Now that football is down to the last four, there is little reason not to go fishing; cricket has yet to start.
Saltwater or fresh, don’t waste time; go wet a line around our neck of the woods. Yellowbelly, trout and redfin are all on the bite in both the Goulburn and the Murray rivers, and despite it being closed season on cod, you can still bag one at Eildon.
So, if your team gets knocked out of the finals, dry your eyes and go fishing.
The reports from around the region are generally good; the rivers are flowing clean, so lures are working, and bait is working just the same.
While the mornings can still be brisk, you should be able to catch a few shrimp and yabbies to add to your bait collection. Get the shrimp net out — I like to bait it with dry dog food pellets and a few sprigs of gum leaves.
It works just as well for yabbies, although a bit of liver is good, too. Also, for trout, I like worms and mudeyes. They are the larvae of dragonflies and are a deadly bait for trout. Easy to catch, I drag a fine net through still water and among the woods and grass.
Towards the end of summer, the black crickets are teeming. They are like lollies to trout; they love them even better than grasshoppers. For yellowbelly and redfin, the best baits are worms, shrimp or yabbies; any or a mixture works well on these members of the perch family.
Cod, of course, is in a closed season and must be put back if you catch one. That is with the exception, of course, of Lake Eildon, which is not considered to be a breeding water, but all the size limits and bag numbers still apply.
When it comes to dinner, cod has a huge mouth. Some weird things have been found in the innards of big cod, such as golf balls, rabbit traps, whole waterbirds, small animals and more.
Once again, the spring winds have been playing havoc with putting a boat on a lake. It has not been too bad on the rivers, but it is always in the back of your mind.
Anglers fishing the backwater close to the bank have been catching yellowbelly using lures with a rattle and baiting worms. They have been using light sinkers with just enough weight to keep the hook in the strike zone.
Down south at Queenscliff, Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters said he was also kept on the couch not by football but by the wind, which had whipped up enormous seas. After the wind had settled down, it took some time for the sea and sand to settle before Rod could venture out to go fishing.
Rod said that on the good days, he was seeing signs of good-sized fish, mainly snapper, starting to move into the bay. Although they were still mainly pinky-sized, it would be at least another month before he expected the bigger fish to arrive on the scene.
Rod said that meanwhile, he was bagging flathead off the sandy bottom, whiting and squid on the weed beds, and silver trevally on the reefs. Further off shore in the deeper water, he was still catching trevally as well as the occasional gummy shark from around the dive sites, mainly using fresh squid for bait.
Although there were signs of tuna, they were proving hard to hook up to, and kingfish were likewise proving elusive. He said that when the salmon came on the bite he would expect the kingfish to move in.
As bad as the weather has been around here, it has been even worse on the south coast of NSW. John Liddell at Eden and Graham Cowley at Narooma both reported huge seas. Both said that not even the pro boats had ventured off shore, although Graham said some anglers fished the lake around the oyster leases and reported catching flathead, bream and luderick.
Well, that is it for this week. If you do go out, make sure you know what the weather is doing and if there is a change in the forecast.
Stay safe on the roads and the water, as well as from the flu and COVID-19. If your footy team is still in the hunt, good luck.