Ballarat and district anglers have been rewarded with excellent catches in the last month but they have had to travel up to an hour from Ballarat to reap the rewards.

Ballarat angler Shane Jeffrey has been fishing Cairn Curran Reservoir with fantastic results, catching golden perch up to 7kg. Like many other water storages in the state, Cairn Curran’s water levels are at an all time low, but this has not worried the fishing.

Access to the water can be gained from the northwestern end of the reservoir, otherwise known as the yacht club. A temporary boat ramp is continually being extended as the water levels drop.

The best method for catching golden perch at the moment has been trolling lures. The most successful lures have been Codgers. Other anglers have been catching golden perch between 4.5 and 6kg using the same method. These ‘yellas’ can be caught throughout the day, but the best and most successful days are the very warm ones.

At this time of the year Cairn Curran is more commonly known as redfin water but the Department of Primary Industries has been stocking golden perch for a number of years with mixed results - it seems now that perseverance has paid off.

Keith Riddsdale also has been up at Cairn Curran catching plenty of redfin in the evenings. Yabbies fished on the bottom have been most successful, with ‘reddies’ between 1 and 3kg being captured.

Lake Wartook is producing some excellent flyfishing at the moment. Vern Barby and Jim Williams have been flyfishing Wartook out of a boat, loch style. The most successful fly patterns have been black Woolly Bugger patterns fished on sinking flylines stripped very fast. Rainbow trout between 1 and 1.5kg have been caught and released. The DPI released rainbows into Wartook not long ago and according to Vern the experiment seems to be working.

Lake Purrumbete features again in my report, as it is one of those waters with levels that are favourable for anglers. Brian Hughes, a Ballarat fly man, has been catching brown trout to 2kg by flyfishing around the Manifolds or northern end of the lake, with the most successful patterns being woolly buggers.

Lake Fyans has been producing quality trout on both live mudeyes and artificial flies. The best times have been early morning and evening. Boat angling has been the most productive with boat launching possible at the island on the southern shore. Caution must be taken on Fyans when boating if water levels are low because there are plenty of submerged tree stumps just under the surface.

St Georges Lake at Creswick has been very productive in the last month, with trout and redfin being taken on lures fished from the bank.

Fishing in the district will again start to fire up as our evenings get cooler and water temperatures drop. The fish will start to feed more actively in our lakes. Remember all those good looking spots around the shorelines of the lakes for future reference for when these waters fill up and the fish are looking for hiding spots or nooks and crannies that hold food.