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South West Victoria
With Rod Shepherd
29 April 2008
Due to the cold weather, fishing has been put on the sideline this weekend but welcome rains have fallen across the state. I’ve emptied the gauge and discovered well over 20mm to date. It’s all good!
I spent the long weekend with friends up in the Mallee, and talk about a dust bowl! By Sunday morning though, rain had penetrated this far north and farmers far and wide began preparing the ground for wheat and canola. Best of luck to them in the coming months.
On the way home, we travelled via the Grampians and had lunch overlooking Lake Bellfield near Halls Gap. A very sad sight indeed. According to fishvictoria.com water levels, Bellfield is sitting at 8 per cent and falling. That seems correct to what we witnessed. The Grampians did receive rain, like most of Victoria. How much, I wish I knew, but probably not enough to stem this decline in the short term. We are so lucky in the southwest as the rivers are still flowing and the countryside is green to some extent.
Lake Bellfield. The Grampians.
Plenty of southern bluefin tuna are falling to anglers specifically chasing these beasts about 20km offshore from Portland. Apparently a FAD exists approximately 13 kilometres southwest of Lawrence Rocks (I stand to be corrected here) and fish to over 20 kilos are falling to trolled lures and bait.
Meanwhile at Port Fairy, East Beach way over near the golf club has proved successful in recent times for Australian salmon topping the scales to 3 pound. Double Paternoster rigs using squid strips or bluebait has worked well here.
Good bream are falling to anglers willing to persevere on the Hopkins River at Warrnambool. Apparently the odd fish topping the scales at 2 kilos has been landed. Bait anglers are still doing very well on local live baits such as brown shell and shrimp. Plastics are catching their fair share of fish as well.
The Glenelg River has still been fishing extremely well for good bream and mulloway, especially down near the mouth.
Lake Bullen Merri has good trout, both browns and rainbows in the upper range of seven pounds in the shallows or lake’s edge at dawn, dusk and low light conditions. Bank anglers fishing bait such as live gudgeon unweighted on the bottom, and trolling lures such as Loftys Cobras have been having success.
The Curdies River is fishing extremely well for boat anglers, though results are hit and miss for some. Good bream can be caught in the lake as well as the river. The lake’s good spots are Wallaby Creek and Doctor’s Point. The River, well, all over apparently, but it’s a matter of using the sounder to locate schools. Greyback (local whitebait) or any lure or plastic that resembles this bait is working.
This is my last report for a week as I am off to Bemm River for a bit of fishing, filming and relaxation. I’m bringing my father, as he loves this place. The mouth is closed and the prawns are still running wild and free so a feed as well as excellent bait is not entirely out of question. The bream are averaging 1.5 kilos but the estuary perch are even bigger. Plenty of luderick to 2.9 kilos are also being caught. Decent mulloway and dusky flathead are about waiting to be caught as well, so here’s hoping!
Until next time, stay safe on the water,
Rod Shepherd.
See previous Shepherd report here.
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