Lake Eildon, The home of Victoria's Trout - Part 1

by Jarrod Day on 11 Oct 2011 Amongst the tranquil settings of Victoria’s Central Highlands, Lake Eildon is one of the most picturesque freshwater fishing locations so close to Melbourne. Approximately two hours or 160km’s drive North East of Melbourne, Lake Eildon is the home of trout fishing. Anglers from all over Victoria come to Eildon for day trips or even a weekend getaway and those that do have some amazing success by boat, walking the shores of the lake or one of the surrounding creeks and rivers.

The Lake:
Lake Eildon was constructed during the 1950’s to meet the needs of expanding agriculture. When flooded, at its peak the lake’s water storage is six times larger than that of Sydney Harbour covering much of the farmland and forest in the upper Goulburn and Delatite Valleys. This created many homes for a large variety of fish species in the surrounding submerged timber forests. Murray Cod, Yellow Belly, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Redfin, Tench and Carp are all on offer for the keen angler. Along with the submerged trees and so forth, buildings and farm houses were also covered. During the drought that fell over Northern Victoria in past years, the lake dwindled to its lowest of just 5.3% capacity in May 2007. Today, it is once full again currently reaching 95% allowing plenty of fishing to be had.

Ramps:
When the water level was low, many of the boat ramps were inaccessible, now each and every ramp can be launched from. The main launching ramps are located at the dam wall near the township of Eildon, Jerusalem Creek, Goughs Bay, Howqua Inlet, Jamieson, Coller Bay, Ford Inlet and Bonnie Doon.

Boat Fishing Methods:
For the boat based angler you’ll have more opportunities than you’d hoped for. Once in the water the lake is your oyster so to speak, simply find a tree, toss out a bait or let loose a lure.

Trolling:
One of the most successful methods of fishing in Lake Eildon is trolling. Trolling lures for trout can be quite a complex task but simpler tactics can be achieved. Regardless of what level you troll for trout there is one factor that remains the same and that is the speed at which you troll your selected lures. Most lures are trolled at speeds of one to two knots otherwise many lures can pull out of the water.

The most common methods of trolling are downrigging, flatlining and lead coring although using paravanes and trolling sinkers is worthwhile. Before getting into trolling, a good depth sounder makes trolling a whole lot easier. Sounders can pick up on temperature changes, find snags and enable you to find a feeding school of fish in a particular depth of water. This will enable the angler to set the chosen lure to the desired depth resulting in a hook-up.

Downrigging allows the angler to lower lures into the deeper sections of the lake getting down near submerged snags where fish are holding. A keen eye is required when downrigging to watch the sounder for trees and other obstacles etc: otherwise you’ll soon find yourself hooked onto a very big tree resulting in the loss of a lure and maybe the downrigger bomb. You’ll have to be on the ball when downrigging so to lift and lower the lure around snags so not to lose them, you can even lower the lure to swim just over weed beds where some fish may be hiding.

Alternatively, flat-lining is a much simpler trolling method. Flat-lining requires lures to be set out the back of the boat to dive to their desired depths. This technique is used when trolling shallow banks or next to the tree line which runs around the outskirts of the lake. Hard-body lures such as Yo-Zuri Diet Minnow’s and Tassie Devil lures are all lures proven worthy of flat-lining or down rigging. However, at different times of the season it pays to experiment with different colours and patterns. As a standard rule, trout and redfin colour lures usually entice a strike but don’t underestimate pinks, yellows and orange colours.

Other productive trolling methods include using lead-core line to enable a lure to get down deeper than it is designed for. This technique uses a coloured Dacron fishing line which contains a lead inner core. This is tied onto the already existing line on the reel (some line may need to be removed to fit the lead-core onto the spool). Basic lead-core lines are coloured every ten metres and every colour makes the lure dive about 5 feet when trolling at about 1 knot or less. Most lead-core users choose three colours of the lead core line making the lure dive to about 15 feet in deep water, but watch out for the snags, this method can be costly.

A paravane is another alternative method to enable the lure to dive deeper in the water. Lures are attached to the rear of a paravane and trolled. The paravane has a lead weighted head and a metal clip on the top of the paravane. Depending on which hole the clip is attached determines the depth it will run.

Last of all is the use of a sinker called a trolling sinker. Trolling sinkers are small lead weights containing angled fins on either side of the sinker. A lure is attached to the rear of the sinker on a one metre long leader. When trolled, the force of the water on the fins forces the sinker to dive, taking with it the lure. The sinkers are relatively cheap and can be purchased in different weights to get the lure to a desired depth. Each weighted sinker will dive to a different depth so it pays to read the instructions before use to find out what depth the weights dive to.

In most cases of trolling, especially with flat-lining, downrigging or with the use of paravanes, attractors can be used. Attractors come in all forms and are used to increase the strike rate. Attractors mainly consist of a daisy chain of coloured spinning blades called a cow bell or Ford Fender. Cow bells and ford fenders are rigged on wire and have large keels to avoid line twist; this also creates a lot of drag pressure on the rod and reel so heavier tackle will be required. The lure is attached to the back of the attractor with a leader approximately 1 metre in length.

Another attractor called a dodger has been proven as a very worth attractor because of its success rate. A dodger is simple a bent piece of shiny metal which a lure is attached to the rear on a leader. As the dodger is trolled, it swims erratically sending flashes of light and vibrations throughout the water.

Regardless of how you troll your lure selection you should keep in mind the fish are holding in the snags, so you need to troll the timber line. This may mean losing a lure or two but if you want fish then sacrificing a lure is a small cost.

Launching from the Jerusalem Creek boat ramp can put you right into trolling paradise where there is plenty of timber to explore. Left of the ramp on the opposite side is a timber line which wraps around into another small bay. On the edge of where the timber line begins to enter the bay there is a steep sloaping sand bank running into the water. Schools of redfin and trout can be found here by both lure casters and bait fisho’s.

In the main body of the lake at Eildon is a location called the Power Lines. It is said that the power lines which suspend above the lake attract trout. This area is very deep and anglers trolling Tassie devils usually find a fish or two.

During the spawning season trout make their way into the arms of the lake and up into the rivers. Trolling up and down the old creek bed in the Big River Arm is another productive location. Further up, it becomes quite narrow and very snaggy but is still very productive with trout the main catch. If you’re into searching for cod or yellow belly then centre you’re trolling in the Maintongoon Inlet and Taylor Bay.

Redfin can be taken at the base of any tree in the lake but the more productive locations seem to be around Bolte Bay, Coller Bay and around the entrance into Jerusalem Inlet. If you’re in search of some big reddies then concentrate your efforts in Maintongoon Inlet. Bait fishing, jigging and lure casting is the best method for reddies.

In Part two we will look more into the variety of fishing which can be done around the Lake and surrounding rivers.