Welcome to the Lake Sambell Fishing Guide. Lake Sambell is a suburban lake in the suburb of Beechworth, built in the 1920s by a local mining company. This lake offers a wide variety of freshwater species to target, including yellowbelly, trout, redfin, tench, and trout-cod. A popular fishing and family destination with nearby caravan parks and camping grounds.
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Things to do at Lake Sambell, Beechworth
Beechworth is a township roughly 4 4-hour drive from Melbourne, past townships Benalla and Wangaratta. With a population of approximately 4,000 residents, the township boasts a rich gold rush history dating back to the 1800s. Local attractions include Woolshed waterfalls, Billsons brewery, the historic courthouse and lakes including Lake Sambell and Lake Kerferd.
Lake Sambell is a lovely location in the heart of Beechworth for the whole family. It’s close to neighbouring caravan parks and camping sites. Lake Sambell is excellent for a picnic with the family, with well-maintained grasslands. There are good facilities, including BBQs and sheltered picnic areas. There is a large children’s adventure playground and a walking or cycling track that goes around the lake. It’s a picturesque scenic location, great for photos at sunrise and sundown. With its own boat ramp, Lake Sambell is popular for recreational water activities, including boating and kayaking.
Fishing at Lake Sambell
At Lake Sambell, you can target several freshwater fish species, including
- yellowbelly
- rainbow trout
- redfin
- tench
- trout cod
This lake is regularly stocked with rainbow trout during school holiday breaks. In 2020, the lake received 900 rainbow trout yearlings. Use this link to follow Victorian trout stocking programs. However, the true treasures of this lake are the trout cod, which have been stocked here for almost 10 years. These are beautiful fish, greatly respected by the local community. They are a protected species that is now open for fishing at lake Sambell and neighbouring Lake Kerferd. There is also a healthy population of yellowbelly ( golden perch ), redfin ( English perch ) and tench. If your bait fishing here we would recommend using power bait in bright colours, live minnows, scrub worms, maggots, corn and mudeye. Either suspended from a float, a paternoster rig, or a small running sinker rig (using a very small sinker when using a paternoster rig or running sinker rig). This location also fishes well with lures and soft plastics. We would strongly suggest starting with small soft plastics, including curl tails and paddle tails, spinners, and shallow diving hard body lures around 5cm in size. For more suggestions, read our guide on the Best lures and soft plastics to catch redfin
When targeting freshwater species such as trout and redfin, we recommend fishing with a spinning light rod. This will make the experience more enjoyable whilst improving your catch rates. We recommend using a 2-4 kilo fishing rod with a 2000 or 2500 size reel, spooled with 6-8 pound braid and finished with one rod length of fluorocarbon leader. Redfin is more active in the warmer months, whilst trout are more active during the cooler months. Most freshwater species tend to feed more aggressively at Dawn and Dusk. My personal favourite is fishing at sundown, particularly in the warmer months.
Recommended fishing lures for Lake Sambell
- Gulp 3-inch minnow
- Small curtail and paddletail soft plastics
- stump jumpers
- Jackall TN50
- Soft Vibes and Blades
- Storm Gomoku 40mm surface popper
- Zerek fish trap
- Jackall transams
- Samaki vibelicious
- eco gear ZX40
Recommended baits at Lake Sambell
At this location, we highly recommend the baits suggested below. There are several ways to present baits, including a running sinker rig, a paternoster rig, or a dropper rig. The rig and sinker choice will depend on the species you are targeting and the conditions, such as wind and tidal strength.
- Scrub worms
- Powerbait
- Yabbies
- Mudeye
- Live minnow
- Maggots
- Cheese cubes
Targeting Yellowbelly at Lake Sambell
Yellow belly, AKA Golden Perch, is a beautiful freshwater fish in this system. With a rich food source, they can grow to thick and plump sizes. Good lure choices include curl tail soft plastics; the Gulp 3-inch grub minnow in black is a standout choice. Soft vibes like the Zerek fish trap, and Samaki vibelicious are great options. Lip-less crank-baits, such as Jackall TN50 and TN60, remain very popular, as do blades like the eco gear ZX40 with stinger hooks. Other favourites are the reliable stump jumpers and spinnerbaits. Soft plastics work best on a 1/8 or 1/4 jig head vertically jigged along structure. This technique works particularly well when using spotlock or tying your boat or kayak up against trees. Slowly work the soft plastic against the tree and add some noise to the action by tapping the butt of your rod or by hitting the jig head into the timber. This brings out the predatory nature of the yellowbelly. Take advantage of Livescope, down scan and side scan technologies on your sounder and spend some time moving between the structure to find the fish. Other lures will also work well in open water, being slow-rolled or trolled. Typically, we use a light to medium spin rod around 7 feet in length, 2-4 or 3-5 kilo class, paired with a 2000 or 2500 size reel and spooled with 8-12-pound braid and an equivalent fluorocarbon leader. Baitcaster rods and reels are a very popular choice when targeting yellowbelly. Good options include a 3-5 or 4-6 baitcaster with a 2000 baitcaster reel. When bait fishing, a 7-foot light rod paired with a 3000-size reel is used. Good bait rigs include a paternoster rig with a small sinker at the bottom or a running sinker rig with scrub worms or yabbies.
Watch Al from FishingMad fish at Lake Eppalock, and walking you through gear and techniques.
Targeting Trout at Lake Sambell
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.
We conducted a test to see which would perform better for stocked trout powerbait or lures. Watch the video below to find out the results which were interesting.
Targeting Redfin at Lake Sambell
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.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other photos and videos shown on the Lake Sambell Fishing Guide page are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Lake Sambell 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
