With cod season closed for over a month we all now should have shifted our focus to chasing the mighty yellowbelly.

With the rivers in late august and early September flowing very fast the local yellowbelly have been very active, with the Broken River being the best location.

Anglers enjoyed the feeding frenzies just downstream of the Archer Street Bridge; there is some great land-based access to that area. But I would just make sure you are careful as with the rivers rising and falling daily, the banks can be very slippery.

I have had some success recently casting either TN70 Jackalls or the new double headed Spinnerbait call the Crossbones from Pirate Spinnerbaits. Both are a larger profile lure with a bit of extra weight to get the lure deeper much quicker.

There is nothing worse than putting a good cast in then seeing the fast flowing current take your lure out of the strike zone. The downside to heavier lures in the Broken is you seem to spend a lot more time trying to get your lures off snags.

The Crossbones seem to ride over the snags much better than a standard spinnerbait; this is an important lure to have when fishing the Broken as it’s very snaggy.

Now with the footy finals finished and the weather warming up its prime time to put the shrimp nets in and grab some live bait for a session on the yellas. I think in the coming months the Goulburn will start to produce more fish than the Broken catchment.

There is some quality yellowbelly fishing to be had just at our doorstep, if fishing off the bank anywhere behind the Shepparton Lake is great to access. If you’re in a boat, the same location is where I would be fishing or even head a short distance up stream to the junction.

If you’re looking for something different put your boat in the Shepparton Lake. There has been a lot of yellowbelly released in the lake and they are now up around 45cm. Be mindful of others when fishing the lake, as it’s a very public location and us anglers need to respect others in that area.

The lake system has been a great unknown to many locals: to fish it or to not fish it? I would give it a go again, I have spent time on the lake with one of the new wiz bang sounders and I can assure you all there are still fish in there. I would think with the weather warming up the lake should produce some big yella’s.

Denise Heenan and Kydan Atkinson show off their yellowbelly double hook-up.