Fishing Reports for Victoria, Westernport and Port Phillip Bay

The trout fishing has really turned it on for anglers over the past few weeks since the opening, and there have been plenty of fish caught in the lakes during the week. The Eildon region is still well worth a drive to either fish the lake, pondage or rivers.

Customer Adam caught an absolute cracker brown from Lake Eildon recently, from the Jew's creek area. Adam caught the fish on a Yakamito 'slim minnow' in brown trout colour. This particular lure is nearly 10cm long, which shows that trout are not afraid to hit larger offerings, especially in rival trout patterns.

Also fishing the Lake, customer Mick had a weekend away with some mates and while the fishing was relatively slow there were still some nice fish caught. Mick managed a couple of browns around 1kg on the troll. Mick tried a few different options but the ever-faithful pink Tassie Devil got the job done. Something about a bright coloured lure, especially pink really gets the attention of the trout. One of the trout was hooked in the pec fin so the fish may still be running a late spawn and showing aggression towards anything in their space.

The pondage at Eildon is still fishing well for the large rainbows that have been lurking since opening weekend. These big fish will eat a fairly big lure if you are spinning, so don't be afraid to tie on something big, bright or just different to what you would normally use. Customer Nicole fished the Burke Street end of the pondage recently to land a thumping big rainbow around the 10lb mark casting lures. Fish of this size are capable of eating a lure or soft plastic 15cm long or so, and often the large 'main course' offering will get a more aggressive strike than the 'appetizer'.

Back in the local lakes, most of the suburban stocked lakes will be receiving a top up stocking any day now - just in time for School Holidays. Down at Karkarook Park, customer Ismail tried his hand at 'coarse' style baitfishing and caught a couple of small rainbows. While these fish can bite their heads off when they are berleyed into a frenzy, incorrect tackle and rig setup and the lack of a mixture of dough style baits will see most go fishless. There are plenty of anglers who catch consistently in these stocked lakes, through proper setup and persistence.

HOT SPOT: If it's trout luring you're after - the Eildon region is hard to beat. For a nice casual fish with the kids, Lakeside in Pakenham has just been stocked with 500 rainbow trout which will respond well to the coarse angling methods.

The trout season continues to provide action for many, especially for those fishing the Eildon region. The talk has been the Goulburn, with plenty of solid trout still being caught. Customer John fished the river in the Thorton region and caught some solid fish on a mixture of coarse angling methods and different colours in Berkley powerbait.

Customer Zoran also fished the Thornton area of the river to land fish to around 7lb. Zoran has been catching on a mixture of 'specialist trout dough' and hatchery berley pellets. The coarse method is very effective on recently stocke fish as the addictive berley trail is what they are used to feeding on. Customer Jay caught a couple of monsters from the river earlier in the week on lures. Jay tried a few different lures but the most successful were the Megabass Hazedong shads fished heavy and deep in the fast water.

Customer also Cipto caught some cracker trout while fishing the same area. Cipto found the Megabass X70 and X80 were the best performers, especially in natural colours. With the water being clear the more natural patterns can be more effective on heaviily pressured fish.

HOT SPOT: While the Goulburn is still producing monster rainbows, things will start off as the fish acclimatize and become more wary. Many of the fish should push downstream somewhat, so the mouths of both the Rubicon and Acheron rivers will be worth a look in tangling with a few fish. Small, 'buggy' soft plastics and floating hardbodies in bright colours are worth packing, especially with slightly dirty water conditions of the past few days.

As many keen trout anglers would know, the Victorian river season opens up after midnight THIS Saturday. While it's been a long close for those keen to hit the streams, there have still been some fish caught. The rivers are running at fairly consistent levels and with a bit of snow melt yet to come they should stay cool and favourable for the fish for a long while yet.

For lake based anglers, some nice fish are still coming from Eildon pondage.

Friends of the shop Greg and Mark fished the pondage recently and while conditions were cold there were some stocky trout caught. Casting lures from the Bourke Street section of the lower pondage resulted in some nice rainbows to around 1.5kg. Spoons and small tassie devils have been effective with retro-fitted with ultra sharp assist style hooks.

Around the local lakes, customer Chris took his two sons down to Karkarook Park in the hopes of catching them a trout. Chris stopped by the store for all the stocked-lake essentials and soon after young Atticus had his first trout on the line. The successful method was to fish a mixture of trout dough and powerbait, with specialist trout pellet berley. Both of Chris's two sons have placed birthday present orders of new trout rods since!

It's mid August and again trout season for the rivers and streams is fast approaching here in Victoria. While the rivers are still closed for a few weeks yet there's still plenty happening on the trout scene for anglers to get amongst! Emma from the Women In Recreational Fishing group recently went up to Eildon to fish the lake, and although it was foggy, overcast and freezing cold she did manage to get into some lovely brown trout. Many of the browns from the lake here spend their time in the open water and take on a very pale brown/silver appearance, with not as many spotted markings as their river cousins. For those fishing the lake, the ever reliable tassie devils have still been producing, especially when upgraded with ultra-sharp assist hooks.

Customer Paul also got into some open water brown trout, although down at Blue Rock Lake. Paul was fishing from his hobie kayak where he slow trolled tassies around the drop-offs and timbered edges of the lake to land some trout to around 45cm. Paul found all of the fish to be actively feeding in the open water, and have the same pale silvery appearance. The best tassie on the day was the no55 pink, fished on 'Dancing Jack' assist hooks.

On the bait fishing scene, there have still been some nice stockies coming from the pondage. Customer Simon came into the store to stock up on the essential ingredients for successful fishing around the Eildon area. Simon found a bag of nice rainbows from the lower pondage using the coarse method and specialist trout dough for bait.

Down at Karkarook Park there have been trout on offer for those fishing the same methods. Customer Sarah and her son Harry fished the lake recently where Harry managed some lovely rainbow trout. The best method was again the berley/feeder cage method and a powerbait/trout dough bait concoction.

A fair bit further south in Tasmania, Matt Sheriff reports that the Tassie trout season has started off well. Matt has been using his Hawk 'sniper' hardbodied lures with great effect on some solid lake trout. Many of the colours were working well but the standout have been the gold 'spawn belly' models, with some of the fish really hammering the lures on a 'stop-start' jerking retrieve.

Many of the stocked trout lakes have been fishing very well since the school holidays. Whether you're in for a drive up to Eildon pondage or want to stick local, there are plenty of options worth looking at - with virtually all of the local suburban lakes producing trout at the moment. The pondage at Eildon has been producing some quality trout for anglers in the know, or those persistent with the correct methods.

Customer Jozef has become an Eildon regular, and he makes the trip up to the pondage quite frequently with his wife. Jozef fished the area just last week where he caught some quality trout. Jozef normally mixes up his techniques and always fishes with a rod with powerbait and trout dough on a coarse/berley cage setup. His second rod normally has a lure on it which he will walk around his fishing area and see if there are fish moving through and following the lure. In Jozef's latest trip he caught a number of smaller fish on the powerbait, and a much larger fish of around 3kg on a 7g tassie devil.

Much closer to the shop, customer Brendan took his daughter out to Rowville Lakes recently in search of some rainbow trout. Brendan came in to the store for some tips on setting up the coarse style method when fishing powerbait and as soon as he was out there he scored some nice fish!

The Eildon region has been well worth a feed lately, whether you're casting for cod or trout trolling in the lake, or fishing the pondage in Eildon itself. There have been whispers of some large cod coming from the lake, and these are testament to anglers perseverance. You don't land quality cod in Eildon by staying at home!

While the trout trolling reports have been a bit on the quieter side, there have been some nice fish landed. Customer Brian caught a cracker from the Delatite Arm just recently trolling tassie devils. Brian had been trolling 'mega' tassies with the 'yellow mongrel' catching the fish. Brian had rigged the his tassies with assist hooks which did their job in keeping the big brown securely hooked.

Not to be outdone Eildon pondage has been fishing exceptionally well since it's pre-school holiday stocking. There are plenty of large fish about and enough feisty smaller trout in the 300g size you can be kept busy for long enough if you take the time to set up correctly.The specialized coarse method is king here. If you're unsure of how to go about setting up for the pondage and other stocked trout fisheries come by and talk to the guys.

Customer George and his friend fished the pondage during the week where some really solid fish were caught. The bank alongside the 'footy oval' fished best, with lighter weighted feeder cages advantageous over heavier feeders due to their ability of not snagging up on the rocks. Trout dough accounted for a couple of fish and rainbow coloured powerbait did the rest of the damage.

Even though the trout streams are closed it's not the end of trout fishing! The local lakes have some fish in store for keen anglers, and Eildon pondage has been fishing well. The pondage has been fishing well with dough style baits and coarse methods, just make sure you prepare yourself well for this style of fishing - simply throwing out powerbait on any rig and rod won't cut it! Some of the pondage trout are large and educated, and a tiny but strong no14 dough hook and light line is sometimes the only way to trick them. If you're not sure about how to rig up pop in store and grab the pieces you need, as it's a long drive home with no trout!

Customer and Eildon semi-local Zoran has been fishing the pondage during the week, and while things were slow for him he still landed 7 nice fish. A mixture of 'trout dough' and 'chartreuse' powerbait got the interest of the trout, which were all rainbows. The brown trout sound like they have moved into a spawn mode, but they can still be caught.

While the pondage is going well, many of the local family fishing lakes have just received a top up stocking of trout prior to the School Holidays - so it's perfect timing to get the kids out and fishing! Staff member Don has been taking his kids out to many of the local stocked lakes and they are producing plenty of feisty rainbow trout on both bait and lure!

The local stocked lakes have been fishing well for trout over the last week of the school holidays. While the weather was reasonable anglers were out making the most of the feisty trout. The standouts have been Karkarook Park Lake and also Eildon pondage for some bigger fish.

Customer Gordon has been catching some really nice specimens from the pondage, with fish over 2.5kg not uncommon. Gordon has been fishing a coarse method with both 'trout dough' and powerbait in a variety of colours. Gordon has found many anglers giving up easily on his last few sessions, with many people only staying for half an hour or so with no berley - which is one of the keys to getting these fish going.

Staff member Don took his nephews Zac and Aaron out to Karkarook Park for a spot of trout fishing and they weren't disappointed. Don showed the boys how to set up their lines correctly for this style of fishing, and after a little while they started getting into some fish. Fine mix berley got the fish going after about 20 minutes and the small fine gauge hooks did their job in pinning the trout in the jaw. The trout dough caught more on this occasion, but 'lime twist' coloured powerbait also caught a couple of fish.

Another young angler catching trout at Karkarook Park is Breanna. Breanna was fishing with her dad Darren at the lake where she hooked and landed 3 rainbow trout by herself. The feeder cage rig worked wonders is keeping the fish active in the area that they were fishing, and gave a burst of scent around the bait when it hit the water.

The many trout lakes around the state and outer suburbs have been getting some attention over the Easter school holidays, and for anglers fishing the correct methods most have been producing. Many of the lakes get stocked before every school holidays so that the kids can have some fun.

The lure fishing been good for many anglers but the coarse method involving powerbait and formulated trout dough has been almost guaranteed success when fished correctly. 

Staff member Don has been away with family over the week along the banks of the Goulburn river, where he has been catching fish with his kids. Don and his boys have been catching most of their trout on a variety of lures to suit the conditions, with tassie devils and Yakamito spoons producing a lot of fish and the most foolproof lures were rigged with assist or single hooks.

The stocked trout spoon bite has been excellent a bit closer to home among the suburb systems at Lakeside Pakenham and also Karkarook Park in Moorabbin. With an abundance of recently stocked fish in these lakes, now is the perfect time to trial any lures you want some fish catching confidence in. Customer Morgan had a blast catching over a dozen rainbows just this morning on a variety of small spoons including the Yakamito 'Pink Mudeye' and Strike Tiger 'Perch' patterns. Single hooks ensured all but one came unhooked.

A bit further afield, customer Steve has had some success up at Lake Jindabyne. Steve has found the lake to be fishing as well as it has in recent times, with a nice bag of 5 trout to 5lb caught in one evening among some mates. All fish were caught in a 2 hour session and all on spider mudeyes.

The bream and flathead fishing around the local and out of town estuaries has been excellent, even with heavy holiday crowds. The cooler water temperatures have got the bream at a comfortable level where they can feed in the shallows without the water being too hot, and the flathead can also ambush these shallow areas too.

Customer Morgan was down in Gippsland with mate Jinsu where they caught some nice bream on lures. Overcast and slightly breezy conditions made for some good fishing, with the fish eager to eat the lures. The most effective lures on the day were the Jackall 'spytail' jointed stickbaits. When these lures were fished with sharp twitches and a pause the fish would hit them ferociously.

Customer Shane has been out near Lakes Entrance over the break chasing the big flathead about. Shane ordered in some 'live prawn' soft plastics to give a good run on the big flatties and he has put them straight to good use. Shane has been catching good numbers of table flathead on these lures but also fish to nearly 70cm.

Working these live prawns with a sharp-hop-and-fall retrieve has been the best way to get the attention of the larger flathead, and being tear-resistant they seem to last well against the sharp teeth.

Customer Tony has been back to his old tricks, catching some nice bream in the Patto.Tony fished after some light rain using freshwater yabbies and landed 6 nice fish up to 42cm. Among these, 3 fish busted Tony off against the pylons and mussel encrusted poles, and that was on 10lb leader. The Patto will continue to fish well as we get some more rain during Autumn.