Finally the time every Victorian trout angler has been waiting for arrived – the trout season has opened!

The week prior saw Central Gippsland receive some mixed weather. This included some hot days, which we haven’t been used to for a long time, and unfortunately some very large rains. This made our local streams run very high and dirty right before the opening week.

Traralgon Creek has completely changed once again, and you can see it has had a massive flow and scoured out the banks and altered the usual haunts dramatically. Unfortunately, not many trout were seen or caught, just the odd small 20cm specimen. It could be that all the rain has pushed them down very low, or maybe they haven’t returned from spawning. We will have to wait a few weeks to see if reports change to find out.

On the contrary, Morwell River fished a lot better. There seemed to be more trout residing in the more popular camp sites and car park areas. The river looks good and healthy and is going to be the river to fish for the next couple of months.

The Macalister and Barkley rivers were running very dirty for the trout opening and most anglers said it was very hard to fish.

The only tributary that I heard good consistent reports from over the weekend were from the Wellington River. It seemed to have a much more angler-friendly flow. Celtas and small hardbodied lures were the hot item for the weekend. We will need at least two weeks without rain for the Macalister to really start to fire. Hopefully a few of these hot days get more consistent.

The Thomson dam reached 70% for the first time in 15 years, so that gives a clue how much rain we have had and why the rivers are flowing like torrents. The Thomson River has actually fished quite well and produced some decent trout up to 42cm. It has probably fished the best I have seen in a long time.

Tassie Devils are working well due to the size and flow of the river, but little spinners will work well if you are wading the river.

Hopefully next month I will have thicker reports; all we need is the rain to ease off to slow the rivers down a bit and clean them up. Then I’m sure it will be one of the best trout seasons this decade.

For more information, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 5174 8544. You will get expert advice and great deals on fishing bait and tackle.