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Yella fever in the air
  |  First Published: November 2010



There is an air of excitement about after the early spring rains delivered a much needed flush and replenished most local waterways.

Lake Mulwala, the Ovens River and the Murray downstram certainly didn’t miss out with water levels reaching higher than they have been for a dozen years. This will be a massive boost for the fish and hopefully trigger a great spawning year.

I spent an amazing day on the lake; it was September 7, the day the floodwater hit Lake Mulwala.

Boating up through the lake towards Bundalong, marker buoys that are normally passive were bobbing up and down under chocolate colored water that was pouring through the lake.

Further up stream in the Ovens, quaint little back creeks morphed into raging rivers and the normally dry river flats and islands had been gobbled up by vast expanses of water.

The only thing missing from my day was a camera to capture some of the rare sights.

As the water clears, the days get longer and water temp increases, this will trigger the yellas to perform their yearly ritual and congregate en masse ready to spawn.

With this they will gather in certain places making them an easy target for anglers, but I encourage all anglers to be responsible and don’t be greedy when it comes to taking fish.

Those who fished throughout September did it fairly tough with only few yellas being reported near the end of the month. Several anglers did have encounters with Murray cod while targeting the yellas.

Kevin Brooks got the surprise of his life when his trolled TN60 Jackall was devoured by a 90cm beast.

James Marth (14yo) and Bryce Vann (17yo) spent the majority of their school holidays fishing. They went out each day in a boat on their own; it was great to see them being responsible and safety conscious.

They didn’t manage to land any yellas but did come across two incidental cod. Just to see their delight in reporting a catch was great even if it was not their target species. There are worse things kids could be doing with their time than accidently tangling with a cod out of season while enjoying their passion of fishing.

The first of the fishing competitions to hit Lake Mulwala will be the Golden Do$$ars on 23 October. In its third year, this event continues to grow in popularity with an exciting tournament structure and huge cash prizes on offer.

With the Golden Do$$ars event wrapping up on Ocotber 23 anglers can no look forward to the iconic Cod Classic. Celebrating the opening of cod season, December 3-5 will see Yarrawonga and Mulwala come alive with over 3000 anglers plus many other onlookers converging on the twin towns.

Entry forms or information for the Golden Do$$ars, Cod Classic or any of the upcoming 2011 events can be obtained from the towns official tournament tackle shop, Lake Mulwala Fish Camp & Ski or Ph 57443133.

Captions

1

James Marth with his 75cm cod caught while targeting yellowbelly.

2

While chasing yellas Bryce Vann nailed this 56cm cod as some welcome by-catch.

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