Reel Life | Tackle a great gift this season

Secondly, we are coming up to Christmas at a great rate of knots.

If you haven’t yet started a gift list, it is about time you start, as time is running out. For example, you can never own enough rods, tackle, hooks, sinkers and lures, both soft plastics and hard body.

On a grander scale, you can start looking at perhaps a new boat, how good will that be crammed into a Santa sack in the modern era of fishing.

There are electronic fish finders, mapping devices, etc. They will also make a fine gift and will make it easier to get back to that red-hot fishing spot.

When it comes to lures, there are both soft plastics and hard-body styles, which imitate a bait fish; they work well as long as you have the right colour or pattern. All of these can be found at your local tackle store. There are combo rod reels and tackle kits already made up.

So, if you need to buy a gift for someone, then you can get them into fishing by purchasing a gift from a tackle store. It makes good sense if they are not interested in fishing, then you get to use it anyway.

Now, around our region, the fishing has been good, and we have had weather suitable for spending time outdoors. This has been backed up by just an occasional drop of rain, not enough to flood, but just enough to keep rivers fresh.

The Goulburn has been producing a nice yellowbelly to aim for while we wait for the cod season opening. Redfin has been biting at Eildon, Waranga Basin and Lake Hume.

While late-season trout are also being caught at Dartmouth, Eildon and the Hume, these are mainly during early morning before it goes hot.

The rivers and streams in the north-east are worth a try during daytime, either wading or fishing from the bank, bait casting or using lures.

Boats have been around the upper Goulburn, the Ovens and Bright and Harrietville. The star river at Bright or the Mitta Mitta before and after Dartmouth have been producing both rainbow and brown trout, mainly pan size but an occasional kilogram-sized fish among them.

The irrigation changes are also worth a try as they, too, are a good and easy stretch of water to fish.

Just a couple of warnings: if you go fishing, keep a sharp eye out for snakes. So far, there has been one death attributed to a snake bite this year. Watch out for fire and being around water drowning is also an extreme danger. Wear a life preserver, and it will hold if you know how to swim.

Saltwater fishing is producing plenty of fish for anglers.

At Queenscliff, Rod Lawn from Adams Fishing Charters said fishing around the heads was good.

Rod said snapper fishing was starting to pick up. So far, most fish were pinky size and larger fish were still to move into the area, but they should be on the bite soon.

Rod said he was also catching flathead on the sandy bottom between the reefs as well as silver trevally, snotty nose trevally, off the coast near Point Lonsdale, as well as salmon in the rip and schools of couta.

Rod said whiting was now starting to appear in the grass beds near the mouth of Swan Bay as well as on the opposite side of the heads near Portsea, Point Nepean and near St Leonards further up the Bay.

Rod said fishing in Western Port was about the same, but he added that gummy sharks were biting in the deep near Phillip Island.

North of the border at Eden, John Liddell said the boys from Freedom Charters were getting good results fishing inshore reefs.

He noted that Mark from Freedom Charters was catching snappers, morwong, flathead and other table fish.

Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said fishing was similar around Montague Island. When it was still rough to go offshore, flathead, bream and blackfish were caught around the oyster lease in the lake.

Down south at Flinders Island, James Luddington said he was catching gummy sharks and flathead in the gutters around Lady Baron.

He said fishing would improve as the weather warmed up and the cod season opened. In the meantime, good fishing and stay safe.