Just as plenty of Victoria has been on fire with flames, Lake Mulwala has been on fire with fishing action. Over the last month numerous top fish have been reported from the lake, with all styles of fishing producing fish.

For the traditional bait angler, most that persisted with the good old bardi grub were rewarded with a legal-size fish for their day’s efforts. The more productive areas were in deeper water along the edges of the river with a slight current flowing. The best fish reported from the bait fishermen measured in at 14kg and was taken around the Woodlands area.

The lure fishers have also been amongst some great fish but found that the presence of weed becomes a pain in the backside after a while. Trollers have had to constantly wind in the lure to clear the weed fouling it. A couple of the better reported fish came from Stephen Fraser who caught one weighing around 10kg and Shaun Calamatta who landed an 81cm beauty. Shaun was fishing with Dave Silva when he picked up his personal best cod on a black and white Oar-Gee Plow. Well done, Shaun. The pick of the areas for trolling at present seems to be in the river between Bundalong and Majors Creek.

Fish of the month was taken using a spinnerbait by Ray Hawkins of Mulwala who landed a monster of 1.03m. This magnificent fish fell to a well-presented Bassman spinnerbait around the middle section of the lake. Ray and Daniel Hawkins have been putting in plenty of time on the lake both casting and trolling spinnerbaits for great results. Fish to 60cm have been common with the average being three fish for a couple of hours work.

Finally, the latest fad of surface fishing has seen another group of converts come through chasing the adrenalin rush of a surface hit at any given chance. Jamie Roberts and his young off-sider Jesse Street have been cleaning up on most calm nights with fish constantly hitting the 65cm mark.

Others to have been bit by the surface-fishing bug include Giggo and Mark Haley who can’t seem to talk anything else. The lures that have been doing the job include Halco Night Walkers, Lures By Moose poppers, Scum Frogs, Wilson’s surface frogs and buzzbaits. Any calm night with no wind will see you in with a chance of tangling with a fish on the surface. As long as your lure floats and you can impart some action to it, you have a chance of a fish. Keep in mind though that there is no water resistance with your lure on the surface. An unexpected hit can see the inexperienced angler laying into the lure trying to set the hooks, only to see it flying past their head or planting into the side of their face. Be warned.

Downstream, bait anglers continue to catch plenty of undersize Murray cod and trout cod, while those working a bit harder with lures and spinnerbaits are coming across numerous golden perch and a few cod. I spent a weekend camping out around Pebbly Beach with good mate Ollie and our boys for a bit of fun. In total we landed 11 cod and 1 golden perch on lures. The highlight was watching Ollie’s reaction after he received a massive hit that pulled his reel off the rod (the dragwas too tight!), then proceeded to snap 30lb braid after the reel was pulled down to the first guide.

During March the lake should continue to fish well around Majors Creek and above up to Bundalong while the river will turn up plenty of fish for the bait fishermen.

If you do come across a good fish around the Yarrawonga or Mulwala area, I’m keen to hear about it and will try and report it in future editions. Send all reports to --e-mail address hidden-- .