the kingfish were starting to school up near Montague Island, and there were bigger fish among them.
There were signs of tuna, both bluefin and yellowfin, moving into the area, but they were patchy.
Down south at Flinders Island, James Luddington said he was catching albacore off the shelf but was mainly fishing for gummy shark and flathead.
Well, that’s it for another week. Just 50-something days until Christmas, so start working on that Christmas gift.
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