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Spring starts well as summer beckons
  |  First Published: November 2012



Spring fishing started quite well in the Kiewa Valley and surrounding high country areas.

The Kiewa and Mitta Mitta rivers produced some very good quality fish in early spring, and they should continue to do so during November.

November is the time of year when the last of the snow starts to disappear from the mountain tops, rain becomes less frequent and the rivers and creeks start to settle down to their summer levels. Once this happens the trout start to shift their main diet from scrub worms which occur during high water flows to insects, such as mayflies and small beetles.

This is the time to do away with the worms and concentrate more on lure and flyfishing if you are that way inclined. If you really want to fish with bait, try floating a mudeye rigged under a quill float into the deeper pools, or if there are any grasshopper around, catch a few of them and fish them unweighted.

Trout

Pretty much every stream that contains trout in North East Victoria will be worth fishing during the first part of November. By mid-November some of the smaller streams may start to become a little warm and the trout may slow down, however I would expect that won’t be too much of a problem until December when things really warm up.

The Kiewa River should be settling down nicely, and anywhere upstream of Dederang will be worth fishing with the area closer to Mt Beauty holding a higher number of rainbow trout than the downstream reaches around Dederang.

The Mitta Mitta River will be worth fishing anywhere from Eskdale to Dartmouth. From Eskdale to Mitta Mitta the river is very wide and there are some monster brown trout hiding in some of the deep holes. Try using bladed spinners with a gold reflective blade during the day, and for the big fish, flyfishing on and after dark is a great way to fool the cunning old fish.

Snow Creek which runs into the Mitta Mitta River at Eskdale will be well worth a look as it is this time every year. This decent sized creek sees a lot of angling pressure each year, particularly during the spring months. Despite the high fishing pressure it still produces good numbers of trout each season, with a few decent 50cm+ sized trout caught each year. There are stacks of great camping spots along the Snowy Creek as well.

Lake Dartmouth will still be worth a fish, especially during the low light periods of the day when the trout are more inclined to feed close to, or off the surface. Try trolling winged lures such as Tassie Devils. I like the dual depth Tassie Devils this time of year as they can make the lure dive to around 3.5m or more and still keep their unique action in the water.

Redfin

Any of the small creeks in the area containing redfin will be worth fishing during November as the water starts to warm right up. Alans Flat Waterhole will produce redfin, but finding a decent-sized fish may be a problem. Lake Hume should fish well for redfin during November as it usually does. If you are fishing from a boat or kayak, try looking for a reasonably flat bottom in around 4-5m of water and bob a soft plastic around along the bottom. While doing this it is always a great idea to have a second rod rigged with a bunch of worms in the water as well to pick up the cunning fish that won’t take the soft plastic, or in case the redfin are showing a preference for worms.

Native fish

In November it is all about yellowbelly (golden perch) as the Murray cod season remains closed until December. The two main areas for yellowbelly in this area are the Alans Flat Waterhole that gets stocked annually with yellowbelly and Lake Hume which is also stocked annually.

Alans Flat Waterhole is a great place to take the kids fishing to try and catch a yellowbelly. To the best of my knowledge there are no trophy fish in there and a yellowbelly of 40cm is a decent fish. Lake Hume on the other hand has the trophy fish and each November anglers travel from far away to target them. Lipless crank baits are the lure of choice for the yellowbelly anglers, with small deep diving hardbodied lures also quite popular.

There are two major fishing competitions on in this area during November, The first is the Lake Hume Classic on November 10-11 at Lake Hume. For more information go to www.lakehumeclasssic.com.au and the second competition is the Dartmouth Women’s fishing classic on November 16-17 at Lake Dartmouth. For more info call Robyn on 02 6072 4233.

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