Daylight savings ends 3 April so there’s still a month left to enjoy an after work or after school fish somewhere in the picturesque West Gippsland region. Your options include the impressive streams of the Noojee region including the Latrobe, Toorongo and Loch rivers; or head closer to Melbourne and indulge in the brilliant fishing waters of the Tarago River that flows into the Bunyip River.

Head 20 minutes north of Warragul to get to Blue Rock Lake set in farmland with the magnificent backdrop of bushland and the foothills of Mt Baw Baw. Blue Rock bass are rapidly gaining a reputation as an exciting sport with more and more anglers getting on the bass bandwagon. From now into winter, trolling for trout on the lake will be great fun. The trout are generally skinny but there are some solid fish in among them.

More often than not anglers that visit the region target trout, blackfish and eel in the streams, and bass, trout, redfin and carp in Blue Rock Lake. The eel-tailed catfish is a rare species south of the Great Divide, and recently an angler fishing the Latrobe River near Moe was lucky enough to catch and release one of these unique inland freshwater species. Joel Mitchell was targeting eels using scrub worms when a solid bite followed by a very good fight led him to successfully net and identify this unique fish before releasing it back into the water. The eel-tailed catfish is a threatened and endangered species in Victoria due to human impact on their environment, which has led to segmented low population numbers. Finding a large specimen in the Latrobe River just out of Moe is exciting and gives hope that there is a small population that have been able to adapt to this waterway.

The Lang Lang River looks very inviting at the moment with good flow and dark tannin waters. There is plenty of food throughout the system, which results in some nice healthy brown trout and redfin swimming about. The Lang Lang River historically holds some big trout and blackfish but access is quite difficult so fishing this stretch will require some adventurous spirit. Most anglers would simply take one look and move on. There are some key entry points off Westernport Road, so if you’re up to tackling somewhere different over the coming months then the Lang Lang could be the way to go. Just remember, less angling pressure equals big fish, and the Lang Lang has plenty!

Feel free to send me a report or photo, particularly if you have any success stories over the Easter holidays with the family and please email me any questions. Happy fishing!