Unfortunately for anglers, the season is almost at an end, however there are still a couple of weeks to go, so if conditions stay right we should be in for an excellent close!

Over the past month, the weather has been good and bad! Our local creeks were a little low for the most part compared with what they have been so far this year; however it doesn’t take much rain to get these rivers flowing well again.

Traralgon creek is still fishing well; the water temperature has dropped so the trout have been feeding more sub-surface on thing like nymphs and small smelt. The soft plastics have been working a treat as always, however anyone who fishes the creek often has noticed that the redfin are still up high and don’t seem to be moving back downstream.

The fly anglers and even bait anglers aren’t having much of a problem with the redfin, which shows how voracious a predator they are. But, there are still plenty of good-sized trout up high and they are up to 35cm in length and are fat and healthy.

The trout have started spawning quite early this year because of all the water. Many of the fish are paired up, so some anglers might want to leave them alone to do their thing this time of year. For others that can’t stop fishing, it would be a good thing to practice catch and release as these are spawning fish and anyone that wants fish in the future should understand that if you kill trout at this time of year you are only going to destroy the thing you love.

Also, the bigger fish are the ones that have reached maturity and will lay more eggs than a trout of lesser size, so by keeping the big ones you are doing more damage than keeping a few small ones that haven’t reached maturity yet.

The Morwell River is fishing just as well. I have heard of some better fish being taken up here, brown trout measuring over 40cm long which is fantastic for these small streams.

Small hardbodied lures are probably fishing the best up here, choose either a sinking minnow style lure of a shallow diver and you will have good success.

The Macalister River is another one that has surprised all of us. Its been fishing well up in the upper reaches where plenty of smaller stocked rainbows have been caught but also some nice brown trout over 35cm which is good to see, as they are probably wild fish.

Worms fished on small running sinker rigs are working well, yet casting Tassie Devils has been excellent too. This river should fish well during the long weekend.

Up around these parts the Barkley River is also worth a look. It’s been producing plenty of small brown trout to 32cm and a few bigger ones as well. Vibrax spinners and Celtas have all been working well, and also soft plastics have become ever increasingly popular around this area.

Don’t forget to send in you photos for the last weekend before the close of the season so I can put them in next months report to see how everyone went. Good Luck!

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

Ryder Thompson holds up his very first brown trout caught at Traralgon creek. It measured 35cm and was caught on a soft plastic. And yes, he out fished me for the day!