Lake Burrendong is a very large storage in the New South Wales central-west, built for irrigation and flood control, and it fishes best for the native fish that now dominate it: Murray cod and golden perch, with carp as a sight-fishing sideline. You go for the timber, the spring schooling and the room to move a boat.

The lake is cut into three parts by the rivers that feed it. The main basin sits by the dam wall. The Macquarie River arm runs off one side as a long, narrow stretch of dead timber, and the Cudgegong arm comes in from the other.

For a first trip, fish the drowned trees. They line the old riverbeds, and golden perch school in them in numbers. Cast lipless crankbaits and stumpjumpers around the timber from a boat, or troll the edges of it. Spring is the time: natives gather in the arms before heading up into the rivers and creeks to spawn, and the Macquarie arm near Mookerawa Waters Park is where boaters congregate for exactly that reason. Fly anglers can work the same timber with a heavy, weedless streamer on a fast-sinking line.

If you have no boat, walk the rocky shoreline at the Eagle Beagle camping site, where the bank fishing is described as some of the best on the lake, or fish the Cudgegong arm near the holiday park and up toward Meroo Creek, a favoured spot. Yellowbelly come from the bank on bait through the warm months; on fly, a small olive or tan streamer worked slowly along the rock is a fair starting point.

Carp are the other option. Sight-fish them over the shallows in warm weather with a small weighted nymph. They are the favoured sight-fishing target and a good way to fill a slow morning.

Spring and early summer are the best months to drive out. Start at the western ramp, ask the kiosk about the lake level, then pick an arm and fish the timber.