Welcome to Fishing Mad “NEWS”. Where we keep you informed of breaking fishing news and headlines around our city and state. This may include emergency outbreaks, upgrades approved in your city, rules and regulation changes and much more. If you would like to contribute to a news post then let us know by emailing us at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details about your fishing news and we will gladly look into this for you.
In October 2024 the FishingMad website had a major refresh and rebuild. I appreciate your patience as we transitioned to a new theme while adding new features and enhancements and migrated thousands of articles, images, and pages to the new platform. This has been a massive task with years of… Read More
Metro Stonker Trout Stocking Melbourne 2023. In Late August 2023, exactly 1,000 large rainbow trout were stocked into 17 popular metro fishing lakes across Melbourne. The term Stonkers has been given to these large ex-broodstock rainbow trout which are up to 7 kilos in size. This initiative is funded by… Read More
Tragic news on 14th March 2022 as many local Altona residents reported hundreds of dead carp floating in Cherry Lake. The local authorities have attended the location which is popular for its walking and cycling trails and fishing. They have confirmed that 12,000 litres of surfactant a cleaning product had… Read More
FishingMad on Channel 31. Exciting news this week as Channel 31 has formally given FishingMad its own dedicated TV series on its free to air network. The show will be featured weekly on Tuesday evenings at 9.30 pm straight after Talking Fishing and encore weekly at 3.00 pm on Saturdays…. Read More
It’s August 2021 and Sea-Doo has announced a big update to the FISH PRO jet ski range. This time diversifying the range into multiple offerings to cater to different budgets. This will include the entry-level FISH PRO Scout which will retail from $19,609, the mid-level FISH PRO Sport which will… Read More
New Penn Slammer 4 is here. The Penn Slammer 3 was released back in 2016 and was an immediate hit and winner of the iCast 2016 best saltwater reel. Since then it has gone on to be an extremely popular saltwater fishing reel. A rugged workhorse built tough in a… Read More
Daiwa Bait Junkie New colours and sizes. In 2020 Daiwa entered the soft plastics market with their new product range labelled as bait junkie. Releasing 6 new soft plastics in a great colour range including the 2.5 inch grub, 2.5 inch minnow, 3.2 inch minnow, 4 inch grubs, 5 inch… Read More
Shimano Tackle Tour 2021 New Products. June 21st 2021 was a big night for Shimano as they unveiled new product offerings as part of the Shimano Tackle Tour for 2021. In most cases, a major refresh of existing product ranges some of which have become household names. This included 4… Read More
New Savage Gear Reels SG4 SG6 SG8 SG10. June 21st 2021 was a big moment for fishing manufacturer Savage Gear. After a marketing teaser which lasted a few weeks of international anglers carrying around a briefcase with a secret time inside. Savage Gear has finally released the details of 4… Read More
FishingMad features on The Australian Lure Fishing Podcast. This week Alan featured as a special guest on the Doc Lures Australian Lure fishing podcast to share insight about targeting the humble redfin on the Barwon River. Whilst also giving many fishing tips all around the greater Melbourne and Geelong areas…. Read More
Fishing retail outlets close. Thursday the 6th marks as a sad day for the fishing industry in Melbourne. At least 50 fishing retail outlets have temporarily closed doors due to level 4 coronavirus restrictions. It is expected that all shops below will close for 6 weeks as per state government… Read More
News has circulated widely around the fishing community this week that the very popular Altona pier is set for a major upgrade. This is welcome news for this very popular land base fishing destination. Our team at fishingmad are local residents of Altona and we see the immense amount of foot… Read More
Daiwa 2020 Product Showcase Review. Just in case you missed it Daiwa this week held 3 live streams on their social media platforms to showcase the Daiwa 2020 new to market product range. It’s an exciting time for this local fishing powerhouse who highlight a whole swag of new technology… Read More
Golden Tag competition postponed. It has been a bumpy ride for fishing competitions in Victoria in 2020. Bush fires and COVID-19 restrictions continue to decimate plans for recreational and tournament anglers around the state. It was only the 1st of March 2020 when the Victorian Fishing Authorities went live with… Read More
Coronavirus fishing updates Victoria. Just as things looked like they were getting back to normal recent coronavirus transmission spikes has the state government acting swiftly. Actioning new rules and restrictions in an attempt to combat this fast-spreading virus. Things are changing quickly and it can be confusing for local anglers… Read More
The Victorian Fishing Authorities have today announced that the price of a Victorian Fishing Licence Fees for recreational anglers will not go up between the 2020 and 2021 financial year. They have instead chosen to freeze fees to reduce the financial pressures for individuals and families during the COVID-19 outbreak…. Read More
Coronavirus fishing restrictions Victoria – Can I go fishing in Melbourne during the outbreak? Last updated 30/07/2020 – this space is changing so frequently so keep an eye out for updates. Update 02.08.2020 With an additional 671 coronavirus cases overnight Victoria will enter a state of disaster. From 6 pm… Read More
A pleasant surprise this week when FishingMad founder Alan Bonnici received notification from leading independent Youtube channel and website reviewer Feedspot. Feedspot has recognised FishingMads presence in the glocal fishing space. Ranking the FishingMad YouTube channel in top 100 fishing channels around the world. Also ranking our website in the… Read More
It’s one of the most radical decisions we have seen around fishing in Australia for as long as I can remember. The SA state government has approved regulation changes to ban snapper fishing from November 1. Snapper is an iconic fish in South Australia and a primary target species for… Read More
GoFish Nagambie 2020 Fishing Festival and competition. It was such a huge success in 2019 that it’s back even bigger and better for 2020. In fact its the biggest fishing competition in Australia with amazing prizes on offer. A cool $500,000 worth of prizes. That’s right half a million reasons… Read More
Its been a good year for fishing in Victoria for 2019. We’re glad to announce that there is more good news for kayak fisherman across Victoria. An additional 4 lakes are now officially open to canoes, kayaks and boats with electric motors. This all part of the state government election… Read More
That’s right, trout season opening in Victoria for 2019 will be epic. Local rivers around Victoria will officially be open from 11:59 pm on Friday 6 September for the trout season opening. Where better to celebrate than at Eildon. 7 tonnes of trophy-sized rainbow trout were released last year creating… Read More
Lake Wendouree is a wonderful fishing destination within the vibrant township of Ballarat. The lake is well known for exceptional trout and redfin fishing as well as its Olympic rowing facilities. You can see our guide here on Fishing Lake Wendouree. However, Lake Wendouree and the city of Ballarat has… Read More
Please find the Trout Stocking Victoria 2024 Schedule. Please note that before each school holiday break, ‘ready-to-catch’ rainbow trout are stocked into designated family-friendly lakes around Melbourne and Victoria. Please remember that a daily bag limit of five trout applies, of which only two can exceed 35 centimetres. This is… Read More
June 2019 marks as a historic day for the Ferntree Gully Quarry Reserve. The reserve was stocked with a large volume of rainbow trout, Murray cod and golden perch. This is fantastic news and part of the state governments target 1 million and target 10 million campaigns. The local mayor,… Read More
On the 21st of May 2019 Tullaroop reservoir has officially been open kayaks, canoes and electric boats. This is another huge win for kayak fisherman of Victoria. This is all part of the $34 million dollars Target One Million campaign by our State Government. To encourage more people to fish… Read More
A scuba diver has been hit and tragically killed by a speeding boat in Port Phillip Bay. The incident happened between Frankston and Mornington on the afternoon of May the 5th. It happened around 1 pm the two scuba divers with flags were struck by a boat speeding past. The… Read More
A tornado has ravaged popular fishing destination Lake Purrumbete which is located in Koallah. It has caused an estimated 1 million dollars damage to the local holiday park. The team at FishingMad by coincidence were at the location only 48 hours earlier. Myself and good mate Mark were staying at… Read More
Earlier this week a woman in her 70’s was hospitalised after being bitten by a 100 kilogram seal. This all has taken place near the boat ramps along popular fishing destination Port Fairy. Paramedics on the scene reported that the bite was quite nasty and had indeed gone through the… Read More
April started with great news for local kayakers. On the 11th Barkers Creek Reservoir which is located near the township of Bendigo was officially opened up to Kayaks, Canoes and boats with electric motors. Those electric motors will need to travel below 5 knots. This is all part of the… Read More
On Sunday the 10th of February the Victorian Fisheries received a call around 6.30 am. The call was to go and investigate illegal catch nets within Sanctuary lakes estate. The call placed by a local who watched in horror as locals were planting multiple long fishing traps. Its a sad… Read More
State election impact on boating and fishing in Melbourne. Those who know me well would know that I have no tolerance for politics, a place I consider to be full of false promises. However, I did follow our recent state election that was decided on the 25th of November with… Read More
Yarra factory fire causes water pollution. The EPA ( Environment Protection Authority ) has issued a substantial health warning to local anglers. Those fishing the Yarra river, Maribyrnong river, The Warmies, Hobsons Bay and Stoney creek. This after a Footscray factory full of containers, chemicals, asbestos and highly flammable products… Read More
Trout season is here, Thousands of stocked rainbows. Trout fishing season in Victorian rivers opens at midnight on Friday 31 August, 2018. This may just turn out to be the best trout season ever. Why? you ask. Well fisheries Victoria have been mighty busy in recent weeks. They have undertaking… Read More
Fishing Monthly Magazine features FishingMad on cover. Sometimes it’s nice to pause for a moment and recognise personal accolades of those who work hard around you. This month were very pleased to see the founder of FishingMad Alan Bonnici feature on the cover of the Fishing Monthly Magazine Victoria and… Read More
It’s a staggering fact 27 million dollars is collected every year for boat registration and licences fees. Yet, only a fraction of that money is put back into boating and fishing for Melbourne and Victoria. In fact only 3 million of that 27 million goes back into boating and fishing…. Read More
The Maribyrnong river is a truly underrated fishing system within Melbourne’s westerns suburbs. The team at Fishing Mad were very proud to feature in a local campaign to rebuild native fishing populations, and add key improvements along this river. The campaign celebrates the approval of a $815,000 fund to be… Read More
