Welcome to the Upper Coliban Reservoir Fishing Guide. The Upper Coliban Reservoir was built in 1903 and today serves as a domestic water supply surrounded by farmlands. The Upper Coliban Reservoir is a lovely fishing destination located between surrounding townships Kyneton, Spring Hill, Lauriston and Tylden. It’s a large water supply closely linked to the Lauriston and Malmsbury reservoirs. Feeding of this reservoir is a set of smaller channels and pools that hold good volumes of trout. The Upper Coliban Reservoir has a good volume of redfin and is well-known for Trout. As this is part of the local drinking water there is no boating or wadding in this River.
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Things to do at Upper Coliban Reservoir and Kyneton
This is an underrated family location. There are open picnic grounds, gas BBQ facilities, and toilets. I have often taken the family there to explore the area and then settle down to some fishing and kite flying with a BBQ. Nearby attractions include Trentham Falls and Trentham Golf Club. Or why not visit one of the local cafes or pubs?
Fishing the Upper Coliban Reservoir
At Upper Coliban Reservoir you can catch
- Brown trout
- Rainbow trout
- Murray cod
- Yellowbelly ( Golden Perch )
- Redfin ( English Perch )
- Silver Perch
- Tench
- Carp
- Roach
- Eels
Fishing along the dam wall has always been a reliable place to find some trout in winter and redfin in summer. You can also fish the shallow inlets that feed off the reservoir which holds good numbers of trout. The reservoir has been heavily stocked with rainbow trout fingerlings. Use this link to follow Victorian trout stocking programs. Upper Coliban Reservoir fishes well seasonally with redfin more active in the warmer months and trout are more active during the cooler months. Most freshwater species feed more aggressively at Dawn and Dusk. In the colder months, you’re likely to see trout surfacing in the early morning. So, my recommendation in winter would be to fish the sunrise.
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. Stay up to date with activity and water levels from the Coliban Water website.
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 Upper Coliban Reservoir
Good gear selection here would include a light spin rod or a light to medium baitcaster depending on what you’re targeting and how you plan on fishing. For trout, redfin and even yellowbelly 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. If you intend to target Murray Cod and Yellowbelly by casting or trolling bigger lures then a medium to light baitcast outfit would be more suitable.
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
Recommended baits fishing the Upper Coliban Reservoir
The following baits are highly recommended
The video below demonstrates the best baits for trout and how to rig them correctly.
- Scrub worms
- Powerbait
- Yabbies
- Mudeye
- maggots
- Corn
Recommended lures and Soft Plastics fishing the Upper Coliban Reservoir
The following lures and soft plastics are highly recommended
- Stump jumpers
- Spinnerbaits
- Bluefox spinners
- Daiwa DR joint minnows
- Jackall TN50/60s
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Daiwa Presso minnows
- Tasmanian Devil Blade
- Bullet lures 5-0 minnow
- Jackall Pompadours
- 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
- Zerek fish trap
- eco gear ZX40
- Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
- Squidges biotough grub
Fish Stocking at the Upper Coliban Reservoir
Upper Coliban Reservoir has been stocked with over 3 million fish since 1990. This has included trout and in recent years natives including Murray Cod & Yellowbelly.
Upper Coliban stocks 20,000 Murray Cod and a new launching facility
The news got even better on 12/12/2019 a new launching platform was made available for kayakers on Premiere Mine Road. This is now a wonderful destination for kayak fishing which was only made even better on 20/12/2019 as the Upper Coliban reservoir welcomed a massive stocking of 20,000 Murray Cod. What more could you possibly want?
Upper Coliban Reservoir open to Kayaks
However, very Exciting news for kayakers, Canoe in April 2019 this system is finally being opened to Kayakers, Canoes and boats with small electric motors. This is all part of an initiative from the local government. Barkers Creek Reservoir open to kayaks News article
Watch our detailed video guide on our top 10 redfin lures
Targeting Trout at Upper Coliban Reservoir
We recommend you read our 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 you’re 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 Upper Coliban 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 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 Murray Cod at Upper Coliban Reservoir
Murray Cod have been stocked here in recent years as part of the VFA’s target of 1 million by 2020 and target 10 million by 2022 campaigns. Building a state of the art self-sufficient hatchery in Arcadia. 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 needed when targeting these large and powerful fish. Good lure options for Murray Cod include hard body lures, surface lures, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, shads, lipless crankbaits, paddle tails and curtail soft plastics cast towards structure or trolled.
Targeting Yellowbelly at Upper Coliban Reservoir
Yellow belly is a beautiful freshwater fish found in this system and with a rich food source available the yellowbelly here grow to good sizes. Curltail and paddle tail soft plastics in black colours are standout choices so are soft vibes, blades, lipless crank-baits such as Jackall TN50 and TN60s. Other favourites are the reliable stump jumpers and spinnerbaits. Soft plastics work best on a 1/8 or 1/4 jig head slow-rolled or jigged along any structure. Even tie your boat or kayak up to trees and work the soft plastic adding noise 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 can be worked amongst the timber but in general work well in open water being slow-rolled or trolled.
A light spin rod around 7 feet in length in 2-4 or 3-5 kilo paired with a 2000 or 2500 size reel. Spooled with 8-12 pound braid and an equivalent fluorocarbon leader. Light to Medium baitcaster combos is also a very popular choice when targeting Yellowbelly with spinnerbaits and larger lures. Good bait rigs include a paternoster rig with a small sinker at the bottom or a running sinker rig with scrub worms or yabbies.
Targeting Carp at Upper Coliban Reservoir
There is a large volume of carp however they are fun to catch. You can learn more about catching carp by reading our 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 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.
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. As with all country areas please be mindful of snakes. No fishing with waders fishing is only permitted from the shore, No boats, No cleaning of fish onsite, and Always carry your Victorian fishing license, Using berley is not permitted, FishingMad encourages ‘catch & release’ of all native species to help maintain the water quality within the lake however European Carp must not be returned.
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