Well, is has certainly been a cold and rather wet winter in the southeastern parts of Australia and now we are finally about to see the end of it. The cheery blossoms are blooming, the weather is starting to warm up and the wind is picking up with that typical ‘spring’ feel in the air. And for the fly fisherman, that means one thing for sure, stream season is about to open. As I write this we are now only five days away from what is shaping up to be a great trout season indeed and what will probably be a crowded opening weekend.

Many of us have spent the winter suffering the weather in Victoria’s lakes, whereas others have grumbled and stayed in at the tying bench, preparing for the launch into stream season this weekend.  However you chose to spend the winter, one thing for sure is that Victorians are itching to get back into some running water and get onto some trutta.

What has made this desire worse has of course been our friends down in the Apple Isle sharing images online of their opening and subsequent weeks of fishing as they hit the water earlier than us. I guess that comes as payback for us having a later closure at the end of last season that saw the Tasmanians having to witness our end of season fishing photos. Of course, we’ll all be giving the bird to the folks in New South Wales next week as we have open reign on rivers and streams ourselves.

Of course, there has been plenty of rainfall over the winter, leaving the streams in excellent condition after what has been a couple of fairly dry seasons over recent years. Those of you heading to the Goulburn river for the opening weekend of the Victorian trout season might find it proving to be the exception to the rule though as it is currently running at 120 m/litres a day, the lowest flow rate for quite some time. This might change in a few days, but it will either result in spooky or displaced fished either way and will see some tough fishing on the old faithful. It will be interesting to see how much pressure she gets this opening, as I think more anglers will branch out to the smaller streams, given they have excellent flow rates right now.

I will be headed to a little place I like to call “Wouldn’t You Like To Know”, in search of some isolated water and a reprieve from the crowds that always huddle around Eildon and the surrounding areas for season opening. Where ever you end up, I wish you all the best as we all get started on trout season 2016-17. Happy Trouting!

Keep up to date with what’s going on in Victorian waters when the season gets underway through the Troutlore Facebook page or Instagram feed.