Wangaratta

Plenty of golden alternatives to Murray cod

WANGARATTA Robbie Alexander

November is a great time to go fishing in North East Victoria, with most species being active and willing to bite, except Murray cod of course, because the season is still closed for them until December. MURRAY COD

The only place that remains open to Murray cod fishing all year round is Lake Eildon, so if you just cannot wait another month to get a cod fix, head to Lake Eildon.

YELLOWBELLY

November is widely regarded as the best month of the year to go yellowbelly fishing in North East Victoria. Pretty much any waterway that has yellowbelly in it is worth fishing at this time of the year.

My favourite place to head is Lake Nillahcootie, where yellowbelly are abundant thanks to fish stocking. I do not catch a lot of big yellowbelly in Lake Nillahcootie, but I do usually pick up a few and often come home with one or two legalsized fish for my efforts in November each year. November is widely regarded as the best month of the year to fish for yellowbelly. This one was caught in Broken Creek. storages and so on can hold redfin, and November is a great time of the year to fish them. fly fishing in November for this reason. I am not a great fly fisherman, and prefer to fly fish at the easiest

Small soft plastics can be deadly on trout before the streams start to warm up during summer.

TROUT

I love trout fishing in November. In the first half of the month the water is still usually cool enough time of the year, which is often November.

Of course, this is all subject to how much spring rainfall we get, but

them alive.

There are many other smaller waterways that are stocked with yellowbelly, including some of the family-friendly fisheries, as well as the Ovens, Broken and may be worth fishing if you’re after a feed of redfin.

If you’re willing to travel a little bit further, Lake Hume and the Waranga Basin usually fish very well for redfin during November.

November can be a great time of the year to target redfin.

If you are wanting to target big, fat, trophy-sized yellowbelly in November, my advice would be to head to Lake Hume. Lake Hume is getting a reputation as the number one trophy yellowbelly fishery in the region, due to the monsters that turn up there each year.

Lake Eildon also has some very large yellowbelly in it, and is also worth trying.

Lipless crankbaits and medium-sized hardbody lures seem to be the lure of choice for many yellowbelly anglers. I myself have caught a lot of spring yellowbelly on both of these types of lures.

Angling with baits of worms or small yabbies can also be very productive. Live shrimp are by far the best yellowbelly bait if you can catch them and keep and Goulburn rivers. All of these are worth fishing for yellowbelly during November, but in the rivers I highly recommend using bait rather than lures to reduce your chances of interrupting any spawning Murray cod. The risk of disrupting a spawning Murray cod is always there, but it is greatly reduced by angling with small baits such as worms rather than dragging a large lure past a territorial cod protecting its eggs. REDFIN

November can see some great redfin fishing in North East Victoria. In the Ovens River catchment, the main redfin lakes of Lake William Hovell and Lake Buffalo often fish quite slowly at this time of the year, but they are usually just starting to fire up Lipless crankbait lures are very popular with anglers targeting yellowbelly.

There are a lot of small unmarked waterways in the Wangaratta area. Old mining dams, lagoons, decommissioned water for the trout to be really active, and the insect life usually explodes at this time of the year. I usually do a fair bit of November is usually a wonderful time of the year to go trout fishing.

The Ovens River itself, along with tributaries such as the Buckland, Buffalo and King River (upstream of Lake William Hovell) are all worth fishing. So too are the many small tributaries that feed these rivers.

As mentioned, fly fishing can be very successful in November, but so too can small soft plastics. Small, natural coloured soft plastics can be deadly on trout in the streams at this time of the year. Those anglers wanting to fish with bait should try using grasshoppers.

OTHER SPECIES

The region’s carp are usually on the bite in November, and can be found in most waterways away from the mountains. Yabbying is usually at its peak at this time of the year, with the water warming right up.