Batlow

BATLOW Wayne Dubois

waynedubois@westnet.com.au

Blowering Dam has been really firing of late, with cricket scores of redfin being caught by boat and land based anglers. The most successful technique by far has been jigging with either lures or bait, however many redfin have succumbed to a deep trolled lure. If you want to experience redfin fishing at its best, I’d suggest you plan a trip to Blowering Dam sometime this winter. REDFIN

Bait anglers have been getting plenty of redfin jigging with worms and small yabbies on the redfin in Blowering hold deep – anywhere from 20-60ft – although the majority seem to hang around in the 25-40ft mark. There are plenty of lures on the market that will get you to these depths on the troll. The extra deep 30+ AC Slim Invaders are my favourites, but Ferralcatts, Strike Zone Squirts, Halco 8m+ P50s and LuhrJensen Deep Secrets are all worth a shot.

Soft plastics such as Berkley Gulps or any 2-3” plastic are worth a troll as well. Yes, that’s right, a troll. The key to getting them down into the strike zone is the weight of the jighead you rig them on; 1/2-3/4oz jigheads will see you trolling in 30-40ft of water no worries at The redfin fishing at both Blowering Dam and Jounama Pondage has been sensational this season, and this should continue this month.

Catching your first Murray cod on a lure will put a smile on your face. Savannah Cooper recently learnt that whilst on a fishing charter with the author.

paternoster rigs, and the best results come from having the bait moving slowly up and down off the bottom. Bait anglers have also been doing well fishing from the bank for redfin at the dam wall area, and many other deep drop-offs.

Lure fishos jigging for redfin have had the most amount of success using ice jigs, but there have also been plenty caught on soft plastics and on lipless crankbaits, both the rattle versions and the silent plastic/rubber versions.

Jigging for redfin is great fun, but first you have to find them. You can either cruise around and search for schools with your sounder, or you can troll likely-looking areas until you catch a fish, which is a sure giveaway that you have found a school.

At this time of the year all, and if you want to go deeper you simply go to a heavier jighead. It sure beats messing around with downriggers and lead lines. This technique works well on the trout also. TROUT

Trout anglers should be out in force this month as the beginning of the unofficial trout season in the lakes begins. Most flat lined lures will do the job. Your usual Tassie-style lures in any gold colour are always worth a shot, but it does pay to experiment with colours during the day until you find the right colour for the conditions.

Fly fishing or lure casting, either from the banks or in the many wind lanes, is another good way of targeting the trout. Fly anglers seem to do best after dark with big wets like Hamills Killers, Mrs Simpsons and Woolly selection for trout I could go on for hours, but I find the best lures are soft plastics, sinking minnows and lipless crankbaits.

MURRAY COD

Night trolling for Murray cod is still quite popular at Blowering Dam. Most cod lures will do the job when trolled in the right place, but we find the bigger the lure the better when targeting the resident green fish. It’s hard to beat big hardbodies like the

The Tumut River is one of the most consistent trout fisheries in the country. It’s a great place to fish during the last few weeks of the season as there are crazy numbers of fish to be caught, and fewer anglers than the spawn-run streams, like the Eucumbene River.

Buggers. However, by targeting the wind lanes during the day it is possible to get a few on the dry as well.

When it comes to lure The running water trout season closes at the end of the June long weekend, so it’s time to get that last trout fix. Red copper John Nymphs teamed up with a Glo Bug will be hard to beat this month.

AC 120 and 150 Invaders when it comes to this style of fishing.

Bait fishing can also be very productive this month. However, but bait fishing with worms or grubs can be a bit of a lucky dip at times, as most fish species in the dam will eat these baits. If you want to target the Murray cod in particular, I would recommend you use yabbies for bait, and preferably fairly big ones. This will keep most other species away from your bait, increasing your chances of hooking a big cod. Alternatively, a large chunk of chicken meat will give you a great chance of catching a big Murray cod without having to worry about the non-target species.

TUMUT RIVER

The first two weeks of June will see many anglers out in their winter woollies, hoping for one last trout for the season. The fishing in the Tumut River just before the close of the trout season is incredible to say the least. The fish are preparing for their annual spawning run and are gorging on anything that swims below the surface or lands on the surface.

As the river is in low flow, you one can access most of the river making it possible to get to your favourite hole with ease. Your usual trout techniques will work at this time of the year but I think that the most important thing is to cover a fair bit of the river as the trout will definitely stack up in the better runs.

If the hole your fishing hasn’t produced a fish within 10-15 minutes move on and continue to do this until you catch fish. Also another observation worth noting is that the majority of the biggest fish for the season are caught on the last weekend of the season, food for thought maybe. Until next month, good fishing.