First of all I would like to wish everyone a happy New Year. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We have had a very hot start to summer here in the Wimmera, both in terms of the fishing and the weather. The native fish at places like the Wimmera River and Taylors Lake have really hit top gear now, and local anglers have been making the most of some great fishing.

The water in Taylors Lake is very low, but this hasn’t deterred anglers at this very popular water. Small boats can still be launched with care, and the best fishing has been around the timbered areas. Due to the discoloured water, bait fishing has been producing most of the fish here, with golden perch, redfin, carp and a few Murray cod being caught. Good baits to try are yabbies, gudgeon, worms and bardi grubs. The mornings and evenings seem to produce the best fishing for the golden perch and redfin. After dark on a full moon is a great time to try for one of the lake’s large Murray cod.

The outlet channel has been fishing very well for redfin and golden perch, with spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and Ondex spinners doing very well. As in the lake, bait fishing with yabbies and gudgeon has also been working. There have been many reports of anglers seeing some very large brown trout here lately, feeding on the schools of whitebait, but they have been very hard to tempt into taking a bait or lure.

This little lake near Halls Gap has been producing plenty of action. A lot of redfin to 500g are being caught, along with a few nice rainbow trout to 1kg. Fishing from the bank has been very productive, particularly on a calm evening. Baits of mudeye and worms fished under bubble floats are working well, as is flyfishing and lure casting.

Not many large fish are taken here, but the lake makes up for that with the good numbers. Small boats with electric motors, along with canoes and kayaks, are ideal here.

I have still been doing a fair bit of fishing in the Wannon River near Cavendish, and the redfin have been a bit on and off – but when they have been on, the fishing has been very good. I have been taking good reddies to nearly 2kg on small lures and baits of gudgeon. The fishing is best in the mornings. The redfin from this water look remarkable, with dark bodies and very bright red fins. They also fight and taste pretty good.

The fishing in the river around Riverside, the Big Water and at Horsham has been very good, with golden perch, catfish, redfin, silver perch and the odd Murray cod being caught. Lure fishing with StumpJumpers and spinnerbaits has been producing the better catches, with many golden perch from 1.5-3.5kg being taken.

The new range of chatterbait lures have been doing very well here lately, and are well worth trying. Baitfishing with worms and yabbies has also been good, particularly in the evenings and after dark. The best areas have been anywhere where there is a lot of cover, such as timber and weed beds.

Many local anglers have been trying the stretch of Glenelg River between Rocklands and Balmoral, and taking a few good size redfin for their troubles. The water is nice and clear here, and the lure fishing has been good. StumpJumpers, Rapalas and soft plastics have all been doing well. The average redfin here is around 500g, but a few around 1kg are taken from time to time. The best fishing here is in the mornings and evenings. Be very alert while fishing this stretch of water, as it is well known for its population of tiger snakes.

A good bag of redfin the author took from the Wannon River near Cavendish.