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Change of season
  |  First Published: May 2012



We are now into autumn and I really enjoy fishing during these months for several reasons.

During autumn, temperatures are often ideal as anglers can spend a full day out in the boat and not return home looking like a tomato. We often receive weather patterns where large high pressure systems move through slowly bringing terrific weather and minimal wind.

This year autumn has featured very large amounts of rainfall in the Bendigo region. This has had a short term impact on the fishing in some of the local areas. How long this negative impact will be will depend if we receive more significant rainfall in the near future.

LAKE EPPALOCK

The recent rainfall has seen water levels stabilise in Lake Eppalock and this should hopefully improve the fishing, as productivity at Lake Eppalock has continued to decline. Redfin are still making up the majority of anglers catch rates, with the best concentrations of redfin found in depths of 5-6m. Small yabbies are the best bait and the best lures are soft plastics.

Finding a good school of redfin is more difficult than it has been in the previous 12-months. Much of the redfin population seem to be scattered around the lake and the fish are generally not feeding as aggressively as the have been in the past. Trolling deep diving hardbodied lures has been the productive method.

I have caught some quality redfin trolling the darker black and purple hardbodied lures. On the days when the fish are more aggressive I also have produced good results on bright contrasting colours such as pink and chartreuse.

The numbers of golden perch being caught has continued to be low, with the majority of the golden perch caught trolling deep diving hardbodied lures.

CAMPASPE RIVER

The fishing at the Campaspe River had been slowly improving. We were seeing a gradual increase in the numbers of Murray cod and golden perch being caught. Unfortunately with the recent rainfall water clarity has deteriorated and the productivity has decreased again. Spinnerbaits in bright contrasting colours have been the best option. Because of the poor water clarity the best results are with bait.

CAIRN CURRAN

The recent rainfall has also produced some reasonable inflows into Cairn Curran. At this stage we have seen several small rises in water level, with the fishing at Cairn Curran similar to Lake Eppalock; redfin are still making up the majority of anglers catch rates.

Numbers have decreased in the past few weeks with the best results gained by bait fishing with small yabbies and worms.

Redfin have been caught by anglers jigging ice jigs and casting soft plastics has also produced reasonable results. The numbers of golden perch being caught has also been low, however the next couple of months are a good time to target the golden perch.

Put in the time and you could land some very large golden perch.

As water temperatures start to cool we will start to see an increase in the activity in the trout population and trout anglers in Cairn Curran.

LODDON RIVER

At this stage the recent rainfall has only had a minimal impact on the water clarity in the Loddon River system. The section of river where water clarity has deteriorated is in the Laanecoorie to Newbridge area. In most other sections of the Loddon River water clarity is still reasonable. How long will water clarity last? This is the million dollar question, but water clarity should hopefully stay good for a while; if we receive one more major rain event then water clarity will deteriorate significantly.

Currently golden perch are making up the majority of anglers catch rates, with the majority caught casting spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits.

Small numbers of Murray cod have also been caught by anglers fishing the shallower sections of the river from the bank.

Good results have also been produced on the Murray cod by fishing at night with surface lures. Due to the recent rainfall the mozzie population has exploded so take some insect repellent with you.

The author with a great example of a golden perch, taken on a hardbodied lure.

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