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Big cod and yellas bring in the New Year
  |  First Published: December 2012



Now that the hotter weather has well and truly arrived the southern end of the lake is really coming into its own with the deeper, clearer edges firing right up and producing some amazing results lately.

I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and received a phone call from Marc Ainsworth who had just landed a 103cm Murray cod, so a short boat ride across the lake we met up and it was great. You could just sense it was a very special time for him being his first metre cod and to land it Lake Eildon on very small spinner bait whilst chasing yellas, just adds to the excitement.

Shortly after Benny Scullin who was fishing with Marc landed a healthy 60cm cod also and it proves one thing, persistence pays off. The boys fished the whole day for absolutely nothing and they were saying they were broken men, 24 hours later an anglers dream is realized and the day before is all but forgotten.

Lots of reports of good yellas are about with fish from 500g right up to some monsters around 6kg. I was fortunate enough to catch a cracker of a yella that went around the 7kg mark and it fought like a Trojan.

At first I was convinced it was a big cod and was most surprised when I saw this fat beast. A small Willow Blade spinner bait with copper blades and black and brown skirts was the lure used by both myself and Marc Ainsworth. I’ve also had success on these lures in white/orange.

There also was some amazing sight casting to yellas that had schooled up on some rock walls. It was amazing to see dozens of fish just mooching around without a care in the world. Fellow local and friend Rod Groaters was the man who found them and called me over. Rocket had thrown all the usual suspects at these fish but couldn’t get to be aggressive and feed so I went super light back to a 1/16th jighead and half a black n gold, T Tails and was on straight away.

If you are lucky enough to see fish doing this, finesse is the key. Super light line 4lb leader 1/16-1/24oz jig heads and away you go.

The reddies are still on the chew, but finding the schools is key. Never spend more than 5 minutes on a tree unless you have berleyed up..

Rivers

It seems now the irrigation season is well and truly under way. The rivers could be hard to fish with the releases being around 6500ML for quite some time.

The Acheron is well worth a shot.

Pondage

As I said with so much water being released lately the pond has been up and down like a yo-yo, but scrub worms and fluoro pink Powerbait have been best in the shallows when the water is rising.

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