{{+1}}Lake Burrendong{{-1}}
{{start}}
Built in 1967 to provide irrigation to the central-west region of NSW Lake Burrendong is massive even at low water levels and at full capacity has a surface area of 8900 hectares which is three and a half time as big as Sydney harbor. Being about 5 hours from the large populations of Sydney it's no surprise that you can always find space to fish without being impacted upon by other lake users. It is a relatively deep lake with a maximum depth of 50 meters and an average depth of 45 meters and is basically all fishable in one way or another.
Water flows into Lake Burrendong from:
- Macquarie River;
- Bell River;
- Cudgegong River;
- Streams and creeks servicing extensive native bush and rural catchments in the surrounding ranges
Safety first:
Being such a big lake and often deceptively glassy and inviting it's always worth remembering that with such long reaches that when winds come up they often whip up swells that are very dangerous so do keep an eye on weather forecasts.
- Keep an eye on the weather and always know where your going to retreat to.
- Let others know where your going to be fishing and your timetable.
- Always wear a life jacket. I recommend wearing a comfortable "yolk" style life vest any time your on the water..
- Never wear thigh waders in the boat particularly if your fishing by yourself.
- Take plenty of spare warm clothes and wet weather gear.
- Mobile phone reception is limited so don't think that it will work all the time.
- Only fish Lake Burrendong in suitable craft. This is not a venue for little dinghies with low sides.
- Always be on the lookout for submerges rocks, trees and fences and in times of rising weather also keep an eye out for floating timber.
- Don't think for a moment that you know the lake. Water levels are changing all the time and consequently where obstructions were below your propeller yesterday they can be right in your path today.
Open season
Whilst Lake Burrendong is open all year keep in mind that the feeder rivers and streams are subject to a closed season that runs from the end of April until the long weekend in October.
You should also check out NSW Fisheries for details and updated information.
Facilities
Each of the three main areas of the lake is serviced by a camping and caravan park, the main park is Burrendong State park (02-68467435) with Mookerawa (02-68468268) only twelve kilometers away to the south and Cudgeegong and is accessible from the Mudgee - Wellington road behind the sleepy town of Goolmah. Bush camping is also permitted around much of the shore of the lake with excellent bush camping sites located toward the back of both the Macquarie River and Cudgegond River arms of the lake.
I have only stayed at Burrendong State Park but understand that each of the parks have kiosks with basic supplies, ice and fuel. The closest bigger town Wellington has a good range of facilities and is only about half an hour from Burrendong State park.
Food chain
The food chain is dominated by yabbies, gudgeons to around 7cm, shrimps, worms, grubs and nymphs but that it is supplemented particularly in the warmer months by drowned terrestrials including hoppers, cicada, beetles and and ants.
Target species
Murray Cod, Golden Perch to 60+ cm and Silver Perch are currently stocked in Lake and are the primary target of most people that fish the lake. Because of the good eating qualities the pest fish Redfin is also a popular target species. You could also target Eel-Tailed Catfish and and Carp but these are regarded as unwelcome by-catches by most anglers. There are also still a few brown and rainbow trout showing up from past stockings but the numbers are so small it's not worth targeting them.
In winter yellowbelly (AKA Golden Perch, White Perch or Callop) school up close to drowned timber in warmer shallow water as little as half a meter deep and in the warmer summer months become more active mooching along the margins of the lake, just out of polaroiding sight, searching out food.
Silver perch are not as prolific as yellowbelly but are a welcome catch. They behave much the same as the yellowbelly and readily accept a fly.
Another welcome by catch for me are bigger Redfin. They are a great fly target and available throughout the year and if you get one on it's always interesting to let it swim for a minute to see if a second Redfin frenzied up by the action will take your second fly. In winter in particular they are good sight fishing prospects as they cruise the lake margins.
Murray Cod are a great target species and can be up to 60 pounds in weight and problematic at best on an #8 weight outfit. Smaller cod however do turn up close to rock walls with deep drop offs from time to time and you can handle them on an 8# weight outfit. If your targeting big Murray Cod I suggest you step up to #10 weight with a 30lb or 40lb leader. The cod tend to hold in deeper water and as ambush predators are often under or close to old drowned timber.
Techniques
With such a diverse fishery it's easy not to know where to start. I have taken the approach that I am targeting mainly yellowbelly and treat everything else as a welcome by catch. Yellowbelly area great target on an 8# weight outfit and the bigger ones will definitely test you and your gear. My line preference is generally a type 5 fast sink but of course I do drop down to intermediate line for shallower water and fish floating lines when there is a chance of surface strikes.
The best fishing can be had an hour or so either side of dawn and dusk. At those times you can expect fish to be actively feeding close to weed beds and structure, such as the drowned timber and rocky points, and red fin in particular at the surface or at least looking up and quite receptive to dry flies.
Depending on cloud cover fishing will generally taper off the closer you get to the middle of the day. The fish will still be there but more often than not you will need to swap over to progressively deeper techniques to get results. Target drop offs, the deep cut offs and channels in and close to weed beds and of course water around rock and timber structure.
Approach target areas with stealth and where possible present your fly or flies with longer accurate casts into or toward selected structure and then retrieve with short jerky retrieves with plenty of pauses. Strip strikes are best as often if a hit is missed the fish or close by fish will come back for a second go. It’s very easy to get “weeded” or taken into vegetation in Lake Burrendong so I lean toward leaders around 10lb to 15lb.
Leader set up
You can use #6 weight rods upwards but I recommend using #8 weight fly rods with plenty of butt strength and tippet above 10lb so that you can keep the fish from returning to weed cover or into drowned vegetation or trees.
This is the set up I have settled on when fishing mainly from boats in coastal waters, lakes or rivers for other than trout. The main difference to my trout leaders is the fact that I only have one heavier section in the butt section of the leader and then of course the overall length of leader is less than I typically use for trout. For my trout leaders I use two sections in the butt of the leader but for this application I get away with just one section because I am using much heavier leader material and one section is sufficient to comfortably turn my heavier fly or flies over. The overall leader length is much shorter than my trout leaders because generally I find that my target species with this set up are less sensitive than trout, are in less than crystal clear water and of course I am casting bigger flies which are a pain on long leaders particularly when casting at short ranges into structure ... any way this works for me when targeting fresh water and salt water species such as Barra, Bass, Sarratoga, Yellowbelly, Silver Perch, Mangrove Jacks, Redfin, Trevally and Queenies.
I start by attaching a 20 mm long Maxima Ultragreen monofilament nail loop knot to the end of each of my fly lines. I like that loop connected to the fly line to be about 2/3 the thickness of the tip of an intermediate fly line which works out at about 30kg for 8 weight lines and 40kg for 10 weight lines. I use these monofiliment loops on all but my dedicated dry fly lines as they are stronger than the manufactured loops that come on fly lines are less visible than braided loops, allow neat leader to line connections without introducing any hinging effect and and of course allow for easy line or leader changes.
I tie 20 mm mono loops to the end of all my #8 weight fly lines. | Connection to the leader is an open loop locked with a blood knot. | For thicker line to line connections I use back to back uni knots but for thin lines such as for my dropper I use the surgeons knot. |