Welcome to the Wombat Reservoir Fishing Guide. Wombat Dam Reservoir is a beautiful and scenic reservoir within the pine forest hidden towards the back of Daylesford. A man-made dam built-in 1964 is located on the outskirts of town past the railway and market grounds. It’s part of the domestic water supply however it offers year-round fishing with healthy trout and redfin. Yearly trout are stocked into this location making it a great fishing destination. This tranquil place has crystal clear waters. This is a beautiful location. It’s a great location for exploring and a picnic with the family. There aren’t any formal sit-down or bbq areas if that’s what you are after then Daylesford has plenty of other options.

BECOME A FISHINGMAD MEMBER & UNLOCK ACCESS TO

Workshops | Giveaways | Podcasts | Competitions | Reports | Maps | GPS Marks | Rigging Tutorials | Sounder School | Exclusive Footage | Tackle Talks | Gear Guides | Kayak Club | Much More

Become a FishingMad Member

 

Fishing at Wombat Dam Reservoir Daylesford

At Wombat Dam you can catch both trout and redfin. Seasonally redfin is more active in the warmer months and trout active in the colder months. The lake is quite deep whilst being shallow along the banks. There is lots of areas you can walk around and fish including the banks along the reservoir on the right or the Rockwall on the left. Wombat Dam is a great location for lures and soft plastics. Check out our guide on the best lures to catch redfin. A productive way of fishing this style is flicking shallow diving lures and soft plastics along the banks and structure which should catch you plenty of redfin. Long-casting metal lures, blades, vibes, and spoons are also good options worth trying when fishing from the banks. They will allow you to cover great distances and target both trout and redfin at the same time. Top options include the nories wasaby, pontoon 21 paco spoon & Savage Gear soft fat vibes. Shallow diving hard body lures and heavily weighted soft plastic minnow imitations are also excellent choices. Some good options include bullet lures in bright and natural colours, Daiwa double-clutch, Rapala Countdown series, and Savage gear minnows 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 imitation lures and soft plastics such as the savage Gear Mayfly 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 pounds. Then finished with roughly a rod length of a quality fluorocarbon leader. Bait fishing here can be quite productive from the banks. Some excellent bait options include mudeye on a float or scrub worms, power bait & yabbies on a light-running sinker rig. This is a great choice for trout and redfin. Trout and redfin are notorious for feeding more aggressively at dawn and dusk. So we highly recommend fishing the first and last hours of sunlight. Redfin is more active in the warmer months and trout is 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.

Please note that trolling from a kayak or boat is not permitted on the reservoir nor is wading. It is also recommended to obtain a permit from central highlands water, it’s free to obtain, by ringing (03) 5320 3100.

Stocking a Wombat Reservoir

Since 2020 VFA has stocked 6,000 trout into Wombat Reservoir. A combination of both brown and rainbows as the list ( provided by VFA ) highlights below.

Wombat Reservoir Stocking

 

Things to do at Daylesford

This is a beautiful and scenic location and a tremendous spot to take the family for a light bushwalk. There are many photo opportunities and the chance to spot local wildlife and birdlife.

Around Daylesford, there are many cafes, boutique shops, and other lakes such as Lake Jubilee, Pyke’s creek & Calembeen Park. Whilst in Daylesford we would highly recommend exploring the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, enjoying weekly Sunday markets, relaxing at Hepburn springs bathhouse and spa resort, and exploring the local mineral springs.

Places to fish near Wombat Reservoir

Recommended baits Wombat Reservoir

Bait Choices

The video below demonstrates the best baits for trout and how to rig them correctly.  

  • Powerbait
  • Scrub worms
  • maggots
  • live minnows
  • yabbies
  • Mudeye

Recommended lures Wombat Reservoir

Soft Plastics

Need some help choosing lures and soft plastics. The video below is a detailed guide to get you started. 

  • 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
  • Dawia Bait Junkie paddle tail minnow
  • Savage Gear Fathead crank shallow diving
  • Squidges biotough grub

Targeting Trout at Wombat Reservoir

Trout

We would highly recommend that you read our detailed guide on how to catch trout which details our favorite 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.

 

Targeting Redfin at Wombat 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 responds 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 slowly 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 colors. Metal spoons also play a role in 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.

 

Images of fish supplied VFA and DEPI. Header drone footage by Bruce Smith. All other images and videos shown in the Wombat Reservoir Fishing Guide are Fishing Mad originals. Thank you for visiting the Wombat Reservoir Fishing Guide. If you feel this location guide is missing 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. Please also feel free to share any fishing pictures you have from this location with us. Thank you