Welcome to the Hepburn Lagoon Fishing Guide. Hepburn Lagoon is a large man-made lake originally made in the 1800s and expanded in the 1960s. It’s roughly a 90-minute drive from Melbourne or a short drive from Daylesford and is a great fishing destination located between Kingston and Blampied. Access via paddocks along Clunes Road or from Werona Kingston Road. Notorious for great rainbow and brown trout fishing in winter and solid redfin fishing in summer. It’s a challenging location that can get very cold and windy during the winter months. A popular fishing spot for fly fishermen it will also become for kayakers. 2019 marks a significant milestone for the lagoon which has been opened to kayaks and non-powered vessels.
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Things to do at Hepburn Lagoon
Hepburn Lagoon is located within scenic farmlands. One nearby attraction is the Maze House a 27-year-old hedge maze that the family will enjoy. The Maze House also has scenic gardens and carnival games located at 3155 Midlands Highway. You might also consider guided horseback trail rides through the scenic country of Victoria. If you have young kids then consider heading back towards Daylesford and look at places such as Jubilee Lake which offers fishing with playgrounds and BBQ facilities.
Fishing at Hepburn Lagoon
At Hepburn Lagoon you can catch
- brown trout
- rainbow trout
- redfin
- eels
- tench
- carp
Hepburn Lagoon is an open and exposed system which can be very cold and windy here fishing in winter. This round lake doesn’t appear to have much visible structure however when fishing and walking the banks with waders you will notice a good volume of weedbeds, rocky grounds and an abundance of baitfish and minnows. Public access to this system is via Charleson Lane as much of Hepburn Lagoons entrance is private property. Trophy-size rainbow and brown trout are common catches fishing at Hepburn Lagoon. Fly fishing is a popular method at this location, but casting lures, soft plastics and bait will also work well. Keep an eye on local warnings as blue-green algae has been present in this system over the years. The water depths vary at Hepburn Lagoon so cover ground and keep note that water levels can get quite low during the warmer months.
If you’re bait fishing then mudeye on a float is a great choice when targeting trout in Hepburn lagoon. Other good options include scrub worms, power bait, and yabbies. When targeting trout with lures it’s tough to go past shallow diving hard body minnows, metal spoons, spinners and Tassie devils. Check out our guide on the best lures to catch Redfin. Long-casting metal lures and spoons are great for land-based anglers and will allow you to target both trout and redfin at the same time. Shallow diving hard body and minnow imitation lures are also excellent choices. You will also certainly catch your fair share of redfin and trout with soft plastics and spinners. You often see trout surfacing to take flys off the surface so fly and crickets so imitations are great options. Trout and Redfin are notorious for feeding more heavily at Dawn and Dusk. My personal favourite is fishing the sundown.
Please note that non-powered vessels including Kayaks as of 2019 are now allowed to fish at Lauriston Reservoir, Upper Coliban Reservoir, Malmsbury and Hepburn Lagoon. You can read more about that here.
Fishing Gear Guide for Hepburn Lagoon
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. Trolling Tassie Devils, stump jumpers and minnow imitations such as the Daiwa double clutch at different depths is a great way to fish here. 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.
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,
- Lauriston Reservoir
- Malmsbury
- Barkers Creek Reservoir
- Lake Daylesford
- Hepburn Lagoon
- Lake Wendouree ( Ballarat )
- Newlyns Reservoir
- Tullaroop Reservoir
- Cairn Curran Reservoir
Fish Stocking at Hepburn Lagoon
Hepburn Lagoon has been stocked with 300,000 trout since 1990.
Recommended baits Hepburn Lagoon
The video below demonstrates the best baits for trout and how to rig them correctly.
- Scrub worms
- Powerbait
- Yabbies
- Mudeye
- maggots
- Corn
Recommended lures Hepburn Lagoon
- Flies
- 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
- Daiwa Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
- Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
- Squidges biotough grub
Targeting Trout at Hepburn Lagoon
We would 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 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 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.
Targeting Redfin at Hepburn Lagoon
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 Hepburn Lagoon
There is a large volume of carp however they are fun to catch. You can learn more about catching carp by reading 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’re getting snagged up, 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.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All other images and videos shown on the Hepburn Lagoon Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Hepburn Lagoon Fishing Guide. If you feel this location guide is missing any 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. Thank you
