Ballarat anglers are being treated to some sensational fishing action as we move into the spring months and I believe the best is yet to come.

The Moorabool Reservoir is now being opened to the public, so we have another fishing option that is full of water and fish.

Moorabool Reservoir just to the east of Ballarat and is owned and operated by Central Highlands Water. Anglers need to obtain a permit to fish this water. The reservoir is excellent fly and lure casting water and has been well stocked with trout over the last couple of years. The fly anglers around Ballarat have been anxious for this excellent fishery to open up.

Lake Learmonth was the talk of the town over the winter months and is continually improving since the drought. The lake is producing some magnificent rainbow trout between 3-3.5lb. They are being caught on a running sinker rig using a variety of baits including salted whitebait, pilchards, blue bait and also Berkley Power Bait in a variety of colours Other anglers have been catching rainbow trout casting lures and flyfishing.

Learmonth is very accessible to anglers with all shorelines except the western side of the lake walkable. Marc Ainsworth has been catching some magnificent rainbow trout to 3lb on Power Bait. Marc can’t get over how good the fishing is at the moment and it should only get better in the coming months.

Lake Wendouree has seen an increasing angler presence with the word getting around that the trout are on the bite. Fly anglers have been having some excellent results during the day. Best results have come from either stripping Woolly Buggers or wet flies, with both rainbow and brown trout getting up to the 4lb mark.

Anglers are waiting with anticipation over the coming months to see if the water clarity will improve and our famous Lake Wendouree mayfly will make a comeback. Let’s hope this can happen.

The bait and lure anglers have been catching plenty of trout and redfin from both the shore and out of boats. The best baits seem to be mud eyes fished under a bubble float and Power Bait fished on a running sinker.

Lake Tooliorook is the best fishery in the district at the moment with anglers catching magnificent rainbow and brown trout up to 5lb and bags of redfin to 2lb. The water clarity has improved so much over the winter months, which has made the lake even better to fish.

Luke Barby and Lubin Pfeiffer have been having a ball fly fishing out of the boat using a variety of coloured Woolly Buggers. One day they caught and released 10 trout for the day, with the best being a 4lb rainbow trout. The shore anglers have been catching a few as well with John Porteous snagging 4 rainbow trout in one session on an orange and green coloured Woolly Bugger.

The anglers targeting the redfin have been catching them on hard bodied lures. Garden worms and local minnows fished under or near the boat on a running sinker rig have been catching heaps of redfin as well.

Lake Tooliorook is probably the best all-round fishery we have at the moment where both land based and boat anglers can catch quality trout and redfin. With the warmer months coming on and a few insects starting to hatch, the lake will continue to improve.

Hepburn lagoon has been producing the goods with rainbow and brown trout being caught to 6lb. All forms of angling have been used targeting the trout. Local fly angler, Lachlan has landed some lovely brown trout on streamer fly patterns.

The coming months will me much anticipated with the may fly hatches expected. Anglers are waiting for the dull overcast days, which should result in some excellent fly fishing. The bait fishos will also do very well in the coming months as the local mud eyes start to move. The trout will certainly target mud eye fished under a bubble float; I don’t believe there is a deadlier bait than that.

Much like Hepburn, Newlyn Reservoir awaits the mayfly hatches for the fly angers and the best baits to use are worms fished on the bottom, mud eyes fished under a bubble float and Power Bait fished on the bottom.