Welcome to the Bullarto Reservoir Fishing Guide. Bullarto Reservoir is one of the lesser-known fishing holes around Daylesford. Found on Babbington Road and connecting Bullarto Reservoir road within the Wombat State forest this offroad reservoir offers good fishing for trout and redfin. If you’re looking for fishing in the comfort of the township of Daylesford then do look up our fishing guides for Lake Daylesford and Jubilee Lake.

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Things to do at Daylesford

Bullarto Reservoir is a very scenic picturesque area that is great for bushwalking and photography. Around Daylesford, there are many cafes, boutique shops and other lakes such as Lake Jubilee, Pyke’s Creek & Calembeen Park. Whilst in Daylesford we would highly recommend exploring the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, enjoying weekly Sunday markets, relaxing at Hepburn Springs Bathhouse and Spa Resort, and exploring the local mineral springs. Tiger snakes, Brown snakes and Red Bellied Black have been sighted when fishing here so do be cautious.

Fishing at Bullarto Reservoir

At Bullarto Reservoir you can catch

  • Brown trout
  • Rainbow trout
  • Redfin ( English Perch )
  • Carp

Bullarto Reservoir is the domestic water supply for Daylesford and Hepburn, surrounded by forest. Bank fishing only is permitted. For many years brown trout and rainbow trout have been stocked in Bullarto Reservoir by the Victorian Fishing Authority VFA. In May 2020 it received 500 brown trout yearlings. Use this link to follow Victorian trout stocking programs. If you’re bait fishing here we would recommend using power bait in bright colours, live minnows, 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

Watch our detailed video guide on our top 10 redfin lures below

This is also a good area for fly fishing with trout active along the banks in the colder months. 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 Bullarto Reservoir

For trout and redfin 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. We have also had great success fishing with a range of soft plastics & lures. Click here to see our best lures & plastics to catch redfinIf bait fishing Mudeye, live minnow and power bait on a float is a great choice when targeting trout. Other good options include scrub worms and yabbies. I would do so using a very simple running sinker rig with a small hook or treble, and a small pea size sinker.

 

Here are some great fishing locations in the surrounding area.

You may also want to try these fantastic fishing locations which aren’t too far away including,

 

Bullarto Reservoir Fish Stocking

Since 1990 Bullarto Reservoir has had 30,000 trout stocked

Recommended baits Bullarto Reservoir

Bait Choices

  • Powerbait
  • Scrub worms
  • Mudeye
  • maggots

The video below demonstrates the best baits for trout and how to rig them correctly.  

 

Recommended lures Bullarto Reservoir

Soft Plastics

  • Bluefox spinners
  • Daiwa DR joint minnows
  • Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
  • Savage Gear minnow blade
  • Berkley powerbait grub
  • Daiwa Presso minnows
  • Tasmanian Devil Blade
  • Bullet lures 5-0 minnow
  • Bullet lures 3cm lure
  • strike tiger nymph
  • Rapala countdown floating minnow
  • Daiwa Double Clutch
  • Tasmanian Devil lure
  • Gulp 3 inch minnow
  • Zman 2.5 inch grub
  • Dawia Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
  • Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
  • Squidges biotough grub

Targeting Trout at Bullarto Reservoir

Trout

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 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 a 1000, 2000, or 2500 reel spooled with 4-8-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader. If there are larger trophy size trout around than 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.

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 Bullarto 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 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.

Targeting Carp at Bullarto Reservoir

Carp

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.

Running sinker fishing rig

If you’re getting snagged up then you can also use a flot 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 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.

Float fishing rig

Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other images and videos shown on the Bullarto Reservoir Fishing Guide page are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Bullarto Reservoir 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