Spring is fast approaching.
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There’s a little more than four weeks until the wattles will be blooming and the yellowbelly will be on the chew in earnest.
My old rod-making mate, the late Bob Darley, always said that yellowbelly came on the bite when the wattles began to bloom.
True or not, he believed it, and he would always head out to target them.
At around this time of year, Bob would head to the freezer and take out a package of sawdust and frozen shrimp, wrapped in pages of newspaper.
The shrimp were his early-season secret bait to catch yellowbelly.
He would then head to his secret spot on Lake Mokoan, and would return with a catch of yellowbelly.
Bob was one of those people that would plan everything to the letter.
He would start at Plan A.
If that did not work, he would move to Plan B or C, and so on.
He would always end up catching a fish.
He made his rods the same way, and I am the proud owner of almost a dozen of his handcrafted fishing rods with his Mako Shark brand mark.
Yes, Bob was a great fisherman, a great storyteller, a great sportsman and a great friend.
I miss him.
With the current slow increase in daylight comes more activity from the fish.
Which means more time to go fishing.
While yellowbelly will take bait, they will also take a lure.
Especially those that contain a rattle, such as the Jackall — one of the best for attracting yellowbelly.
There is no closed season on the taking of yellowbelly, but there are bag and size limits.
Details of which are contained in the Victorian Recreational Fishing Handbook, which is more than 20 pages of information on both fresh and saltwater angling.
This book is available free of charge at all tackle stores.
Make sure you get a copy for yourself.
At this time, fishing in our region is as good as it gets.
While trout are firing on the chew, so too are cod and yellowbelly.
Only the redfin are a little on the slow side, but they will be coming on the bite closer to spring.
Time now to take a look at saltwater fishing.
Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters, based at Queenscliff, said it had been a mixed week on the coast due to the weather.
While it has been stable on this side of the Great Dividing Range, along the coast it was stormy on occasions.
Rod said that when he could get out, he was catching pinky snapper on the inshore reefs, as well as at a few markers up the bay towards Mornington.
There were also flathead on the sand, and squid among the grass beds.
He said gummy sharks were on the bite around the dive wrecks.
Western Port Bay was about the same — from Hastings to San Remo and Phillip Island.
Down the coast to Portland, Rod said southern bluefin tuna were still to be caught, but they were a long way off the coast and moving towards South Australia.
Conditions in NSW were as bad as you could get: stormy, with huge seas making boating extremely hazardous.
John Liddell at Eden said very few of the professional boats dared to venture out.
Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said the bar on the lake was impassable, and the only fishing was done in the shelter of the lake.
So, the message for fishers is to stay safe and wear a life jacket.