Lake Bullen Merri in Southwest Victoria has started to fire up with some big brown trout being taken on trolled lures.
I spent a few days last week trolling this lake from a boat with excellent results on fish 3-6 pounds. Trolling with bibbed minnow lures on flatlines, leadcore and on the downrigger (with cowbells) proved very effective. Some great lures to try for this kind of fishing are the Rapala F07, CD07 and MaxRaps in the 11cm size. I have also been lucky enough to get my hands on the new BlueFox Trout Quiver lures; they are a new kind of wobbler which will hit the shelves in a few months, these have been very effective.
These big angry browns don’t hesitate at this time of the year to hit a trolled lure as they feed predominantly on small galaxias and gudgeon which inhabit the lake.
As the fish have had a couple of good seasons there are some real monsters around and good friend Nick Murrell landed a real whopper 9.5 pound fish late last week. 
I also took some time out from trolling to do some polaroiding for big rainbows and while I saw a few big ones they remained a little elusive, however things are looking bright for the next few months as the season hits full stride so stay tuned for more reports of big fish!
Cheers,
Scott Gray
