Lake Elingamite

Welcome to the Lake Elingamite Fishing Guide. Lake Elingamite is a 2 ½ hours drive or 200 kilometres from Melbourne. Located off Oates road in the Corangamite region past Geelong close to townships Cobden. A small circular lake 2 kilometres in diameter holds a good volume of redfin and trout and some good sizes ones too. There are a basic boat ramp and jetty which can have some challenges when the water levels are low.

**BECOME A FISHINGMAD MEMBER** Exclusive Fishing Workshops, Exciting Monthly Giveaways, In-Depth Fishing Reports with GPS Coordinates, Members Podcast, Interactive Maps, Catch of the Month Competitions, Kayak Club, Gear Guides, Rigging Tutorials, Tackle Talks, Sounder School, Fishing Tips, Fish Cleaning tutorials, Behind the scenes content & more.

Things to do at Lake Elingamite

The Lake is in quite an isolated area between Geelong and Warnambool. A lovely scenic area the lake is open and exposed on windy days. The closest lakes to this area include Lake Bullen Merri and Lake Purrumbette. Nearby attractions include the Camperdown botanic gardens, township manifold clock tower, Camperdown courthouse, and Rennie’s hill lookout for great views of neighbouring lakes. Play a round of golf at the Camperdown golf course or take the kids to the miniature railway park.

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

Fishing at Lake Elingamite

This is a shallow system and water levels have been challenging in recent years. The water level is currently just high enough for a boat ramp launch but this is an ideal fishing location with a kayak or small boat. At Lake Elingamite, you can catch rainbow trout, brown trout, redfin and tench. Seasonally redfin is more active in the warmer months and trout active in the colder months. Historically the lake has been heavily stocked with both rainbow and brown trout.

The lake is only 2 kilometres in diameter and you will be able to cover a large portion of it. Redfin will school up in big numbers so stay on the move by casting or trolling lures until you find them. Your sounder will be a great asset here to help locate the schools. Shallow and mid diving hard body lures have worked very well to find the redfin. Lake Elingamite is a great location for lures and soft plastics. Check out our guide on the best lures to catch redfin. Shallow diving hard body lures and soft plastic minnow imitations are also excellent choices. Traditional lures such as spinners and Tassie devils will also work really well, especially in bright colours. You won’t need to get too fancy here a simple cast and slow roll will be effective. You may also consider trolling these slowly from your boat or kayak. In the early mornings, you may spot trout breaking the surface to take flys and crickets. Therefore fly and cricket imitations are also options worth trying.

When targeting freshwater species such as trout and 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 pound. Then finished with roughly a rod length of a quality 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.

If you plan to fish with bait then good options include mudeye, power bait and minnows pinned on a small hook suspended by a float or using worms and maggots on a light running sinker rig. We have seen many trout and redfin caught using these baits 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 using bread.

Trout and redfin are notorious for feeding more aggressively on dawn and dusk. So we highly recommend fishing in the first and last hours of sunlight. With redfin more active in the warmer months and trout more active in the colder months. Many lakes and reservoirs in the area have been stocked with trout fingerlings. Use this link to follow Victorian trout stocking programs.

• Mudeye
• scrub worms
• power bait
• maggots
• minnows

• Tasmanian Devil Blade
• Daiwa jointed minnow
• Bullet Lures
• Daiwa Double Clutch
• Tasmanian Devil lure
• Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
• Strike Pro Bob n Spoon
• Gulp 3-inch minnow
• Zman 2.5 inch grub
• Daiwa Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
• Zerek fish trap
• Jackall transams
• eco gear ZX40
• Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
• stump jumpers
• Rapala jack deep