For trout anglers, the sorrowful end has come to the trout season. Yet for the keen anglers, it's a great time to hit the lakes and local impoundments.

In the Strzelecki streams, the end was dismal as there was no rain and a severe lack of flowing water to induce spawning and the consequent movement of sizeable trout upstream. In Traralgon Creek, Morwell River and even Merrimans, we were forced to fish pools or holes for smaller trout. The quantity was there, with some anglers still managing up to 20 trout in a session, but the quality just wasn’t – most trout were under 30cm.

Walking the river gave better luck for some, as they were able to find deeper sections and throw in either a Celta, soft plastic or worm for good results.

On the other side of the valley, the alpine rivers finished well, especially the Tanjil and Tyers rivers. Even the Thomson River produced a number of brown trout, which is a good effort especially considering the effect last year’s floods had on this river.

Rohan Burge landed a beautiful brown trout in Tyers River before the season closed. The trout measured 45cm, weighed 1.5kg and was caught on 3” Gulp Minnow in smelt colour. His dad landed another beauty measuring 40cm. These bigger fish had no doubt moved upstream to spawn, so Wayne and Rohan did the right thing and released them to produce more trout for the future.

The Tanjil River has also produced plenty of fish over the past month. I haven’t heard of any extremely large specimens taken, but I’m sure there would have been some caught late in the season as they moved up out of Blue Rock Reservoir to spawn.

Lake Hyland is well worth a look for those fishos who, like me, can’t stop fishing over winter. Those 3kg trout that were released for the family fish day still haven’t been caught, so get out there and give it a go.

For more information on fishing Central Gippsland, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 5174 8544.

Rohan Burge shows off a 1.5kg brown trout that was caught in the Tyers River on a 3” Gulp minnow.