A great month for trout in northeast Victoria

WANGARATTA

Robbie Alexander

April is a beautiful time of the year in North East Victoria, one of my favourites. The weather is usually quite stable, the nights are cool, the days are mild to warm, and there’s usually some good fishing to be found.

MURRAY COD to see the trout starting to fire up.

Although I do catch a few Murray cod each year in April, I would not consider it the best month of the year for cod. It may be the best time in other areas, but in the Ovens River catchment the cod fishing is usually quite hit-and-miss in April. Sometimes you’ll have an amazing fishing trip, and the next time you’ll go fishless.

This month I will be fishing for trout at Lake late in the afternoon to try to catch some of the trout that may be rising and feeding on the dead insects laying on the surface of the lake.

The trout streams should all fish really well in the coming weeks, as there is still a lot more water than usual flowing down them for this time of the year. This will greatly assist the trout to swim upstream, ready to spawn later in the autumn.

Black soft plastics (such as the Strike Tiger Nymph) are dynamite on trout in the streams during April, especially early in the month when there are a lot of autumn, particularly April.

If fishing from a boat or kayak, small diving lures work very well. So will a cast soft plastic if you cast it out, let it sink and slowly work it back towards the boat.

From the bank try casting small soft plastics or bladed spinners. They work very well in both lakes.

Lake Buffalo is the better lake for fishing from the bank, as it has a lot more bankside access around much of the Lake. Lake William Hovell is limited to just a small area along the western edge, and a couple of 4WD-only spots at the a few yellowbelly on the bite there in April, although they have usually slowed down a bit.

Other Species

The carp fishing has been incredible lately, and I suspect that it will continue throughout April.

As a result of last year’s floods, carp numbers have exploded and they’re turning up in places where I have never seen them before. I have even been catching them in yabby nets in roadside table drains.

My favourite carp fishing lake, Lake Moodemere, has been fishing very well for

I tend to catch more cod on bait at this time of year than I do lures, although I certainly have caught cod on lures.

I consider April to be the last good chance of catching a Murray cod in the Wangaratta area. Once we get into May, they become quite scarce.

Lake Mulwala, just down the road, tends to fish very well during April each year.

Trout

April is a great month to go trout fishing right across North East Victoria. The streams are usually quite cold, and the surface water temperatures in the lakes have usually dropped enough

William Hovell of an evening. I like to fish for redfin with soft plastics during the day, and then switch to a winged lure such as a Tassie Devil crickets around.

REDFIN

The region’s two main redfin lakes, Lake Buffalo and Lake William Hovell, both tend to fish very well during April.

Redfin are a funny fish. Some places fish better in spring, some in autumn and some in summer. The two aforementioned lakes definitely fish the best during southern end of the lake.

YELLOWBELLY

The yellowbelly tend to slow down a bit in April. I won’t be targeting them specifically, although I will definitely welcome any that I may catch as a by-catch while fishing in the Ovens River.

Nearby Lake Nillahcootie might be worth a try. There are usually still carp, with the odd redfin and silver perch thrown into the mix.

Another spot worth trying is the Mokoan Ponds at the Winton Wetlands. You may know these ponds as the Borrow Pits. They are found at the eastern end of the Winton Wetlands near the old Lake Mokoan Wall, and they have been fishing very well lately.