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North & Northeast Victoria
23 May 2008
With Tony Bennett
Early April saw the running of the 16th Mulwala Classic, an invitational tournament with 100 anglers participating. After two days of competition, exactly 100 legal size cod had been measured and released. A further 156 undersize cod, 33 golden perch and 4 Redfin were landed.
Greg Rourke from Deniliquin landed a magnificent 1.14 metre fish that won him the biggest fish trophy. Michael Bressan of Narree Warren came in with a great 1.10 metre cod. This coupled with his other legal fish over the weekend helped Mick take home the prestigious title of Champion Angler. In the teams event, Roy Holmes, Steven Dietrich, David Tricky and Scott Jones were victors with over ten legal fish caught between them. A 52.5cm yella saw Troy Mitchell walk away with the goods for his effort while Matt Earle was the lucky winner of both the “Super Draw” and “Hat Rack” awards. Matt received the hat rack (bit of a story behind this trophy) for his effort of taking a week off work and turning up at his mates place ready and rearing to go only to find out he was a week early! A special mention must go to Graeme Clark, Warren Solomon, Jim Taylor & Alan Way (also won the no fish award) for their hard work in organising this great event.
The local angling club hosted their annual fishing competition mid April with 441 entrants taking part. 1.10 meters was the biggest recorded cod along with 92 other legals, 217 undersize, 41 yellas, 47 redfin and 38 carp. The major lucky door prize winner for the weekend of a new 15hp boat motor was Ross McMillan from Mulwala.
The majority of anglers fishing the lake have reported at least catching 1 or 2 cod per session. The common denominator amongst most recent reports though is the numbers and size of reddies people are coming across. Those casting spinnerbaits and smaller hard bodied lures around the edges of the ever increasing weed beds are having some great luck. With the increased weed in the lake it is providing a perfect habitat for them to thrive and flourish in. The reddies are now becoming a viable option for anglers to target on a regular basis.
The most consistent fishing reported came from Winton Brown and his mate who put in 2 solid days over the Anzac weekend for a total of 10 legal fish measuring between 55-75cm. Thye were also busted off by a couple of big fish. All these were taken trolling big deep diving lures between Majors and Bundalong.
Over the past week or two I received numerous reports via email and fishing forums, this is how they went.
From Gary, “Magic Bundalong”:
“I have just returned from a very successful weekend at Bundalong. Over 50 cod C&R between four boats with two fish over 100cm caught. I was lucky enough to have caught one of them at 103cm, my best by far! Most fish were caught on the troll with a few caught casting the snags. There were also some big yellas caught and almost everyone I spoke to in other boats had caught fish.”
Another from Mick Truscott:
“Norm Smith, Andrew Cheetham, Brad & Mick Truscott fished Mulwala on 26th & 27th April for 8 under 50cms, 3 from 53cm – 63cm and 1 at 69cms. All caught on Predator lures.”
An e-mail from Neil “Slug” Slater:
“Had a ball the other weekend up at Bundalong. Caught a couple of cod at 45cm and 58cm over near Kyffins. Caught the 58cm casting over the fish tank weed on a spinnerbait and the 45cm we caught trolling buzzbaits past the sand ramp at Kyffins (!!!!), had 3 hits trolling buzzbaits!! Fished the river a fair bit and near Majors as well for zero. Lots of people catching GPs around - one bloke caught 9 and 7 off one log casting lures - we saw him at Hogan's Rd ramp cleaning a couple around 1-2kg.”
Fishing in the Yarrawonga outlet channel downstream towards Cobram has seen good numbers of reddies being taken around the drops. Wayne & Nat Giddley got hold of some great fish while Trevor Beach continues to land his cricket scores on soft plastics.
Cray season is upon us and as usual, early reports have not been great. A lot of effort working pots have seen some average returns. Make sure that if you are chasing crays you are well aware of all rules and regulations because ignorance is no excuse when Mr. Fisheries comes calling.
Whilst on fisheries and the law, anglers must know that the minimum size limit for cod in NSW is 55cm, not the 50cm that still applies in Victoria.
A couple of great fish caught from below the weir were reported for the month which may be a sign for things to come over the next month or two. First a great cod measuring 1.18 metres was landed by Peter Tidd from Corowa. Peter was casting a small Predatek lure chasing a few yellas around Hinchey’s when he was greeted with this great surprise. To top this fish was not going to be easy but 14yo Toby Jefcott did just that. While casting an Oar-Gee lure around the timber in the Chinaman’s area he was lucky enough to hook and land a monster measuring in at 1.26 metres.
Finally, there has been a new arrival in our family that we are all excited about. It has taken 9 long months but our new boat has arrived. “STORM”, a magnificent 5.9mtr Action Craft custom built boat with a 150hp 4 stroke Yamaha brute of a motor. Couple this with a magnificent metallic purple/pearl paint job and it can’t be missed. If you see it out and about please come and say hello and test rides are available. People may say it’s a bit of overkill for Mulwala but it will certainly be at home on the long trips and big rivers our family fishes up north each year.
If you do have a report from Lake Mulwala please send it to me at codclassic@aapt.net.au.
Until next edition,
happy fishin'.
Click here for the previous Tony Bennett Report.
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