Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s springtime and that to me means things are about to turn to gold, golden perch, that is.

These upcoming 4 months are my favourite time of the year on the lake without doubt. With the water level around 60% and rising, everything is pointing towards a bumper season on the yellowbelly.

The fish will be starting to school up heavily this month and will be moving up onto the edges where we can locate and target them with confidence.

The Delatite Arm is a very special place this time of year, and it gets fished very heavily in spring, however it consistently produces the best yella fishing of the entire lake. There are so many little bays with structure and perfect rock banks. It’s no wonder it’s the jewel of Eildon.

There is so many options for catching these great-fighting native species. Trolling is a very potent method, and you can troll anywhere from 2m deep right down to 16m and you can do very well down deep, so give it a whirl! Scrubbies at the base of trees is a winner and you can pick up some reddies as well.

Lipless crank baits are probably my favourite style of fishing on the rocky margins, and fishing super slow with light gear so much fun. Spinnerbaits are a winner also and you are always a chance of picking up a cod or two with these baits.

When the fish are shut down, super small soft plastics on 1/24 jigheads will be your best chance of getting a fish to eat.

Of late, there have been some good reports of trout up near the mouth of the Delatite River. They’re mainly browns around the 2.5lb range, and the best lure by far has been the pink Tassie Devil – a must have for anyone fishing for trout.

A few scattered reports of redfin have come in, not big numbers, but quality fish of around 40cm. This is no surprise to me as they are hard to catch when we have such huge numbers of small to medium baitfish to feed on, it’s truly insane. So if you see the baitfish, always try and match the hatch and you will be in the game.

Don’t forget that cod season is now closed, so if you get them as by-catch, try as hard as possible to release the fish without taking it out of the water, not just for the fisheries regulations but for the longevity of the species. Bare in mind if you remove a large female and you break her internal egg sack it can really affect her health and she may not attempt to spawn for the entire season.