Get in early, that’s all I can say. Camping and fishing are very popular pastimes during March on the Central Tablelands. The weather is usually very stable and warm, the nights are just starting to cool off and all the dams, rivers and creeks are full of water and (hopefully) hungry fish.

Wyangala Dam is heading for a bumper Autumn, especially if you’re keen to chase cod and yellowbelly on lures.

With the influx of new water over Summer the dam was quite dirty, making lure fishing difficult.

Bait has been working very well but as the water clears the fish will be seeing lures for the first time in quite a while and catch rates will be well up on normal for the first couple of weeks.

So get in early.

Trolling and casting the edges using deep diving lures during the late afternoon and early morning will be the go.

Traditionally, smaller lures between 65mm and 85mm have worked well in Wyangala even for the cod; keep this in mind if you are heading to the dam for the first time.

It’s been a great Summer for the bass in the area.

Lake Wallace and Lake Lyell have produced some good quality fish on surface lures.

We even managed a few in the Coxs River between lake Lyell and Lake Wallace. No doubt these fish come over the spillway at Wallace or came up from Lake Lyell during the Summer rains.

It was great to catch trout and bass in the same water – not many places you can do that.

Cicada imitations surface lures have been hard to beat. A slow, constant wind after a cast in close to the bank the go.

The bass seem to have spread right around both dams now. Hopefully with continued stocking and good catch-and-release ethics from anglers, we will continue to have good bass fishing in both these dams.

Trout fishing in the dams should start to pick up as temperatures drop later in the month.

Night fishing for trout is always popular at this time of year, especially on our local dams.

As the temperature and light levels drop overnight, trout move up in the water column to feed.

There is always a flurry of activity as the sun sets and placid bays that just hours ago seemed lifeless can come alive.

Trout will be rising and moving around, firstly out wider and then gradually moving closer towards the bank

Matching the hatch is the key. By this I mean trying to match with a fly the floating beetles or submerged mudeyes as closely as possible in size and shape.

Of course, putting a real one on a small hook, greasing the line and using a bubble float is about as close as it gets to the real thing and many trout fall to this method of every year.

Lake Windamere has fished and will continue to through March.

Levels there have stabilised after a good influx of water over Summer.

This will allow the weed beds to become established which in turn should attract shrimp and baitfish – and therefore the golden perch – to the edges.

The opportunity to spot fish in shallow, early morning water could be a distinct possibility. This style of fishing is well suited to fly anglers and is heart-stopping stuff.

Being able to stalk your quarry and watch it react to a presentation certainly adds an extra element of excitement.