Magnificent Mulwala!

By Mark Bolger.

Mulwala is a name known to many. A gem of the North East of Victoria, it shines to all fishermen who target native fish and in particular, the mighty Murray cod, and the beautiful golden perch.

I spent the whole two weeks of the last school holidays touring northern Victoria with my family - we also travelled into southern NSW.

I would have to say that of all the places we went (and believe me, there were many), Mulwala would have to be my favourite. Situated just one kilometre from the Victorian border town of Yarrawonga, Mulwala has all facilities, many caravan parks and a pub for those warm days! Lake Mulwala and the mighty Murray River split the border between Mulwala (NSW) and Yarrawonga (Vic.).

After getting geared up and changing our lines (we had 3-pound trout line on!), we headed straight for the canal. We decided that the best place to fish would be the mouth, just 3 kilometres out of Yarrawonga. How right we were! Just five minutes after casting our lines in dad got a whopping bite, and he was on! After a short, but strenuous fight, dad reeled in a small, undersized Murray cod. As fly fisherman, we aren't exactly used to having our rods almost pulled in and I almost had a heart attack as I was sitting on the bank and seeing the rod go flying! The Murray cod fell to a nice fresh bunch of "Night Crawler" worms but as it wasn't cod season we were happy to return him to the water. After our first encounter with a native fish other than a blackfish we had smiles as wide as the Victorian border! After about an hour or so things cooled off and no one else was catching anything, so we decided to call it a day, and go and do the food shopping in Yarrawonga (if we didn’t, dad would be divorced and I wouldn’t be receiving an education anymore!).

Next morning dad and I were both inspired and we decided to hit Lake Mulwala and try the canal later on in the day. What a mistake! As we were staying in the Lakeside Caravan Park we had beautiful water frontage just across the road, so we decided to try our luck there. I must admit the water did look inviting and extremely fishy. There were tree stumps everywhere, and I was sure we would get a fish. However, this was not to be - cast after cast, snag after snag, I had enough snags to open a butcher's shop!

After our "Lakeside" encounters it was back off to Sportspower to acquire some more tackle, and a reconnaissance session was required with Roger.

"Out the front of Lakeside, eh? Now that is a laugh!"

Roger blessed us with his great appreciation for our hard work! Roger later told us something that we already knew - the water around the Caravan Park was full of weeds and dead trees. Even though places look fishy, they sometimes aren't. After listening to Roger once again, it was decided that we should try the Mulwala Canal again, but this time if the bait didn't work, we should try lures. Roger then proceeded to show us his range of $13 lures. After browsing and much conversation, we walked away with a $3 lure each! Isn't revenge sweet!

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We found a suitable spot, baited up and cast in. After about an hour, we agreed we should go. Spending an hour in 30-degree heat, without shade and no fish to keep an angler interested is hard work. Just as we were leaving though, we heard a large thump. I turned around, and saw the biggest rise of my life. I also saw a huge tail swimming off — I can honestly say it is the biggest fish I have ever seen. Judging by the tail on this 'beast', he would have put Jaws to shame! It was definitely a big old cod.

When we got back to our luxurious cabin that night, dad and I both agreed on the next day being a rest day. A quite day of reading North East Angler was instore!

The next day saw us fishing the mouth of the Canal again, 2 days before we were due to head back to Melbourne.

For the first half an hour, with no success, dad fished the mouth of the canal. I was fishing with a schoolmate and his two brothers, a bit further down the canal. After no success casting lures, it was decided to go back to the mouth of the canal and meet up with my dad again. I asked dad whether or not he had any luck on the bait, and in unprintable words, he said that it be best that I keep trying with a lure!

After many cast and retrieves there was no action, so I decided that I would try a new technique. Seeing as it was middle of the morning, I cast my lure underneath a large clump of bushes, and slowly "jerked" my lure back to me. By "jerking" the lure, you simply reel slowly and lift your rod to the right or left once every five seconds. By doing this, your lure looks like a baitfish in motion. Incidentally, I was using a bright pink Devon, which are very similar lures to Tassie Devils - the only difference is that they have two small propellers on their side. As the water was clearing this lure was perfect because each time I "jerked" the lure, the fish would see a pink flash. This technique worked straight away and I had a follow up on my second cast!

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After that catch of the week, we decided that we would call it a day at the canal and go into Yarrawonga to get the fish weighed. To my disbelief, the beauty came in at five and one quarter pounds. That is a big fish for someone who mainly catches whiting and garfish! Not to mention the odd trout!

I'm sure next holidays we will be heading back up to Mulwala to catch another monster yellowbelly.