Anglers in the Ballarat and surrounding districts are in a predicament not had for a long time. Where do we go and which lake will I fish today?

Imagine that only six months ago we were looking down the barrel at decimated fisheries and a never-ending drought.

As the drought is now over we have water everywhere, and all waters have been stocked with trout. The autumn action is going to be absolutely fantastic based on reports I have received and all the fish that I have been catching.

Anglers have been heading in droves up into the Grampians region fishing for redfin and yabbies at Lake Lonsdale. Dave Turner and his mates have been having a ball catching redfin, catching them on hardbodied lures like Stumpjumpers, Rapalas and Jackalls. Dave’s secret to catching plenty of fish is firstly to troll around until you find the fish and them start casting the lures into the school of fish as redfin normally school up, and then keep moving with the fish.

Dave’s best day at Lake Lonsdale with his brother Charlie was 55 redfin.

Another angler I was talking to at Lonsdale mentioned he had been out four days in a row fishing the same area and each day he caught fish but on different lures. Perhaps the secret to that is you need a variety of lures and change them until you find the right formula for the day.

Lake Fyans is only ten minutes from Lake Lonsdale and was the venue for the Ballarat and District Anglers Association Shield with 89 anglers including men, women and children with 9 clubs being represented.

A total of 57 fish were weighed in for the competition, with the Ballarat Fly Fishers Club winning the shield for 2011 with the heaviest bag of fish 7.24kg consisting of redfin and trout.

There were some very notable catches with nearly all anglers catching fish with Rod McMaster from the Lakeside angling club landing a thumping redfin of 1.88kg caught on a yabby fished from the bottom.

Shane Jeffrey caught a lovely brown trout of 1.63kg and Peter Jew a rainbow trout 1.37kg. Lake Fyans will continue to fish consistently through the autumn months and the lake is a great all-round fishery for all forms of angling.

Newlyn Reservoir has been fishing well in the evenings for trout and redfin. Shane Jeffrey has been taking his son out there catching plenty of small redfin but some really good ones around 1kg on mudeyes.

Shane said there has been a lot of small to medium-sized trout jumping out of the water chasing the surface insects on dark.

Just down the road at Andersons Lagoon there have been plenty of rainbow trout being caught and released on bait and fly. They vary in size from 500-750g and are great fun for all.

Tullaroop Reservoir has started to see some fishing action return. Tullaroop regular Brian Hughes reports that while the water is still a little discoloured, the trout released are feeding in around the flooded margins. Most of these fish are around 500g, which this great news for the coming season as they will put on weight very quickly.

Brian also mentioned a few of the locals have caught redfin on bait in varying sizes.