Most fishos are aware of this. And those who have fished the lake during previous drawdowns are getting a little excited, I suspect.

Recent reports would suggest they have every right to be excited too, with good numbers of cod being caught. This drop in water level is a result of a build-up of a particular weed that flourishes in the lake.

Egeria Densa is a submersed aquatic macrophyte (whatever that word means) that is intolerant to drying out.

In 2008, Egeria represented about 60 per cent of the volume of Lake Mulwala, so something had to be done.

In that year, the lake was drawn down 2.86m. 

But it wasn’t enough to do too much damage, as much of the weed was still submerged. So the following year, 2009, the lake was dropped by 5.43m.

The amount of time the weed was exposed for, plus frosts, made a huge impact, reducing egeria from 60 per cent to 1 per cent of the lake’s volume.

Drawdowns have occurred every three years since, with drops in lake levels of about 3m helping to maintain reasonably low levels of the weed.

Great fishing is just a pleasant byproduct of all of this and I’m sure most fishos are just saying “bring it on”. 

Great fishing is just a pleasant byproduct of all of this and I’m sure most fishos are just saying “bring it on”. 

Dartmouth – is still shaping up well for the Dart Cup in three weeks, with good numbers being reported again this week.

Most fishos we’ve been yacking to have been just doing day trips in this fantastic weather. 

They’ve been landing anywhere up to 10 trout a day and not surprisingly, most are full or row. Most are coming in off the top or with the aid of a leadline to get you down just that bit further.

Lake Binamboola – is also fishing well, with a couple of fishos reporting good quality fish taking Rapala and other minnow-style lures, as well as the old spoon style lures. These are cast a little further and sink well too. 

Mitta River – has another pulse flow running at this very minute, so it might be a tad high for the next few days or so.

It’ll be running at 4600ML until tomorrow, drop only slightly until Wednesday, then back to 300ML on Thursday, which basically means it’ll be at least Saturday, May 26 before it is back down to “normal”.

Streams – are all looking for a drink and with spawning season virtually under way, so let’s hope we get a drop or two soon. 

Most are low and clear, but are still fishing surprisingly well.

Upper Murray – is at a reasonable height at time of writing, and fishing well too.

Blowering – is still pretty disappointing by all reports. However, those big cod seem to show themselves during the depths of winter. Here’s hoping. 

Lake Hume has jumped up to almost 33 per cent, and climbing. 

It’s still patchy out there, and I’m yet to hear of any trout coming in.  But that shouldn’t be too far away

The Murray – below Hume is very low, but as we mentioned last week, that exposes all those little hidey holes you don’t normally get to see.

Quite a few nice trout have been caught on lure this week.

There are reports of the odd fly fisho doing OK, too.

Mulwala – as mentioned is dropping, but it’s fishing very well at the same time.

Numerous reports of good numbers of good cod are coming in with spinnerbaits, hard bodies and surface lures all taking fish.

One of the big issues that stuck its ugly head up the last time or two the lake dropped was the temptation – or greed – of some fishos to keep more than they needed, and more than they were legally allowed.

Please don’t be afraid to have a go at someone.

Or better still, dob the low lifes in if you see this happening. 

Those fish are there through the money you’ve put into the fishery by buying a fishing licence.

And if you want to see your kids catching them in the future, we’ve gotta step up and stop that sort of crap.

I’ve got no problems whatsoever with anyone keeping a feed.

But some whackers just can’t help themselves.