Eildon

Quantity over quality

EILDON Peter Burtchell

During mid to late autumn, Lake Eildon and surrounds fish extremely well. Large Murray cod continue to feast on anything they can catch, the cooler water temperatures excite the yellowbelly and redfin, whilst trout in abundance begin to stir in the main body of the lake, awaiting their spawning runs.

Headwaters will remain very active as yellowbelly and redfin make easy meals of yabbies that traverse down from the high country to more fertile grounds. The yellowbelly will take lures and baits in the shallowest parts, just shy of the river rapids, whilst large Murray cod will lay low in many of the deep holes succeeding the rapids. Yabbies and worms on floats cast from Jordan, wearing his Dino Lures T-shirt, got amongst the action.

Rusty with a healthy spinnerbait-caught Murray cod in the Goulburn Arm.

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Rusty headed to the Goulburn Arm for a successful day’s fishing, with multiple cod and yellowbelly hits.

the banks and allowed to follow the flow are effective when targeting Murray cod, yellowbelly, redfin and trout. Larger Murray cod in the deep holes will take swimbaits, spinnerbaits, divers and surface lures, and just about any bait you present to them once they are active. Remember that the rivers flowing into Lake Eildon do have a closed season, unlike Lake Eildon itself which is an all-year fishery. If you are fishing the lake when rivers are closed to fishing, remember to stay in the main body of the lake, away from any flowing water from the rivers.

The best thing about fishing Lake Eildon is that it’s not always about the largest fish you can catch. Many anglers often chase quantity (smaller fish) in lieu of quality (larger fish). These smaller fish help to hone the skills of any angler when it comes to preparedness of lines, knots, landing gear and photographic equipment. Added to these are the landing, fish care, unhooking, photographing and releasing skills, especially if you fish a lot on your own.

For anglers trying this style of fishing, it is quite easy to land and release a dozen or more smaller fish in the same time it takes to target one larger fish. Anglers new to the sport don’t tire whilst awaiting that hit of a lifetime because they are continually hit, and there is always a chance that they will be hit by a once-in-a-lifetime fish; anything moving in the water is a target for them, even if outside their normal feeding times.

Another benefit of this style of fishing is you will get to know where most of the smaller fish are, which also means that you will know where larger fish will be, as those larger fish await the change of light into the evenings, throughout the night and sunrise to hunt

in the productive area. This comes in handy should you wish to change from small baits and lures to larger ones to target those larger fish at the appropriate times. Swimbaits, twitchbaits, sub-surface and surface lures are the preferred methods when targeting these larger fish in the identified productive areas.

The Goulburn River and Eildon Pondage will also fish very well in mid to late autumn. In early spring the Goulburn was a haven for larger 3-4kg trout, as the dam outflow water temperature remained very low. Spinners and shallow-diving lures proved to be the best tackle.

The pondage when full fished very well, with mudeyes and wet flies in the mudeye imitation. If you would like to listen to a weekly update of what is happening around fishing at Eildon, be sure to tune into UGFM Eildon 88.9 FM

and or 2REM 107.3 FM Shamdonk Fishtalk. Craig’s updated fish activity report on UGFM is every Thursday and Saturday morning from 7am with his Shamdonk report being broadcast on Thursday nights from 6pm to 9pm where tips are provided regarding water flow, fish activity and the most successful baits and lures being used. Craig also mentions any angling competitions and events that are scheduled for the lake.

This year’s competitions begin in earnest with Baily used his Dino Spinnerbait to entice this nice yellowbelly.

John Wood with a 53cm yellowbelly.