VIC
A very Murray Christmas SHEPPARTON
Nick Brown teamriverrats@hotmail.com
Cod season is finally upon us and like every year it seems an eternity since we have been able to dust off our cod gear and target these great fish locally.
GOULBURN RIVER At the time of writing, the Goulburn River in Shepparton had started to settle down, which has meant much better water clarity. The fish seem to react to the better water conditions and bite more regularly, so if you find these conditions are the
Matt Dohnt with a cod caught from Waranga Basin. Over the spring there have been plenty of report of cod being caught while locals have been targeting yellowbelly and redfin but I don’t usually report on these by-catches. I hope the fishing heats up with the weather, and we start catching the cod as often as when we were catching them by accident. From page 104
hours. The Bunyip River is also in excellent condition and worthy of some attention. The majority of the trout caught in the Bunyip are north of the highway but there are still
same in early December then expect the fish to be on the chew. Those who will lure fish this cod season I would be using either the Old Mates or the Codgers. I know I report these a lot but they just seem to account for so many fish in the Goulburn around Shepparton. These lures are fish to be caught along its whole length. The Tanjil River is starting to turn on with a few reports of trout being caught above and below the lake. The warmer weather has brought on the insect hatches,
The author with an average brown trout for the district that was caught while wading upstream casting a spinner.
great on the cast and troll so you don’t have to rotate as many lures throughout the day, which is great. Bait fishing will also fire now that the shrimp and yabbies are on the move. Make sure you’re using the freshest bait possible if you’re chasing yellowbelly, but when it comes to cod fishing you can use random things like chicken, dim sims even a cooked sausage has worked in the past. BROKEN RIVER It’s go time for the Broken River and it’s all about surface fishing or spinnerbaits. The Broken River is close combat fishing with cod exploding out of shallow pockets, deep edges or right at your toes. The Jackal Pompadour has been the standout top water lure for the broken and this season I would expect nothing different. If we do get a river rise this summer make sure you hit the weirs as these areas seem to hold the fish wanting to swim upstream. If you have two rods I would always rig a second with a spinnerbait and if you get a bust up and not hook set, fire your spinnerbait back into the zone. You will find the fish will react to the different lure and up your catch rates. WARANGA BASIN The basin has been fishing well around the edges with plenty of smaller redfin or carp being caught on both lures and bait. Floating worms around the submerged trees has and these are feeding the trout nicely. The Tanjil has been producing mainly small fish but I wouldn’t discount a bigger model or two. The bass in Blue Rock Reservoir should be starting to fire up soon too, and will certainly make for some good fishing. For those looking to fish closer to home there have been plenty of reports. The redfin have started to fire up in many local estate dams and can be readily caught on lures. They will take a wide variety of lures but soft plastics and hardbodies are a good starting point. As for bait, it is hard to beat the garden worm. Creeks at lower elevation have also been producing plenty of reddies and carp for those anglers fishing with bait. There is no shortage of quality fish in our area, but they do not come easy. Regular feature Dylan Powis was rewarded for his efforts twice this month with two exceptional fish for the area. He reports on one occasion fishing an out-of-the-way section of river that does not
worked best and those casting lures have had just as much success casting Diawa Double Clutches or Jackall Squirrels. There have been numerous reports of yellowbelly being caught trolling along the main rock wall with the 15ft Codgers in bright colours, and the white and orange Poltergeist working best. While fishing the rock wall end don’t be surprised if you find a cod as over the past couple of seasons there have been more and more cod being caught at that end of the basin. Matt Dohnt caught a nice cod on an Old Mate on a recent trip to the basin while chasing redfin. IRRIGATION CHANNELS The channels around Shepparton have been a little quiet this spring with many locals reporting low numbers of fish. Both bait and lure fishing has slowed up in early November. I have had some reports of locals bait fishing for carp struggling to get a bite using both corn and worms, which is normally a simple way to catch a fish. There seems to be an abundance of bait fish in the channels at the moment and possibly the reason why catch rates are down. Fish may just have so much bait that a plastic hardbody or lipless crankbait is just not doing it for them. I managed to scoop up some of these bait fish and found the only lure we could match the hatch with
Josh Dohnt with a nice irrigation channel yellowbelly. in the kit was a Rapala BX Brat. This lure has worked well around the bridge pylons and drop bars in recent trips but he has been finding the bites very tentative. If you’re finding you’re getting hits and not getting a hook set, especially on smaller trebled lures, it might be worth using a softer rod. I have been using a Miller Bass Freak M but will now switch to a Finesse Freak just so there is a little more give when the fish takes the lure. Now that we can target cod in the channels I wouldn’t change up your methods too much as there was always the odd cod caught while chasing other species. SHEPPARTON LAKE With the weather warming up we expect to see more yellowbelly and redfin being caught at the lake in the early summer periods. But what may surprise many locals is that there is a healthy population of cod in the lake. These fish have been
Callum Auldist showing that hardbody minnows are as effective as any other technique. see much fishing pressure. In this stretch he caught his PB trout of around 60cm. The other occasion he was fishing Blue Rock Lake at night using a bardi grub and caught an impressive
Australian bass. This proves the reward is out there if you are willing to put in the effort. Moving forward into December, the warmer weather will have well and truly set in. The streams and
transferred over the last couple of years from the irrigation channels and some of these cod are above 90cm. Floating worms on weed edges has worked well when targeting fish, especially at the skate park end of the lake. Those accessing the lake via boat or kayak have been trolling smaller diving lures or casting Jackall TN50 rigged with singles not trebles to help with weed proofing the lure. We have also been getting some reports of yellowbelly being caught on soft plastics at night, with these fish cruising the shallows around the grass hill. It’s not uncommon to see fish swimming these shallows in low light times and can be great fun on light gear. Don’t worry if you don’t own a kayak or canoe as Trelly’s Shepparton now offers canoe hire service. You can enquire online, in store or check out the Facebook page for more info. rivers around the district are still going to be in prime condition and will be holding hungry fish. With the warmer weather, insect hatches will become more consistent and no doubt will be stirring up the local fish. The warm weather brings surface fishing into the equation for lure fishers. Aussie bass at Blue Rock will be hitting surface lures in the first and last light of the day. Targeting snags with poppers or a cicada-type lure will pay off for the keen angler. Around this same time last year, I caught quite a few stream trout on hot afternoons casting a micro cicada surface lure. It seemed to work much better on the hotter days than anything else. This could be a new technique for many people to try out this summer. When chasing trout during summer it is very important to keep their time out of the water to a minimum. With the warmer days coming up this is more important than any other DECEMBER 2021
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