2018 Victorian Trout Season is Here

Well, I’ve been a bit slow on the blogs of late, but have now found the spare time to get these musings and ramblings back into the schedule. Even if this one is coming some three weeks after the event, it is still a good start on the 2018-2019 blogging season. So, with that, most of you southern flyfishers will be well aware that trout season is well underway. Tasmanians have been on the water for some time now, and the New South Welshmen will be out there shortly too, so it’s all about trout now as the weather starts to warm up and the bugs start to get on the move.

Opening weekend this year was a delightful little affair that was not all just about fishing, as there was of course a heavy focus on good food, great drink and excellent company.  But there was plenty of fishing too, as the weekend saw myself and Scott from Indulgence Flyfishing taking to four different mountain streams in what can only be described as tough conditions. It’s always a bit of a struggle this early on the year, when there’s still plenty on snow on the higher peaks, the water is running high, dirty and cold and most of the fish have pushed downstream looking for food after their ventures during the spawn period. Still, that didn’t stop us.

Saturday morning was cold, and threatening to rain, but we found some lovely water in a tiny little creek that proved to be positive with Scottie getting a strike on his second drift through the first run we approached. But, that positivity wasn’t there all the day as the usual places that fish should have been holding in were turning up very little activity. The focus was ensuring a good drift, with nymphs getting to the right depth in water that changed depth and character every ten feet. It didn’t take too long though before I got onto a lovely little brown on a tungsten nymph who was holding right where he was supposed to be along a soft edge just by a dropoff on a gravel bar. It was nice to feel the 3-weight Hardy glass bend for the first time in a couple of months. The season was now properly underway.

Day two was supposed to be an early start so we could head up high to revisit a remote stream that we slogged into last summer. Of course, the previous evenings feasting, and mixing of cocktails, beers and wines, slowed the process down a little. The drive up into the mountains gave me time to shake off the headache and the sight of cold, clear water was certainly enough to get me excited. And, it wasn’t long until we were siting fish holding in shallow pools with sandy, gravel bottoms.

None were really looking up, so sight-nymphing was the order of the day. It was incredible to see how many of these fish would wait until the nymph passed by them before turning and chasing it downstream. I actually think every fish landed in this stream was on a downstream take, often right by our legs just in the last few inches of the drift. In all, it was some great fun fishing in a perfect little part of the world.