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Fluctuating levels effects fishing
  |  First Published: May 2012



Mid-autumn was something of a fizzer with 320mm of rain in one week rising the river to peak irrigation levels, then dropping to as low as it gets in the following week.

This is a little bit different to other places, but as we are close to the Hume Weir, when they shut the gates the river can drop pretty quickly.

Fishing has been hard with very few exceptions. Big loud deep diving lures fished slow and among the bigger lay down logs is the best option. In dirty cold water like this fish lures that are 1-3m deeper than you would normally use as these are going to smack the logs and dance around a lot more, hopefully exciting something to strike.

On a brighter note May is looking good. Unbelievable runs of yabbies in lagoons and creeks; you can stand on a culvert and pick up as many massive yabbies as you are allowed.

As the waters in these creeks and lagoons subsides there is going to be an absolute smorgasbord of food running into the river. If this doesn’t bring the fish on nothing will!

The other thing is the mice are starting to look for winter abodes. Last year we had a plague of mice and the cod were gorging themselves silly on them. This made great popper fishing as most fish were looking for a feed.

Sometimes when you hooked a fish it would spew mice as you played it.

Carl Jones from CJ Lures makes an unreal buzz bait and even though it looks like the most unfishy lure with 4 propellers and a plastic hanging under it, it will catch a lot of fish.

Yellowbelly have been quiet like the cod, but expect them to be sitting at the creek mouths.

If you can get into the still water off the main river, you should be in for some great fishing.

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