With plenty of warm weather, the run of golden perch has been sensational in many areas.

In the Murray from Swan Hill to Wemen, anglers are saying things have been a little patchy. Few, if any pre-season cod have been reported but most anglers fishing bait in the backwaters have been catching golden perch amongst a mountain of carp.

Other rivers, like the Wakool at Kyalite, have good reports of perch to a couple of kilos landed on bait.

There have been similar catches in the Edward, with the odd small cod caught and released.

The Murrumbidgee at Balranald also has a few perch and the carp are back in big numbers, as they are in most areas.

All up, it’s good to see anglers catching golden perch in numbers worth wetting a line for.

The best angling so far has been downstream of Wentworth, where the Darling meets the Murray. Fishos are easily bagging out on golden perch at several locations including the bottom side of the Wentworth lock outside the buoys.

Frenchmans Creek, downstream of Fort Courage, has also been worthy of a fish and rumour has it a few pre-season monster cod have been encountered in the area. That’s great for the start of the cod season.

Bait and lures are working well on the goldens, with shrimp and scrub worms the best pick. As for lures, crankbaits, blades and spinnerbaits are the usual line-up and colour seems of little importance.

In the Darling River the yabbies continue to run and many sections of the Murray are firing as last season’s big run of yabbies awaken to the jubilation of those that like a feed.

Don’t forget to tag your nets with the appropriate details; Fisheries are hot to trot, handing out several bookings recently.

Between Swan Hill and Kerang, Kangaroo Lake is producing solid golden perch on bait and lures.

Bassman spinnerbaits in 1/4oz sizes have been working well in the shallow fringes.

Over the past few weeks I have seen several solid perch and a respectable cod caught and released on these small lures. Black and chartreuse has been a popular pattern, accounting for both species and a few good bags of redfin also.

Kangaroo could be a great spot for the cod opening if the weather permits.

Being shallow, the lake has a tendency to cut up rough with a bit of breeze and can get quite hairy in smaller craft.

There is a concrete ramp on both sides, enabling you to avoid the worst of weather on most occasions.

Lake Boga has also been fishing well with huge numbers of redfin mixed among a few good perch and the odd pre-season cod.

Water clarity has been very good and the redfin are loving the smaller 40mm or 45mm Koolabung blades in gold, silver and green.

All up, the fishing has been pretty good over the past month. The real test is to come with the opening of the cod season.