Reel Life | I feel the lure of my favourite local spot

My coffee-making friend lost his house in the floods, but he managed to stay in the area, moving into another house safe from any rising waters. And while I have yet to have an opportunity to fish behind his new abode, he and his brother have had success.

Last week, they managed to bag cod, a large silver perch and several carp in just one session.

While that stretch of the Goulburn has always been good for fishing, it is just a small part of a river that fishes well its entire length. So good was the action that the intrepid pair soon ran out of the cheese they were using as bait.

However, yabbies and shrimp are plentiful and give anglers good results when used as bait.

Heartened by the men’s results, it appears it is time to dust off my gear and get back into action. Now, where did I put that coffee cup?

Speaking of blasts from the past, I was visited by my old mate George, a former council worker and keen angler. George has only just stopped celebrating his footy team’s grand final win and has been fishing with his wife, who is also a keen angler. They have been spending time on a mission in northern Australia.

Now, back to fishing in our region. The Broken, Murray and Goulburn rivers are all worth a look. Cod are biting on bait, including worms, yabbies, shrimp and grubs, as well as ‘unnatural’ baits such as chicken, cheese and a selection of lures. All are getting good results.

One of the hot spots is the junction of the Broken and the Goulburn.

If you want trout, you should be fishing the backwaters and deep holes in the rivers and streams in the north-east, including Lake Eildon, Lake Hume and Dartmouth.

Lures aside, you can fish with bait. Worms are a natural choice, but at this time of year, you might like to try black crickets. They are easy to collect, and trout love them. Just spread wet newspapers on your lawn and leave them out overnight; in the morning, you should find the crickets sheltering underneath. Keeping them in a darkened container can cause them to become cannibalistic, so add a slice of apple to stop this from happening.

Redfin can also be caught at this time of year. The best places to hunt them are Lake Hume, Lake Eildon and Waranga Basin. Each site calls for different methods, which are similar to those used to catch flathead.

Redfin, also known as English perch, are an introduced species and are considered pests that eat native fish. Whether by design or by accident, native fish in our waterways have suffered from the introduction of foreign species; while redfin are a desired table fish, they have had a negative impact on native fish.

One place that continues to produce redfin is Eildon, where they can be caught among the tree line, especially around Jamieson and Peppin Point. But Lake Hume is the best location by far.

Lake Nillahcootie used to be the mecca for redfin back in the 1980s, but the floods of 1993 led to the natives, yellowbelly and cod, taking over, which is a good thing.

Waranga Basin is a different kettle of fish, so to speak; the fishing relies on bouncing your lure along the bottom and drifting a bait.

According to Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters down south, the saltwater fishing has been good. One of my favourite saltwater fish is flathead. A sweet, flaky flesh, flathead tails are on a par with fresh gummy shark and King George whiting, all of which are on the bite around the heads at Queenscliff and close by Western Port Bay. Easy to catch and cook, all three are sought after.

According to Rod, there are many good areas to fish around the heads, with plenty of different species to hunt. The reefs between the rip and the beachside reefs, such as at Mornington, produce snapper, but at this time of the year, they are mainly pinkies. On the sand between the reefs there will be flathead, and around the grass beds there are whiting and squid. When it is too rough to fish offshore, inside the heads is a great option.

North at Eden, John Liddell said Mark from Freedom Charters had been bagging snapper, morwong, flathead and other table fish.

Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said the fishing was about the same as at Eden, with the exception of fishing inside the bar. Graham said when it was too rough to go offshore, flathead and bream could be caught around the oyster leases.

James Luddington at Flinders Island reported flathead and gummy sharks around the islands at Lady Barron.

I had mentioned that getting younger people involved in fishing was needed; well, there are some casting a line. Jasper O’Callaghan, a teenager from Shepp, is just such a person.