In just a couple of days, we will be in the final month of autumn.
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The mornings are getting cooler and soon the trout will finish spawning and will be ready to start eating.
This will be the time to get the trout gear out of storage and start after a brown trout or a rainbow trout.
This will also mean a trip to Dartmouth, one of the best trout fishing spots in the state.
Located in the high country, Dartmouth is one of my favourite fishing destinations.
Two major rivers flow into the dam, the Mitta Mitta and the Dart, making Dartmouth the largest water storage in the state; in fact, some parts are more than 200m deep.
There are many ways to fish at Dartmouth, casting bait and lures from the bank or angling a bait beneath a float.
These work, but I prefer to boat the lake, trolling a ford fender with either a bait mudeye, or scrub worm; even everyday garden worms will do the trick.
Some of my most enjoyable fishing trips have been to Dartmouth, spending a week camping at the eight mile, sitting by a campfire at night yarning and planning the next day’s adventure.
A breakfast cooked on an open fire, billy tea or coffee to start the day, then on the water before the sun rises.
These days it’s a cabin in the caravan park, soft bed, hot shower — yes, I have become soft, but the first fish of the day is always a buzz, and it can happen within metres of the boat ramp.
So much for Dartmouth.
The next on my list to fish is Lake Eildon.
While Dartmouth is the mecca for trout, at Eildon you can also target cod, yellowbelly and redfin.
In its favour, Eildon is a lot closer and can be a day trip, while Dartmouth is definitely an overnighter.
Speaking of redfin, Lake Hume is still fishing well for them, but I did hear of some locals, including my local newsagent, who hit a bonanza at Waranga Basin recently, when in a short space of time they caught over 100 fish.
Many of them were bigger than average.
A couple of cod exceeding a metre were caught in Lake Mulwala. One was near the Blighty outlet, the other near the Ovens River. Sorry, but that is all I know.
Both rivers, the Murray and the Goulburn, have been worth trying.
Chicken has become the most popular bait, but don’t forget cheese, worms, yabbies and grubs, as well as lures.
I spoke with Rod Lawn about fishing around Queenscliff and the heads.
He said the past couple of weeks had been good.
He said resident pinky snapper were still biting, as well as salmon, whiting and silver trevally.
Rod said it had not been a great kingfish season.
He was hoping for a better season next year.
Rod said that fishing the sandy bottom was producing plenty of flathead — although no real big fish were among the catch.
Western Port Bay is also fishing well, with leather jacket and whiting being bagged.
There were also gummy shark biting in the deep water around Phillip Island, especially Cowes.
Best baits were fillets of fresh salmon or squid.
North of the border at Eden, John Liddell said kingfish were being caught around Boyd’s Lookout and Green Cape.
John said Mark from Freedom Charters was bagging out on snapper along the inshore reefs.
Mark said they were also catching morwong and other reef fish including gurnard, leather jacket and flathead.
At Narooma, Graham Cowley said it was a similar story around Montague Island. He said the flathead fishing along the sandy bottom was better than average, with plenty of good-sized fish among the catch.
Graham said fishing around the oyster leases inside the lake was producing plenty of bream and some monster flathead.
He said his son Nicholas, who skippers a charter boat, reported schools of rat-sized kingfish towards the northern end of the island.
James Luddington at Flinders Island has all but called it quits for the season, but for those still wishing to wet a line, there are, as always, quality flathead and gummy shark around the Lady Barron area.
Stay safe and good fishing.
Talking tackle
When the fish aren’t biting
Sometimes the fish just don’t want to come out to play or the weather is so bad you don’t want to either.
In that case, Trelly has a couple of ideas.
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