With the cold winter weather here again the native fish waters will be quiet but some good trout and redfin fishing will be on offer at a number of our waters.

The yabbies and redfin have now gone quiet at Lake Lonsdale but just down the road Lake Fyans has been producing some of the best fishing we have seen there for many years.

This beautiful little lake has been the place to be over the last few months if you are into trout and redfin, and this month will be no exception. Anglers using a variety of methods have taken excellent catches of trout to 3kg and redfin to nearly 2kg. Whether you are into fly, bait or lure this lake has been terrific.

I have made a few trips here myself lately and have been getting rainbows to 2kg, along with brown trout and redfin to 1.5kg. Most of the better fishing has been while trolling lures in the shallow water along the south shore and surprisingly most of my larger fish have been caught right in the middle of the day.

My best lures have been Rapala Shad Raps in perch pattern and small silver X-raps. The fish have been feeding heavily on redfin fry.

I have also spent a bit of time fishing mudeye under bubble floats and that has also been working very well on the trout, mostly in the mornings and evenings amongst the timbered areas.

The good fishing continues here and this lake was extremely popular over Easter with camps and boats everywhere. The redfin fishing has been good with most fish averaging around 300-600g with a few bigger reddies to 1.8kg being taken. Many small rainbow trout to 600g have also been caught.

Most anglers have been trolling lures such as Rapalas and Stumpjumpers with the Brodies area in particular being a bit of a hot spot over the last few weeks.

Bait fishing with mudeye and minnow has also been working well.

On my most recent trip here a few weeks ago my son Curtis and I caught a number of small to medium size redfin up to 600g along with many small rainbows. We caught most of our fish trolling lures along the shoreline near the wall boat ramp.

Interestingly on the same weekend a young angler fishing off the shore near the wall caught a nice eel tailed catfish of about a kilo on worms.

The redfin have slowed a little here with the cooler weather but the trout fishing has been good with plenty of rainbows averaging around 1kg. A few bigger rainbows up to 2kg have also been taken.

Most fish are being taken on trolled lures but land-based angling can also be very good here. Due to the large amount of newly flooded trees, the bank fishing is now mostly limited to the area near the wall in front of the observation tower.

The fishing has been good here lately but due to the electric motors only rule you really have to pick good weather when boating here, as it can get pretty choppy here with even a bit of wind.

This great little lake not far from Balmoral has been fishing well for browns to 2.5kg, rainbows to 1.5kg and some big redfin to 1.8kg. The best fishing has come to those walking the shoreline flyfishing with wets such as Mrs Simpsons and Tom Jones but casting soft plastics has also been working well, particularly on the big redfin.

Early in the morning has been the most popular time to be fishing here with plenty of rising trout all over the place most of the time.

Bait fishing with mudeye is also working well here, particularly at the wall.

Due to the massive summer floods in the Grampians region, vehicle access to this popular trout and redfin water had been impossible for many months but I have the word that by June our access will once again be restored here.

I would expect that after such a long time of very little fishing pressure, this lake will really be firing. In a normal season, this is a sensational month to be fishing here with big browns hanging around the wall trying to find somewhere to spawn.

Fishing off the wall with unweighted scrubworms, peeled yabby or prawn tails works well here at this time of year, as do mudeyes fished under bubble floats.

Trolling and flyfishing will also be working well; hopefully I’ll be fishing there very soon.