Lake Purrumbete

Welcome to the Lake Purrumbete Fishing Guide. Lake Purrumbete is a volcanic lake in the Western District of Victoria, roughly 2 2-hour drive from Melbourne. Passing through the townships of Geelong and Colac, then 10 10-minute drive away from the closest township, Camperdown. Lake Purrumbete is a large lake over 500 hectares in size, which is open and very exposed to weather conditions. Lake Purrumbete is a natural volcanic lake and truly unique for a couple of reasons. The first is its depth, with clear waters averaging 45 meters deep and sections up to 60 meters or 200 feet deep. Secondly, it holds trophy-sized freshwater fish in good numbers. Particularly Brown trout and Rainbow Trout, whilst recently being stocked with Brook trout, Tiger trout and the first large stocking of cheetah trout into Australian waters.

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However, the actual prizes on offer are the Atlantic and Chinook Salmon, which can be caught in large sizes. The high concentration of salt within the lake has a natural sustaining volume of salmon, which makes this destination very popular. It also contains a very healthy population of Redfin, and in recent years has produced them in masses in the warmer months. Often, seeing reports of the smaller ones being caught in the hundreds on warmer days. There are plenty of shallow weedy areas that hold good numbers of fish and create a great ecosystem and food source.

Things to do at Lake Purrumbete

At Lake Purrumbete, you can catch 

• Atlantic salmon
• chinook salmon
• redfin
• brown trout
• rainbow trout
• brook trout
• tiger trout
• cheetah trout
• eels

The most popular technique at Lake Purrumbete is trolling large diving hard body lures, such as the Daiwa Double-clutch 90mm version, or large Tassie devils in bright colours. Position these about 50 meters behind the boat and troll at a very slow pace. We recommend monitoring the lure’s vibrating action to determine if you’re going too slow or too fast. Generally, around 3 kilometres is a nice speed. Those lucky enough to have downriggers can use these to significant effect to keep diving hard body lures to greater depths, with a lot of catches in this lake done trolling in depths of 20 to 30 meters. A good idea is to troll 2 lures that dive at different depths and see if a particular depth on that day is more effective. Also, try to keep your rod tip low and as close to the water as possible. This will provide the lure with the best natural action, getting it deeper and encouraging more strikes.

If you plan to bait fish for Chinook Salmon, then the best bait choice is generally pilchards. We prefer to use these either unweighted or with a slow-running sinker rig, which includes a small sinker, a swivel, and roughly half a meter of a strong leader. Generally, we will fillet the pilchard for the best bait presentation when bait fishing for trout and redfin. The most successful method has been using live minnows on a paternoster rig. Live minnows can be surprisingly caught with a large net and a can of cat food, or they can be purchased from nearby Lake Bullen Merri. Other bait options work well, such as mud eyes, scrub worms, powerbait, and Yabbies. Redfin and Trout will happily take a wide range of soft plastics & lures. Click here to see our best lures and plastics when targeting Redfin.

Rod choice can be pretty tricky as there are so many different styles of fishing techniques on offer. For instance, if you’re trolling large hard-body lures targeting big salmon or trout, then you would want a medium-class rod that is a little stiffer than rods that you would be flicking soft plastics with. You will undoubtedly come across big Salmon and Trout in this lake, so it pays to fish with a slightly heavier line and leader.  A 2-4 or 3-5 kilo class spin rod would be a great option. The main line spooled with fine 8-pound braid finished with a good quality leader. You can catch fish at any time of the day. However, when trollin,g we find most catches to be on the first and last light of the day. Also, remember that trout and salmon are more active in cold conditions, and redfin are more active in warm conditions.

Targeting Redfin at Lake Purrumbete

We recommend targeting Redfin with a light spin outfit. This will make the experience more enjoyable and improve your catch rates. A 2-4 kilo fishing rod coupled with a 2000 or 2500 reel spooled with 4-8-pound braid and an equivalent fluorocarbon leader should be perfect. Redfin responds well to lures and soft plastics, so check our guide on the best lures for catching Redfin. When using soft plastics, we highly recommend curl tails, minnow imitations, and paddle tails in natural and bright colours. Rigged with a jig head that’s 1/8 through to 1/20 in weight. The most effective way to use these is to cast towards visible structure and slow roll the soft plastic with lifts and pauses for the retrieve. Shallow diving hard body lures, blades and vibes are also very effective in this system. So are traditional spinners and Tassie devils in bright colours. Metal spoons also play a role in allowing you to cast great distances and target the bigger reddies. Just remember, they are pretty heavy and very prone to snags in small inland systems like this one.

Targeting Trout at Lake Purrumbette

We highly recommend you read our detailed guide on how to catch trout, which details our favourite lures, baits and techniques. You can follow when trout will be stocked using the Victorian trout stocking programs as part of the target 1 million by 2020 and 10 million by 2022 initiatives. We recommend shallow diving hard body minnows, metal spoons, spinners, and Tassie devils when using lures. Soft plastics are also very effective on trout. If you’re bait fishing, then Mudeye, scrub worms, powerbait, yabbies, and minnows suspended on a float or a running sinker rig. Fly fishing is a popular fishing method at this location. Trout are more active in cold conditions, with most catches on the first and last light of the day. We recommend a 2-4 kilo fishing rod, coupled with a 2000 or 2500 reel, spooled with 4-8-pound braid and an equivalent fluorocarbon leader. If trophy-size trout are around, you could go heavier, moving up the scale to a 3-5 kilo class spin rod spooled with fine 8-12-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader.

This location is very open and exposed, meaning it can be very cold and windy. There’s nowhere to hide from the weather, and wind will be your biggest enemy when on your boat or kayak. Often, you will need to move around to try to find areas with a little bit of cover from the wind. Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other photos and videos shown on the Lake Purrumbete Fishing Guide page are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Lake Purrumbete Fishing Guide. If you believe this location guide is missing key information or requires corrections, please email our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details. Please also feel free to share any fishing pictures you have from this location with us. Thank you