The Bendigo region continues to receive amazing amounts of rainfall lately. The autumn and winter months have been perfect in this regard, and spring has even been better.

We have been getting consistent rainfall nearly every week. The ground is now saturated and good run off is being produced after every rain event. Small creeks that have not had water in them for 10 years are now flowing good volumes of water. This has been just what doctor ordered. We can only keep our fingers crossed that the rain continues and that the fishing should be fantastic once everything starts to settle.

It is my prediction that we will see some significant flooding in the region during spring this season. It is likely the Murray River system will also flood this spring which is great for any resident fish.

At the present time the numbers of fish being caught in the lake are low. Water clarity is surprisingly good. Water clarity can vary around the lake depending on the amount of inflows into the lake. The lake is currently rising between 2 and 5% per week, and who knows what the level will be soon.

With above average rainfall forecast for the next couple of months the conditions should produce some excellent fishing later in the lake this season. The numbers of fish being caught will start to increase by the start of October.

At this time of the year water temperatures will be rising nicely and the resident golden perch and redfin will start feeding more aggressively. By the end of October the fishing should be red hot. Anglers should put some time in preparing their gear and stocking up on their favourite lures.

The rising water levels are coming over a huge amount of vegetation. This is perfect for the food chain within the lake. The amount of extra food that is forced into the system is incredible. A smorgasbord of food causes an explosion of the food chain. The fish inturn make the most of the opportunities and will start feeding aggressively.

The majority of this food is in the shallow water around the edges of the lake. This is where anglers should concentrate their fishing efforts in the next couple of months. Bait fishing with worms and yabbies will be productive. Anglers will also produce good numbers of fish casting or trolling small hardbodied lures. Casting blades or lipless crankbaits are also good tactics.

The Campaspe River has had some good flows down it recently. The majority of the water has been dirty so water clarity is now poor throughout the river system. This has been a much-needed flush and hopefully there are some more good flows going down the system during the spring months.

At this stage with the poor water clarity there have been very few fish being caught in the Campaspe river system on lures. The majority of fish have been caught on bait. Some reasonable captures of golden perch have been produced in the Elmore area by anglers fishing with small yabbies. At this stage it does look like the Campaspe River will stay dirty for a while, especially with the early September deluge.

The lake was at 41% of capacity before the big rain in early September. The rise in the lake capacity has been terrific. The lake is currently rising between 3 and 7% per week. Like Lake Eppalock the rise in water levels has seen the water coming over large amounts of vegetation.

Water clarity is average, but it is surprisingly good considering the amount of water, which has gone into the reservoir. Currently the fishing has been slow, but good numbers of fish will start to be caught shortly as water temperature rises. It is also best to concentrate your fishing efforts here in the shallow water around the edges of the reservoir.

Further downstream at Laanecoorie there has been some terrific inflows going into this reservoir. This has seen good flows going down the Loddon River system. The Loddon River system had minor flood warnings down it for several weeks due to the good outflows from Laanecoorie. There should be some good bait fishing below the wall at Laanecoorie if the outflows continue.

Given the current conditions there is a very good chance we will see further flooding down the Loddon River this season.

Water clarity is poor down the Loddon River system mainly due to the out flows from Laanecoorie. At this stage it looks more likely of having higher flows in the next couple of months. If this does occur water clarity will stay poor in the short term. Because of the current conditions there have been very few anglers fishing this destination.

Some good fish were caught in the Newbridge and Bridgewater areas before the high flows arrived and water clarity deteriorated. In the next few weeks as the weather improves increasing numbers of anglers will venture to the Loddon River armed with a bucket of bait.

Some good numbers of golden perch will be caught shortly with small yabbies and worms being a couple of preferred baits. A lot of anglers are very excited about the current conditions and when the water clarity does improve there should be some excellent lure fishing ahead this season.

Good numbers of golden perch should be caught in the Bendigo region shortly.