Ramble 1

[Henry]

There are many town lakes in Victoria and probably all over the country, most are man made and filled using storm water from the local streets. Most have a population of fish, some like Tom Thumb Lake here in Eaglehawk have a resident population of Redfin, and Carp and receive from fisheries a stocking of Rainbow Trout twice a year. Others like Crusoe Lake in Kangaroo Flat have a self sustaining population of Redfin and have received stockings of native fish such as Golden Perch and Murray Cod.
Good public access is usually available with walking tracks surrounding them, often there are seats and picnic areas, and some even have kid’s playgrounds.
The fishing can be quite good in these lakes once you learn how to fish them. Over the last few years since moving to Eaglehawk I have honed my skills with soft plastics to be able to catch fish on almost every outing, sometimes with quite surprisingly good results. I return all the fish I catch in these small lakes and have often wondered how many times I may have caught each fish.
I will use Tom Thumb as an example and tell you how I go about fishing it.
To begin with the history of Tom Thumb is interesting, it was built in the 1960s funded by the local council and Neangar Park Golf Club over an old gold mine the entrance to which is buried under the island in the middle of the lake. The golf club has water rights and uses it to water some of their greens.
There is not much in the way of structure in the lake it has sloping sides and when full a few undercut banks that can get overgrown with couch grass. I usually start fishing in a corner and move slowly along the side, I cast my soft plastic at about a 45 degree angle to the bank and slowly work it up the slope then take 2 paces and cast again. There is not much point in casting out into the middle of the lake with heavy jig heads
Almost every fish is caught coming up the slope, often right at your feet. By casting out in this manner I can cover a large area of the bottom and soon find a fish. When I catch a fish I cast back to the same spot because the fish may have been one in a shoal.
Don’t forget to cast along the bank ahead of you occasionally particularly if the banks are undercut and fish any shaded areas with care.
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Regards Henry

[MickSA]

Thanks Henry

[BorisK]

Keep Rambling! Keep Rambling! I would like to know which soft plastics you have had success with? Regards Boris
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I am an idiot and a liar.

[theantspants]

Great post Henry
some great info on how to fish a lake landbased.
Cheers Ant
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[fish475]

Henry,

You've always been great at posting stories as you would know, your been doing so for ages here.

My old man lives at Castlemaine and complains there is no where to fish. He spits his dummy often for not living at Eagle Point near Paynsville when he retired. As we was dedicated boatie from PPBay/Lakes Entrance prior to retirement.
He is in your neck of woods twice a week, so I'll pass on your posted info to him. It might give him something constructive do since our mum passed last year.

Thanks Henry.
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From the Albury/Wodonga Region
Where the Mighty Murray departs the Mountain Country

Cheers Garry

[Henry]

I will go into the subject of soft plastics with greater detail for you mate
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Regards Henry

[Henry]

Living at Castlemaine your father is not far from Barkers Creek Reservior which has a resident population of Redfin and fisheries stock it regularly with trout. He is also about halfway between Eppalock and Cairn Curran both have been fishing well recently.
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Regards Henry

[Henry]

I just knew I would get a quick response from you guys. Thank You and I hope I can make it interesting for you.
Regards Henry.
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Regards Henry