The lake is still rising and approaching 80%, which is totally remarkable.

But the change in the weather conditions and the breaking of the drought have also broken hearts and souls all over Australia in the form of devastating floods.

Same goes for our Victorian regions that have suffered in the North West. Mother Nature is unashamedly cruel sometimes, but we can’t do a great deal about it until the damage is done.

One thing on the fishing side of things that most of us weren’t expecting was the arrival of an abundance of blue-green algae on the lake.

With all the flooded green trees and shrubs mainly in the northern areas of Bonnie Doon and the Delatite arm as well as Goughs Bay and the humidity hovering around 92% to 94% for an extended period of time, conditions were perfect for this horrible menace to flourish.

This was promising to be season to be reckoned which may be derailed by the same thing that gave us so much joy over the last four months rain.

Over the last couple of weeks of January, the algae has gained momentum and headed south into the bottom of the lake virtually overnight. Let’s hope it doesn’t do too much damage to the fish stocks.

One thing that is brutally apparent is the Delatite Arm has not fished anywhere near what it did last year for the simple reason the difference in the water quality. This is obvious to us now, but the fish obviously knew what was going to happen long before us (thousands of years of experience helps I suppose).

With blue green algae sapping oxygen from the water, fish will be searching for clean water. So find clean water, and you’ll probably find fish.

I will be fishing deep in Feb and late in the afternoons; I suggest you do the same for natives as well as trout.

On the bright side there have been some good fish taken. Jack Roper caught his first yellowbelly (a lazy 3kg) on a Black & Gold T Tail. He was pretty happy about it, I can tell you.

Trout on the other side have been quiet not only in the lake, but in the pondage and rivers also.

The pondage is still dirty as are the rivers, with your best options upstream of Breakaway Twin Rivers Caravan Park on the Goulbourn.

The Rubicon is still going strong.

Jack Roper proudly shows off his first yellowbelly, a 3kg beauty.