Welcome to 2014 I hope everyone had a Merry Xmas and a safe new year. This time of year at Lake Eildon loads of people come out to play on this fabulous waterway, so safety and patience is essential over the holiday period.

What an amazing spring we had with loads of quality fish right through November and December. The yellowbelly were a standout this season with massive numbers of fish being caught all over the lake. On many occasions I was able to land 5-10 fish in a session, which was so much fun!

The standout lure for me was the TN range of Jackalls in 50, 60 and 70. They all performed ridiculously well and I think they are clearly in a league of their own as far as lipless crankbaits go. I've tried a lot of other brands this season but none compared; the sink rate and presentation on the drop is so important when it comes to natives, especially in deep water.

Thankfully when cod season opened it was go, go, go with some terrific specimens coming out (and back in) of the lake. I pulled a cracker of a fish on a TN70 blue gill that went 91cm and around the 15-17kg range, and the condition of it was sublime – I thoroughly enjoyed watching it swim away.

The same week produced 9 yellas in a session, the smallest a 48cm, 5 in the mid 50cm, a 59cm , 62cm and a big female that went 64cm. It has been on fire!

Recently Marc Ainsworth, Tony Hiam and Scotty Gray put in some time on the lake and weren't disappointed. The guys toiled very hard, as you would expect nothing less from these completely obsessed fishos, and they did quite well. Ainsy landed 2 good yellas in 2 casts, his best a 58cm model and a couple of undersized cod. Scotty had a good session later in the evening landing 5 or so nice goldens just before dark.

So let's hope we get some good weather in January and hope the fishing continues to be as good as it has been through spring.

On the redfin side of things the reports are starting to flow in with more quality fish coming on the chew. The last couple of months have been quite slow, so January will be better I'm sure. Look out for those big guys and enjoy a feed .

The ponds have been up and down a lot lately but still producing good trout on rainbows and browns to 2.5kg.