G'day fishos. I've just heard a bit more good news from the Upper Murray.
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We reported in last week's column that we'd heard of two big cod caught below Jingellic. It was in the section of water between Jingellic and Lake Hume, where it looked like all cod had been killed by the massive black water event that followed those terrible bushfires early in the year.
I just confirmed a report of another three decent cod caught below Dora Dora on closing weekend as well. I'm not sure if we'll ever find out if they were survivors of the black water or have moved up from Hume - or down from the water above Jingellic that wasn't affected. But either way, it's great to hear that there's some bigger fish in that section of the river again. It's quite possible they have moved in though, considering its spawning time.
Who knows, if we get the right conditions we may get a reasonable spawning run this year to go along with the cod releases which have been promised for that area by both NSW and Victorian Fisheries. This would give us a great start on the road to recovery.
AT A GLANCE
Dartmouth (55.5 per cent) - fished well again this week, with flat lining Tassies again doing most of the damage. Lead lining and fenders/cowbells also did well with either Tassies or scrubbies behind.
Rumour has it that an Albury fisho was fined at the boat ramp last weekend, as fishing is not one of the four reasons NSW residents are allowed into Vic.
Streams - also fished reasonably well, from what I've heard.
Nathan from Compleat Angler in Wangaratta was able to get out onto a local stream or two and got a couple of small ones himself.
He also reckons he lost a big rainbow, but we all know about those big ones that get away mate.
The Mitta stayed at a reasonable height and fished OK, but was not spectacular for the couple of people I spoke to that were able to give it a hit. Both were fishing small Rapala minnows in trout patterns.
Lake Hume (64 per cent) - picked up a fair bit in the last week. It would have to be because of rising water temps, you'd think. The yellas, in particular, have improved with quite a few reports of multiple fish. Lachy Mc picked up three and Graeme Wilson five on Sunday. Trent Freer also did well on the yellas during the week.
Willow caught two of his on bait, and three while flicking vibes and Lachy also got his casting lures about.
There's also a lot of reddies about now too, although you have to wade through quite a few small ones to get yourself a feed. Again, vibes and blades have been very popular but there's also plenty being caught on worms and yabbies.
I don't think we'll see the lake rise a lot more than it is now unless we get some decent spring rains, which is a bit of a shame.
Blowering (77.6 per cent) - Fished well again last week, with bait again dominating most fishos catches and chicken again being the preferred bait.
Don't get me wrong, lure fishos are still well in the game.
And there were some ripper reports on lures during the week, with quite a few meterys among them.
It's fishing as well as it has for a while now, but still no reports on the reddies.
The Murray - below Hume has risen a bit, which is great news for those enjoy fishing the river and haven't had enough water to "float ya boat".
Releases had been at 400mL for a very long time, but things are changing quickly. Releases have jumped and will continue to rise to more than 7000mL over the next week and a bit. So we won't be complaining about lack of water for a while now, by the looks of it.
It's a shame cod season's closed, but there should be a few yellas about that will enjoy the rise.
Eucumbene (30.1 per cent) - rose 1 per cent this week and has fished pretty well, with shallow minnows in close early producing some quality fish.
Deeper divers are always the best option once that early bite is over. There's been a couple of reports this week of deeper minnows that are getting to around the 7-10m mark, working well on those steeper banks.
Jindabyne (58 per cent) - has risen pretty sharply - about 5 per cent in a week. It has also fished well, with Mick Zanardo and Kel Smith having a few successful sessions on Wednesday arvo. At the time of writing, they'd caught 22 trout in four sessions with quite a few in around the 2kg mark; the biggest being 2.6kg.
The boys were using pretty much the same techniques described for Euc and were having most success on 10cm Yakamito Slim Minnows and Rapalas in 11 and 13cm.