Springtime is a great time to fish the Central Goldfields area, our trout lakes and reservoirs are producing some good fish and our larger golden perch impoundments are beginning to fire up.

We need more crucial rain for the fishing to be outstanding. The flooding of the lakes margins triggers the fish into feed mode and fish move up amongst the grass and other vegetation to feed. Fishing at this time can be sensational.

Lake Eppalock
The Bendigo area is a-buzz at the moment with talk of golden perch being on the bite in Lake Eppalock. The lake's water level has risen slightly which has flooded some of the grassy banks. The golden perch in the lake have become more active and are taking both baits and artificial lures. Golden perch to 4.5kg have been caught during the past few weeks the average fish has been around the kilo mark.

Small yabbies have been ideal bait and producing both golden perch and redfin. Scrub worms have also been productive but tend to produce unwanted interest from carp. I fished the lake on Sunday with Dave Radman and managed to catch a 7lb carp on the troll using a storm hot and tot, is there anything these imports won°Øt eat? Dave managed a 1.5kg golden in some very tough conditions.

Dave Radman with his 1.5kg Eppalock yella caught using a Merlin lure.

We also witnessed some scumbags stealing rocks from the bank and managed to persuade them to clear off and leave the fish holding structure where it should be. It°Øs a real shame when narrow minded people think its ok to steal from our environment.

Cairn Curran
Unlike Eppalock, Cairn Curran°Øs resident golden perch have not yet come on the chew. The lake's water level is much higher than Eppalock and has all the potential to have a bumper springtime/summer season. The redfin have also been a little quiet, catch rate should improve once the warmer weather is amongst us.

Malmsbury and Lauriston reservoirs
Matt Purcell from Gotone in Niddrie had a successful trip to Lauriston during the week and caught two brown trout using softplastics. The fish were newly released and with Matt being a responsible angler let them go so they can grow.

Worms and maggots are a popular bait in the reservoirs that catch both trout and redfin. The redfin have been quiet, with the warmer weather just around the corner anglers they should come on the bite.

Harcourt Reservoir
Situated in the apple town of Harcourt is a quaint little reservoir. It is stocked annually with brown trout and has a population of redfin. Harcourt has the reputation of a fantastic fly fishing lake with many fly flickers hitting the lake regularly. Brown trout to 2kg are not uncommon and with the lake being less than an hour from Melbourne it is a popular spring destination.

Fly fishing is not the only form of angling that will take fish, bubble-floating with mudeyes and spinning are also productive this time of year.

Cod Opening
Lastly I would like to remind fishvictoria.com fans that the 2005 Cod Opening Classic is being held once again at Lake Mulwala on the 3rd and 4th of December. This year the organisers have outdone themselves with $100,000 in prizes up for grabs which includes 5 boat, motor and trailer packages. The Cod Opening Classic is a total catch and release event for murray cod and golden perch.

Get your entries in and I will see you on the rego desk on Friday.

Matty B

If anyone has any questions or reports
for the area cast me an e-mail at mattyb@fishvictoria.com

See Matt's previous report here.