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Downpours keep Eildon ticking over
  |  First Published: July 2007



The time has come once again for anglers to leave the river trout alone to do what comes naturally. The absence of anglers will allow them to spawn freely, and will also allow the reds to nestle between the rocks without being stirred up by unwelcome feet.

I hope that the river is kept at 130ML over the duration of the entire closed season. In years gone by, unnatural flushes have been sent down and trout have used these newly covered rock beds, only to find themselves high and dry a week later. The loss of potential natural stocking is disastrous.

Lake Eildon

The recent downpours have turned the lake around, and with healthy inflows the levels are rising rapidly. We still have only one boat ramp in action at the Eildon Dam wall, but the twenty or thirty people who use it each weekend don’t seem to mind.

The number of fishing boats is far outweighing the number of skiing boats as the water temperature drops. A lot of these anglers are content to troll for trout. There are no real reports of native fish anymore, but there have been reports of small trout being caught.

The best area has been the main arm, while the best lures have been tri-coloured smelt patterns in the 13g Tassie Devils. Although numbers have been healthy, we are still yet to receive any reports of big fish.

Eildon Pondage

The Pondage has had another liberation of 1kg and 2kg trout for the recent Kids Fishing Day. Not a lot were caught on the day, but they have been popping up regularly since then. Vicky from Totally Trout reports that a pair of trout fell for one of her Rapala lures. The Blue Fox Spinner claimed a 1kg+ fish, while the trusty pink Tassie Devil is also still working well.

PowerBait has been working nicely on these new releases too. The best colours have been chartreuse and lime twist, while the best area for bait fishing in general has been at the bridge, where there seems to be a congregation of trout.

Rick Ditchburn proved to me not once but twice that these trout will definitely take flies. He bagged two fish in front of me on a size 12 nymph pattern during a recent outing.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch anything that day, while the next day I had two interested takes but no hook-up. Even though the fish are there in numbers, they are feeding very warily.

JASE PLEASE CROP TO INCLUDE ONLY BOTTOM PIC.

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