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Trout on the chew around Ballarat
  |  First Published: December 2012



The fishing action in and around the Ballarat district is fast and furious with anglers reaping the rewards with excellent captures of redfin and trout.

Lake Fyans for me is one of my favourite waters to fish and has been relatively quiet by its standards until recently, when reports indicate the fishing has fired up.

Lake Wendouree

Lake Wendouree as I have mentioned over the last couple of months has had excellent catches of trout and redfin. The Victorian Fly Fishing Championships was recently held on the lake with 32 fly fishers competing in very trying conditions of very bright and windy weather, which is not conducive to good fishing. Competitors caught and released 78 trout up to 2kg mainly stripping large wet flies like woolly buggers. Top angler for the weekend was Ballarat Fly Fishers club member Tom Jarman.

The bait and lure anglers have been having a ball fishing the lake the best times as the weather warms up is early mornings and evenings Damien and Darrel Keirl have been catching some magnificent redfin trolling lures up to 1.5kg with the best areas along the southern, eastern and western shorelines. Bait anglers have been rewarded fishing mudeyes suspended under bubble floats from every shore depending on the wind direction. One suggestion I make to anglers fishing baits under bubble floats is make sure that your lines are greased to ensure your bait is moving and covering different parts of the water not just stuck in one spot.

Hepburn Lagoon

The fishing here has been rewarding and frustrating with some very large trout being hooked and lost in the weeds or just smashed up because of their sheer size and power. The frustrating side of the fishing is large trout that seem to been feeding on mayfly during the day just out of the anglers casting reach.

Evenings and the mornings fishing at Hepburn will be the main focus for anglers trying to make the most of mudeye hatches as trout move in closer to the shorelines feeding on these tasty morsels. Most success is with patterns like Craigs Night Time, Mrs Simpson, Muddler Minnow and any other patterns that represent the mudeye.

Newlyn Reservoir over the last month has seen angler numbers increase with the mayfly hatches during the over cast days and the trout feeding on them profusely. Fly fishers have found best results fishing nymphs before the hatch then changing over to emergers or dry flies during the hatch and then spinner patterns in the late part of the day.

Brown and rainbow trout ranging to 2kg have taken during this period. The bait and lure anglers have also been cashing in on the trout feeding with all baits taking fish.

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