Eildon Pondage

[random111]

Hi Guys

Wen't camping up at eildon on the weekend.

Fished at the pondage to great disappointment!!

Tried the area in front of eildon caravan park, with no result. Moved the lower pondage near the goulburn river release area again no result. That was Sat, tried the fishing pier early sunday morning, again nothing!

Was quite dissappointing, had no bites but had two 35cm trout come right up to the edge of the water in front of me for about a minute, thought about yanking them out with my net out of frustration but didn't, tried to get them interested in the worm i had sitting there but nothing!!

I tried the fishing dough, worms, little maggots, tassie devils, soft plastics and powerbait!!!

Hope someone had better luck.

[Fish-Hunter]

Fishing can be very frustrating @ times :set1_fishing: , but it sure beats work IMO .

[Rod Bender]

Not the best of times. I have only fished it a couple times and have never caught anything there. People do well there at times and from what I hear it can be good. All down to timing and with fluctuating water levels may just be a case of luck or not!
thanks
Jim

[random111]

It was frustrating, especially as we were hoping to throw a trout on the fire for dinner!

I guess thats the most frustrating part Jim, that the water release levels impacted the fishing heavily, given that its a family premier lake and all that, I'd be much more disappointed if I had kids there!!
Not saying that anyone should be guaranteed a fish anywhere other than a farm but also they shouldn't make it impossible by releasing so much water on the weekends!!

But I have to say, I had a great time just relaxing by the water with the mrs and loved the fresh air, which is what fishing is also about for me! Managed to get a bit of sun on Sat as well!!

It def beat work!!

[Rod Bender]

Not saying that anyone should be guaranteed a fish anywhere other than a farm but also they shouldn't make it impossible by releasing so much water on the weekends!!

If you click on the link below you will see a GMW page that has forecast flows for the Goulburn downstream of Eildon as well as Goulburn Weir (downstream of Nagambie). When the page opens scroll down and the info is in table form. This will give you an idea what is pushing through. I think at this point they are releasing water to give Eildon 'some room' in case of rain over the winter. There was a lot going to irrigation as well but this has slowed in the last week due to rain. There was water being released to go into the Murray irrigation system a while ago but this sort of ended when they had major floods. I have had some association with GMW since growing up on an orchard and then working for a contractor which put me in close contact with GMW. I can explain how their water delivery concepts work, or from my point of view: water delivery to farmers first priority, second priority likely to be avoiding major floods whilst still keeping back enough water for future irrigation. I think fishing / tourism comes in last. Don't get me wrong because they will always make sure the fishies have enough water to swim in (although many believed they come pretty close last summer to stuffing it up by retaining water in the dam) but they are not concerned about somebody not catching fish. They have a difficult job and whilst it is a better water situation now 3 or more years ago farmers were paying for a full water right and not getting it! As my job depends on irrigation I sort of appreciate what GMW do. Hope the link helps and don't give up on the place. Like you said, better than work.
thanks
Jim
http://www.g-mwater.com.au/managing-water-storages" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[andyk]

keep trying never give up

[fishsticks]

I tried the fishing dough, worms, little maggots, tassie devils, soft plastics and powerbait!!!

it might have been the day for surface lure such as a fly. have had some frustrating moments on the pondage watching hundreds of fish jumping to eat flys and bugs off the surface and only having lure and bait outfits on me...plus im a pretty bad fly fisher. persistence is the key mate. also have a look at getting some Berkley floating trout worm lures, they sit on the surface you can use them as bait or work them like lures so gives you a bit of options.

[Time Poor]

I took the family to Eildon last summer, couldn't stop catching Redfin/trout on the fly in the pondge - Damsel fly nymph slowly retrieved. Thought about it later, I came to the conclusion that the pattern was being mistaken for a mudeye. I've tied a few woolly buggers in classic black, size 10 & 12, for the next time.

Try down by the cricket ground next time, there's deeper water there and brownies prefer that.

[faijohn]

Hi all, going to Snobs Ck. area / Eildon the weekend before Xmas and was wondering if people have been catching much. Type of fish, bait/method would be helpful. I'll give you all a report when I return. Cheers 'Big Bad John'

[Rod Bender]

I fished the Rubicon River about a month ago with lures for some luck but the trout were only small. I would assume the river will still be producing fish. welcome to the site also.
Jim