Reel Life | Trout, yellowbelly and rat-sized kingfish

In case you didn’t know, I walk in the early morning and believe me when I tell you that when the temps are below zero, you do feel the cold. I thank my lucky stars for keeping all my old snow skiing gear, including gloves, to keep my fingers warm.

The early morning chill does benefit trout fishing, mainly. Native to cooler climates, trout take advantage of the cold and become more active during the daytime, not just the early mornings, so anglers can fish for them all day.

While rivers and streams are closed to the taking of trout, you can still fish for them at certain dams, and important details are listed in the Victorian Recreational Fishing Guide, which you can get free of charge at Trelly’s Outdoor hunting and fishing store, and other tackle outlets.

I enjoy fishing Dartmouth, but you can also fish Lake Eildon, Nillahcootie, the Hume Weir and Victoria Park Lake in Shepparton.

I know that I have mentioned that trolling a Ford Fender is the best way to fish for trout; it gives you the opportunity to cover a lot more water to find fish. In fact, you go to where the fish are instead of waiting for them to come to you.

A Ford Fender is a series of blades that resemble fish feeding. This attracts trout to them, thinking that they might be in for an easy feed.

Another method is angling, where you cast your bait, such as garden or scrub worms, a mud-eye or grasshoppers, as well as black crickets.

A float or just on a free-weighted line, you can cast to a likely spot and wait for the fish to take the bait.

A third method is casting lures and spinners. I have not included fly-fishing; I must admit that I know little about it, but there are plenty of books and people who can pass on the required knowledge.

All these tactics can be used in the waterways mentioned above, so anglers need not miss out on fishing for trout during the closed season for rivers and streams.

That is enough about trout fishing. At this time of year, you can still fish for natives, such as yellowbelly and Murray cod.

I’m keeping a close eye on the bush, waiting for a tinge of yellow to show on the trees, including the start of the wattle bloom.

My former rod maker, the late Bob Darley, always said that the wattle bloom was the time to fish for yellowbelly, as they would come on the bite at that time of the year.

Yellowbellys can be found in both the Murray and the Goulburn rivers, as well as all other major waterways. They will be coming out of their breeding season and will be hungry and looking for a feed; they will take all the usual baits and lures. Being perch, they have all the usual traits of perch, are ambush predators, like to put up a fight and can grow to big fish sizes. One specimen was recorded at 10kg, and they can be caught around 3kg to 4kg.

However, like all natives, they do grow a fat band, which is not pleasant to eat, so freeze the fish and trim the fat off. Yellowbellys up to a kilo or two are pleasant to eat and are sought-after as table fish on a par with Murray (cod).

Down south at Queenscliff and north of the border at Eden, Rod Lawn and John Liddell are saying, “Oh, rats”, and not in the wrong way; they are reporting to what is called rat-sized kingfish.

Kingfish can grow well over a metre and exceed 20kg, but a rat-sized kingfish is just over the legal limit and weighs a couple of kilograms.

Regardless of their size, a kingfish is one of the finest fish you can hook up to.

At Queenscliff, Rod said that he was hooking plenty of small kingfish while at Eden and Narooma. But John Liddell and Graham Cowley also said they were catching plenty of juvenile kings on the chew.

In fact, John said that the pro-fishing boats were not even targeting them. They say that by waiting a season, the fish should double their size by next season.

All three also said that they were bagging pinky-size snappers, which is early in the season. Well, that’s another week gone.

Stay safe and good fishing.