Eildon Pondage,Victoria

1

Eildon Pondage has always been a famous freshwater fishing spot in Victoria which is situated North East of Melbourne.

The Eildon Pondage is a storage which holds flows released from Lake Eildon for hydroelectricity production and then regulates the amount of water released further downstream into the Goulburn River.

This trip was organized my new found fishing buddy, Sunny which is a new member in MFN who resides in Melbourne for the past years. Trout and Yellow Belly (Golden Perch) were our main target for this trip.

We arrived at the pondage just before sunrise and in the dark we heard huge splashes from the pondage itself as the trouts tends to ‘greet’ us in a much teasing manner.Started casting in the dark till sunrise, but to no avail, none of the species were co-operating.

Besides that, introduced species like Common Carp and Redfin were caught on both lures and bait fishing.

Here are some pictures to do the talking..enjoy guys..

The pondage



Sunny bro in his waders (Bro! thanks for the great outing)





Common Carp on lure!!!..wat are the odds..


Redfin on scrub worms



The Eildon Pondage


This is Goulburn river facing major drought



Lake Eildon which also faces serious drought, water level drop drastically.Look at the soil on the drop off walls,thats the actual water level.Melbourne has been facing major drought.





Atlantic salmon and Brown trout fished over a farm.

Conclusion: An awesome trip and scenery to be experienced thanks to
Sunny bro and his missus Cassie.Cheers bro.Thanks for the
unforgetable experience, appreciate it.Have a good one
there mate..

once an angler, always an angler

2

Ming,
Nice lake and nice fishes. the 8th picture (from top), i think that’s a european perch? isn’t it? If i’m not mistaken, the yellow perch (N.American version) has a very distinct yellow belly. hope to see more of you in action down under [;)]

My fishing site @ http://fishingboy.multiply.com/

3

yeaps bro…spot on its a introduced species and yes its called european perch..they are quite aggressive taking on both lures and bait…hehe..thanks bro…hope to hear from u more too..take good care there..

once an angler, always an angler

4

Stunning bro, wish I was there…

Strange how you catch the perch on worms and carp on lure..!!![:0] A betting man would have put it the other way round for sure bro.

Most developed countries take it for granted that you can fish in lovely surroundings, without litter at your feet and cast into waters that haven’t been abused and depleted of fish by any method that goes.

In Malaysia that is just a dream.

5

Have to agree with you there, the place was just picture perfect.Fishing has been quite slow in the pondage itself according to some previous trip there.The trouts there did greet us in a teasing manner leaping above the surface..and goshh there are huge !!..will give another try the next time.All thanks to sunny bro for making it happen.

As what i know, the carps here do take flies, soft plastic and occasionally LURES too!!..wat a surprise..I wish someday Malaysia will able to reach the standard wat they have here in beautiful aussie land..

once an angler, always an angler

6

Hi Ming,

Nice report with nice pictures, look like you are not wasting much time teaming up with Sunny, you buddies are doing fine, say Hello to Sunny will you. Hope he can come back for the sails comes July. Cheers!!
Rgds,


www.jdartac.com

7

hey thomas,

Thanks to Sunny that i can experience such awesome fishing in a beautiful place.Sunny is really looking forward for the sails in july, for sure he will be back and hopefully u can join him along.When he is back do take him around fishing whether its salt or fresh, he is hardcore angler and his hands are itching for some sails and GTs..ehehe…thanks bro, hope u are doing fine there.How is business so far ?

Cheers.

regards,
Ming

once an angler, always an angler

8

Business as usual Ming, you bet I’ll take Sunny go fishing when he is here, hope he has the time, sailfish at Rompin and freshwater at VITA, he can fish till he drops. Cheers!!
Rgds,


www.jdartac.com

9

Good to hear that uncle thomas, sunny cant wait to be back to shop for his fishing goodies..ehehe..be sure to show him around…he has his shopping list stated down..eheh…bet he will enjoy his hols back there with you around taking him!!1

Cant wait to try VITA one day too..ehehe..Have a good one there uncle thomas.Take good care.cheers

once an angler, always an angler

10

not a problem ming, glad to have some company and show another fellow angler around. the fish u r talking about isn’t a european perch, actually an english perch, introduced by the early settlers from england (same as the carp) and considered a big pest fish that takes up all the native fish habitat.

u did miss out on some amazing sight casting for squid yesterday at flinders, the tide was very high and with an estimated 8 foot shark in the water we stopped wading and fishing plastics for wrasse really quick.

i’ve organised with Glen to take u to millbrook lakes to fish for trout, its a very private lake system (three lakes), that can usually only be flyfished. to fish the lake is by invite only, and even then u still have to pay $400-$500 a day to fish it. only flyfishing is allowed there normally. we can fish lures there though, bcs glen’s brother in law has part ownership of the lake. we will have access to one lake that no one is allowed to fish, its got the rarest species of trout, the ‘tiger trout’ in it. all fish in the lake are all wild and smallest ones captured are around 6lb. no native fish there though.

would organise a trip offshore from phillip island in my boat with u, but i don’t think u will survive the chop, maybe wait for the right weather. need to wait for my salitga’s to come back from warranty repairs 1st. anywayz.. get ur homework done quick quick, i’ll see where else we can go this weekend.

11

hi thomas, sorry haven’t called u yet, been too busy fishing. can’t wait to get back to m’sia for a fish with you guys. i’ve got about 26 people interested for the spratly trip next year. will contact you later on tonight hopefully.

12
quote:
Originally posted by sunny
hi thomas, sorry haven't called u yet, been too busy fishing. can't wait to get back to m'sia for a fish with you guys. i've got about 26 people interested for the spratly trip next year. will contact you later on tonight hopefully.

No problem, you can call me anytime during off peak hours. WRT Spratlys trip, we can arrange for two boats to cater for 26 people. Let me know the dates.


www.jdartac.com

13

English perch = European perch, doesn’t it?

quote wikipedia
“The European perch (Perca fluviatilis) is a species of perch found in Europe and Asia. In some areas it is known as the redfin perch or English perch, and it is often referred to by the shortform perch. The species is very popular and has been widely introduced beyond its native area, into Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.”

14

hi fizzy, from what i’ve been told redfin (english perch) is actually different to european perch. from memory it is something to do with the colour of the fish. both look similar but one has a bit of an orange tinge to it. not too sure.. i may be wrong, but thats what i’ve been told.

by the way, heard from ming that u r a hardcore carp fisho.. u should come over to oz and help get rid of them, u’ll probably get some trophy sized ones. 20+lb carp aren’t uncommon.

cheers.

15

Sunny bro, thanks so much for all those planning to take me around..im jus speechless!!..hehe.thanks alot tough (cant seem to thank u enough..ehehe)

Hopefully this week im not to packed up but workload has been pain in the arse starting today..ehehe..will work things out..hopefully i can make it for weekends..no promise bro..ill try realli hard..ehehe

cant wait for that trip wit glen at that awesome spot..ehehe..need to get use to the choppy waters..not an experience angler in the sea tough..ehehe…glad u had fun on sunday..ehehe..now u are poisoning me..ehehe

will keep in contact wit u bro..have a great one there and happy working…

Ps: Fizzy make a trip down here to aussieland wit yer missus for some great carp fishing..bet u will love it!!..awesome..

once an angler, always an angler

16

Hi Sunny,
Nice talking to you just now, thanks for calling. You fix a date for the sails quickly to enable me to do the boat booking for you.


www.jdartac.com

17

Nice one ming and sunny… Carp on lure, can’t say I’m surprise coz I’ve witness big carps chasing baitfish in Niagara river of Canada, even though I never caught them on lure before but I know for a fact fly fishsos do target them on flies… Carps are considered omnivorous.

Team LongKang Tarpon - U4 http://longkanggang.blogspot.com/

Fish For LIFE…
My fishing picture site @
http://fishnut.multiply.com/ & http://www.picturefuse.com/view.php?dir=roberttan

18
quote:
Originally posted by sunny
not a problem ming, glad to have some company and show another fellow angler around. the fish u r talking about isn't a european perch, actually an english perch, introduced by the early settlers from england (same as the carp) and considered a big pest fish that takes up all the native fish habitat.

u did miss out on some amazing sight casting for squid yesterday at flinders, the tide was very high and with an estimated 8 foot shark in the water we stopped wading and fishing plastics for wrasse really quick.

i’ve organised with Glen to take u to millbrook lakes to fish for trout, its a very private lake system (three lakes), that can usually only be flyfished. to fish the lake is by invite only, and even then u still have to pay $400-$500 a day to fish it. only flyfishing is allowed there normally. we can fish lures there though, bcs glen’s brother in law has part ownership of the lake. we will have access to one lake that no one is allowed to fish, its got the rarest species of trout, the ‘tiger trout’ in it. all fish in the lake are all wild and smallest ones captured are around 6lb. no native fish there though.

would organise a trip offshore from phillip island in my boat with u, but i don’t think u will survive the chop, maybe wait for the right weather. need to wait for my salitga’s to come back from warranty repairs 1st. anywayz.. get ur homework done quick quick, i’ll see where else we can go this weekend.

English perch, european perch, redfin perch, I’m sure that they are all the same. the perch that I caught here, in terms of color and physical appearance is almost of identical morphology to those caught in mainland europe. the one that you caught is definately a european perch, not a yellow perch.

My fishing site @ http://fishingboy.multiply.com/

19

lets just call it a perch ok, there are too many variations and so on that everyone around the world calls them. a fish is a fish, it doesn’t matter too much to me because i’m not a scientist and don’t really need to know the scientific name of all the fish that i catch.

20

hi thomas,
nice to chat with u finally, sorry if i caught u at wrong time. which day would be a good day to go out mid july (will be back from 7th till 25th), i have no idea about the best moon phases and tide times in malaysia to have a crack at the sails. have just been given full permission by the wife to fish as long as i take her to redang or lang tengah. would like to pick a reasonably good day to hopefully catch a sail, then i can retire from fishing hopefully having caught the one fish that has always eluded me.

thanks again.

sunny