Welcome to the Berwick Springs Fishing Guide. Berwick Springs is a unique fishing prospect. This is a labyrinth of connected waterways surrounded by a suburban housing estate of Berwick along Greaves Road and Berwick Springs Promenade. This is a very popular area for walking, cycling and fitness groups. For fishing, these scattered shallow swamp-like wetlands hold good numbers of redfin, and carp and have recently been stocked with rainbow trout thanks to the efforts of VFA. Most of the various scattered wetlands hold high volumes of small carp and some very large carp too.
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Things to do at Berwick Springs
Berwick is a suburban township southeast of Melbourne home to nearly 50,000 residents. Berwick Springs is a lovely tranquil setting within a busy suburban area. There are nice walking and cycling trails that span roughly 3 kilometres which is popular with fitness groups moving between wooden bridges, well-maintained parklands, fountains, and smart seating areas along the lake. There are also some scattered playgrounds, paved jetties and a good assortment of birds such as pelicans and swans and wildlife. Kayaking is allowed in the lake and access is good from multiple areas. This is also a good option for those fishing on a kayak. There have been recent headlines about poor fountain maintenance and poor water quality. Which has been rectified.
Fishing at Berwick Springs
Berwick Springs is a shallow and weedy system. But don’t let that brownish watercolour put you off as here you can target several freshwater fish species including rainbow trout, redfin, carp and roach. There is also a healthy volume of eels and some good size ones. This lake has become part of the regular stocking programs with rainbow trout prior to the school holidays. Use this link to follow Victorian trout stocking programs. We have done well here flicking shallow diving hard body lures and using staple baits. If you’re bait fishing here then we would recommend using power bait in bright colours, corn, bread, scrub worms, maggots and mudeye under a float, paternoster rig or a small running sinker rig. When fishing 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. For more suggestions read our guide on the Best lures and soft plastics to catch redfin You can even consider small surface lures to avoid snagging up in a shallow water system.
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 suggest a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo-capacity fishing rod. Coupled with a 2000, 2500 or 3000 size reel. Spooled with a decent quality braid between 4-8 pound and finished with a rod length of a quality fluorocarbon leader. Redfin is more active in the warmer months whilst trout are more active during the cooler months. Most freshwater species have a tendency to feed more aggressively at Dawn and Dusk. My personal favourite is fishing the sundown, particularly in the warmer months.
Fishing Gear Guide for Berwick Springs
Good gear selection here would include a light spin rod a 2-4 kilo or 2-5 kilo spin rod coupled with a 2000 or 2500-size spin reel spooled with 6-10 pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader is a great option. It’s nice and light so you can enjoy the experience but heavy enough to land a decent fish.
Stocking at Berwick Springs Estate Lake
Over 7,000 rainbow trout have been stocked in Berwick Springs Estate Lake since 2018 as per the table below.
Recommended lures Berwick Springs
Need some help choosing lures and soft plastics to catch trout. The video below is a detailed guide to get you started.
- 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
- Daiwa bait junkie 2.5-inch grub
- Daiwa double clutch
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Tasmanian devil blade
- Bullet lures 5-0 minnow
- Tasmanian devil lure
- Zman 2.5-inch grub
- Bullet lures 3cm lure
Recommended baits Berwick Springs
The video below demonstrates the best baits for trout and how to rig them correctly.
- Mudeye
- Powerbait
- Scrub worms
- maggots
- Earthworms
- yabbies
- live minnows
- caterpillar/crickets/grasshoppers/beetles
Targeting Trout at Berwick Springs
We recommend you read our 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 your 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 a fine 8-12-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader.
Targeting Redfin at Berwick Springs
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 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 targeting the bigger size reddies. Just remember they are quite heavy and very prone to snags in small inland systems like this one.
Watch our detailed video guide on our top 10 redfin lures below
Targeting Carp at Berwick Springs
There is a large volume of carp however they are fun to catch. You can learn more about catching carp by reading our guide to carp fishing around Victoria. When targeting carp baits such as corn, bread, and maggots work great with a running sinker rig with a pea-size sinker. So, does suspend baits using a float and even unweighted baits. You can also target carp with hard body lures, soft plastics and fly but this is a difficult technique that generally requires sight casting in shallow clear waters. Most however will stick to targeting them with bait. For rod selection, a 3-5 kilo rod coupled with a 2500, or 3000 size reel is suitable. You can also fish heavier or lighter if you like. We like to target carp on sundown, in the warmer months when you see carp swimming along the edges or jumping out of the water around September-November during their spawning season. European carp must not be returned to the water.
A simple effective rig is to thread a small running sinker through the mainline (shown in blue) 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 (shown in grey ). I generally use a size 6 bait keeper hook or size 10 long shank which is perfect for corn kernels or scrub worms, or treble style hooks for baits like bread.
If you get 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 to keep your bait suspended at a good depth. Ideally cast down breeze which will stop the float from coming back to you. If you’re not getting bites then adjust the line depth and If necessary add a splint shot to add weight.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other images and videos shown on the Berwick Springs Fishing Guide page are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Berwick Springs Fishing Guide. If you feel this location guide is missing key information or needs any corrections made, then 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