Trelly's Weekly Fishing Report - November 7, 2025

Yellowbelly © Trellys

How amazing has the rain been lately. We have had 2 nice rain events here in Wangaratta in recent weeks. While we haven't had enough rain to get a huge amount of runoff, there has been a few stream rises leading to a flush of fresh water for many streams.

I just spent the best part of half an hour trying to navigate the new Bureau Of Meteorology website looking for river levels. As I type the Ovens River has risen 80cm here in Wangaratta and is still rising. According to the Goulburn Murray Water website www.gmwater.com.au Lake Nillahcootie has risen slightly as well. Not much, but it all helps.

Lake Eppalock

I have seen a lot of photos of both Redfin and Yellowbelly caught at Lake Eppalock this week. Both species are being caught off the bank by anglers using worms as bait, as well as by lure for those fishing from a boat.

Lake Hume

Lake Hume continues to produce nice Yellowbelly for those fishing from a boat. Anglers fishing from the bank are catching a few redfin which is good. I have seen more photos of Lake Hume redfin in the last fortnight than I have in the last 18 months.

I have not heard of big numbers of fish, but the ones that I have seen photos of have been quite nice sized fish.

As usual there have been plenty of carp caught there too.

Ovens River

As mentioned above the Ovens River is experiencing a flush at the moment after the recent rain.

Yellowbelly have been a bit scarce in this Ovens this spring. I have caught a few and have had photos shared on my Facebook page of a few, but there hasn't been a lot.

I have been catching a few carp and quite a few small Murray cod and trout cod.

There seems to be a lot of both species of cod around the 15 - 20cm size in the ovens River at the moment which is excellent.

One thing worth mentioning about the Ovens River at the moment is the increase in freshwater shrimp activity in the last week or so.

I was fishing near Bundalong at the bottom end of the river yesterday and I was getting a lot of nibbles from shrimp. At one point I even lifted one out of the water that was hanging onto my worms. The water must have just hit the right temperature for them to become active.

Lake Nillahcootie

I finally made my way to Lake Nillahcootie last week for the first time this spring. My friend Sonny and I took my boat over and trolled lures.

We caught 5 fish made up of 4 small Yellowbelly and 1 small Murray cod. The first Yellowbelly may have been almost legal but I did not measure it. The rest were all clearly undersize.

Every single one of them fish was caught on the same lure, the pink and purple 10ft Old Mate lure. These small Old Mates are an amazing little Yellowbelly and Redfin lure, highly recommended by me.

They can be found here.

And the video of my trip to Lake Nillahcootie can be found here:

Yabbies

Now is the perfect time to go yabbying. Most dams should have warmed up enough for the yabbies to fire.

I have been having the time of my life catching yabbies in some of my favourite dams. I have also enjoyed a few feeds of these amazing crustaceans.

Yabbies - photo © Trellys

I love shellfish. Be it prawns, yabbies, crayfish, lobster etc... but yabbies are my favourite. They're the nicest of them all in my opinion.

If you are heading out to catch some yabbies, look for dams with filthy dirty water. The dirtier the better. Really milky, sandy coloured water with algae on top is the best.

If the water is on private property make sure that you knock on the farmers door and ask permission first.

With open top lift nets (Pyramid nets) I like to leave them in for 30 - 45 minutes at a time. If you leave them in any longer the yabbies start to find their way out.

With regular drop nets, 10 minutes is usually long enough. Any longer and the yabbies will come in, grab a free feed and walk back out. They often break a bit of the bait off and take it somewhere else to eat it.

As far as bait goes, I like chicken. Bloody meat like lambs fry is excellent for the first couple of soaks, but it soon loses it's blood and becomes pale in colour and less effective. Chicken remains consistent all day.