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A ripper blackfish season
  |  First Published: March 2008



I know there is always plenty of rivalry between the Western District and Gippsland, but if we don’t have the biggest blackfish in the State I would be shocked!

This blackfish season has been a ripper, with fish over the 2kg mark being caught. One fish of 59cm weighed in at 2.4kg, and there has been a report of another fish measuring 69cm. A lot of these bigger fish are being returned to the waters, which is good to see. With the best part of the season to come, it will be interesting to see just what other monsters come out of the Gellibrand River.

A month ago things were looking up at Purrumbete. Now though it is again getting tough to get your boat launched, with boats above 4m a near impossibility. If you are thinking about a trip to Purrumbete with your boat, it would pay to give the park a ring just to check on water levels.

If you are lucky enough to get a boat in, you could be well rewarded with plenty of brown trout from 2-3kg being taken with paravanes and Rapala lures in the rainbow colour. Reports of 4kg salmon will also keep those after a trophy fish heading to this lake.

Bullen Merri has had brown and rainbow trout taking trolled Tassie Devils. This lake will continue to improve as the fish move in closer to the bank chasing minnows.

West Barwon Dam is low, but has both rainbows and brown trout being taken by anglers spinning from the bank. There are also plenty of redfin for those chucking plastics.

Don’t forget Wurdi Buloc over the next month, either. Reports are now coming in of trout taking beetles in the evenings. A few warm nights in February saw huge numbers of these beetles crashing into the lake, with the trout cleaning them up in the dark.

Wayne Dunn caught this lovely 1.3kg river blackfish in the Gellibrand River. The blackfish season in the Western District has been a ripper, and the best is still to come.

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