Despite most of the golden perch action being centralised on the weirs, there are still some excellent quality fish being taken at other points along the river.

Upstream from Mildura I have reports of excellent fish being taken around the Psyche Pumps region, as well as Bruces Bend.

The areas through Nangiloc and Colignan remain excellent destinations for those wanting to get away from the crowds. Invariably at this time of year those areas come under far less fishing pressure than at the weirs. That said most anglers with a bit of ability may easily gain their bag of nice golden perch.

Downstream of Mildura the weirs are the obvious hotspot right now. At the Mildura weir Wade Vincent had a good morning recently. Tethering the boat at a favourite snag he managed many good quality perch using scrubworms as bait and cast and retrieved Custom Crafted Hammerhead Lures. Wade kept his catch alive in a keeper net, regularly upgrading and then releasing the smaller fish. At the end of the session he’d had a lot of fun and took a bag of nice sized perch to 50cm home to eat.

Nicole from Mildura Got One’s had a great day at the weir also recently, catching and releasing 26 lovely golden perch on all manner of cast and retrieved lures. The metal blade lures are still proving to be the big winners and are accounting for many of the quality perch in these areas.

If you prefer your fishing a little less crowded, the river from Apex Park through to Johnsons Bend fishing very well. With a number of excellent troll runs through here, it’s not surprising that trolled lures are doing very well and taking some lovely perch. The 60mm Oar Gees, Custom Crafted Hammerheads and small Codgers are a great starting point for lures with greens, purples and blacks great colours.

Further downstream my favourite destination of Curlwaa continues to fish very well. Wade Vincent and I had a great day fishing this region recently. The big surprise of the day was taking my first and second ever catfish. These glorious little fish were taken in and around the willow trees, and being totally protected in New South Wales rivers were duly returned to the water.

Unlike the other endangered species available locally like the prolific silver perch, catfish truly are a rare catch and it was a privilege to tangle with not one but two of these great little fish. We mixed our fishing up on the day, with some lovely golden perch taken on the troll using Custom Crafted Hammerhead lures in green shades. Fishing the edges of the river we used a mixture of scrubworms and night crawlers to take the remaining silver and golden perch, the catties and of course a hapless carp.

The Wentworth Weir is fishing similarly well, however there’s a need to be up pretty early in the morning to gain that prime position. Cast and retrieved diving lures are doing well in this area, as are the bibless rattlers such as the Jackalls and similar.

The first of December 2009 was spent at Curlwaa with good mate Joel Davey. We had a cracking day, opening the cod season with a sensational little Murray cod of 60cm on a trolled purple AC Lure. We finished the day with some lovely golden perch and one very angry silver, all taken on purple and blue Oargee Plows in the 70mm size. It was truly a great way to welcome the Murray cod season.

It’s great to finally give a report on the other local river, the Darling at Wentworth. Keen Melbourne based angler Michael Molinaro spent three days fishing recently, north of Wentworth. Fishing from both the bank and the boat, Michael caught and released over 60 golden perch and 5 Murray cod. Now that’s a productive little fishing trip. Each and every fish was taken on a Stumpjumper lure.

Looking forward, we should start to see the run of spawning golden perch start to taper off a little. There will be plenty of golden perch still around, they just won’t be in those relentless, can’t miss numbers that the spawning run produces. With the Murray cod season open, lure selection becomes critical for the trollers or those who enjoy casting at snags. Lures such as the 60mm OarGee Plow and the rattling medium Custom Crafted Hammerhead are built tough and will withstand the assault of an angry Murray cod, as well as a golden perch.

I’m very happy to get your feedback. Please email me at --e-mail address hidden-- with ‘fishing’ in the title, if you’d like to submit a report or a digital photograph of your capture. I’m also happy to field any fishing related enquiries you may have, send them through and I’ll do my best!