Lauriston reservoir

Welcome to the Lauriston Reservoir Fishing Guide. Lauriston reservoir is a popular fishing destination 9 kilometres west of township Kyneton along Lauriston reservoir road. This deep domestic water supply constructed in 1938 is home to a good population of redfin and trout. It also has become part of recent native fish species stocking and has welcomed yellowbelly and Murray cod.  A popular spot to fish is the dam spill wall which spreads roughly 80 meters across and often has water flowing heavily into the stream below. It’s a nice spot with walking trails, park grounds, picnic tables, BBQ and toilets. 2019 marks a significant milestone for the Lauriston reservoir which has been opened to kayaks and non-powered vessels and is heavily stocked with native fish species.

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Things to do at Lauriston Reservoir

This is a lovely place to take the family, it has basic picnic facilities, toilets, walking trails and playgrounds. There is ample parking and free electric BBQs. The upkeep is excellent and the grounds are very clean and neatly presented. Many people visit this location to enjoy nature walks and birdlife spotting. There is ample parking at Laurtson reservoir. Just follow the roads through the main entrance which will take you to picnic and bbq areas with free parking available. Lauriston reservoir as of the 1st of August 2019 has been opened to allow kayaks, canoes and non-powered vessels. This opens up a whole new world to family fund and angling opportunities.

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

Fishing Lauriston Reservoir

At Lauriston reservoir, you can catch brown trout, rainbow trout, redfin, Murray cod, golden perch and roach. In recent years the reservoir has been stocked with 15,000 brown trout which is amazing. We’re now starting to see good size ones regularly being caught. Use this link to follow Victorian trout stocking programs. Lauriston Reservoir in 2019 was stocked with 25,000 large Murray cod fingerlings and Golden Perch which is amazing news. This place fishes well seasonally with redfin more active in the warmer months and trout being 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

This is a great location for lures and soft plastics. 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 such as the savage Gear Mayfly are great options. If you plan to fish with bait from the banks then good options include power bait in bright colours, worms, maggots, live minnows and mudeye. Either on a light running sinker rig, paternoster rig or suspended from a float. We have seen many trout and perch caught using these baits and methods.

When targeting freshwater species such as trout, redfin and estuary perch 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.

Check out this video if you after some tips on how to catch recently stocked freshwater fish

Recommended fishing lures Lauriston Reservoir

• Daiwa DR joint minnows
• Daiwa Presso minnows
• Bullet lures 5-0 minnow
• Bullet lures 3cm lure
• Noriws Wasabi spoon
• Pontoon 21 paco spoon
• Tasmanian Devil Blade
• Daiwa Double Clutch
• Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
• Tasmanian Devil lure
• Gulp 3-inch minnow
• Zman 2.5 inch grub
• Daiwa Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
• Zerek fish trap
• eco gear ZX40
• Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
• stump jumpers

Targeting Trout at Lauriston Reservoir

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 a 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 power bait or lures. Watch the video below to find out the results which were interesting.

Targeting Redfin at Lauriston 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 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.

Targeting Yellowbelly at Lauriston Reservoir

Yellow belly AKA Golden Perch is a beautiful freshwater fish found in this system. With a rich food source available the yellowbelly here grow too thick and plump sizes. Good lure choices include curl tail soft plastics with the zman 2.5-inch grubz and Gulp 3-inch grub minnow both in black are standout choices. Soft vibes such as the Zerek fish trap, Jackall transams and Samaki vibelicious are great options. lip-less crank-baits such as Jackall TN50 and TN60 continue to be very popular so do blades such as the eco gear ZX40 with stinger hooks. Other favourites are reliable stump jumpers, spinnerbaits, bassman spinners, and large grub style soft plastics in dark colours.

Soft plastics are worked best on a 1/8 or 1/4 jig head slow-rolled along any structure. This works particularly well when tying your boat or kayak up against trees and working the soft plastic slowly up against the tree and adding some noise to the action 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 to can be worked amongst the timber but in general work really well in open water being slow-rolled or trolled. When it comes to rod selection we generally use a light spin rod around 7 foot in length in 1-4, 2-4 or 3-5 kilo class paired with a 1000, 2000 or 2500 size reel. Spooled with 8-12 pound braid and an equivalent fluorocarbon leader.

Baitcaster rods and reels are a very popular choice when targeting yellowbelly. Good options include a 3-5 or 4-6 bait caster with a 2000 bait caster reel. When bait fishing a 7 foot light rod paired with a 3000 size reel. Good bait rigs would include a paternoster rig with a small sinker at the bottom or a running sinker rig with scrub worms or yabbies.

Targeting Murray Cod at Lauriston Reservoir

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 ideal when targeting cod. This might be a stiff 6-foot rods in 6-10 kilo class matched with a suitable size bait caster reel spooled with 20lb to 30lb braid and 30lb to 40lb leader.

Good lure options for Murray Cod include hard body lures, surface lures, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, shads, lipless crankbaits, paddle tail and curtail soft plastics. These should be worked slowly or tolled from your boat or kayak if access is permitted. There are some amazing surface lures on the market these days including imitation mice, frogs, ducks, and snakes with realistic action that are fun to target cod with. Bait anglers can target Murray cod with live yabbies and worms.

When fishing there are lots of snags so be prepared to lose your fair share of lures and rigs.

Always be careful when walking along the rocks or rock walls which can become very slippery. I once slipped and fractured my wrist fishing from Lauriston reservoir.

As with all country areas please be mindful of snakes

Boating and Wading are banned from this location due to it being a domestic water supply.

Land-based fishing from the banks only.

Camping, swimming, and fires are also prohibited.

Always carry a valid fishing licence