Fishing Monthly Magazine | August 2021

Page 94

VIC

Wetting a line in the sun WANGARATTA

Robbie Alexander

I really like August. It’s the last month of winter and spring is so close that you can feel it in the air. Quite often late in August we start to see an

cod in the Ovens River in August and finding more success than we expected. We did not catch any cod on lures, nor did we try overly hard. Most of our fishing was bait fishing. For me it was two baited lines, one with worms and one with cheese, and I managed

still closed in August, the trout fishing is restricted to lakes and dams. Lake William Hovell is the main trout fishing lake in the Ovens River system. It is already full now and will still be full in August, that is one thing that I can guarantee.

This little yellowbelly was caught last August in the middle of Wangaratta. stocked in time for the winter school holidays each year. These include Merriwa Park Lake in Wangaratta, Glenrowan Recreation Reserve, Tronoh Dredge at Harrietville, Lake Sambell at Beechworth, Alans Flat waterhole at Yackandandah to name a few. All are stocked with yearling rainbow trout in

A stocking filled with dry dogfood is a cost effective and convenient cray fishing bait. increase in fish activity as the days are getting longer and the sun is just starting to feel that little bit warmer. MURRAY COD August is a time of the year that many dedicated ‘big cod’ specialists really like. It’s a time for those guys to cast their huge lures into the well-known big cod waters like Lake Eildon, the Murray River etc. For me, it’s a time to throw a couple of baited lines in and wait patiently for a hungry Murray cod to swim past. Last August a couple of mates and I managed to catch quite a few Murray cod. The 2020 COVID

to catch cod on both. The key to Murray cod fishing success in August, as I found out last year, was to practice the ‘three Ps’: patience, persistence and perseverance. I worked out that if I sat there for long enough, eventually I had a half decent chance of catching an August Murray cod. This year I will be doing the exact same thing, subject to river conditions of course. If you’re heading to Wangaratta this August and want to wet a line, just find yourself a nice spot to sit in the winter sun, drown some bait and relax. If you’re

Catching trout cod in a crayfish net using dog food in a stocking for bait is the author’s special skill.

2020 Victorian lockdowns forced us to learn to fish our local waterways better. Brett Corker caught this nice Murray cod on cheese in the middle of Wangaratta. lockdown here in Victoria meant that we were forced to fish close to home, which saw us fishing for Murray 94

AUGUST 2021

lucky, a hungry Murray cod might just find your bait. TROUT As the trout streams are

YELLOWBELLY August is a time of the year when a few yellowbelly may start to move. I expect the yellowbelly fishing to be a bit slow, however I will not be at all surprised if I pick one up while angling in the Ovens River. Last year I caught one on worms while angling in the middle of Wangaratta during August.

Aside from Lake William Hovell, we have many family-friendly trout fishing waterways that are

time for the winter school holidays, and will all still be worth fishing in August. REDFIN August is a terrible time of the year to target redfin in this area – possibly the worst time of the year. Any redfin that I have caught in August has been a fluke, and usually a by-catch while targeting other species. If there is redfin in the waterway that you are fishing then you may pick one up, however I personally will not be heading out anywhere to specifically target redfin in August. I will be going to Lake William Hovell at some point, fishing with bait targeting whatever comes my way. I often catch trout there, and occasionally I fluke a redfin or two during August, however I would never head there in August to intentionally target redfin because it is usually quite slow.

If I was going to set out after yellowbelly during August, I would probably go a bit further away and try Lake Nillahcootie, focussing on the shallow water and in the sun. I do know that during August the yellowbelly fishing can really fire up in the western part of Victoria, particularly around the

Mildura area, however it is much colder here than it is there, and the yellowbelly usually start to really bite about a month later. CARP Carp are a great fishing option at any time of the year. They generally slow down quite a bit during winter, however they still bite well enough to make them a viable target species. Lake Moodemere is my favourite carp fishing spot in the cooler months, however last year there was a definite surge in carp numbers in the Ovens River during August and September, which provided me with a lot of bait fishing fun. CRAYFISH August is the last month of the year when the catching of Murray crayfish is allowed. Cray fishing season closes at midnight on 31 August. Where to go craying is largely dependent on the river conditions. Finding nice calm backwaters can be a struggle when the river is really high. If all else fails, the top end of Lake Mulwala from Majors Creek to Bundalong is always worth a try. There are a lot of little crayfish in that area, and some large females. Finding a large male can be a challenge because it is such a popular cray fishing area. And just a reminder, that area is NSW, so NSW rules and regulations apply.

The author with a monster Murray crayfish caught in the Ovens River in June this year. It measured 135mm from its eye to its tail. Well over the maximum size and with eggs, this beauty went back.


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Articles inside

Karratha

16min
pages 111-113

Boat Test: Haines Signature

11min
pages 118-121

Geraldton

3min
page 109

Lancelin

4min
page 108

Mandurah

5min
page 107

Metro

3min
page 106

Recfishwest

6min
page 102

Esperance

5min
page 103

Augusta

10min
pages 104-105

Tournaments

4min
page 101

WIRF

9min
pages 98-99

Eildon

4min
page 97

Ballarat

6min
page 95

Wangaratta

4min
page 94

Gippsland Lakes

6min
page 88

Port Phillip East

4min
pages 86-87

Phillip Island

6min
page 85

Port Phillip West

3min
page 84

Geelong

7min
pages 82-83

Hobart

11min
pages 77-79

Canberra

6min
pages 74-75

Hunter Valley

6min
page 71

Illawarra

8min
page 66

Batemans Bay

5min
page 67

New England Rivers

3min
page 70

Central Coast

9min
page 65

Forster

5min
pages 61-63

Sydney South

5min
page 54

Sydney Rock

8min
pages 52-53

Sydney North

4min
page 51

Freshwater

13min
pages 42-45

Cape York

3min
pages 40-41

Tech Tricks

12min
pages 46-49

Cooktown

5min
pages 38-39

Port Douglas

4min
page 37

Townsville

7min
pages 34-35

Whitsundays

7min
pages 30-33

Mackay

6min
pages 28-29

Southern Bay

4min
pages 18-19

Jumpinpin

3min
pages 16-17

Northern Bay

4min
page 22

Starlo’s back to basics

4min
pages 12-13

Sheik of the Creek

4min
page 27

QUEENSLAND Gold Coast

5min
pages 14-15

Freshwater 112 REGULAR FEATURES Fly fishing for luderick

14min
pages 8-11
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