Welcome to the Casey Fields Fishing Guide. Casey Fields Lake is a popular fishing location just over an hour’s drive from Melbourne and a stone’s throw from the heart of Cranbourne. Located amongst the sporting grounds along Berwick Cranbourne Road with ample parking. It’s a great place to take the kids with a large adventure playground, walking tracks, BBQs, and picnic areas.
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When it comes to fishing this lake is great for targeting carp, trout and redfin. There are several fishing jetties scattered around the parklands. We have seen some big carp and some big rainbow trout landed from here in recent years. On its day the fishing can be plentiful with many anglers catching fish, and in recent years has become popular with Kayak anglers who can venture out towards the islands in the middle of the lake. The lake is stocked regularly with trout fingerlings by Vic Fisheries during most school holidays. It’s a great location for kids and beginners.
Things to do at Casey Fields Park
Casey Fields is a family-friendly fishing location that has been stocked with 50,000 fish since 1990. It’s a great location to bring the family with a good variety of fish species to catch. It’s primarily a large sporting complex spanning almost 80 hectares with a surrounding football ground, soccer ground, soccer field, athletics track, bike circuit, tennis courts and more. Some of our well-known sporting teams train here regularly. There are also playgrounds for the kids, lots of areas to run around, BBQ facilities, sculptures, water activities and more making it a good location for a day outing.
Watch our detailed video guide on our top 10 redfin lures below
Fishing at Casey Fields Lake
At Casey Fields Park you can catch
- Rainbow trout
- Redfin ( English Perch )
- Yellowbelly ( Golden Perch )
- Murray cod
- Estuary Perch
- Carp
- Eels
Histroically Casey Fields Lake is a great place to target stocked Trout. A simple and effective method is to use rolled-up dough or powerbait trout nuggets suspended from a float. Ideally, keep the bait about 40cm underneath the float. Power bait is similar to what stocked trout are used to eating in the farming hatcheries so they will eagerly take power bait. Use some trout pellets as berely to bring them into the area, which is key to catching more fish in this spot. Other bait options include scrub worms, maggots, corn, and mudeye. Either from a float or with a light-running sinker rig. The bottom is muddy and soft with patches of grass beds. The lake is quite shallow with most anglers fishing at the South Eastern end of the lake, towards the jetty. Here you also find deeper pools away from the weedbeds which can be a bit easier to fish and more productive.
Casey Fields also has redfin, carp and in recent years has been stocked with natives including golden perch, silver perch and Murray cod. It’s only in the very early stages for natives in this system but it should provide amazing fishing for a variety of fish species in years to come. Because of that this guide will focus more on trout and redfin which is more common here, but we will update the guide in due time when natives are being caught consistently. With the VFA stocking Casey Field with native fish as part of the target 1 million by 2020 and 10 million by 2022 initiatives.
This is a great location for small lures and soft plastics. Have a look at our detailed guide on the best lures and plastics when targeting Redfin. Small spinners and small minnow imitation soft plastics lightly weighed are a great option here for trout. So are smaller-size tassie devils. Smaller Shallow diving hard body lures such as bullet lures, Daiwa double-clutch, Rapala Countdown series and Savage gear minnows are also excellent choices. Stocking of the lake happens just before each school holiday, so that’s the best time to go. But make sure you put all the small trout caught back into the system to grow. 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 Casey Fields Park
For stocked trout a light nibble tip rod works great however in general 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 redfin. If 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.
Casey Fields Fish Stocking
Recommended bait Casey Fields Lake
The video below demonstrates the best baits for trout and how to rig them correctly.
- Dough
- Maggots
- Scrub worms
- Powerbait
- Yabbies
- Mudeye
- Corn
Recommended lures Casey Fields Lake
- 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 Casey Fields Lake
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 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.
We conducted a test to see which would perform better for stocked trout powerbait or lures.
Targeting Redfin at Casey Fields Lake
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 Yellowbelly at Casey Fields Lake
Yellow belly is a beautiful freshwater fish found in this system and with a rich food source available the yellowbelly here grow to good sizes. Curltail and paddle tail soft plastics in black colours are standout choices so are soft vibes, blades, lipless crank-baits such as Jackall TN50 and TN60s. Other favourites are the reliable stump jumpers and spinnerbaits. Soft plastics work best on a 1/8 or 1/4 jig head slow-rolled or jigged along any structure. Even tie your boat or kayak up to trees and work the soft plastic adding noise 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 down scan and side scan technologies on your sounder and spend some time moving between the structure to find the fish. Other lures can be worked amongst the timber but in general work well in open water being slow-rolled or trolled.
A light spin rod around 7 feet in length in 2-4 or 3-5 kilo paired with a 2000 or 2500 size reel. Spooled with 8-12 pound braid and an equivalent fluorocarbon leader. Light to Medium baitcaster combos is also a very popular choice when targeting Yellowbelly with spinnerbaits and larger lures. Good bait rigs include a paternoster rig with a small sinker at the bottom or a running sinker rig with scrub worms or yabbies.
Targeting Estuary Perch at Casey Fields Lake
Another highlight of fishing in this area is targeting Estuary perch with surface and shallow diving lures. The action can be frantic on warm balmy evenings with low wind. listen for the sound of breaking water which indicates EPs are feeding. The excitement an angler gets from an EP smashing a surface lure on light gear is something that truly needs to be experienced. It almost catches you by surprise when that aggressive strike comes.
Small surface poppers, cicadas, blades, surface minnows and pencil lures work well here. So do shallow diving hardbody lures. Noteworthy options include bent minnows, Rapala countdown series, nories laydown minnows and shallow diving cranks. Basically, anything that doesn’t dive too deep and makes a good vibrating action will work well. You can use any colour choice we often start with silvers that mimic small baitfish or mullet.
EPs also respond incredibly well to a whole range of soft plastics lightly weighted. Including curl tails, paddle tails and minnow imitations. The trusty 2.5-inch grubs and minnows are an excellent choice. These imitate small baitfish which the EPs are actively feeding on. We would recommend mixing up the retrieval speeds and pauses and playing around with different colours. Where possible fish along the structure and stay alert for signs such as breaking water.
Fishing for Estuary Perch requires finesse. We recommend an ultralight fishing combo consisting of a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo spin rod around 7 foot in length. Coupled with a 1000 or 2000 size reel spooled with 2-8 pound line and equivalent fluorocarbon leader. When bait fishing uses a 2-4 kilo rod around 7 foot in length. Coupled with a 2500 size reel either a float or small running sinker to a swivel and very fine leader.
Targeting Murray Cod at Casey Fields Lake
Murray Cod have been stocked here in recent years as part of the VFA’s target of 1 million by 2020 and target 10 million by 2022 campaigns. Building a state of the art self-sufficient hatchery in Arcadia. Murray Cod is Australia’s largest freshwater fish that grows to impressive sizes. Cod are ambush predators that love the cover of structure so make sure you concentrate your efforts on any visible structure including logs and submerged trees. They will also seek shelter in deeper holes and rock ledges. Cod are most active in low light conditions such as sunrise and sundown. A medium to heavy bait caster rod is needed when targeting these large and powerful fish. Good lure options for Murray Cod include hard body lures, surface lures, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, shads, lipless crankbaits, paddle tails and curtail soft plastics cast towards structure or trolled.
Targeting Carp at Casey Fields Lake
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 are 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 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.
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