With Easter and Anzac Day now well and truly past, the next long weekend will be the King’s Birthday weekend in June.
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This coincides with the start of the ski season and the closing of the trout season in rivers and streams in this state.
At this time of year, the often ignored irrigation channels can be productive for anglers looking for a feed of redfin.
The trick is to fish the older channels, not those that have been lined with plastic.
For obvious reasons, yabbies and shrimp have access to the water and likewise, the fish have access to feed.
Not only are redfin being caught, but so too are yellowbelly and Murray cod.
You can also catch fish using lures such as hard-body diving types, as well as bladed lures.
Redfin are also on the bite in Waranga Basin, the channel that rolls alongside the western side as well as towards Rushworth and Stanhope.
Once again, lures and baits are getting results; both bladed and diving lures work.
With hard-body ones, they need to be red or mauve in colour, and a tuft of red wool on the bladed lure will get the best results.
The same goes for yellowbelly — small yabbies and live shrimp, as well as worms, are the best baits.
And as far as lures go, the best are the tackle lures with a rattle in them.
Tactics change when fishing for redfin in both the Hume and at Eildon.
There you fish alongside the trees and drop your bait down five to six metres.
If there are no bites within 10 minutes, move to another tree. Repeat this process until fish are located.
I had a word with my local newsagent just after the Anzac Day holiday, and he passed on some good news and some not-so-good news about his fishing exploits during the Easter to Anzac Day holiday period.
He spent time fishing at Lake Mulwala.
While they did not catch a big bag of cod, he and a friend landed three of the fish.
All were in top condition, broad across the back and a firm, well-filled body.
That was the good news.
The not-so-good news was all three fish were under the legal limit — one was only a smidgen under.
So all three fish were put back to grow and to fight another day.
The word from Mulwala is that it has been a better than average season for cod in what is renowned for being a top fishing spot for cod.
Just one month of this mild autumn weather to go, but already I have started to prepare my winter gear for the trout season.
I have half a dozen Ford Fenders and i have been polishing them in readiness to attract trout.
Then there are the Tassie Devil trout lures.
I make sure there are at least a couple in the clown pattern — they are deadly at catching trout.
I also have several hard-body diving lures, also deadly at catching trout.
The speed at which to troll a lure is not easy to determine.
For example, walking pace is fine for a fender but is a little too slow to work for a hard-body lure.
Then, when using other types, you need to vary the retrieve, thus copying the swimming actions of a natural bait.
All in all, it becomes a bit of trial and error until you get a bite.
Add tip-of-the-rod action and, once again, that’s trial and error.
Time to check in with Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters based at Queenscliff.
Rod reported good results when the weather was suitable for going offshore in Bass Strait, but if he is confined to fishing inside the heads, his options become limited. Inside Port Phillip Bay, it’s mainly whiting.
Mind you, I’m happy with a feed of whiting, but I do like to bag some other species such as snapper, kingfish and tuna.
All of which become an option when fishing outside the heads.
Meanwhile, north of the NSW border at Eden, John Liddell said Mark and the crew of Freedom Charters had been catching snapper, kingfish and morwong, or as they’re also known, green snapper, while on the inshore reefs.
The best results are between Boyd’s Lookout and Green Cape, which is near the Victorian border.
Mark has reported bags of gummy sharks while fishing in that region.
Further north at Narooma, Graeme Cowley reported plenty of flatheads around the sandy bottom between the mouth of the river and Montague Island.
Graeme said that when it was too rough to go offshore, there were always flathead, bream and blackfish around the oyster leases.
Stay safe, watch the weather — and good fishing!