Bullen Merri – a bass a Chinook fishery by Scott Gray

In late 2012, Lake Bullen Merri received a restocking stocking of Chinook salmon and already the lake is producing good quality fish.

With the purchase of new equipment in the hatchery, managers were able to produce good numbers of yearling fish to restock the crater lakes but also included some new trial waters across the state. When stocked alongside brown trout, rainbow trout and Australian bass, this water creates a great multi species fishery, which provides something for every type of angler.

CHINOOK SALMON FISHERY

Lake Bullen Merri is known historically for its ability to produce XOS Chinook salmon and in the 1980s fish of up to 11kg were landed during fisheries surveys. Over the past few years Fisheries Victoria have tried to re-establish the once great Chinook salmon fishery with trophy fish and although fish of this calibre are no longer available, anglers are starting to catch the odd fish around the 3.5kg mark, which are great sportfish. Brown and rainbow trout have also been found to reach trophy size in this water and last season there were a number of brown trout in the 5kg size class landed.

The Lake Bullen Merri aquatic environment is unique primarily due to its depth, which can reach up to 50m. There aren't many natural waters in Australia that reach this sort of depth and that's is why it is well suited to Chinook salmon and other salmonids. The lake provides deep cool water habitat for the salmonids and being an old volcanic crater it is also very productive, supporting massive populations of baitfish including gudgeon and galaxias.

The crater is basically a fish bowl with limited structure and weed beds and the fish just swim around feeding on the abundant baitfish, which is why they grow so quickly. Like many other salmonids the salmon don't live long, but what they lose in longevity they make up for with their ability to reach large sizes. They also provide a good return to anglers as they are aggressive feeders and respond well to both bait fishing and trolling.

The two most effective techniques of targeting the salmon are bait fishing at anchor or from the shore with pilchards or glassies or trolling lures usually with the help of a downrigger or paravane to get them down deep. Flat line trolling works well here in the early morning and evening, but during the day the fish often retreat to the depths and you may need to get down to depths of 10-20m to find the fish. Bait fishing is very effective when just fishing your bait off the bottom in 10-20m of water and the fish respond well to berley, so make sure you throw in small amounts often to bring them around your boat.