August 7, 2019
On Wednesday morning, Minister for Fishing & Boating, Jaala Pulford, and Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas, officially opened four new reservoirs, Hepburn Lagoon, Upper Coliban, Lauriston and Malmsbury Reservoirs, to kayaks, canoes and small portable craft (car toppers) with electric motors.
Victorian fishers have been counting the days to get on the water at their favourite reservoirs. Following the success of on water access at Tullaroop and Barkers Creek reservoirs, the new four waters are bound to have some cracking fish and provide anglers with exciting, new fishing opportunities.
The official opening saw Minister Pulford, Mary-Anne Thomas MP, VRFish, Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA), local fishers and Traditional Owners gathered at the Upper Coliban Reservoir. To celebrate the official opening, the VFA have stocked some ex-broodstock and thousands of brown and rainbow trout into the Upper Coliban Reservoir.
All three of the Kyneton lakes (Lauriston, Malmsbury and Upper Coliban) are also teeming with Murray Cod and Yellowbelly after the VFA stocked the waters with fingerlings last summer. While these fish were not catchable size, they will provide great fishing opportunities in years to come. This means these waters will be year-round mixed fisheries in the future. The Upper Coliban Reservoir also has Macquarie perch from historic stockings.
Fishing from kayaks and canoes is rapidly growing in popularity, it gives anglers the opportunity to fish on the water without the need for a boat and provides easy access to areas that do not have proper boat ramp infrastructure. Currently, these reservoirs do not have proper launching facilities for any vessels that cannot be hand-towed to the water.
There is a strong demand from fishers to have the ability to launch larger boats into these reservoirs. Gaining access to new waters can be a difficult process, now that we have the on-water access, VRFish will be working with the relevant stakeholders including the VFA, the water managers and Traditional Owners to develop enhanced launching facilities.
Allowing on-water access at six new reservoirs (Barkers Creek, Tullaroop, Lauriston, Hepburn, Upper Coliban and Malmsbury) was a key commitment of the re-elected State Government’s Target One Million plan to get more people fishing. It is also noted that later consideration will be given to Tarago and Devilbend reservoirs.
