Toolondo Reservoir

Welcome to the Toolondo Reservoir Fishing Guide. Lake Toolondo is located northeast of the Grampians between the townships of Hamilton and Horsham. The lake was recognised in the 80s as a suitable location to build an impressive trout hatchery, and for many years, brown trout have been stocked and have flourished. The lake, however, has been heavily featured in the press over the last couple of years due to drought. This has resulted in low water levels, making the lake inaccessible and, at times, almost unfishable. The lake forms part of the Wimmera-Mallee Stock and Domestic water supply and is filled from Rocklands Reservoir, which is currently at around 40% water capacity. However, a massive credit to local anglers for providing a voice has seen backing from the state government, which has started a campaign with much water pumped back into the system. Hopefully, in years to come, the lake will flourish once again. In its prime, it offered great boating, skiing, kayaking and swimming.

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In January 2015, 5000 megalitres of water were transferred to Toolondo Reservoir. Attempting to bring this lake back to its former glory, and thankfully, we have seen some improvement. The true beauty of Toloondo Reservoir is that it has trophy-size brown trout. There are also large redfin and a large volume of structure for fish to hide, making it a great fishing location.

At Toolondo Reservoir, you can catch

• redfin
• brown trout
• rainbow trout
• carp

Lake Toolondo has a mud and sandy bottom and is a great fishing destination for trout, redfin and carp. There are some massive trout over 8 kilos in size that have been pulled from Toolondo and are widely considered an amazing trout fishery. It is, however, a challenging fishing location due to the high volume of weeds and timber structures, making specific fishing methods incredibly difficult. Effective fishing techniques include trolling hard-bodied lures in the deeper channels and casting hard-bodied lures, soft plastics and surface lures along the shallows and banks. We highly recommend concentrating your time and effort when fishing here by casting lures towards and suspending baits hard up against visible structure and depth changes, as many of the largest fish are often caught amongst the timber. The trick here is to present a lure or bait and tempt the bigger ones out of the structure they are residing in for a reaction strike.

Fly fishing is an excellent option at Toolondo, particularly along the shallows, and a good way to tempt a big trout. For bait fishing, options include scrub worms, earthworms, Power Bait, yabbies, mudeye, and mayfly nymphs. This is a great spot for trolling tassie devils and shallow diving hard body lures. It’s also a great spot for a wide range of soft plastics. Click here to view our best lures and plastics when targeting Redfin. Any time of day, though some fish will be more active at Dawn and Dusk. In recent years, carp numbers have increased in the lake, and locals have made considerable efforts to remove as many carp as possible from the lake. Thanks to electrofishing methods, 6 tonnes of carp were removed.

Toolondo Reservoir Boat Ramp access

There are two boat ramps at the Northern end of Hamilton Road, including boat launching, toilets and nearby camping facilities and caravan parks. You can also fish the lake casting from the banks; however, the best access is via boat or kayak.

• Tasmanian Devil Blade
• Daiwa jointed minnow
• Bullet Lures
• Daiwa Double Clutch
• Tasmanian Devil lure
• Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
• Strike Pro Bob n Spoon
• Gulp 3-inch minnow
• Zman 2.5 inch grub
• Daiwa Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
• Zerek fish trap
• Jackall transams
• eco gear ZX40
• Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
• stump jumpers

Targeting Redfin at Toolondo Reservoir

We recommend targeting Redfin with a light spin outfit. This will make the experience more enjoyable and improve your catch rates. A 1-3 or 2-4 kilo fishing rod coupled with a 2000, 2500 or 3000 reel spooled with 4-8-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader should be perfect. Redfin respond really well to lures and soft plastics so do 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 both 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 slowly 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 size reddies. Just remember, they are pretty heavy and very prone to snags in small inland systems like this one.

Targeting Trout at Toolondo Reservoir

We highly recommend that you read our detailed guide on how to catch trout, which details our favourite lures, baits and techniques. You can follow trout stocking timelines by reading the Victorian trout stocking guide as part of the target 1 million by 2020 and 10 million by 2022 initiatives. When targeting trout with lures, we recommend using shallow-diving hard-body minnows, metal spoons, spinners, Tassie devils, and soft plastics, which are also very effective on trout. If you’re bait fishing, then Mudeye, scrub worms, power bait, yabbies, and minnows suspended from a float or a running sinker rig are great options when targeting trout at this location. Trout are more active in cold conditions, with most catches on the first and last light of the day.

We recommend targeting trout with a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo fishing rod coupled with 1000, 2000, or 2500 reel spooled with 4-8-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader. If there are larger trophy-size trout around, then you can 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.

Targeting Carp at Toolondo Reservoir

Have a read of our detailed guide to carp fishing around Victoria. When targeting carp, standard baits such as corn, bread, and maggots are highly effective. Using a simple running sinker rig with a pea-size sinker works great in this area. So, does suspending baits using a float. We have also fished well using unweighted baits. You can also target carp with hard body lures and soft plastics. This is a difficult technique that generally requires sight casting. This means spotting a nearby carp and casting right into the area, working the plastic lure slowly, and hoping they will strike. It’s tough but very rewarding when you catch a carp using this method. Most, however, will stick to targeting them with bait.

For rod selection, a 3-5 kilo rod coupled with a 4000 size reel is very suitable. You could even fish a little heavier with rods designed for snapper that are generally 4-7 kilos, 7 feet in length. For fun I have caught some monster size carp using 2-4 kilo rod and 6-pound braid. But I am prepared to lose some good fish in the process. We prefer to target carp at sundown, especially during the warmer months. This is often when you see carp swimming along the edges or jumping out of the water around September-November, which is their spawning season. European carp should not be released back into the water. Always carry your Victorian fishing license.

A simple yet effective fishing rig here is to thread a small running sinker through the mainline shown in blue, which is usually around 8 pounds. Then tie a medium swivel to the end, allowing the sinker to run up the mainline freely. Then tie on the other end of the swivel 50cm of 8-pound fluorocarbon leader (the leader is shown in grey ). Finished with a hook. I generally use a size 6 bait keeper hook or a size 10 long shank, which is perfect for corn kernels or scrub worms. However, you can also use small treble-style hooks, which is a better setup if you are using bread.

If you’re getting snagged up, then you can also use a float rig. Attach a quill or bubble float to your mainline. Thread the line through and adjust the length using a size 6 bait keeper hook or size 10 long shank, keep your bait suspended at a good depth. Ideally, a gentle breeze will cast the float down, preventing it from coming back to you. If you’re not getting bites, then adjust the line depth and, if necessary, add a split shot to add weight.

All rural areas are inhabited by wildlife, including snakes and Lizards, so be wary of venomous snakes such as the Brown, Tiger, and Red-bellied Black. Images of fish supplied by VFA and DEPI. The header from visitgrampians.com.au. All other images and videos shown on the Lake Toolondo Fishing Guide page are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Toolondo Reservoir Fishing Guide. If you believe this location guide is missing key information or requires corrections, please let us know by emailing our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details in the email. Please also feel free to share any fishing pictures you have from this location with us. Thank you