The cold and wet weather has hit the Bendigo region and while we have not received major rainfall it has definitely been a welcome sight.
It is great to see some new vegetation growing on the ground. The brown is finally turning green. The lack of rainfall over recent months has not help water quality and we have seen a continuing decline in water levels. The irrigation season has now finished and hopefully with some more rainfall to come we should start to see an increase in water levels.
Anglers putting in the time have been catching some quality fish. My advice is to fish deep. On a recent trip to Lake Eppalock fishing with my two brothers we managed to land approximately 45 redfin for the day and two golden perch. The largest redfin measured 42cm, the golden perch measured 42cm and 46cm. The two golden perch and half the redfin were caught trolling on Custom Crafted Bass hunters, while the remaining redfin were caught casting Jackall Clone Fry and Dagger Minnow soft plastics in 8-10m.
Schools of redfin are proving difficult to locate but if you cover enough areas you will eventually find some fish. It has been encouraging to see reasonable numbers of golden perch still being caught, but most anglers are having trouble getting them to take a lure. Worms as bait are a good option but expect the action on the golden perch to get quieter as the water cools.
The fishing in the Campaspe River has been good recently with only average numbers of good-sized fish being caught. Small numbers of 60-70cm Murray cod are still being caught casting and retrieving spinnerbaits and medium-sized hardbodied lures, with the odd larger one landed. Golden perch are like the Murray cod, if you manage to land one the size has been very good. The most productive method on the golden perch has been casting lipless crankbaits.
Some quality redfin measuring up to 45cm have also been caught in the Campaspe River lately; water clarity remains good at most locations. This can change very quickly along the Campaspe River after heavy rainfall. So while the conditions are good, anglers should make the most of the good conditions while they last.
Fishing reports from here continue to be few and far between. At this stage redfin fishing continues to be spasmodic, with the majority of anglers only managing to land small redfin but I am anticipating that there will be some larger redfin caught over the next few months. There have been a few isolated reports of some trout recently being caught, hopefully with the recent cold conditions we may see an increase in the numbers of trout.
The fishing in the Loddon River has been disappointing in recent times. Water clarity is below average, but has started to improve lately. With the end of the irrigation season we should now start to see the water clarity improve more rapidly as long as we don’t receive to much heavy rainfall.
The majority of Murray cod continue to be caught in the shallower sections of the river by those walking the banks casting and retrieving lures.
The majority of the golden perch have been caught in the deeper sections of the Loddon River. Casting and retrieving lipless crankbaits continue to be the most productive method.
This quality golden perch was caught by the author while casting a Bassman spinnerbait.
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