Fishing Victoria Forum

I spent a couple of hours on the river yesterday after not having fished it for some time. There is a lot of freshwater coming down the estuary right now - no bites at all, so I gave up about an hour into the dark. I've never caught a decent mulloway in spring, or when there is a lot of water coming down the river - what do others think, doable or unlikely at this time of year?

A lot of water would mean a lot of food getting flushed down. I don't know how actively they avoid freshwater though. Maybe look for the salinity line between salt and fresh

Hey bilby, I've got a few 'legal' fish in Spring. As for after heavy rain more learned anglers than me say it's the best time (but that was in winter). As a landbased baito all I know is I'm gonna fish at every opportunity around March and April in the future.

When there's alot of fresh pushing down a river, the area where the fresh meets the salt is pushed closer to sea. You will find it is best to fish much closer to the mouth, if not just outside, where the dirty freshwater meets the cleaner salty water of the bay. This is where the baitfish will be feeding on the food that is being flushed down the system, and this is where jews will be sitting, ambushing baitfish.
If you have a read of some of Geoff Wilsons old stuff about jews from the mighty barwon river, he talks of anglers queuing up at the mouth casting livies under floats, and walking them out the mouth through the strikezone with the current, until the next fisho could have cast and do the same, before returning back to the rear of the que, in wait for their next turn.

Interesting - thanks for the replies. Yes, I've caught small mulloway around 50cm in spring before, but nothing decent. I have my prime months to fish for them, but I guess September probably isn't one of them. I haven't heard of anyone using floats with live baits down near the warmies, but I imagine that could work at certain times? Must give it a go in the right season.

deathray wrote:Hey bilby, I've got a few 'legal' fish in Spring. As for after heavy rain more learned anglers than me say it's the best time (but that was in winter). As a landbased baito all I know is I'm gonna fish at every opportunity around March and April in the future.

cause the system gets a flush. was one of the things a good freind at work told me as he grew up fishing where i fish around