Tony Bennett profile

North & Northeast Victoria

16 July 2007

With Tony Bennett

As June rolled around so did winter, and with it came the new in phrase “winter cod” - the new phrase in native fishing for those who have only just cottoned on to what the educated angler has known for a long time. Cod can be caught in winter time. Plenty of XOS cod have been landed further downstream from Swan Hill onwards, but the only problem is there have not been enough dedicated anglers to prove that the elusive green fish are active at that time of the year in and around Lake Mulwala.

Local guide Roger Miles from Cod Hunter Fishing Tours has been the only person I have heard from that has encountered some cod. From his two trips out during June with clients and friends, a total of 7 cod and 3 yellas were boated, with the best cod measuring in at 74cm. All these fish were taken casting either Bassman spinnerbaits of Jackal lures.

An interesting report I received early in June came from new guide on the block, Adam Grainger, from Happy Hooker Fishing Tours. Fishing with two clients and targeting yellas, Adam came across a great school of redfin and managed to pick up close to two dozen good size fish. These were located around the willows area adjacent to the old drive-in. The numbers of redfin bobbing up in Lake Mulwala continues to increase. This gives local fishos a good topic of conversation, with the major consensus being that they are breeding up due to the increasing amount of weed cover. Whether this is a good or bad thing for one of the countries finest native breeding grounds, the reddies sure make for good eating.

Below the weir, local gun Simon de Olivera has been turning up some nice yellas on cast E –Chip bibles lures. With a bit of thought about where the fish could be hiding during times of low and clear water, Simon’s results have been great, with 57cm being the stand out.

This time of year brings out those who like the chance to fish for a feed of Murray crays. One report received from a fishing forum website suggested that a group of 12 fishermen from around the Ballarat area managed to take home 110 legals after a solid weekend's fishing effort around the Forge’s pump area. I can hear the outcry now about that amount of crays being taken from the one area in a short amount of time. What they did was totally legal and I’m sure that if the controlling bodies thought 5 per day and a total of 10 in possession was too high they would change bag limits ASAP.

Personally, our family spent an afternoon and evening chasing these spiky critters with good results. In total 25 legal crays were kept with approximately 75 female and undersize specimens being returned. It’s amazing to see the size some of the females in berry that come into the net. As long as all fishermen that target these prehistoric looking beasts return the undersize and female they should be available for many years to come.

The outlook for both the lake and river does not look that great for the next couple of months, but the odd fish may be available for those that put in the hard yards.

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