Welcome to the Rowville Lakes Fishing Guide. Rowville Lakes is a lovely urban fishing destination in the southeast suburbs of Melbourne. The surrounding area is made up of 3 separate lakes including Sutton Lake, Hill Lake & Cogley Lake. They are frequently stocked on school holiday programs with rainbow trout and are a great spot for fishing with the kids. The lake has hosted several recent trout fishing events and competitions which has been a great way to encourage families to the area.
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Things to do at Rowville Lakes
Rowville Lakes is a scenic location with nice walking trails. These walking trails are flat and pleasant for most. Located in the area is the Rowville lakes playground which is a basic playground with slides and swings for toddlers. This is a quiet location ideal for duck feeding and bird watching with its own bird sanctuary on the island of Sutton Lake. It’s also a good spot for picnics and of course fishing. Bring the kids along for a fish during school holiday trout stocking. Nearby is the golf course, local shopping centre and Caribbean gardens market. Local attractions within 15 minutes drive include Tirhatuan park, Kokoda trail memorial walk, Lysterfield park and Jells Park.
Watch our detailed video guide on our top 10 redfin lures below
Fishing at Rowville Lakes
At Rowville Lakes, you can target several freshwater fish species including trout, redfin and carp. You can fish either from the banks or by kayak and non-powered vessels. Small redfin and stocked trout will be your main catches but we have also seen redfin up to 1 kilo and carp up to a meter in length caught. This lake is regularly stocked with rainbow trout just prior to school holidays. Over the last couple of years, 400 rainbow trout yearlings have been added in each school holiday term. Use this link to follow Victorian trout stocking programs. When targeting freshwater species such as trout and redfin we recommend fishing with a spinning light rod. This will make the experience more enjoyable whilst improving your catch rates. We suggest a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo capacity fishing rod. Coupled with a 2000, 2500 or 3000 size reel. Spooled with a decent quality braid between 4-8 pounds finished with a rod length of a quality fluorocarbon leader.
If you plan on fishing with bait from the banks then power bait in bright colours, worms and maggots are great options. You can also try to use live minnows and mudeye. Either on a light running sinker rig, paternoster rig or suspended from a float. We have seen plenty of trout and redfin caught using these baits and methods. Rowville Lakes is a great location for lures and soft plastics. There are lots of stocked trout and small redfin so small minnow imitation and paddle tails soft plastics are great choices. Tassie devils and spinners in smaller sizes and bright colours should be some of your first choices. Check out our guide on the Best lures for catching Redfin
You can also try your luck with long casting metal lures which are a great option for land-based anglers. These are great for bigger fish and allow you to cast long distances. Top options include the nories wasabi and pontoon 21 paco spoon which are great for targeting both trout and redfin. Shallow diving hard body lures such as bullet lures, Daiwa double-clutch, and Rapala Countdown series are also excellent choices. If you plan on targeting carp from the banks then we would recommend using corn kernels, worms and bread. Again either on a basic running sinker rig or suspended from a float. If you are actively targeting carp then it would 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 10 pound line is a good starting point. Most freshwater species have a tendency to feed more aggressively at Dawn and Dusk. My personal favourite is fishing sundown, particularly in the warmer months.
Rowville Lakes is stocked heavily with rainbow trout every year during most school holidays so this video should provide you with some helpful tips.
Recommended baits Rowville Lakes
- Scrub worms
- Powerbait
- Yabbies
- Mudeye
- maggots
Recommended lures Rowville Lakes
- Bluefox spinners
- Daiwa DR joint minnows
- Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 inch grub
- Savage Gear minnow blade
- Jackall TN50
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Daiwa Presso minnows
- Tasmanian Devil Blade
- Bullet lures 5-0 minnow
- Bassman spinnerbait
- Bullet lures 3cm lure
- strike tiger nymph
- Nories Wasabi spoon
- Rapala countdown floating minnow
- Pontoon 21 paco spoon
- Daiwa Double Clutch
- Tasmanian Devil lure
- Gulp 3-inch minnow
- Zman 2.5 inch grub
- Daiwa Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
- eco gear ZX40
- Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
- Squidges biotough grub
Targeting Trout at Rowville Lakes
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.
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 Rowville Lakes
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 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 Roville Lakes
There is a large volume of carp in local lakes however they are fun to catch and you can learn more about catching carp have a read of our detailed guide to carp fishing around Victoria. When targeting carp standard baits such as corn, bread, maggots work great for carp here. Using a simple running sinker rig with a pea-size sinker works great in this area. So, do suspend baits using a float. We have also fished well using unweighted baits. You can also target carp with hard body lures and soft plastics. This is a difficult technique that generally 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 tough but very rewarding when you catch a carp using this method. Most however will stick to targeting them with bait.
For rod selection, a 3-5 kilo rod coupled with a 4000 size reel is very suitable. You could even fish a little heavier with rods designed for snapper that are generally 4-7 kilo 7 foot in length. For fun, I have caught some monster size carp using 2-4 kilo rod and a 6-pound braid. But I am prepared to lose some good fish in the process. 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. Always carry your Victorian fishing license.
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 get 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.
Free parking is available just off Stud road. The walking trails start from the entrance near the community centre.
As with all areas that have water and high grass just always be cautious of snakes in the area.
Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. Header O’Brien real estate. All other images and videos shown on the Rowville Lakes Fishing Guide page are Fishing Mad originals.
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