Fishing Monthly Magazines : Redfin the saviours

Recent fishing in and around Lake Mulwala has proved to be something of a non-event.

With the cod season closed and the golden perch yet to fire, the only target left has been the redfin.

Those who ventured out on the days when the wind wasn’t blowing had mixed results, with very few fish reported.

But there were two standout reports. The first came from Con Monaghan, who was out in search of a feed of reddies when his trolled small AC Invader was smashed with vigour. After a tussle fitting a fish of much larger size, he landed a magnificent silver perch of 45cm.

This is the first silver capture I have heard of in the lake for a long time. I’m guessing this fish would have swum into the fish lift below the weir and been relocated into the lake.

ilvers have become a lot more prevalent below the weir in the past couple of years, with specimens up to 50cm taken on lures. Schools of the smaller versions have become pests to the bait fishos. Silvers cannot be legally kept below the weir, while a bag limit of five applies in the lake.

Girls FIRE UP

On a quiet Tuesday afternoon during school holidays, two girls around 15, accompanied by their father, visited our store. The girls were as excited as if they had just been let loose into a clothes store or a lolly shop.

Dad was shaking his head, saying, ‘

f it gives them something to do for half an hour, I’ll be happy’. Obviously he was finding it hard to keep them entertained but it was their spur-of-the-moment idea to go fishing.

As all good dads do, he took them off to get the equipment required. After arming them with a couple of inexpensive pink (of course!) combos, hooks, sinkers and a punnet of worms, their adventure began.

I told them that if they caught a fish, to bring back a photo and I’d put it on the shop window but I wasn’t really expecting to see them again. Two days later, they came bursting in, brandishing large photos of their fishing adventures.

Dad came in a few steps behind, shaking his head. The girls had found a great shore-based spot that had produced numerous redfin to almost a kilo. They had spent two days doing nothing but fishing, much to

ad’s surprise and were disappointed that they had to go home.

Their names remain a mystery but their memories should last a lifetime.

GOLDEN Perch

During the last month of the Murray cod closure, the yellas should be ready to fire.

Keep in mind when targeting golden perch that it’s now cod breeding season, so do your utmost to avoid capturing them.

Little things like downsizing your lure, fishing the warmer margins and avoiding likely-looking cod snags should minimise your encounters with cod. If you do manage to hook a cod, release it as soon as possible.

With a month to go before cod opening, diehard greenfish chasers should be getting that nervous twitch in anticipation.

here will be numerous new products that will get a pretty good run this season.

There’ll be Blades in various sizes, changes to our favourite spinnerbaits with variations in skirts, blades and plastic trailers, plus few new names in the hardbodied lure market, to name a few.

I’m sure our spinnerbaits will also get bigger and more anglers will switch on to lipless crankbaits.

See you all at the Cod Classic.

One of the girls who brained the redfin during their holiday at Mulwala.