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Anglers take up the challenge
  |  First Published: March 2012



Angling around the area has certainly quietened down with the very warm weather we have been experiencing.

Lake Wendouree has been the shining light with anglers lining the shores all day every day. I counted 100 anglers recently one evening whist driving around the lake.

Anglers have been catching plenty using Powerbait fished from the bottom with running sinker rigs, mudeyes fished under bubble floats, casting lures from the shore or a boat and flyfishing. Nathan Angee, one of the keenest young anglers I know has been up the lake with his dad Steve fishing mudeyes with the best session so far 19 rainbow trout up to 1kg.

The Ballarat district is blessed with some lovely little trout streams that were decimated by the drought. These little streams have now finally recovered and they now have some healthy populations of trout in them. As most anglers would know trout in small streams do not grow to massive sizes.

The streams are located in all directions from Ballarat such as Yarrowwee Creek, Lee River, Clunes Creek, Tullaroop Creek, Birches Creek, Williamson’s Creek, Woady Yaloak Creek and the Fiery Creek. They all have populations of rainbow and brown trout either from natural recruitment or from stocking.

All forms of angling methods can be successful but my suggestion is to use small flies and lures. Jim Bambridge, a keen river/stream angler who revels in this fishing was fly fishing a local stream the other day and polaroided from a high river bank a lovely brown trout feeding freely in a large pool. After several changes in fly and approach, Jim landed a magnificent brown trout of nearly 1kg which Jim released for another day.

Jim mentioned that he saw a few other trout but could not tempt them. Grasshoppers are a feature along some of these streams, so keep an eye on the surrounding insect population.

Newly Reservoir and Hepburn Lagoon have both been fishing well for trout on and just after dark for the fly fisher with mudeye patterns accounting for most catches.

Cairn Curran Reservoir, with warmer weather has seen excellent catches of redfin, mostly caught drifting baits along the bottom, jigging ice jigs, Baltic Bobbers, blades as well as trolling lures. The best times have been early morning and evening.

Burrumbeet Carp

Anglers from around Ballarat and surrounding districts have invited to take up the challenge and rid Lake Burrumbeet of the European carp that are now in plague proportion.

Lake Burrumbeet is a large waterway that covers approximately 2400Ha. Prior to the drought a few years ago the lake was one of the premier redfin fisheries in the state and unfortunately somehow the European carp were introduced into the lake and the fishery went into decline. During the drought the carp perished by the thousands but some remained in the Burrumbeet Creek system above the lake. When the drought broke the remaining carp have once again entered the lake and in just over 18 months is now in plague proportions.

So much so the fisheries have asked a commercial fisherman to come in and assist with the management of the population. A local Ballarat angler Bill Hammond, a regular angler to the ‘Beet as we all used to call it from the good old day’s has called on all anglers to join together on the last Sunday of every month from now until July 29, 2012 to fish for carp and catch as many as we can to assist with the reduction in the numbers of the unwanted vermin from the lake.

Bill has organised a registration and weigh in point on the south shore of the lake at the ski club from 8am to 4pm at a cost of $2 per angler with all monies being donated to the Christmas in July appeal.

There will also be a collection point for all the carp to be disposed off so I would suggest we as anglers support this very worthwhile cause.

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