Batlow

BATLOW Wayne Dubois

waynedubois@westnet.com.au

The greater Batlow area (and most of NSW) has been lucky enough to receive great rain and even snow falls all winter long. Some say it’s been the wettest in a decade, while others say it’s the themselves in the food-rich shallows around the lake.

GOLDEN PERCH

Golden perch are at their most active this month as they feed up and start thinking about spawning. The goldens that aren’t thinking of spawning just yet are the fish you want to target, because once these fish get focused on spawning they can be very walls, and at Blowering in particular around the Islands area as well. The huge schools of fish around the wall areas are almost completely fixated on spawning, and can be very difficult to catch at times. However, persistent casting or trolling in this area will often result in fish, and if you’re on the water when they decide to start biting, you will often catch plenty of fish.

As for tactics, in the shallows I’d suggest light lipless crankbaits 60mm or less, shallow running hardbodies (especially suspending models), small lightly-weighted blades, small profile spinnerbaits or soft plastics rigged on 1/16oz to 1/4oz jigheads. In the deeper water around the wall and Island, the best lures are heavy lipless crankbaits, rubber vibes and blades that will get

Hopping lures like this Insanity Tackle Yab blade along the bottom, imitating yabbies, will account for crazy golden perch numbers this month.

wettest on record. Either way it’s clear to see just how much rain we’ve had, as Blowering Dam seems to stay at capacity. As the water temperatures around the margins of the dams start to rise quite quickly this month, so too do the catch rates of both trout and golden perch, which are arguably the flavours of the month. A boat is not essential at this time of year (although it can be helpful). Fishing from the bank is a good way of targeting both species, as they both like to take advantage of these conditions by gorging hard to entice, no matter what you throw at them.

The most active fish will be sitting in the shallows, picking off frogs, yabbies and insects. These fish can be targeted with bait, lures or flies either from the bank or from a boat. The key to this form of fishing is keeping quiet and putting in long casts so as to not spook the shallowholding fish. If you keep quiet it’s not uncommon to see your target before you even put a cast in.

Alternatively, you can target the massive schools of golden perch that congregate along the dam you down quickly and hold you down there. Heavilyweighted soft plastics are also a good option.

TUMUT RIVER

After quite a long wait for some people, the trout season will finally be under way come the beginning of October. When it comes to what level the river will

be flowing at, it’s anyone’s guess. However, whether the flow is low or high, there will be plenty of anglers out getting their first trout fix for the year. You will need your heavy trout gear to give yourself a fighting chance if the river is in high flow, but if the flow is low (under 1000 megs) then I recommend you go as light as you dare.

Lure fishing with the local favourite, the Tassie Devil, can still be very productive in the high flows but it’s always good to try something different to increase your chances of catching those big, educated trout.

Lipless crankbaits in trout colours work well in the high flows, as do paddle-tail soft plastics like the Squidgy Fish range and the Ecogear Grass Minnows rigged on fairly heavy jigheads around the 1/4oz to 1/2oz mark, depending on the flow. Casting down and across stream with sinking hardbodies is a super deadly technique in

the high flows, and makes for quite easy fishing.

Bait drifters can have good results in the high flows also. Rigging your bait so that it is slowly drifting along the bottom of the river is the most consistent technique, but bait drifted along under a float can also be deadly on Tumut River trout.

Fly fishos can get good results from weighted nymphs fished under a big dry fly, and glow bugs also have their moments this early in the season.

All of the above mentioned techniques will also work in the low flows, however if the river is in low flow it is hard to beat casting with small spinners such as the Rooster Tails, Cocktails and Bling Spins to name but a few. To achieve the best results with these lures it’s best to jump in the river and walk upstream, casting ahead of yourself the whole way.

It’s worth noting that regardless of the flow, the Tumut River fishes really well at the beginning of the season. At this time of year, most fish have just finished spawning and will

be out gorging themselves on anything that fits in their mouths as they attempt to put some weight back on. So, dust off the trout gear and go get amongst them. I know I will be.

The trout season is back open in our creeks and rivers, and the fish will be hungry. Dust off your gear and go get amongst them.

Find the female and there should be a bunch of males around, which can result in lots of double hook-ups.

During spring, the physical proportions of golden perch is next level. Look at that tail wrist.