NSW
Tips for more fish in warm water BATLOW
Wayne Dubois waynedubois@westnet.com.au
Blowering Dam has been a very popular spot over the Summer months with many families taking advantage of the free form camping that the lake has
If you’re having no luck off the points try and find some sort of snag or tree. Not just the big obvious clumps of snags that everyone notices, try to find a single solitary tree as more often than not even a small, spindly tree can hold twenty or more fish. Also it is less likely that these types of single snags have
Bait fishing for Murray cod has been quite productive of late. It’s a great way of giving yourself a chance at a trophy-sized fish on those super hot days.
Sight fishing to giant carp with tiny soft plastics on light line is addictive fun. It will be worth a shot this month. to offer. Amongst all the water sports happening on the lake you could find persistent anglers. Dealing with the very warm weather and the non-stop boat activity was quite difficult at times but those that did were rewarded with some very good catches. The main species being caught is the good old redfin but there have also been plenty of natives caught of late as well. Some of the natives being caught are of good to very good size with plenty of golden perch up around 15 pounds being caught so far this season. I have also heard of quite a few Murray cod over the 120cm mark being landed and released as well. The majority of the Murray cod that have been landed of late have been caught by trollers and lure casters at night time. REDFIN Bait anglers chasing redfin are doing well off points on small yabbies, maggots and worms but bigger yabbies in the 8-10 centimetre mark are many anglers’ favourite as they keep the pesky little redfin from stealing your bait, which can be a real problem at this time of the year. Casting small lures like Rooster Tails, Celtas, Bling Spins, small soft plastics, blades and small lipless crankbaits from the bank around points can also be productive. 74 MARCH 2023
already been flogged from other anglers like the more obvious snags. Trolling with almost any small hard bodied lure should see you stumble across a patch of redfin and once you have located a school try to position your boat within casting range and then cast to them until they stop biting. This is the best way to get big numbers. Best lures to troll while searching for redfin are lures that run comfortably at about the 3-5 metre mark, such as the
locally made Stuckeys, size #3 Stump Jumpers, Double Downers, AC Slim Invaders, Viking lures, Ballista lures and the good old lipless crankbaits. Jigging is another popular and super effective way of targeting redfin and can be very rewarding when the right tree or patch of rocky bottom is located. Best lures to jig for redfin include most soft plastics, lipless crankbaits, spoons, redfin jigs, blades, rubber vibes and ice jigs. There have been plenty of jigs made over the years and all have worked and still do work to some degree on redfin but I am yet to see a jig land more fish on a consistent basis then the ever reliable ice jig. These are the greatest jigs ever invented in my opinion and they have caught me thousands of redfin over the last few years alone. I’ve said it before and I will say it again if your tackle box doesn’t already contain a heap of ice jigs then I strongly
recommend adding at least a handful to your arsenal. GOLDEN PERCH Most golden perch at Blowering dam at this time
Young Benny with his first ever fish, a beautifully marked little Murray cod. He is now hooked on fishing and can’t wait to go at any chance.
Casting little lures like this Bling Spin from the bank is a great and cheap way of getting amongst the redfin. of the year are in fairly deep water which can make targeting them fairly difficult at times.
Mud lines or milk lines like this are created from wave, wind or boat activity. This location concentrates food into a small area, and active predatory fish will be found feeding hard there.
When there is a lot of boat activity to add to the stresses of high water temps and dropping water levels a lot of the golden perch seek out cool deep water that has structure of some description. Their favourite structure during the warmer months seems to be standing timber as this provides shade throughout the entire day. These tree hugging fish can be targeted jigging with either bait or lures. Bait anglers using yabbies have been clued onto this phenomenon for years and are normally the only ones consistently catching golden perch during the hottest months of the year. But this need not be the case as more and more people are discovering that these shadehugging yellas will also hit a well presented lure. Slow rolling soft plastics up the sides of standing timber that is either adjacent to a drop off or is in 5-15 metres of water depth will put you in with just as big a chance of landing a yellowbelly as the
bait fishos. There are all types of yabby imitation plastics on the market and all these when rigged and used correctly will catch fish, but minnow style plastics such as the Ecogear Grass Minnows are deadly on shut down golden perch and are my first choice whilst targeting them this way. Slow-rolling spinnerbaits and lipless crank baits in the same areas is also worth a shot. Trolling the banks early and late in the day with small to medium sized lures can also get you in on some golden perch action during March. MURRUMBIDGEE RIVER The Murrumbidgee River above Wagga Wagga has fished sensationally so far this season. There has been a fairly steady, descent flow in the river most of the season which has kept the natives very happy and willing to hit most things cast in their direction. The usual baits like bardis, shrimp, worms, yabbies and cheese have been working all season but it has been the sensational lure fishing action that has made this season so good. Lure fishos have been catching natives on pretty much everything, especially trollers who have been catching them on everything from hard bodies and lipless crankbaits through to spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. Casting lures into snags has also been working really well and the pick of the casting lures has been the spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, but hard bodies and big plastics have been getting amongst them as well.
