The majority of catch rates in the Bendigo region are mainly consisting of redfin.

Catch rates of native species such as Murray cod and golden perch are low and we should see this trend continue in the short term.

The Bendigo region has received a good amount of rainfall lately with the majority of the water catchments are now saturated and any further rainfall is producing good run off.

The water level in Lake Eppalock is again rising, however the fishing at Lake Eppalock has been only average recently, with redfin continuing to make up the majority of anglers’ captures.

Locating a good concentration of redfin is not easy and anglers should be prepared to try many different locations. I recently fished at Lake Eppalock and had a good day. In the morning I only managed to land one small redfin and dropped another small redfin beside the boat. I continued to try many different areas until I found a good school in the afternoon. Once the good school was located I managed to land approximately one hundred redfin for the afternoon with the largest redfin weighing 1.3kg.

The most productive method was casting soft plastic lures, especially the Jackall Mask vibe in black/chartreuse. Redfin were also caught casting metal blades. The best concentrations of redfin are currently holding in 5-6m of water.

The numbers of golden perch being caught at Lake Eppalock continue to be low, with only a small numbers of anglers having success chasing golden perch. The anglers that are doing the best are bait fishing for the golden perch. They have been anchoring in depths around 4-5m of water, dropping baits to the bottom and then lifting them up about 60cm off the bottom.

Small numbers of golden perch weighing around 1kg have been caught by this method with the occasional golden perch weighing over 2kg being landed. We should hopefully start to see an increase in the numbers of golden perch being caught here in a couple of months when water temperatures increase again.

The fishing in the Campaspe River has been average recently. The water clarity is still average and with Lake Eppalock filling this may not last to long as we are only one major rain event away from seeing Lake Eppalock reaching maximum capacity.

If this does occur water clarity will deteriorate further downstream in the Campaspe system. There continues to be small numbers of Murray cod being caught by anglers walking the banks and casting spinnerbaits, although this should cease once the cod season closes.

Small numbers of golden perch are also being caught by anglers casting lipless crankbaits and medium-sized hardbodied lures. Some quality redfin have also been landed in the Campaspe system lately, with the majority of these caught using bladed spinners and soft plastic lures.

Unfortunately fishing reports from this destination continue to be few and far between. For the small number of anglers who have been trying their luck at this location results have been poor.

Most anglers have only managed to land the occasional small redfin. Water levels are again starting to rise and water clarity is low. Cairn Curran is currently at 94% of capacity and rising water levels will help the fishing for the resident trout population.

Unfortunately with the poor water clarity bait fishing over the shallow ground will be the best option.

Water clarity remains good at most locations along the Loddon River. It will only take a couple of major rain events and we will see a major increase in water flows down the Loddon River system which inturn will produce a reduction in water clarity.

While the water clarity remains good there continues to be small numbers of both Murray cod and golden perch being caught in the system prior to the cod season closing.

The majority of the golden perch have been caught fishing the deepest sections of the Loddon River at Bridgewater and Serpentine.

Small numbers of golden perch have been caught by anglers casting lipless crankbaits and trolling hardbodied lures with profiles around 6-7cm. There continues to be small numbers of redfin being caught in the Loddon River.

Redfin have been caught by anglers bait fishing with yabbies and worms. The best results on the redfin by anglers fishing with lures have been by those anglers casting soft plastics.

This quality 1.3kg redfin was caught on a Jackall Mask Vibe in Lake Eppalock.