Winter is well and truly in full swing now with frosty mornings and cold evenings by the fire.

Fishos are warming up to the stories coming out of Dartmouth Dam and Lake Hume alike as the trout are firing on all fronts, and the usual styles of fishing seem to be doing the trick.

Luckily we haven’t had too much rain locally this Winter, so heading out to the weir for the day has been still on the agenda for most local fishos. Trolling runs around Kookaburra Point to Bethanga Bay in the hunt for some trout have been very productive as one local angler found out. Dave Smith of Wodonga has been getting out at every possible chance to see if he can muster up a feed.

Trolling runs starting around the Kookaburra Point Reserve out into the open water have been paying dividends for him and his Tassie Devil lures in white and silver appear to be on the dinner menu for some very healthy brown trout. Using his tried and tested technique trolling for trout, it doesn’t look like he’ll be going home empty-handed any time soon.

By-catches of other fish like redfin are still present throughout the Winter. Some reports of Murray cod being caught on yabbies while anglers are targeting yellowbelly have been floating around the fishing sewing circle. I was told of one that tipped the scales over 20kg, a serious cod in anyone’s book.

On a recent trip I took a mate new to fishing out to teach him a few things with soft plastics and with only a few follows we were really struggling to work out what to try next. I noticed a bit of movement in one of the bays in the shallows and thought to myself, ‘it could be a nice trout’ so I cast my plastic right in front of it and started to just wiggle the rod tip to entice the fish into having a go.

Next second, I was on as line started to strip off the reel. My mate Brett was as excited as I was because this was looking to be a good fish. After a few minutes I got the it within sight, only to instantly lose all excitement – it was a darn carp! Although it was a great fight I was disappointed nonetheless. But on the other side it was the first time I’ve ever seen a carp take a plastic.

The Murray and Kiewa rivers have been flowing steadily for a few months now so fishos have been getting out in kayaks for a paddle, or just sitting on the side of the bank watching the day go by.

There have been reports of trout being caught from the weir wall to downstream into Albury. Taking the family down to the reserves for a fish is a good cheap way to spend the day.

Dartmouth has been on fire, with the brown trout appearing to have spawned early this year. Most anglers heading up to the lake have been rewarded with their bag of five for the trip. With most anglers targeting trout by trolling, I’ve wanted to head to the lake and spend the day just casting lures to see if could bag out.

Recently my mate Brett ‘Ollie’ Oliver headed to Dartmouth for the day to have a go. We headed as far as we could get up the Mitta Arm and were surprised to find we could get all the way to the river itself.

We started throwing small hardbodied lures like Atomic Shad 40s and Ecogear SX40s. Within a few minutes I had the first fish in the well and from then on we were either getting followed or just belted, having a ball all the time.

With an easy bag each we were able to upsize as the livewell kept the fish kicking so they could be released as we upgraded.

Although the condition of the brown trout was down a tad because they had already spawned, the rainbows were fat and healthy.