Wangaratta

Trout, reds and yellas: spring’s best sellers

WANGARATTA Robbie Alexander

October is a fantastic time of the year to go fishing in North East Victoria, one of the best times, in fact. The days are warm, the water is cool and there’s usually plenty of fish biting.

MURRAY COD

Murray cod season is currently closed and will be all spring. If you really want to get a Murray cod fix, you can head down south to shrimp in October and others we can’t. It all depends on the season, but if you can catch them, they are a dynamite yellowbelly bait.

Any deep pool or slow backwater in the river is worth a try, with sunrise and sunset being my preferred time of the day.

You may even catch a small Murray cod or Macquarie perch as by-catch while targeting yellowbelly with these small baits. Both must be released, as the Murray cod season is closed

A spring redfin caught as a by-catch while targeting carp with worms in a flooded backwater.

Lake Eildon where there is no closed season.

YELLOWBELLY

October is the second best month of the year to target yellowbelly in the Wangaratta area.

Wangaratta itself isn’t the greatest spot to target yellowbelly, however thanks to fish stocking we now have a healthy population of yellowbelly in the Ovens River that are starting to

turn up more and more frequently, with many of them now starting to reach 35cm or larger.

Bait fishing is the best way to target yellowbelly in the Ovens River with baits of worms, small yabbies and live shrimp being the best.

Some years we can catch and Macquarie perch are a totally protected species in this waterway.

For more reliable yellowbelly fishing, I would suggest you head to Lake Nillahcootie, which is on the Midland Highway between Benalla and Mansfield, and is around one hour from Wangaratta, or slightly under if you get a good run with traffic.

If you want to target the larger yellowbelly, I suggest

you head to Lake Hume, which is also an hour away. It’s located near Albury, and is a well-known and respected ‘big yellowbelly’ waterway, and October is a great time to go there. find the region’s best redfin fisheries, Lake William Hovell and Lake Buffalo, usually fish poorly for redfin at this time of the year. They tend to fish best in the late summer.

In contrast, many of the smaller waterways fish best in October, such as Lake Sambell and the many other old dredge holes and mining dams that litter the region.

Some of the smaller creeks also fish well for redfin in October. The slower and murkier lower reaches of many of the region’s trout

best months of the year to go trout fishing in North East Victoria. The streams are still flowing really well, the water is still cold and the insects have come to life. Trout feed very well in October in these perfect conditions.

Later in November, things change a bit as the water starts to warm up, but I will go more into that next month.

Any and all of your favourite trout streams will be worth fishing now, and all of your favourite techniques will work. they will make excellent bait.

All small lures whether they be plastics, minnows or spinners will work well in October.

The main trout fisheries in the region are the Ovens River upstream of Bright, also offer great trout fishing.

OTHER SPECIES

October can be a great time of the year to try and catch a feed of yabbies, especially in the second half of the month when things are really starting to warm

streams contain redfin, some of which are very large, and October is a great time to fish them.

Despite these creeks emptying into the Ovens and King rivers, redfin are rarely seen in either of them. My guess is that the extremely healthy population of Murray cod and trout cod make them disappear pretty quickly. TROUT

October is one of the

Yellowbelly numbers are on the rise in the Ovens River and October is a great time to catch them. Worms are a great bait, especially when the river is high and dirty. A large October brown trout caught on a Strike Tiger nymph soft plastic.

This nice yellowbelly came from Broken Creek. Catches of yellowbelly will become more frequent during October.

Having had such a wet winter, I dare say that drifting worms will still be a great option for bait anglers, especially early in the month. As the days warm up, depending on the weather, grasshoppers may be present and if they are, anywhere along the Buckland River, the Buffalo River upstream of Lake Buffalo and the King River upstream of Lake William Hovell. These are the main trout rivers, but there are many smaller creeks and rivers feeding these waterways that up. There are also plenty of carp in North East Victoria that are usually quite active in October. Most of the lagoons along the Ovens River have carp in them and Lake Moodemere is teaming with carp for those interested in targeting them… like me!