How to fish dams for yellowbelly

Yellowbelly or (golden perch as some like to call them) are one of my favourite freshwater species to target.

They can be caught using lures or by using fresh bait.

My grandfather used to clean up using the live bait method and it always seems to work when everything else fails.

The only thing that has changed slightly is the gear that we use to target them.

My grandfather used an old Alvey reel, and practiced the bobbing method with large hooks.

This method involves holding your rod over the side of the boat and jigging it up and down regularly.

Lifting the rod lifts the cray off the bottom around 50cm or so. It gives the bait a lifelike presence, helping to attract that of a nearby school of fish.

This method still works well, although the gear we use has slightly changed. The bobbing method is only successful if you are fishing from a boat as it is very hard land-based and perform this technique.

You don’t need to own an expensive boat to chase goldens. A stock standard 3.6-metre tinnie does the trick.

However, if you want to enter competitions or perhaps just get across the dam quicker, you could upgrade to something like a Quintrex hornet trophy in the 4.0-metre range that allows you to run a bigger outboard engine.

Copeton Dam, near Invernell in north-eastern NSW, is on everyone’s yellowbelly bucket list. I was lucky enough to grow up just an hour down the road from Copeton and have fished it consistently over the years.

From social fishing to yellow belly competitions, it is also a great place to try for that magic metre-long Murray cod with some of the biggest ever recorded coming out of the catchment.

Copeton provides fishing and recreational activities along with camping lakeside or a newly upgraded holiday park for those who don’t want to brave the swag.

Other species you can reel in here, include redfin, silver perch and catfish.

The gear we use to target yellow belly has changed overtime. A light 2.1-metre rod paired with a 2500-size reel is suitable for this style of fishing.

For bait bobbing, I like to use a 10lb line with a simple light running sinker rig.

Size 2/0 to 3/0 longshank hooks suit the little crays/yabbies well. You can downsize slightly if rigging worms.

Rig the live yabbie with the hook finishing near the tail end of the body.

If you want more bites and to feel more of what’s happening beneath the surface, try rigging your reel with 10.0lb braid accompanied by an 8.0lb fluro leader.

If using lures, slow rolling them over fallen trees and structures proves to work well. Crankbaits, blades or small soft plastics rigged on a light jighead work best. Be sure to keep a range of colours onboard.

It’s good to have some lures with a rattle onboard also, sometimes it can be the difference if they’re playing hard to get.

Use your sounder to find where they’re congregating, as every dam is different depending on water temperature, but around 6.0 metres in summer is a good place to start looking.

If you haven’t tried this style of fishing, I highly recommend you keep an eye out on boatsales for a suitable tinnie and give it a go.

Some days will need a lot of patience, however, any day on the water is better than a day at work.