This is a great time of year to be out and about fishing the Wimmera region with plenty of lakes and rivers fishing the best they have for years for a variety of species.

This lake is still the pick of our waters with plenty of brown and rainbow trout up to 1.4kg being caught. I haven’t heard of any redfin as yet though. Good catches of trout are being taken from the shore and from boats with all methods working well. Bait fishing with mudeye under bubble floats or Powerbait on a running sinker rig has been very productive and is great for getting the kids onto a few trout easily. Trolling with Tassie Devil lures has also been very popular with good colours being Pink, White Clown and Fire Tiger.

I have been doing a lot of flyfishing here lately mostly along the north and west banks. The early mornings have been best and the trout have been coming in very close to the shoreline to feed on bug mudeyes. The flies that have been working for me here include Mrs Simpsons, Woolly Buggers and Tom Jones.

There are still a number of good rainbow trout to 1.6kg being caught here along with the occasional redfin to 1kg. Bait fishing with mudeye, whitebait, Powerbait and worms is working well as long as you can keep your line and rigs off of the large amounts of slime present along the shallows at present. Using a float and greasing your line so it floats above the slime is the way to go here.

Trolling shallow diving minnows, spoons and the small Tassie Devils is also working on the trout but the slime can be a problem in some areas of the lake. The flyfishing in the early mornings and evenings has been good, but even better after dark when the trout come in close to the shoreline to feed once all the speed boats and skiers have gone home. The best flies have been Mrs Simpsons and Hamils Killers.

With the warmer weather and longer days the fishing has been getting better here and the run of fresh water into the lake has livened things up as well. A lot of carp big and small are being caught on worms along with a few yellowbelly to 1.5kg on small yabbies and a few nice reddies as well on gudgeon, worms and yabbies. The inlet area in particular has been producing some good catches of redfin while the fresh water is running in with spinners, soft plastics and vibes working well here.

Wimmera River

The river is starting to fish really well now with good yellowbelly, redfin and a few catfish being caught along with heaps of carp. The best areas for the yellowbelly have been around Horsham Weir, lower Norton and around Dimboola. Baits such as small yabbies and scrubworms are working well and the late afternoons and evenings are producing the best results.

A few very nice redfin around 1kg are still being caught at Jeparit on yabbies and gudgeon. Anglers fishing from small boats trolling lures are also picking up a few redfin here as well between the boat ramp and Lake Hindmarsh. I have been fishing the river around Horsham after work a bit lately and getting some nice yellowbelly and a few catfish on worms and small yabbies around the showgrounds area along with heaps and heaps of carp.

The fishing has been good here with a number of brown and rainbow trout averaging 1kg being taken, mostly on mudeye fished under bubble floats and trolling with Tassie Devils and small minnow lures. The occasional larger brown to 2.5kg has been caught but these bigger fish have been very few and far between. Perhaps fishing after dark would bring more of the bigger trout undone at this heavily fished water.

The redfin fishing has been reasonable with some good reddies to 1.3kg taking small yabbies, gudgeon and worms fished on paternoster rigs while drifting. Bobbing with soft plastics, ice jigs and vibes is also working well on the redfin. There are some very big redfin in this lake and I will be having a good crack at them here over the next few weeks. This is generally one of the better months to catch the big redfin here.

The flyfishing has been excellent with large numbers of bug mudeyes now about and bringing the trout close to shore in the evenings. Good flies here are Mrs Simpsons, Woolly Buggers and Craigs Nighttime. I like to fly fish the south shore in the evenings and after dark.

The fishing has been a bit on and off here with a few brown trout to 1.5kg being caught on mudeye and trolled lures. A few nice trout are also getting caught by fly anglers as well but it has been pretty slow here going by the majority of reports. A lot of small redfin are getting caught on soft plastics and by trolling diving minnows but the odd bigger reddie has been amongst them with some rippers to 1.3kg being caught here recently. The most popular lures have been Stumpjumpers and Rapala shad raps.

The fishing has been a bit on and off here but a few nice brown and rainbow trout around 1kg are getting caught at the wall area on mudeye, minnow and trolled lures along with a few nice reddies to a bit over 1kg. The better redfin areas lately have been at Brodys and Hynes with gudgeon, small yabbies and trolled diving lures doing the trick in the timbered areas.

A few Australian Bass are also showing up in anglers catches, mostly from the Brodys area and around 600g. Plenty of big carp are being caught right across the lake and worms fished on the bottom will see you catching carp here in no time.

Good catches of yabbies are also getting taken here after dark in drop nets as well.