{{start}}

How to get there

Lake  Bellfield is  located near Zumsteins Crossing is 3 km from Halls Gap or 53 km from Horsham  and is located in the shadow of the Grampians in the western district of Victoria.

For detailed maps search Falls Creek on Google Earth.

Open season

Lakes in Victoria are open all year and have a bag limit of 5 fish in possession.

Water flows into Lake Maroon from:

• Fyans creek.
• Dairy Creek
• General catchment inflows.

Services & facilities available

No accommodation or shops.

Target species

Browns, Rainbow trout and Redfin

Food chain

Weedy lake with plenty of mudeyes, damsels, minnows and gudgeons.

	What trout eat - western districts Victoria

Techniques

The shore-based fishing has been good in the mornings and evenings, with all methods producing trout and redfin.

Most of the lake is populated by weed of various concentrations and the best fishing is in the deeper pockets throughout the lake or along the margins of the lake paying particular attention to the edge of weed beds and drop offs. Having said that it’s often important to move around to avoid small red fin which can become a nuisance. There is good emerger activity as mudeyes, damsels and nymphs hatch as well as terrestrial activity in summer.

The mood of the fish in Lake Bellfield is unpredictable and they are hard to work out. Sometimes they respond to surface or high water techniques and other times you have to get down to the bottom to get a hit.Sometimes they are in the main body of the lake other times they are hard against the shore chasing minnows.

Trout in particular become more upward looking during the warmer months and comfortably take flies on and just below the surface. At other times it’s important to fish deeper where the fish are holding.

Unless there is obvious surface activity depending on your preference:

• Fish with a sink tip or sinking line and work through the various retrieves from very slow to rolly poly until you start getting hits.
• Fish with a floating or intermediate line  right into the shore and work through the various retrieves from very slow to roly poly until you start getting hits.

Alternatively if you have a technique that is a particular strength for you that is a great place to start. In any case the moods can change quickly and if the fish go off it may just mean that their mood has changed so try something different.

	Loch style fishing tips

Fly suggestions

Mrs Simpson and brown or olive woolly buggers are good representations of Gudgeons, whilst small smelt pattens with pale bellies and Magoo's from olive through to brown  are good representation of minnows.

Like all Victorian fisheries this is a two fly fishery and if your fishing a second fly good options are small flies that are dominantly black but with touches of yellow or red. This makes flies including: Cormorant, Kate Mclaren, Zulu, Blae and Black, Bibio, and many other wee wets, fitting the size and colour mix, all good options for a top dropper.

Members of Fly Fish Australia that carry an exception from Victorian Fisheries can use 3 flies Victorian lakes and they often have one of the point or top dropper flies mentioned above on their middle dropper or an attractor fly on the middle dropper. If your using an attractor it's generally best to use less dramatic flies such as a Scotch Poacher, Dunkeld, Fuzzy Wuzzy and other similar flies in small sizes all being worth a swim. If the water is discolored or if it's windy and rough more dramatic attractor flies like Sparklers and Blobs may well make the difference between your team of flies being spotted or overlooked.

Hot spots

Edges, deep pockets in weed beds, drop offs and any structure. Whilst most of the lake is surrounded by thinned out bush there is a good forested section at the north east corner of the lake which in north east winds often releases beetles and other terrestrials and just to the east of that the pump station bank is always worth a drift. There is also good holding water and a drain running into the south west corner of the lake which often produce bigger fish. The bar on the southern shore, which becomes an island or spit at lower levels, has good holding water on its outside and offers good drifts when westerly winds are blowing.

{{end}}