The Ballarat and district waters are back and the fishing has been nothing but sensational.
With spring rains and our temperatures warming, the mayfly hatches the district is renowned for are sure to deliver a fishing bonanza over the next few months.
This water has been the talking point around the district with anglers lining the shorelines. Rainbow trout are the target species since the drought broke and in just over 12 months these fish have reached weights of up to 2.5kg. This is a phenomenal growth rate with anglers catching them on bait, lures and fly. The most successful baits have been worms fished off the bottom using a running sinker rig.
Now here’s a blast from the past. Another excellent water from years gone by has just received a stocking of 5000 yearling rainbow trout from Fisheries. I expect these fish will grow very fast like Lake Burrumbeet with the abundance of food in the lake so another water we will have to fish within around 15 minutes from the Ballarat CDB.
This is the water that we are all waiting to fire up. With excellent stocking and the weed harvesting nearly complete, the lake is ready fire up. It is fantastic to now drive around the lake and see anglers fishing everywhere, something that was only a distant memory for a few years and they are catching a few fish as well.
The Ballarat anglers club recently had a fishing competition on the lake with plenty of trout and redfin being weighed in. The heaviest was a 1.8kg rainbow trout caught by John McNeight . I have been up the lake with my children and we have managed to land a couple of rainbows on Powerbait and also mudeyes suspended under a bubble float.
We are eagerly awaiting the mayfly hatches on Lake Wendouree. The lake is renowned as one of the best for mayfly hatches. We are hoping that since we have water back in the lake the ecosystem has restored itself to the pre-drought conditions.
These waters were the venues for the recent annual grudge match between the Ballarat Anglers club and the Ballarat Fly Fishers club with the anglers competing for the McAdam trophy for the heaviest trout. There were plenty of trout caught from both venues.
Fish were caught using various methods fishing bait Powerbait, mudeyes , worms and flyfishing. Both these waters are like Lake Wendouree, as they have very large mayfly hatches and we can only wait for the action to begin.
I mentioned this lake a few months ago, and it has been fishing extremely well with some excellent rainbow trout being caught around 1kg. The best method at the moment seems to be a running sinker rig and Powerbait.
I don’t know exactly what’s in Powerbait but I would not go anywhere fishing for trout without taking some with me as I am a total convert to using it and it’s very easy for my kids to put on the hook.
Approximately 1 hour from Ballarat, Lake Bolac is producing the best-conditioned rainbow trout I have ever seen ranging from 1-3kg. They have been caught on bait and lures fished from both the shore and boat.
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