Reel Life | Belly up the best with yellowbellies

Golden perch, as they are also known, is one of the more sought-after native fish. If they do not carry a lot of fat, they are great for eating and fishing.

Yellowbellies can be found in both rivers and dams. They can be fished on both lures and bait. They are mostly given a sensitive bite but put up a typical perch fight.

The average size is about 2-3kg, but they have been known to grow up to 15-20kg. Fish of this size are extremely rare nowadays.

In our region, yellowbellies can be caught in irrigation channels, dams, the Goulburn and Murray, Broken Rivers and Broken Creek, and most other waterways.

Yellowbelly can be a ‘bycatch’ for cod anglers, but trout fishermen can also hook up with them when trolling for trout at Eildon, Waranga Basin, the Hume, Nillahcootie and all other dams.

Other reports are about redfin; while they are still biting at the Hume, I have heard reports of reddies being caught in Greens Lake. This is fairly early in the season for Greens, but being on the way to Eppalock, it makes sense that reddies are on the bite there as well.

Redfin are also being caught in Waranga Basin, but only some of these fish are small. Size: I did hear of a small catch at Eildon, but once again, these were small-sized fish.

Some of the best reports have come from Dartmouth, where anglers have braved the weather and have been catching trout, mainly brown trout, which have finished their spawning run and are feeding up to regain condition.

Trolling fenders with either a bunch of worms, mud-eyes or a lure such as a clown-pattern Tasmanian Devil or a hard-body minnow lure yields the best results.

The best spots at the Dart are among the tree lines. Look for where gutters or crooks run just near the boat ramp along the far side of the wall along the Larson’s Cutting, as well as the bay at the eight-mile. All are good spots and worth trolling. Then, of course, you can angle a bait beneath a float. This is a relaxing way to fish. You can put your feet up and wait for them to come to you.

Remember that the Macquarie perch in Dartmouth is totally protected and must not be taken.

The Goulburn River has been giving mixed results with the water level rising with the rainfall, with cod being caught mainly on bait, cheese, chicken and/or worms and yabbies if you can find some, but you might like to use hard-body lures. I found good results with dark green spots being the best. Fish close to the bank and look for slow-moving backwater.

Down south, saltwater fishing has been reasonable, according to Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters, which is based out of Queenscliff. He said he was bagging pinky-sized snapper on the inshore reefs; there were also silver trevally and snotty-nosed trevally in the deeper water. Rod also found kingfish on the reefs, flatheads on the sandy bottoms both inside and outside the heads, and southern calamari in the weed beds.

The best spot to fish for squid is between the ferry terminal and Point Lonsdale jetty. Both coloured prawn-style jigs and baited jigs are the best. You can also catch squid on the Point Nepean side of the heads.

Rod said that while snappers were small, the big fish should start to move into the bay in about six weeks or so.

Further up the bay at St Leonards, Rod reported whiting, squid and flatheads.

Western Port is fishing roughly the same, and pinky-sized snapper are biting off Hastings in the shipping lanes, while gummy sharks are biting on the run-out tide near Phillip Island.

North of the border at Eden, John Lidell said most of the fishing action was on the inshore reefs from Boyd’s Lookout to Green Cape.

The boys from Freedom Charters said that they were catching snapper, morwong, gurnard and kingfish.

Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said it was much the same in the areas around Montague Island, but when it was too rough to go through the bar, the lake fishing provided an option for big flathead and bream around the oyster leases and black fish near the rocks.

That’s all for this week. Good fishing.