You would think it was spring if you saw the way the rivers are, but no one is complaining about having great flows and fat trout in a our local small streams.

I guess we are not used to having fast flowing running water in any of our smaller streams around here, but it seems as soon as the river might run a little low, we get a good downpour which fills it up again.

The trout haven’t been in this good of condition in a long time.

The average size is much higher than we are used to. There are heaps of fish in the 30cm range and up, and normally we are used to having 20cm trout in the hundreds.

The fly anglers are having a ball. The hoppers are out and even places like Traralgon Creek and Morwell River are fishing well with small hopper patterns.

The usual flies such as small dun patterns are still working well, however because of the water, a small bead head nymph will work just as well.

Most anglers are running with both, a dry on top as a strike indicator and a bead head nymph below.

A simple bunch of worms have been working well, even unweighed and allowed to drift downstream.

The mighty Macalister is back and has been fishing great. Yes there are plenty of stocky rainbows, but I’ve also seen some excellent catches of brown trout, especially up high above Licola. I’m pretty sure these will be all wild fish too, which is fantastic to see.

Lures are the way to fish here, either Celtas or Rapalas will both work well.

In the deeper sections, Tassie Devils work well too, however, lately everyone has being doing very well with Celtas.

For more information, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 51748544. You will get expert advice and great deals on all fishing bait and tackle.