In the Murray River, reports have come in lately of a lot of black water around, which isn’t a great sight and is having an effect on both anglers and our loved native fish. Affected areas seem to be the Edwards River system including Yallakool and the Wakool rivers as well as the Barmah area. Although these may deter you, these fish have survived a lot through thousands of years and numbers are strong now, thanks to river stocking.

With the good flush we have received this year, fishing should be a corker on both bait and lures. Best baits to use for cod are usually cheese or medium sized yabbies, which can be bought from most tackle shops. Even better, get the kids out with three simple tools – a net, string and some fresh meat. They’ll be sure to have a great time catching yabbies.

For lures during the summer, I suggest sizing down. Cod aren’t always after a huge offering during the heat. A 100mm sized hardbody lure will do the trick. Try casting some 1/2oz spinnerbaits, which will give you a chance at golden perch.

The good news is that the Goulburn River has finally dropped and started to settle. Great reports are in of plentiful golden perch being caught on scrub worms and small yabbies around the 2” size. It’s great to hear that locals finally have a successful place to fish. I recently went out just using scrub worms and the fish wouldn’t stop biting. I was fishing in around 2m water with plenty of small sticks and a nice big laydown which extended 10m out into the water.

There is currently a healthy flow to the river and fairly good clarity. It could be better, but with the wild winter and spring we had, I’m surprised. There’s plenty of shrimp to go around in the river and if you’re after some cheap bait, just chuck a shrimp net in with some meat, eucalyptus leaves, cheese, or even just a bar of soap. If you don’t have a shrimp net, use a small fishing net or butterfly net. Stand in some water about a foot deep and wait for the shrimp to start walking on your legs then scoop them up – it’s that easy! I’ve relied on this method plenty of times.

We should see plenty of PB fish in 2017 and some great fishing if all goes to plan and our crazy weather returns to normal. I can’t wait for March and April to come. They aren’t all that far and these two months provide some of the best fishing (and it isn’t too hot).

I’m not going to lie – I haven’t heard hundreds of reports from Campaspe. I’ve heard of one good report which saw an angler land some nice golden perch on bait. I’d rather fish the Goulburn, but if it’s all you can do, you may strike it lucky with plenty of carp through the system and a fair few golden perch. Worms are the ideal bait to use in the Campaspe system with a size 2 running ball sinker. Hopefully we start to hear some reports. In the meantime, get out and wet a line.

Kaleb Oxley is honoured to be writing for the Echuca area and all the keen anglers out there who read Fishing Monthly. You can follow his page on Facebook – Ox’s Fishing. Kaleb lives just shy of a couple great rivers and fishes all over Victoria and NSW, predominately in the Murray and Goulburn rivers. He hopes to bring exciting reports full of great catches and stories and help make catching some great fish just that little bit easier.