Victoria’s crater lakes have been fishing well this autumn.

Without a doubt, the pick of our crater lakes has been Ellingamite. Brown and rainbow trout to 3kg have been boated on a regular basis. The most popular method has been to flat line troll cobra style lures at least 20m out from the stern. Popular colours have been pinks, whites, gold and chartreuse. Currently the fish are ignoring the prime times such as first light and dusk, and preferring to bite in the middle of the day.

The other oddity is that the trout are falling to lures swum in depths as shallow as 2m. This maybe because of the sheer amount of bait in the form of minnows and schools of tiny redfin hugging the aquatic weed growth that inhabits the lake’s perimeter.

Normally the fish would be congregating in the deeper section out in the middle in a bid to escape the warmer, shallow water. The redfin bite is also coinciding with the trout and some beauties to 1.7kg have been hooked and boated. This lake is famous for it's huge reddies and as far as I'm concerned, this is reason enough to fish Ellingamite. The trout are but a welcome bonus!

The main catch of late at Lake Purrumbete has been rainbow trout to 1.2kg. However the odd fish to 2.8kg has come on board. Mudeyes fished under a float have accounted for many fish however flat line trolling at first light has also been successful. The redfin have formed up into tight schools and can easily be found with the help of a sounder. Cricket score catches of fish averaging 400g have occurred simply by jigging soft plastics in and around the school.

Bullen Merri has hungry rainbows to 1.4kg falling prey to Powerbait fished from the bank either unweighted or suspended under a float. A few browns to 3.5kg have been taken down rigging cobra-style lures in pink-white at depths of 15-18m.

The deeper pools found scattered along the Mount Emu Creek are harbouring brown trout to 1.8kg. Casting trout patterned Rapala CD 5's has seen some beautifully coloured browns landed. Late afternoon has been the prime time to walk the bank and casting to different spots along the way.

Lake Tooliorook has plenty of redfin averaging 32cm attacking deep diving lures. Redfin and trout patterns working best. Rainbow trout to 3kg and new release browns are also being caught however, mainly at night and from the bank. After dark is when schools of minnow move into the shallows and it seems the trout are following.

All in all I expect the fishing to go from strength to strength as we leave the warmer months behind us and approach the cooler part of the year.