Cooler mornings and some rain have dropped the temperature of the river quite significantly.

This is great for trout anglers and the slowing up of the native fishery – not to say it’s done and dusted though! Scrub worms fished in the deeper holes are still producing good-sized Macquarie perch and the odd Murray cod. At this time of the year as the water starts to cool down in the middle Yarra section (Yarra Glenn to Kew) the fish start to become less aggressive and slower to make a move.

This is where well presented, fresh bait comes into its own. What’s equally important is the hook you use! A circle style hook is far more suitable for these slower moving fish as it’s often hard to detect the initial bite and in the time it take for the fish to register at your rod tip, it could have ingested the bait all the way into its stomach – making it hard to release.

The appropriate sized hook for a good bunch of scrub worms or yabbie will be between a size 1/0-3/0 and should be fished on as lighter leader as you can get away with. Keep in mind that most Aussie native fish have small rasping teeth.

The upper end of the Yarra above Worri Yallock has been a little discoloured of late but not too much to turn you off fishing here. Above Warburton it’s a little clearer and the flyfishing is still in full swing. Caddis moth and the last of the larger mayfly will hatch in the late afternoon and beetle, cricket and March flies are all good daytime foods for the hungry trout.

Spinning continues to produce the goods with larger hardbodied lures and soft plastics fished deep in the pools of the upper reaches producing some quality brown trout as they prepare for their spawn run (please be nice to these larger fish as they are the only remaining stock of trout in the river as the Yarra River has not been stocked by the DPI since the 1960’s). Try - Rapala F7, Berkley Walking Stick 70, PowerBait 3” Bass Minnow, R2S Live Minnow 65, Cranka Minnow 59 Deep.

The summer season is truly over and the transition from low and warm to high and cold water is upon us. This is a great time to fish the river. The fish will be moving around and hungry for food as most water falls from the sky.

Keep tight with your local tackle store to hear when the river starts flooding for some of the best trout fishing of the season. The flooded edges of the river spew worms into the water and the trout know this. They’ll be there to mop them up and all you’ll need is a hook, split shot and some light mono cast upstream and wound back with the currant to score! Great fun for the whole family.