Fishing in Lake Mulwala recently has been steady with numerous reports of good cod coming in. The major topic of conversation among anglers has been the size of the fish. Very few undersize cod are being taken, with most fish measuring 55cm and over.

Quite a few groups of anglers from the town’s largest employer, ADI, have been getting together and spending some time on the water. Hawko, Matt, Crackers, Benny and Greeny have all crossed paths with some nice cod while trolling in the deeper channels around the Majors Creek and Hogan’s Road areas. Matt Manly recorded the best results landing a 16lb and 19lb cod on the same trip while little Greeny managed to christen his boat (after a couple of years) with a nice cod of 60cm.

Roger Miles from Cod Hunter Fishing Tours has spent plenty of time on Lake Mulwala in recent weeks and has managed some great results. On average, his clients are landing between three and seven legal cod per day, with a 90cm fish being the best capture of recent times. This beauty happened to be his client’s first cod – imagine the thrill! Anything smaller than that in the future will be a disappointment! Roger’s most productive method has been trolling deep diving lures in the 25-30ft range, with metallic coloured lures accounting for most of his fish.

Another angler who has been doing well of late is Jamie Roberts. Because the lake is so clear at the moment, Jamie is opting to cast spinnerbaits in the shallower water and is coming across some nice cod. The beauty of this style of fishing is that at present, you can see the majority of strikes and it makes for heart-pumping stuff.

Recently my wife and I spent a morning on the lake. We were casting spinnerbaits when a cod of around 25lb appeared beside the boat just as she was about to remove her lure from the water. She dropped the rod tip down to point at the fish and it promptly gobbled her spinnerbait and took off. After a quick run of about 10m, the cod spat out the Bassman lure and Vanessa was left shaking like a leaf. All this happened in only a few seconds and I was lucky enough to witness the lot.

Another interesting report I received came from self-titled ‘Mrs. Redfin’ – Cath White from Tragowel. Cath recently spent some time holidaying in Yarrawonga and landed three great redfin, all weighing in at over 2lb. The reddies were taken around the old swimming pool in Yarra. Her secret was only fishing after dark and using sausage as bait.

As the water cools down, the crays have been coming out with some good numbers being reported from the Ovens River right down to Cobram. Those working their pots through the night using carp or fox as bait have achieved the best results.

Below the weir, the river remains very low. Roger has spent some time down here with his clients and found the fishing to be pretty tough. My guess is that if you are going to spend the time working the deeper sections of the river at this time of year, you may be rewarded with a fish that goes over the magical 1m mark.

Fishing in Lake Mulwala over the next month should continue to produce fish of good size but again, the numbers coming in will be limited. Your best chance of tangling with a mighty goodoo will be by trolling large deep diving lures. Persistence might just pay off.