Even though it was a mild start to our winter, the cold is certainly here now so if you’re not fishing it's a perfect time to do rod and reel maintenance and make sure your gear is in good order so you don't miss out on that big one.

The trout have been very consistent lately with very good numbers of fish that are incredibly well conditioned. There is plenty of food around that's for sure with a lot of punters saying that the trout have been regurgitating up loads and loads of baitfish, which are a pale bluey-green, translucent kind of colour, so match the hatch folks.

Brown trout are by far the dominant species right now and it appears as though the rainbows are holding deeper. Most reports of action have come from anglers flatline trolling the new Pinky Tassie Devil. It’s been an absolute stand out, but the old favourite clown has also been doing some damage. I'm a huge fan of the rainbow trout pattern also so a mix of these three colours will see some success come your way in Lake Eildon. I would also try some shallow running hardbodied lures such as the Cranka Minnow in fire trout or golden trout and the Rapala X-Rap Minnow in the brown trout pattern. There is not enough emphasis placed on running hardbodied lures in a spread and they can make all the difference on any given day, especially if big brown trout are on the target list.

I will be starting to concentrate on fishing in areas where the dirty water meets the clean stuff in August and that's a great ploy at any time of the year. It's also very interesting that there has been a few golden perch caught up the top end near Bonnie Doon, which is very rare for this time of year. Maybe patterns are changing slightly and I will be watching carefully as it would be awesome to catch goldens through winter but I won't hold my breath.

On the cod side of things there have been some great fish caught recently. Fish right up to the meter length have been caught with quite a few in the 75-85cm range. Most fish are being caught in deeper water because it's so clean, so troll or cast in and around the 25-35’ range and you should see some results.

The Pondage has been going great guns lately with great numbers of fish in the 2-3kg range being caught on a consistent basis with the good old Crocodile lure producing a great 2.4kg rainbow for me right up near the Cemetery. Mudeyes are also excellent bait in the Pondage if you can get them and a few hours with a mudeye swimming around under a float will be rewarded. Remember the Pondage receives a lot of ex-brood stock fish so there is always the chance of tangling with a true monster, so get out there and into them in August.