Welcome to the Jells Park Fishing Guide. Jells Park Lake is a scenic man-made lake located in Dandenong creek valley, Wheelers Hill. Open all year round, it welcomes almost a million visitors annually and for good reason. Over 100 hectares of scenic open parklands, with BBQ facilities, and playgrounds for the kids. There are an impressive 9 kilometres of trails for walking, jogging or cycling with your family or dog. All of which leads to 3 scattered fishing jetties. Fishing is only permitted for the 2 larger jetties.
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Things to do at Jells Park
Jells Park is an impressive location for the whole family. There is plenty of free available parking from the main entrance of Waverley road or Ferntree gully road. The park itself is 127 hectares of open scenic parklands, sporting facilities and cafes. Within the park, there are scenic views, several adventure playgrounds for children and toddlers, and paved trails for a scenic walk, jog or cycle. There are great walking tracks and why not bring the dog for a walk by lead. The park has all the basic facilities such as toilets, parking and cafes. There is 8 scattered gas bbq which creates a perfect setting for an open park picnic. There are also conservation facilities on the east side of that park surrounded by wetlands and billabongs perfect for bird watching. Of course, there is also Jells lake with several scattered fishing platforms.
Watch our detailed video guide on our top 10 redfin lures below
Fishing at Jells Park Lake
Jells lake is a great fishing location where you can target several freshwater fish species including redfin and carp. You will also find, and eels. Redfin tends to feed more aggressively at dawn and dusk and particularly well during sundown in the warmer months. When targeting redfin we recommend fishing with a light spinning rod. This will make the experience more enjoyable and improve your catch rates. We suggest a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo fishing rod. Coupled with a 2000, 2500 or 3000 size reel that’s been spooled with a decent quality braid between 4-8 pounds. Then finished with roughly a rod length of a quality fluorocarbon leader.
Redfin will actively take lures and soft plastics. Check out our guide on the Best lures for catching Redfin When using 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. Where possible cast towards the structure and slow roll with occasional hops and pauses for the retrieve. Small shallow diving hard body lures are also very effective in this system. As our old favourites such as spinners and Tassie devils. Ideally in smaller sizes and nice bright colours. 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.
If you plan to fish with bait from the banks then good options include worms, maggots, live minnows, corn or bread. Either on a light running sinker rig, paternoster rig or suspended from a float. We have seen many trout and perch caught using these bait and methods. A simple yet effective fishing rig here is to thread a small running sinker through the mainline shown in blue, which is usually 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 (the leader is shown in grey ). Finished with a hook. I generally use a size 6 bait keeper hook or size 10 long shank which is perfect for corn kernels or scrub worms, however, you can also use small treble-style hooks which is a better setup if you use bread.
If you plan on targeting carp from the banks then we would recommend using corn kernels, worms or bread as good bait options. Either on a basic running sinker rig or suspended from a float. It would also be wise to upgrade your fishing outfit to something a little heavier. Perhaps a 3-5 kilo fishing rod coupled with a 3000 size reel spooled with 8 pound line is a good starting point.
Recommended baits Jells Park Lake
- Corn
- Scrub worms
- Mudeye
- maggots
Recommended lures Jells Park 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
- Daiwa Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
- Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
- Squidges biotough grub
Targeting Trout at Jells Park Lake
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 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 Jells Park 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 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 target the bigger size reddies. Just remember they are quite heavy and very prone to snags in small inland systems like this one. It gets bitterly cold in Hepburn lagoon during winter. I can remember being in the lagoon wearing waders with a temperature below 1 degree. So remember to wear thermals and keep warm. Snakes can be located in these areas. Tiger snakes, Brown snakes and Red Bellied Black. The best bet is to wear protective gumboots and strong fabric pants.
Targeting Carp at Jells Park Lake
There is a large volume of carp which can be fun to catch. You can learn more about catching carp by reading our guide to carp fishing around Victoria. Standard baits such as corn, bread, and maggots work great for carp. Use a simple running sinker rig or suspend baits from a float. We have also fished well using unweighted baits. You can also target carp with hard body lures and soft plastics, it’s a difficult technique that requires sight casting. This means spotting a nearby carp and casting right in there and working the lure of plastic slowly hoping they will strike. It’s a challenging yet rewarding technique when you catch a carp using this method. Selecting a 2-4 or 3-5 rod kilo rod coupled with a 3000 or 4000 size reel is suitable. We like to target carp on sundown, particularly in the warmer months. This is often when you see carp swimming along the edges or jumping out of the water around September-November which is their spawning season. European carp must not be returned to the water.
A simple yet effective fishing rig is to thread a small running sinker through the mainline shown in blue, which is usually 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 (the leader is shown in grey ). Finished with a hook. I generally use a size 6 bait keeper hook or size 10 long shank which is perfect for corn kernels or scrub worms, however, you can also use small treble style hooks which is a better setup if you use 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 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.
- Boating or canoeing within Jells lake is prohibited.
- Dogs are allowed in the park but must be on a lead at all times.
- Always carry your Victorian fishing license.
- FishingMad encourages ‘catch & release’ of all native species to help maintain the water quality within the lake however European Carp must not be returned.
- Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. All images and videos shown on the Jells Park Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals.
Thank you for visiting the Jells Park 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
