Welcome to the Pakenham Lakes Fishing Guide. Pakenham Lakes is located within the growing residential estate Lakeside Pakenham, about an hour’s drive from Melbourne. The lake is relatively small and shallow, but has become a popular fishing spot and is stocked with trout during most school holiday breaks. It also holds a healthy number of redfin. It’s a great place to take kids and beginners fishing, especially with small lures, soft plastics and spinners.
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Things to do at Pakenham Lakeside
You can walk, jog or cycle around the 1.5-kilometre pathed walkway loop. It’s also a great option to take your kids or dog for a walk. The lake is home to an abundance of water birds and native plants. There are scattered playgrounds, cafes and BBQ areas.
Fishing at Pakenham Lakes
Pakenham Lakes holds a healthy population of both freshwater fish species, trout and redfin. This lake is regularly stocked with rainbow trout before most school holiday breaks. In 2019, the lake received 750 rainbow trout yearlings during the school holidays of quarters 2 and 3. It makes this a terrific destination for fishing, especially with kids during these times. You can use this link to follow Victorian trout stocking programs. Most freshwater species tend to feed more aggressively at Dawn and Dusk. Species like perch fish particularly well during sundown in the warmer months. In October 2020, 30 stonker 4-kilo rainbow trout were released into Pakenham Lakes. From time to time, the VFA team up with local fishing groups to hold fishing clinics. This is a great way to teach your kids a few tricks and catch a few fish.
When targeting freshwater species such as trout and redfin, we recommend fishing with a light spinning rod. This will make the experience more enjoyable and improve 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. One of the most popular forms of bait fishing at Pakenham Lakes is using a float with power bait and using trout berley pellets to bring them into the immediate area. Other popular forms of bait fishing include using worms, maggots, live minnows and mudeye on a light running sinker rig, or paternoster rig. You will certainly catch trout and redfin at this location using lures and soft plastics. For soft plastics, we highly recommend small curl tails, minnow imitations, and paddle tails. Both natural and bright colours work well rigged with jig heads from 1/18 through to 1/20 in weight. Small, shallow diving hard body lures are also very effective in this system. As are old favourites such as spinners and Tassie devils. Ideally, in smaller sizes and nice bright colours. Check out our guide on the Best lures for catching Redfin. Metal lures and spoons are also an option. Allowing you to cast great distances and target slightly bigger fish. But they are quite heavy and very prone to snags in small inland systems like this one.
Recommended baits for Pakenham Lakes
The video below demonstrates the best baits for trout and how to rig them correctly.
- Scrub worms
- Mudeye
- Powerbait
- maggots
- Earthworms
- yabbies
- live minnows
Recommended lures for Pakenham Lakes
Need some help choosing lures and soft plastics. The video below is a detailed guide to get you started.
- Daiwa Double Clutch
- Pontoon 21 paco spoon
- Tassie Devils 13.5 grams in pinks and whites
- Bluefox spinners
- Rapala countdown floating minnow
- EcoGear MX48
- YoZuri pins minnow
- Daiwa presso minnows
- Nories laydown minnow
- Bluefox spinners
- OSP bent minnow
- Daiwa DR joint minnows
- Strike tiger nymph
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Bullet lures 5-0 minnow
- Zman 2.5-inch grub
- Bullet lures 3cm lure
Watch this video of FishingMad fishing at Yarrambat Lake for huge trout.
Targeting Trout at Pakenham Lakes
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.
Targeting Redfin at Pakenham Lakes
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 equivalent fluorocarbon leader should be perfect. Redfin respond really well to lures and soft plastics, so be sure to 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 on a 1/8 through to 1/16 jighead. 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, 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.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other photos and videos shown on the Pakenham Lakes Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Pakenham Lakes 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
