With only days left until the end of the stream trout season, my first recommendation is to go and get your last trout fix before that option is gone.

The Tumut River, the Goobragandra River and all of the smaller trout rivers and streams in the area will all be worth fishing. Most trout will either be in pre-spawn or spawning mode.

Fly-fishers will find it very hard to beat the good old Glo Bug, as a lot of fish will already be picking off the eggs from the early spawners. Using a floating fly as well as a sinking one and you will hook crazy numbers of fish all day long.

Alternatively use large dries like big hopper patterns or big wets because there is a lot of food about for the fish at the moment and you really need to use something big to get their attention.

Bait anglers will do well this month with big juicy grubs or any artificial egg bait like PowerBait. Use either or both with a small split shot sinker just heavy enough to get them to the bottom of the creek or river and allow the rig to drift along naturally.

Lure fishers will also do well with largish hardbodies like the Rapala CD5 and CD7s or the IMA Sukari, or large, bright spinners that feature pink, red, green or yellow. Work these lures quite quickly to generate a reaction strike from the fish.

Once you’ve had your trout fix and the season closes on June 10, my next recommendation is to continue to annoy the trout in the lakes, which stay open all year.

There are plenty to choose from in the area including Jounama, Tantangara, Talbingo, Eucumbene and Three Mile Dam, to name a few.

The trout that have not already shot upstream to attempt to spawn will be very active as they pack on as much weight as they can before their annual pilgrimage upstream.

Fishing the shallower margins can be done all day because the water temperature is right in the trout comfort zone. The fish are in the shallows to feed so catching these fish is far easier than chasing those holding out deep in the lake.

Best lures for casting around the shallows are small hardbodies like the ones I described for running water or bright spinners like Roostertails and Mepps Bugs or Aglia TW Streamers. Soft plastics like the Ecogear Grass Minnow and Power Shad or small blades like the tiny VX 30 are good, or you can try and annoy the deep fish by hopping lures like Mask Vibes or heavy blades in their faces.

If you want to target something else, the redfin at Blowering Dam would be your best bet. The golden perch and Murray cod at Blowering this month can be hit and miss but the redfin are always hot.

They are normally in massive schools now, meaning that once you find a school and a technique to catch them, you can amass cricket scores and days of 100-plus fish are common.

Scout around with your sounder to find schools or troll small extra-deep diving lures like the AC Slim Invader in the 40’ model. Once you find a school it is very hard to beat the ever-reliable ice jigs but soft plastics and blades also do the job quite well.

So there are plenty of options for this month or so and no matter which you choose, you should have some cracking days.