Ballarat

Ripper redfin on the rise

BALLARAT Shane Stevens

Fishing around the Ballarat and district has certainly been tough over the past month, with only a few scattered reports filtering through.

I mentioned last month that our lakes and reservoirs around the district were at higher levels than previous years due to the La Niña weather pattern. The rains have not stopped coming; one storm that ripped through the district dumped up to 150mm of rain in some areas, and caused widespread property damage and flooding. As a result of the flooding, some of our waters including Moorabool, Cosgroves, Hepburn, Newlyn and Dean reservoirs all overflowed, and a lot of water finished up into Tullaroop, which is now at its highest level for a long, long time.

Is this the reason the fishing is quiet currently? I’m not sure, but I do know the very hot weather we’ve had over the past month has increased, with water temperatures reaching up to 25°C in some waters. The high temperatures have certainly impacted the trout fishing. The trout have Wayne Rigg with a Lake Wendouree redfin which devoured a Micro Chatter cast along

weed beds. Photo Courtesy Ben Young.

Adam Hewitson caught his new personal best (PB) trout from Pykes Reservoir measuring

in at 48cm. Photo Courtesy Adam Hewitson.

moved out into the deeper water where it is colder and more comfortable for them.

On the flip side, the warmer temperatures have brought the redfin on the bite. They prefer warmer temperatures and are eager to eat flies, lures and baits. Early mornings and evenings are the best times to target the redfin.

Ben Young is an expert at nailing the big redfin on Wendouree casting lures and plastics out of a boat. Ben targets the edges of the weed beds, casting hardbodied lures and soft plastics, and recently his weapon of choice has been Micro Chatters (a very small version of a chatterbait). Ben works the Micro Chatters very slowly. The small spinning blade on the front of the lure catches the eye of the hungry redfin, and they find them irresistible.

As Ben works the edges of the weed beds, not only in the rowing channel but other selected spots, he might work one area

with no success move onto another, same result and then go back to the first spot and the redfin could have moved into the area to feed and bang its game on, it’s a matter of trial and error until you find them, they can be very elusive at times Ben said. On recent trips Ben has nailed some excellent-sized redfin up to 48cm as well as quite a few other small models.

The trout on Wendouree are very quiet currently, however a few have been getting caught in the evenings by anglers trolling lures behind boats or hobbies in the rowing channel, which happens to be the deepest part of the lake, cooler water. I’d suggest the fishing will improve over the coming month, as we moved out of the hot weather, cooler conditions will cool the water temperatures down to a more comfortable level and the trout will once again start to feed freely.

Pykes Reservoir approximately 30

minutes down the road from Ballarat, has been producing some excellent catches of redfin and the odd trout. Adam Hewitson has been catching plenty of redfin trolling lures, casting soft plastics and also fishing small yabbies and garden worms, slowly jigged just off the bottom. Adam said he has been sounding the schools of redfin up before catching them on bait and plastics. There are lots of little ones with some rippers in amongst them, up to 40cm.

Adam also caught his new PB trout at Pykes. He said he was trolling some deep diving lures for the redfin when a very plump 48cm brown trout nailed his lure.

Pykes Reservoir has been heavily stocked over the past few years by Victorian Fishing Authority with trout, yellowbelly and now Murray cod, so there are some exciting times ahead for this fishery.

At Tullaroop Reservoir, the water level is at its highest for a long time. The trout have been very quiet all season, but there have been some good bags of redfin being caught on yabbies, worms, gudgeon and lures by anglers fishing from boats, hobbies and kayaks. The use of fish finders certainly improves your chances of catching a feed of redfin. Once you sound them up, drop your baits or plastics into the school and generally it’s game on. The action can be very fast and frantic at times, while at other times you can see them there and they won’t touch a thing. That’s fishing.

If you are after a feed of yabbies, Tullaroop is producing excellent catches of these very tasty crustaceans. Anglers have been dropping their pots in water depths varying from 10-15m. Ensure your pots have your name and address on them, and that you don’t exceed the bag limit of yabbies. The rules and regulations on pots that can be used, along with bag limits, are available at www.vfa.vic.gov.au. Fisheries officers have been patrolling some of our local waters checking licenses, bag limits and safety equipment.

Moorabool Reservoir, as I mentioned, recently overflowed for the first time for many years. The fishing has been very quiet lately, with only the odd fish being caught. Nick Whelan has been out flyfishing Moorabool in search of the mudeye feeders on evening and after dark. He said it was quiet; he saw three fish just on dark, hooked all three and landed only one small rainbow. He had expected the fish to be mooching around the margins feeding on mudeyes migrating to hatch into dragonflies, and he said it was disappointing they didn’t appear to come in that night.

Darren Lyle has been fishing Moorabool as well, searching for the mudeye feeders, and had a similar experience. He said you could see the mudeyes swimming through the water, but the fish weren’t on them. Maybe that’s due to the water being so warm.

The fishing in Moorabool will improve as autumn progresses, when the water temperature cools down. This waterway is certainly on my fishing radar as we move into the autumn months.

Lake Wendouree redfin, like this 48cm specimen, can’t

resist a Micro Chatter. Photo courtesy Ben Young.