Batlow

BATLOW Wayne Dubois

waynedubois@westnet.com.au On the freshwater scene, especially down south the middle of winter is normally associated with trout and redfin fishing and to a small extent Murray cod fishing. With that in mind, it might be surprising to hear that golden perch can also be on the cards at this time of the year.

If Blowering Dam is at a constant level or is slowly rising then the golden perch will often push right up into the shallows. This fish are often very hard to tempt as they are mostly sunning themselves, but they sometimes come on the bite for a very short period during the middle to late part of the day. Timing it is very hard but if you want to catch the odd big golden perch you will have to persist. My best advice would be to hit the redfin early until about lunch time, then target the golden perch for a few hours. Then, once the golden perch shut back down, go back and harass the redfin again. If you’re really keen, as soon as that sun dips over the Snubba Range I’d start to target the resident Murray cod.

Redfin fishing doesn’t get much easier than it does at this time of the year, when the redfin form massive schools, sometimes with hundreds of fish in a single school. They are best targeted vertically with jigs or bait.

Using a paternoster rig with two hooks, one with fresh bait (either worms or small yabbies) and the other with a small 1-2” soft plastic will see you catching fish all day long, and will see you often bringing two fish in at a time. The added bonus of this rig is that if the bait gets pinched by a small fish or gets fouled up, you still have a chance of hooking a fish on the plastic. You can add a plastic above your jig of choice as well to increase your chances of double hook-ups whilst jigging with lures.

The best vertical jigging lures are ice jigs by far, but blades and heavily-weighted soft plastics will also get the job done. I personally use the blades and plastics as a searching tool. I cast them well away from the boat and hop them back to below the boat, searching for schools in the process, making sure I stay in contact with the bottom of the lake threw out the retrieve. Once I have hooked up this way, I then go over to the spot I hooked up and drop ice jigs straight down into the school. This is a very effective way of seeking out active schools. Rubber vibes are also great searching lures.

There are some giant trout in Jounama Dam that are well worth having a crack at.

From page 68 hook. These come in various weights and sizes, and definitely have their place. If you are unsure of how to rig plastics weedless, drop into the shop and I can show you.

Fishing weedless allows you to throw your plastic right up into the snags where the fish are located. The plastic will bounce through the submerged vegetation, often bouncing off it, and the little puff of dirt that follows incites a strike.

When fishing submerged vegetation, try different banks. Sometimes the fish are holding in gently sloping grassy banks, and at other times they can be found on steeper banks that contain submerged shrubs and saplings. It’s a matter of trying different banks until you find the fish, and then repeating the pattern.

Dropshot fishing is another great winter technique that many people don’t do. Fishing dropshots can be done deep or shallow. The main advantage of dropshots is that you can fish very small plastics, and unusual plastics that will not fit in a normal jighead. I nosehook most plastics when drop-shotting.

When working a plastic drop-shotting, work it as if you are using a jighead, either fast or slow. From my experience, a dropshot isn’t about shaking a plastic stationary, it’s about working the plastics through a certain depth or near the bottom, as you would a jighead. Its advantage is the types of plastics you can use. Smaller plastics or those with a the local bass competitions that continue throughout the winter months. If you want to learn new techniques and make new mates, have a go and join in. They are very friendly with a great group of people who love their fishing and are good at it!

Next month I will

A big Glenbawn bass.

slimmer profile. Even small insect-style plastics!

When fishing plastics to the edge I will always have someone in the boat fishing a jerkbait such as a Squirrel or Double Clutch. I also keep a rod on the deck with a topwater lure such as a cicada. If I see a swirl, I will throw this out. This is an all year lure on Glenbawn and St Clair.

Don’t forget about all continue looking at winter fishing, particularly ice jig tricks. The winter bite is currently insane with big angry bass.

Remember, if you’re heading to Glenbawn or St Clair, drop into the shop at the turn-off to Glenbawn in Aberdeen and ask about the different techniques and what the fish are biting on. We stock all the quality tackle that you need. Golden perch are still a possibility this month. Target them during the warmest part of the day to maximise your chances.

Redfin are one of the few fish that taste as good as they look, and they can be caught in their hundreds. It’s easy to see why they are a main target for many anglers during winter.

JOUNAMA DAM

Although there are much more notable trout dams just up the road like Tantangara, Talbingo, Eucumbene and Jindabyne, you will be hard pressed driving past this sensational land-based ‘trout only’ fishery. Officially Jounama Dam is now a mixed fishery, with some thumping golden perch and the odd Murray cod now in amongst the enormous trout population.

Trout in this lake often exceed the magical 10lb mark, and surprisingly it’s often the average Joe soaking a worm who ends up catching these monsters. In saying that, there is a massive population of fish in the 2-4kg bracket as well, which keep anglers coming back again and again.

One of the best techniques at this time of the year is to bait fish with big, juicy wood grubs, as the resident trout find them very hard to resist. PowerBait also

Trout can be pretty aggressive at this time of the year, and taking advantage of that by casting fish imitation lures works a treat. Proven lures are sinking hardbodies in the 5-7cm range, as well as blades, vibes, lipless crankbaits and soft plastics. All of these lures have their days and have certain spots where they work best. For example, the blades and vibes are too heavy for working the shallows, but they work well when hopped back to the bank in the deeper water. The sinking hardbodies generally sink very slowly so they aren’t much good out in the really deep water, but they work extremely well when slowly retrieved around the shallow margins of the lake.

Use the right lures in the right locations and you will increase your catch rate dramatically.

works well at this time of the year, and is a great alternative if you can’t get your hands on some fresh bait.