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Gippsland carping


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Great the site is back up and running. Thanks for that, i really appreciate this vital link to finding carp waters and reading other peoples account to carpin.

 

I have been baiting for carp for the last few weeks tonight there was 5 carp and an eel over my baited area.

The only down side is the bank is super steep, so it will need to be fished from a kayake.

 

I came back from melbourne on sunday and a had alook round a lake in sale. It screms carp to me it reminds me of elesmere in cheshire.

 

It must be 60 to 100acres and has one island in it.

 

Other than knowing there is carp in through looking at victoria fishing site that is the only info i have.

 

The water is quite shallow and only really fishable for about 2/3rds of the area of the lake.

 

My question is does anyone know of any decent websites that have guides to waters in a bit more depth.

 

I am going to ask a round the tackle shops, but i don't know how much info i will get as carp are not the number one fish to talk about.

 

Does anyone know much about lillydale lake in Melbourne area and if there are any carp in there.

 

Hopefully i will get out towards the end of the week and catch some fish.

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Great the site is back up and running. Thanks for that, i really appreciate this vital link to finding carp waters and reading other peoples account to carpin.

 

I have been baiting for carp for the last few weeks tonight there was 5 carp and an eel over my baited area.

The only down side is the bank is super steep, so it will need to be fished from a kayake.

 

I came back from melbourne on sunday and a had alook round a lake in sale. It screms carp to me it reminds me of elesmere in cheshire.

 

It must be 60 to 100acres and has one island in it.

 

Other than knowing there is carp in through looking at victoria fishing site that is the only info i have.

 

The water is quite shallow and only really fishable for about 2/3rds of the area of the lake.

 

My question is does anyone know of any decent websites that have guides to waters in a bit more depth.

 

I am going to ask a round the tackle shops, but i don't know how much info i will get as carp are not the number one fish to talk about.

 

Does anyone know much about lillydale lake in Melbourne area and if there are any carp in there.

 

Hopefully i will get out towards the end of the week and catch some fish.

 

I had a walk around Lilydale a few weeks ago. It is a big lake with two large islands, and is pretty deep up near the outflow. It was one of, if not the first man made dam to supply Melbourne with water, so it has a lot of history. There are carp in it, but I'm not sure what sizes they go to, though due to its maturity one would presume they are big.

 

The biggest problem there is the foot traffic, there seems to be a gazillion dog walkers and joggers doing laps around it. Consequently, it is highly unlikely you will left alone in peace to fish it, particularly if you are carp fishing. There were only two swims were you might get left alone on short sessions, if you don't draw attention to yourself by putting up a bivvy or umbrella. One of them is very shallow, and the other, the better of the two, currently has a boardwalk/jetty being constructed next it - which is why I left the rods in the car! It's a pity because I think the lake has a great deal of potential, but a lot of contact with the public is inevitable should you decide to fish it :roll:

 

If you are brave enough to get your rods out of the car, I'd love to hear how you go with it???

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I came back from melbourne on sunday and a had alook round a lake in sale. It screms carp to me it reminds me of elesmere in cheshire.

 

It must be 60 to 100acres and has one island in it.

 

 

 

If that one is the main big lake in town I fished it 8 or 9 years ago whilst away on a project down there.

Whilst fishing myself a young lad turn up with his fly gear and started casting 50 yards away from me.

I noticed he was using a white matuka saltwater fly, and to my suprise he managed to catch two smallish commons 3-4lb on his fly gear, obviously it must of been representing bread as it is a popular spot for the bread chucker gang that come down and feed the ducks on a daily basis.

Sadly for the two fish he had caught he just left them flapping around on the grass to die. :cry::cry::cry:

But gladly for me when he bogged off I went over and put them back in. :D:D:D

 

Nails

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it is a popular spot for the bread chucker gang that come down and feed the ducks on a daily basis.

 

 

 

 

If you were to fish the lake in Sale, unless it has been fished before by carp anglers I would,t even bother with a boilie as it took me nearly 2 months for the fish on one perticular Melbourne water to get on to them.

May be at first I had the wrong recipe but eventually I cracked it.

Simple corn or maize popped up and good old bread flake or crust on a chod rig could be the winner.

 

Good luck

 

Nails

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Thanks for the replies, when you say the lakes holds fish to 30lbs do you mean the one at Sale?

 

I have looked a round lillydale off and on for the last few years. I have seen fish bow wave across and presumed they were carp i have only seen carp and other fish come out.

 

Hopefully check out the lake at sale soon at least with a kayake, i will beable to look a round and find some depths and fish.

 

I have never used bolies over here i use sweeetcorn and bread sometimes.

 

Got fish well onto sweeetcorn now on the river, so i will have to give it a go. The only down side is there is nothing big amongst the fish.

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Yes i mean the lake at Sale, well worth a go, as i said ive had it on good authority that there are some lumps in there. Go to your local stockfeed supplier and get some maize, its very cheap and just as good if not better than corn and stays on the hair forever. Make sure you prepare it properly though, soak for at least 24 hours and boil for around 30 mins. Add a good amount of sugar before and after boiling for that extra kick. Leave it in a sealed bucket to ferment, the longer the better, it gets better with age.

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All rite gents,

 

 

Somewhat the first time I,ve prepared in any quantities.

Managed to get a 5kg bag of the golden nuggets from the local stock feeders for $9.50 a bag.

 

photo0143vsz.th.jpg

 

A little dried and shriveled I thought at first glance.

 

 

I did a little experimentation first up with just a cup full into the pressure cooker[no 24/48hr soaking] with enough water to cover about an inch or so.

Brought it up to the boil than whacked the lid on.

Set the timer for 30mins and reduced to a medium heat.

After the 30mins took the cooker off the heat, and allowed it to cool.

Checked the hardness with the baiting needle, still a little hard.

Replaced the lid again and brought it back up to temperature for a further 10mins.

Rechecked it twice and found that exactly 50mins for this size maize was perfect, did,nt split or go mushy like some maizes.

May be I was lucky and just scored a good batch.

 

photo0127m.th.jpg

 

It had over doubled in size which I was quite surprised.

 

I went ahead and measure half a Berri juice bottle full which roughly worked out to be a kilo with a tablespoon of each salt and sugar.

I did two lots of boil-ups using the juices from the first boil into the second one and topped it up a little.

Once the second boil had finished the remaining juices was divided equally between both bottles and topped up with hot water.

At this stage I suppose you could add any flavorings and extra sweetener into the hot water top up if you wanted to, or even straight it to the bucket to ferment with selected flavors ect,ect.

I have opted for the storage approach on two of the bottles for a month or so just to see if the process is successful over long term storage.

 

photo0128egb.th.jpg

 

Before the lids where put on I topped each one with some sesame oil to put a bit of a seal on the top for storage purposes, stored in the bottom of the fridge, in the coolest spot, you would,nt wanna have a fermentation explosion in there i,ll give the tip BARRRR BOOOOOOM!!!!.

 

I think with using the pressure cooker it concentrates the released flavor back into the kernels, there is a definite difference in flavor and texture when the 24/48hr soaking technique is used.

Try both and taste them!

 

Let your runs be screamers and your fish be whackers.

 

Paul

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Nice one Paul!!

 

Welcome to the world of stinky maize!

 

A couple of things I've found with preparing it......

 

Salt- best to add salt after you've boiled the batch. Read somewhere that it slows the softening process ie takes longer to soften when boiling. Use rock salt too if you can....no preservatives.

 

Sugar- once again it's good but the best sweetner I've found is Blackstrap molasses. You can get it in health food shops. It's thick stuff but gives a wonderful pungent sweetness and gorgeous golden colour to the maize.

 

Keep checking it after a couple of days...a white bubbly scum will form. You can skim this off if wanted for aesthetic purposes.

 

Another great stock feed option is pigeon conditioner. I've just had a quick aussie google. Looks like pigeon seed mixes are pretty basic in Oz. In europe they are amazing sacks of sweet licorice smelling goodness. Try breeders choice, crest seeds, golden cob seeds. Prepare it the same way as maize b ut you can add all sorts of goodies to it. Additives I've used include chilli flakes, hemp oil, cod liver oil, belachan, tuna flakes, garlic oil. Makes a great spod mix to fish over with fake/real maize.

 

Phew!!

Ben

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Thanks guys for the advice, i must admit i have never used maize. I used to cook up big amounts of chickpeas, blavkeyed beans, tiger nuts and hemp.

 

I asked or wnet to the local grain store feed merchant during the winter and asked for hemp i guess they do not do it over here.

 

Molasses is a great liquid to put to bait i used to use it in or with trou pellets with either blackcurrant or scopex for flavour it was agreat fish puller on many lakes.

 

I amdefentily fired up to give the lake a go now. I have got all of my fishing gear over here and bought 3 13ft 3/12 tc rod hutchinson rods with me for bigger lakes with baitrunners etc.

 

I will keep you posted i think because the lake looks quite shallow a simple bolt rig for free ruuning air rig with a pop up a foot or so shoule do the business. Or even fished under a float and keep feeding bait in.

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From memory the lake has some heavily reeded margins so i would start there, fish your baits on the edge of the reeds with a few handfulls of free offerings to get them going, i wouldnt worry to much about pop ups but i'm sure it wouldnt hurt, i dont believe theres much in the way of weed.

The island would be another good place to put a bait to as the fish patrol island margins regularly and are normaly happy to feed there.

Get them going on maize and you cant go wrong.

As you mentioned a simple bolt rig will do the business with a 6-8 inch hooklink.

Good luck and keep us informed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went the lake in sale on sunday i was going to fish dawn until after dark, but because of work commitments i only did 5 until 10p.m.

 

I fished a swim which covered an area facing the only island in the water.

I plumed around from the kayake there opnly seemed about 21/2 feet a round the isalnd with 4 feet in the channel mid way out.

 

I fished sweetcorn on the float and legered. I had 2 carp 8.30 onwards on the float they were only 3 to 4lbs, but it is a start.

 

I saw one fish jump out off the end of the island which was double figured+ i put a bait on that and had a small common.

 

I tried fedding mixers or floaters in on the wind all evening, but had no response at all.

 

I am defenitly gfoing to get some maize and bait this lake, it has areas of silt/mud up to 6 inches or more.

So pop ups are a must.

 

I think may be a harder bigger bait might sort the bigger fish out.

 

Hopefully i am goinhg to fish tomorrow, so i will keep you informed.

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it has areas of silt/mud up to 6 inches or more.

So pop ups are a must.

 

Not sure I have the same view here, just to give you something to think about, carp are more then accustomed to feeding deep down in silt as this is where alot of the natural goodness is found i.e. blood worm and other small naturals. Whilst fishing in france this september I was fishing into 3 foot of silt, with single or double 18mm boilie, a 6inch hooklink and recieving more than enough takes :wink:

 

You may be able to tell if the carp are feeding in the silt my looking out for any clouded water..

 

Is there alot of silt around the lake or just small patches?

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I am defenitly gfoing to get some maize and bait this lake, it has areas of silt/mud up to 6 inches or more.

So pop ups are a must.

 

I think may be a harder bigger bait might sort the bigger fish out.

 

In Oct I fished a very silty lake in Melbourne with with silt all over the lake from about 2" to a foot depth. My on-the-side rigs with bottom baits failed miserably, but as soon as I went over to a chod rig I got instant action - still with a bottom bait on a short Mantis Gold hooklink! Presented in this way my boilies must have just been sitting in the upper layers, or even on top of the silt in the slightly harder patches. It'd certainly be worth giving it a go?

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I've been back to the lake to fish 3 times in the last week or so.

I have had mixed results fishing various areas of the island and the sedges/reeds on the other side.

 

I lost a good fish the other night it made it into some willow roots and i could not get it out, i am not going to fish so close from now on and i am locking my rods up.

I have taken 16 fish in the last 4 seesions, but the biggest has only been scarping into 5lbs mark.

 

I have fished at range to the island to cover the reeds and island at the asme time the problem is at this range i have been getting small dropd backs and have been picking up carp of the 2lbs range, which is very annoying.

 

I have tried baits like peanuts and that has not stopped the small fish, has anyone any ideas.

 

I have put a lot of corn in, but tonight it drove the carp crazy i had over 25 runs and landed 9 carp and lost 5 and they were all pretty small, even though the action was fun.

 

I have had a good plum a round from the kayake and have found no more than 5 feet and up to 6 inches of silt.

 

I think may be a stalking and looking for the bigger fish approach might be in order.

 

I spoke to a guy tonight, and he said he had had carp to 40lbs, he seemed genuine and mentioned some good spots on the lake.

 

Tonights session has made me think and i have to revise my approach to how i am going to sort out this lake.

 

The potential is defentily there, it is just finding the fish.

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I have tried baits like peanuts and that has not stopped the small fish, has anyone any ideas.

 

I have had a good plum a round from the kayake and have found no more than 5 feet and up to 6 inches of silt.

 

I think may be a stalking and looking for the bigger fish approach might be in order.

 

The potential is defentily there, it is just finding the fish.

 

Nice to hear stoke sounds like a great session.

 

I,ll take back what I mentioned in a earlier post about boilies, may be they would be worth a bash there.

Here is a tried and tested recipe that a few of us have used on quite a few Melbourne waters with some reasonable success.

 

Dry ingredients based on a 4 egg mix, adjust by adding extra egg if too dry, or more soya flour if too wet. By adding more of the other dry ingredients it makes a little to stiff to roll.

 

8oz ground up Whiskers cat busuits. Any of the fishy ones Tuna,salmon and white bait [ground up in a coffee grinder]

4oz soya flour

4oz fine semolina

A little tuna oil to give the bait a bit more pulling power.

Boil until they pop-up in the pan, take out and air dry over night.

 

Fish these popped[microwave a dozen or so for hook baits until dry but not burnt] up on a 18" chod-rig with a 3-6inch hook link should sort the silt problem out, at least you would have a fair chance of having the bait clear of the bottom.

Size wise use use something that a 2-3lber would not get in it,s mouth say double 18mm or single 25,s go the hole hog and give them a donkey choker 35-40mm, I believe a 20+ fish would not have any problem whats so ever getting it down it,s neck.

 

It sounds like there is to much competition for food with the smaller faster moving fish getting their heads down first for a chomp.

 

Stalking is a top method of targeting single fish at close range, it just a matter of site locating them and fishing accordingly in the margins with a little loose feed with a stick float and bread flake.

 

Good luck

 

Nails

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Thanks for the recipe sounds abit like the boilies i used to use in the early nighties.

 

Been around amorass area today and i have been watching carp to 20lbs head and shouldering a round, i just don't know if i can fish this morass as it is a ramsar site.

It does not say anything on sign that i cannot, but i don't really want to be chucked off by a ranger or something any thoughts on the rules of these places?

 

This is the best area around here other thawn the lake i have started to fish.

 

Donkey chokers when i fished a lake in the past were 40 to 50 mm and i still had tench on them, easy to make a batch of bolies though.

 

Where do you get your soya flour from?

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Where do you get your soya flour from?

 

Its a pretty simple and easy recipe to put together with all the ingredients sourced from any of the major supermarkets.

 

50% Cat bicscuits, pets section.

25% Soya flour, health food section/Health shop

25% Semolina/polenta, cereal, continental section or a Italian deli.

 

 

Polenta[maize meal] is another good binder that could be incorporated in to the bait also to give a little extra texture.

 

Tight lines

 

Paul

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Keep trying mate and im sure you'll get one of the bigger fish soon, unfortunately so many aussie lakes contain hords of small ones, you just have to wade through them and sooner or later a bigger one will turn up.

Definately try boilies as mentioned as they do tend to sort out the bigger fish, especialy large baits (18mm+).

As for the morass youve mentioned i would just give it a go, if there are no signs saying dont fish then your on.

If your worried try and tuck yourself out of the way somewhere if possible, but i doubt you'll see anyone who will try to stop you. Whats the worst that can happen, they will only ask you to leave!!

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I have been to the lake twice this week and have had mi9xed results.

 

THE first visit i fished a new area covering the margins and the island further out near some sedges. After the amount of runs and bites i had the last time i fished i changed baits yto drilled out peanuts and popupped with cork balls.

 

There was a lot of fish coming out of the water for flies, but these were small fish, even though the water is very shallow you do not see the fish cruising up and down.

 

The other rod i fished sweetcorn and worms on the hook legerd and float fished.

 

I eneded up with 8 carp and a couple lost the biggest going 5lbs.

 

There were a few other anglers on who had carp near to where the birds/ducks get fed regularly, they did not put them back.

 

The carp were no bigger than i was catching so really i was not in the wrong area.

 

The next session i fished on wednesday i moved further up to cover a large area of sedges and reeds and to also to fish far out to cover an area where i had see fish lying up and cruising and to where a local angler who fishes for carp had told me he sees bigger carp later in the evening.

 

I fished 4 walnuts drilled out popup on a air rig fished over a few kilos of sweetcorn, i did not have a touch on this rod. so at least it kept the smaller carp at bay.

 

On the other rod i had 2 carp and lost 2 the two landed were really small.

 

I had a good look a round the lake and the other lake to find some fish i did not see hardley any or anything big.

 

Friday night i went and had alook and fished an area of canal off the main the river, i walked 3 kms of canal to where the river comes in.

 

I saw carp but nothing bigger than 6 to 8lbs mark.

 

The guy i was talking to at the other lake had said he has had carp to 24lbs from this area.

 

There was alot of boat traffic i had and saw a few fish and had a few bites on the float, but landed one small carp.

 

I will go back to this area because at least you can see the carp and what size you are fishing for which will make it good for stalking fish.

 

Today i wnet and had a look at a lake call lake glenmaggie does anyone know anything of the carp otential of this lake?

 

I am still sourcing ingredients for boilies to try and combat the smaller carp abit.

 

I'll put photos of the lake next time.

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Today i went and had a look at a lake call lake glenmaggie does anyone know anything of the carp potential of this lake?

 

Top report Stoke

 

Here is some info extracted form the DPI web site.

http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/angling/introduction/a-z.htm

 

Check it out there is a wealth of information on the site

 

 

Glenmaggie Lake, Glenmaggie F 13

PDF MAP | Return to Thompson River Basin

 

176ha. 124,020ML. Caravan, camping and boat launching facilities.

 

An irrigation storage on the Macalister River surrounded by cleared and forested land. Level fluctuates widely and the lake is drawn down to very low levels in most years. Substrate is mainly mud with little aquatic vegetation. Carries predominantly carp to 5kg, (av. 800g), redfin to 1kg, (av. 400g), some brown trout to 1.2kg, (av. 300g), rainbow trout to 350g, short-finned eels and goldfish.

 

Bank fishing is successful when levels are adequate. Fishing for redfin is best in the spring and early summer. Despite regular stocking with brown trout, catches have severely declined when compared with fishing in the 1970's. Possible reasons are increased fluctuations in water level and competition with carp and redfin. Stocked with brown trout and Australian bass. Australian bass are being trialed in an attempt to provide an alternative species that might cope better with warm summer water temperatures. There has been a small number of bass captured by anglers indicating that some fish have survived and grown.

 

So they are saying 10 lbers, such a large water theres got to be bigger.

On one of there locations they stated that there where carp to a couple of kilo in there, I know for a fact there are larger ones in there, I had one 24lb 8oz, on double 18mm fishmeal boilie.

So it just goes to show how much they really know!

 

Cheers

 

Paul

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Not been fishing since friday night. Been and baited the river still nothing really big a round.

 

I went and had alook at a morass area last night, there was some carp a round, but not many as they have drained alot of water from one area to the other.

 

The decent size carp i saw have moved further out, where there is to much reed to see them or fish for them.

 

Going to go to melbourne the next few days so hopefully i will have a day on lillydale lake, i just need to find a quiet place a way from some of the crowds as it does get mad on there.

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Fished lillydale lake for 3 nights tea time to af6ter dark.

 

Tried st5alking from the kayake and walking the banks looking for carp or any fish.

 

I hooked one fish the first night, but it came a drtift, proballycarp or a trout, it did not feel massive.

 

I legered last night fishing over beds of sweetcorn between the 2 islands and float fished to where i could see loads of bubbles off fish feeding.

 

Despite fishing until late i had no action.

 

I did not spot any carp in the nights i looked a round, other anglers said they caught them, but only small stuff.

 

I found 2 to 4 feet a round the islands and about 8 feet inbetween the islands.

 

It screams decent carp to me as any water i think time is needed and to either night fish or fish mid week, because of the amount of people.

 

pUT some bait into day at sale and at the river so i will go back there in the week and try different areas and bigger baits.

 

Thanks for the info on lake glenmaggie, i think the potential is there for a big carp, but there is alot of water.

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