T_Bert83

That’s for sure cheers mate. Thanks mate

Thanks mate always good getting the boys out. Cheers mate, yeah there’s quite a collection in the pool room now Thanks it’s hard work but they absolutely love it. Cheers Scratchie this time of year is set aside for family adventures it’ll be to cold soon.

I’d planned a trip to take the boys bass fishing at Lake Lyell but after receiving a hot tip about big yella schools on flats and trees at Windy I couldn’t decide what to do so I did both. Loaded the 2 sleeping boys into the car at 4am hoping to get some first light bass action at Lake Lyell. Fished from 6am to 10am over and around the weed with lipless and bibbed crankbaits. Caught plenty of redfin mostly small but a few decent ones for a feed no sign of a bass. Arrived at Windamere around 11:30 with usual stop at the playground for the kids while I get the boat ready. Then headed to the spot where I had been told the fish were stacked on a large flat. Motored around thinking I had been lead up the garden path for a while until I came across the right spot and as described fish were everywhere. Started fishing vertical with black 3 inch gulp grubs which had 2 fish in the boat quickly. Unfortunately that was the only 2 black grubs I had in the boat. The fish weren’t interested in other colours or yabbie imitations. After and hour of no fish I tied on a black Jackall Transam. First cast missed a fish and caught two from the next two casts. Then the boys had had enough and wanted to go home. So after 10 last casts and 2 more fish landed we headed for home. Disappointing not to land a bass but a fun day overall. Cheers, Trav

Hi Rick. That’s private property to get in there. Only public access is root hogg and long point. Strap your walking boots on from there.

Great report and good to see you got out amongst them. How rude for a double hookup to ruin your video opportunity 😏 Cheers Trav

Hi mate Yeah fished that area a lot. What info you after?

Great report Dave and congratulations on the PB always rewarding especially after a tough day. Cheers Trav

Awesome work Scratchie ripper fish. Hopefully there are a few around in a couple of weeks can’t wait to get up there. Cheers, Trav

Hi Greg, Worms will definitely work but the most effective bait that I’ve used for trout over there would have to be powerbait. I’ve had a lot of success in the past using the rainbow coloured one. Simple running sinker rig is all you need. I was over there a couple of weeks ago redfin were in plague proportions. Mainly small but there are bigger ones mixed in with them just target over the weed beds or on the outside edge of the weed. Bigger fish tended to come from timber amongst weed. Also a chance of a bass fishing like this especially early morning or late afternoon. 3inch soft plastics and mask vibes is what most fish were caught on. Keep an eye out for cruising trout if fishing early. This time of year the trout will be sitting deeper around the thermocline as the sun gets up. Good luck. Cheers Trav

I’m heading that way start of March and sunburn is about the only thing I’ll get. Id definitely be happy with the reds you got. Cheers for the report Rick.

Sounds like a great getaway. Absolutely stunning place looking at the photos. Some beautiful trout there and congrats Amy on your first cod. Thanks for sharing.

Took the kids for a camp at Wyangala Dam over the weekend. Arriving at 10 am we headed out for a fish targeting cod. Started covering a sandy bank with plenty of layed down timber and a few rocky outcrops that had previously produced fish. Plenty of bait and fish showing on the sounder between 5 to 7m but no luck on spinnerbaits or crankbaits so in the hope to just catch a fish I changed it up to a small bass style chatterbait on a 3-4kg outfit. Shortly after landing a small cod that kept the kids entertained. Due to the heat we called it a day at around 1:30. Tried again today on a steep timber lined bank, very slow going only a couple of hits on a redfin coloured fish trap that did not hook up. Overall pretty slow going but the kids were happy enough seeing their 2nd cod ever. Cheers Trav

Looks like you have enough for both yum either way.

It is a great dam mate one of my favourites. The dam is sitting around 37% at the moment hope it gets nowhere near 5% any time soon.

I’ve found it hard fishing the times I would like with young kids and work but the lake definitely has a lot to offer when you strike the right conditions. I fish it a lot so let me know when you are going I’ll try help you out.

As far as settings I agree with JonD it looks pretty good. Only thing I would adjust is your side scan settings. I generally run the distance 3-4 times the depth of water you are in. So from your picture where you are in 5m I’d set side scan to roughly 15-20 otherwise you lose detail as sounder is trying to gather too much information. Cod and yellowbelly will definitely sit around the thermocline especially as the water heats up in summer.

I’ve heard from a few people lately Wyangala is very hit and miss at the moment and from the 2 recent outings I’ve had I have to agree. 1st outing a couple of weeks ago I started the day at first light fishing swimbaits. Small fish jumped all around which was a good sign that something bigger wouldn’t be far away but no luck. As the sun started to rise fishing a relatively featureless bank I had a cod roughly 80cm follow a glidebait to the boat only to turn away at the last second. Feeling I wasn’t covering the depth of water I was fishing efficiently I changed it up to a deep diving crankbait with almost immediate success. In the next hour I missed 2 and landed 2 cod roughly 70-75cm. Things slowed after that until I landed another cod roughly 65cm came from a shallow timbered area on a Jackall Gantia. Satisfied with the day and a large storm closing in fast I called it a day. Now I experienced the frustrating side of Wyangala Dam. Once again I started fishing well before the sun came up in an area I had noticed a lot of bait on my previous trip. I threw swimbaits, glidebaits , crankbaits and large chatterbait (basically all my go to lures) for hours without sighting a fish. Thinking the low barometer and recent crazy storm activity may have shut down the fish I changed things up to small spinner baits, lipless crankbaits and small swimbaits. This bought about the only action I saw for the day which was a 65cm cod follow a Jackall Gantarel to the boat only to turn away. Never looked like it wanted to eat it to be honest. This was 10:30am and I continued to fish till 2pm with no sign of another fish before once again I was chased off the lake by storms. With the thermocline sitting 6-8m I spent a lot of time casting at that depth but fished from 3-10m. The one fish I did see came from 4m. After such a day I’m keener than every to get back and try get into them again. Cheers, Trav

Hi Brendan, I'm far from a sounder expert but here is how I'd interpret what you're seeing. 1st image I'd call that clutter or potentially a bait school but very hard to tell from that screenshot. 2nd image possibly bubbles, they will generally start at bottom and you'll see them rising through the water. The down scan on the 2nd and the 3rd image I'd say that would be the thermocline. No surprise to see the fish holding in that area. Hopefully this helps and someone can shed some more light on it for you cheers, Trav.

Hi mate, Definitely a big population of Redfin in carcoar dam, there is also trout and increasing numbers of yellowbelly and Murray cod being caught. Spring and summer generally sees the fish move up shallower on banks with points being a good place to find decent numbers. Trolling or casting hardbody lures is a good way to cover territory and get into almost all the species mentioned above. Casting lipless crankbaits and soft plastics are very effective methods. Hope this helps, cheers Trav

Gday Fenno, Big Neil has given some very handy tips. Definitely target low light periods especially in heavily fished areas. Although in saying that one of my biggest cod came from the middle of the day at a main river crossing. When fishing the middle of the day look for shady areas such as overhanging trees and laid down trees are other productive areas. Quite often it can take multiple casts to get a reaction so hit the one snag over and over. Also recast to a snag after a fish has been caught as often there are more than one fish sitting on one piece of cover. As far as lures go don't overthink it they will eat anything presented in the right spot. I've caught them on harbodies, soft vibes, spinnerbaits, surface lures (paddlers and rats) and swimbaits. Biggest isn't always the best either I've caught a lot of fish on 90mm vibes when big swimbaits weren't getting a look in. Hope this helps cheers, Trav