The Pelican's Pick

Thursday, 2 April

Josh was woken up on Sunday morning by his two kids begging to go for a fish. Easily convinced, they jumped in the car and made a quick stop to grab some fresh yabbies and worms and set off to Barkers Creek Reservoir.

They tacked a yabby on their line hoping for a nice redfin, when something chunky grabbed their bait and the reel started to squeal.

They ended up landing this beautiful 88cm Murray cod! A quick family pic and it was released back into the water as quickly as it was reeled in.

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Along the Coast

Gippsland Lakes is the bream fishing capital, boasting large catches of quality fish!  With some stonking catches from the Bream Classics this week, it’s no wonder Victoria is the place to go to catch trophy bream! The Gippsland estuary systems are the perfect environment with plenty of honey holes to be found. Crab imitations, 3-inch soft plastics, and prawns are the go-to for securing class bream.

The Port Welshpool shallows are hiding fin-tastic flathead. Flicking paddle tail soft plastics along sandy flats will entice these ambush predators to strike and put up a rod bending fight! The jetty has fun in store for land-based anglers, with a mixed bag of yakkas, trevally and squid all being reeled in over the week.

Offshore at Yarram, kingies are still going strong with anglers catching them slow trolling live squid and yakkas around the Cliffy Islands. If the kings are quiet, bycatch of gummy and flathead in similar areas will fill the esky. The best baits are cubes of yakka or slimy and squid strips. The flathead at Corner Inlet have been super consistent lately, especially in the deeper areas of the inlet. Gummies are still going strong too, with anglers catching respectable sized fish using pilchard as bait.

Apollo Bay to Warrnambool has got a treat for anglers ready to put in the time! There’s been some beautiful blue morwong caught offshore. Successful baits to target these stunning fish are squid, prawns and mullet. Warrnambool is heating up to be a tuna fishing hot spot. Smaller fish can be found schooling up causing multiple hook ups at once! Further out, barrels will begin to move through, get ready with yakkas and slimies. Gummy shark can be found in amongst the action, providing a good feed to take home.

Around the Bays

Snapper are running and anglers are chasing! It’s been a pinkie flash flood across Port Phillip Bay and Western Port, with anglers reporting quality and quantity catches! Cast pilchards and yakkas around Corio Bay to score pan sized snapper! Black Rock is seeing slightly smaller catches. Over in Western Port the snapper are flocking to Tooradin and they’re snapping up squid cubes!

There’s a mixed bag up for grabs at Queenscliff with plenty of different species gearing up to feed this long weekend. Flathead can be found in sandy areas whereas squid are lurking in grassy seabeds. Look for spots with consistent water flow and you’ll be sure to find whiting and trevally ready to snack on fresh oily baits.

Cliffton Springs is all whiting action this week! The best spots have been over sand patches near weed beds. King George whiting love chomping on pipis and small squid cubes. In-between the whiting, there’s catches of flatties to be had and squid on natural-coloured jigs.

Western Ports’ Eagle Rock is fishing well along the deep channels. Trevally and gummy shark are using these channels as active hunting grounds. Be prepared with pilchards and squid strips and they’ll end up as prey! The run-out tide around Tyabb is the key to landing a bag worth of whiting, with pipis being the prime bait option.

Inland

Whether you’ve got a tent, swag, caravan or you’re just going on a day trip, the Goulburn River is the perfect spot to park up for the long weekend and enjoy wetting some line with family and friends. The stretch between Nagambie and Shepparton has been particularly productive with decent catches of cod and yellas. If you’ve got spare meat off the barbie, chuck it on your hook and these fish will be sure to sniff it out.

As colder nights start to cool Victoria’s smaller streams, trout in the tributaries of the Goulburn below Eildon will feed more consistently. There’s plenty of black crickets and grasshoppers around, so match your lure, fly or bait accordingly to fool some resident brown and rainbow trout.

Lake Hume reddies have woken up and are ready to feast. Target at a depth of 4-8m with scrub worms or vibes. There are plentiful catches up for grabs and with no bag limit you can take some home to share with family and friends! Yellas are on the chew and are chomping down on small yabbies anywhere from the surface to 15m deep.

Lake Eppalock is favouring both boat and land-based anglers, with excellent catches of cod off the bank and on the troll. Shallow diving hard bodies are the go-to lure while yabbies are proving to be the most effective bait. Yellow belly are in the mix hammering worms and spinners with the welcome by catch of reddies.

The Campaspe River is turning it up with stunning catches of emerald coloured cod on spinnerbaits. Flicking lures along the banks or kayaking in deep pools will give you a chance at securing one of these beautifully patterned cod that are hard to find anywhere else.

Tight lines - Mr Percy!