The fishing scene in Tamworth over the past few months has been pretty quiet due mostly to the cooler weather but now it's warming up and the fish are becoming aggressive.

A lot of customers coming into Dad’s shop, North West Fishing Tackle and Archery Supplies, are talking of 50cm to 60cm golden perch being caught at Chaffey, Keepit and Split rock dams.

The yellowbelly around hear can be caught on any light gear and I usually recommend 50mm Halco Poltergeists, Hydro Bugs and lipless crankbaits because these are the lures I have had the most success with.

Most reports from Chaffey have been of yellowbelly caught on the troll in 5m to 6m around the edges of the dam.

We've also had reports of carp coming into the shallows to feed. This scenario is ideal for flyfishing using red Fuzzy Wuzzy and mudeye imitation flies.

Yellowbelly are also being caught in numbers at Keepit Dam, along with some thumper cod before the season ended and a few as by-catch during the closed season, so things should be pretty good when we’re allowed to target them after December 1. One customer told us that he dropped a silver lipless crankbait through a school of bony bream and a decent cod grabbed it so that should work after the season opens.

I recently took my Koastal Kayak down to the Peel River through the heart of Tamworth for a relaxing afternoon.

I slowly drifted downstream, casting my Hydro Bug Chaser towards the bank and structure and slowly worked it back, slightly twitching the rod and pausing the lure as it went through sunken timber. The results weren’t too bad for a relaxing afternoon, a nice 35cm silver perch and a yellowbelly over 40cm.

Overall I think over the next few months as the weather starts to warm up Tamworth’s fishing scene is going to really fire up.