As we head into March we’re coming out of the silly season as the water skiers, jet skiers and whatever else churning up the water starts to slow down. This makes fishing that little bit more comfortable, not to mention a hell of a lot more peaceful.

The water temps have already peaked and will slowly start to creep back down as most of the hot weather is now behind us. Autumn is a brilliant time to fish Lake Eildon, as all of the species on offer can be targeted successfully using a mix of bait and lures.

Melbourne fisho Ramsey Ramadan gets to Eildon just about every weekend with his wife Rita and fishes the lake. I’m constantly receiving text messages with their latest catches. Ramsey’s been fishing a lot of bait recently, with scrub worms and yabbies the bait of choice.

If you can find a school of redfin there are some quality fish to be caught, the key is to find a school. The same goes for goldens. There are some football-size specimens out there but it’s all about putting in the time searching to find a school. Upright timber in 20-30ft of water is always a good place to start.

In the warmer weather one of the more popular ways to snag a big native on a lure is trolling lures from dusk until midnight. That 5-8m mark is ideal; with the cover of darkness the predators come out to play and offers the angler a great chance to tangle with a bigger fish. It is important to make sure you’ve got the correct lights installed on your boat to ensure you are complying with the Victorian regulations, and besides having the right light in the boat makes life a lot easier if you do hook up on one of the bigger fish.

The fish of Eildon get their fair share of fishing pressure, so if you can do something different to the majority of other anglers you’ll be giving yourself a great chance to catch a few. The fish population won’t be used to being targeted after dark and they can be more susceptible to taking a lure when they have their guard down.

If you haven’t fished Lake Eildon there is no better time to get over for a fish, there are plenty of local tackle outlets as well as accommodation, service stations, bakeries, pubs, everything you need to make a weekend out of it. And it is worth putting at least a couple of days into the waterway, it can be quite tough at times. If you are there for at least 2 days, chances are you will catch a good bite period, which will well and truly make up for the times the fishing is a bit slower.

Our Balista range of lures feature LED technology and are designed specifically for natives. View the range at www.balista.com.au or join us at facebook.com/balistalures