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End of a great season near
  |  First Published: June 2008



Well the season is nearly over now. It has been a good season in East Gippsland, especially in the past month.

There have been a few grasshoppers around the rivers, but now that we have had some frosts they have disappeared. Evening insect hatches have also stopped with the drop in air temperature as winter approaches. The fish now have switched their priority from eating to reproducing.

Mitta Mitta River has fished well recently. The flow is still quite low as we await some late autumn rain. This has meant that there are not yet many fish running up the river from Lake Dartmouth to spawn, but that will happen as soon as we get a good rain event.

Mitta Mitta River is holding good numbers of small to medium browns, with the occasional bigger fish of 1kg showing up. Surprisingly there is also a fair number of small rainbows being caught, particularly in the Hinnomunjie area. This is unusual, as the Mitta does not usually carry many rainbows.

Bait fishers are doing quite well, particularly in the bigger holes. Flyfishing has also been successful and the fish are still taking a well-presented dry fly – though most success is below the surface for anglers using nymphs.Bundarra River is also low. The fishing is OK without being great. Most of the fish being caught are small, but again this could change with some rain. Nearby, the Cobungra River is low also but the fishing is poor. Middle Creek is yielding some small browns but nothing to write home about. The Victoria River is in a similar state; low water with slow fishing. The Timbarra River is producing a few small browns and the fishing has improved over the past couple of months, even though it is quite low.

Gibbo River is a favourite for the fishers chasing rainbow trout. It carries a large head of mainly small rainbows, mixed in with a smattering of brown trout. The river is low and clear, like most other rivers in the area, but anglers are still catching a good number of these small fish.

The Gibbo River is a lovely river to camp on and fish. The road follows the river for about 10km and there are many camp spots scattered along the way on small grassy flats surrounded by mountains and trees. The Gibbo is a river that needs to be waded, so it is not always the best option early in the season when there is a lot of flow in it. However, at this time of the year it is a pleasure to be in the water.

One of our better rivers that has fished very well over the past month is the Delegate River, situated on the border of NSW and Victoria near the township of the same name, Delegate. Over the past 3-4 years the fishing here has been disappointing, however it has now returned to its former glory and has fished well over the past month.

The fish out of the Delegate are normally of a bigger size than other waters in our area and there has been a good number of browns of between 1-2kg caught here recently. The Delegate River is quite a weedy stream which often makes it difficult for the spin fishers, but is lends itself beautifully to flyfishing, particularly when the hatches of mayflies are on. As it flows through farmland for a long way, it is a very good grasshopper river. Bait fishers also find this river to their liking, again particularly when the grasshoppers and terrestrials are around.Forget the rivers around Dargo for the time being as they are very low in fish. The same applies to the Tambo River.The Victorian trout season closes at the end of the long weekend in June. As I have said, it has been quite a good season and we have reason to be optimistic that next season will be the same, so long as the weather Gods smile upon us over the next few months.

The fishing in the Timbarra River has improved over the last two months and it has been producing a few small brown trout.

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