Firstly, I would like to congratulate the Victoria Fishing Monthly crew for the first issue of the magazine. The feedback from it has been great and it can only help it grow for the future.
Fishing locally over the past month has seen some unusual captures that certainly rate a mention. One of these so-called strange captures to come out of Lake Mulwala was a 2.5kg brown trout taken by a local bait angler in the mouth of the canal. While on the canal yellas have been taken there in good numbers by both bait and lure anglers. The fish average around the 1.5kg mark, but have been taken weighing up to 4kgs. The main factor that really sees the yellas ‘going off’ there is a high flow of water into the canal.
Recently, the Mulwala Football Club ran the Bundaberg Rum Bush Fund – Lake Mulwala Great Carp Fishout. This event was land based only held around the Mulwala Ski Club foreshore. After berleying up the area for a week prior to the competition, a total of 140 carp were caught between 170 anglers. Among these carp, some other interesting fish were landed. They included a Murray cod (released, being in the closed season) taken on corn, a 3kg yella that took the bait the moment it hit the water, a blackfish (or slimy as some people call them), a carp that was the identical shape of a yellowbelly (see photo) and a large orange goldfish or what some people call a an ornamental carp. All in all, it was a great day, topped by a two-hour concert by James Blundell who put on a fantastic show.
For those of you who are heading to Lake Mulwala for cod season opening, the upper reaches of the lake from the Majors Creek area and above is the most likely place you will come across a cod of any great size. The reason for this is that Murray Cod of Lake Mulwala seem to head up to and around the Ovens River area to spawn. This time of the year they are returning to their ‘home snag’ and you may have a chance of crossing paths.
For those who love to fish and are not fussy about the species you are targeting, when the river opens on December 1, I would recommend heading downstream and having a go at the yellowbelly by casting either small hard-bodied lures or spinnerbaits around the snags. Pick a snag that has reasonable current running past without being either too fast or dead and give it a good working over from various angles. Be patient and I’m sure you will be rewarded with some good fish.
I hope your upcoming season on the native fish is rewarding and you catch the monster you have dreamed about. See you at the Cod Classic, 4-5 December.
CAP
The wonders of nature – a carp that is the same shape as a golden perch, taken from Lake Mulwala.
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