The trout fishing has still been good locally, with many suburban lakes stocked with rainbows just recently. Devilbend reservoir has been producing a few of the smaller trout that are currently ravenous and eating most lure styles. Many of the other locally stocked lakes have also been producing fish on a variety of methods including both lures and bait.

Customer John returned from New Zealand recently where he had a blast fishing for trout and salmon. John fished with his dad and good mate targeting the larger fish moving up the canals. Some of the larger fish that were seen were 20lb+ but with limited flow and crystal clear water, they didn’t want to play ball.

Even amongst this, some large trout and salmon were caught. A mixture of techniques worked well, with fly and lure being about a 50/50 split. One of the most effective methods was fishing lightly weighted baitfish profiled soft plastics around the edges. Small paddle tails in neutral colours were the most productive in the clear water.

These same methods work well throughout the western lakes like Purrumbete and Bullen Merri, which are fishing well at the moment. Casting small finesse smelt style plastics around the weed pockets and edges is a great way to snare a few trout and salmon in these lakes.

Customer Ismail fished Karkarook Lake just recently where he caught a few fish on powerbait. Ismail found a fine grit pellet berley trail got the fish going, and once they were confined to the trail they were easy pickings. A mixture of colours of powerbait worked well, especially when fished on a small fine gauge fly style hook. Light hooks and light leader are critical here as they help the bait float up and also provide minimal resistance when the fish are mouthing the bait.