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Teaser a trout in April
  |  First Published: April 2016



In the greater Batlow area it’s a cracking time of the year with great weather, great scenery and good fishing to boot. One of my absolute favourite places to fish at this time of the year is the Tumut River. Mostly because it is normally in low flow, but the giant poplar trees shedding their stunning autumn leaves makes for a spectacular backdrop to you fishing and for the pictures when you land a good fish.

Trout

When the Tumut River is low, fish can be easy to catch as they stack into holes. If you aren’t getting results, try moving upstream into another hole and continue to do this until you catch fish. Sometime there will be very few fish in some holes while other holes are piled high with fish! It’s up to you to do the hard yards and find these fish pockets.

All techniques will catch fish but when it is low it is hard to beat indicator nymphing. Either used with an indicator dry fly or a double nymph dropper, this technique is a consistent fish taker all year round but especially when the river is low. Towards the end of the month a Glo Bug on your dropper will account for plenty of fish.

If lure fishing, try to use ultra-small and natural coloured lures like rainbow and brown trout coloured Rapala CD3s. Spinners are also great reaction lures for trout and in low flows a 1/8th oz. Spinners in a natural colour will catch plenty of fish. Try to stick to one of the spinners that have a rear teaser as this will help to catch more fish than you scare. Conventional spinners that have no rear teaser look like a piece of metal in the water when they are not spinning. Due to the turbulence in some areas, your spinner can sometimes stop spinning for a second or two and if a fish were following, all of a sudden the lure looks very foreign and the fish will spook. If you have the teaser, even if the blade isn’t spinning the teaser will still be dancing in the current and will entice fish. Great lures with the rear teaser are the ever-reliable Rooster Tails as well as Cock Tails, Bang Tails and the exciting new Insanity Tackle Bling spins.

The trout streams have fished well all season and resident fish have been more than happy to rise to dry flies for the last couple of months. This is more than likely going to continue this month, but if they aren’t in the mood to stick their noses out, add a nymph dropper and you will start to get some action.

Spinning with these lures has caught plenty of stream trout this season and this is sure to continue this month. The only exception is if the stream you are fishing is quite dirty due to a recent rain event – if this is the case; try the brighter flashy colours in the same style of lure.

Mannus Lake

I still haven’t had a chance to go and see for myself but I have heard a few reports of just undersized golden perch caught lately. The trout have gone gangbusters since their stocking and are now able to be caught, along with the resident redfin. Some of the redfin are of massive size (well over 40cm), so I suggest you target them if you are heading up that way.

The Mannus Classic fishing competition will be run on 2-3 April. The Classic is open to all ages. It will be very interesting to see the catch results from this comp to give us all a better idea of how the initial stockings have both survived and how well they grow on average.

One last thing to ponder about the lake is that there were a few Murray cod squeezed into the initial golden perch stocking. On top of this, it is well known that there are still plenty of the original resident fish that managed to stay in the creek after the lake wall broke. Some of these golden perch and Murray cod were of trophy size, so there is still a chance that the next fish you hook in the lake could just be that fish of a life time. Either way it won’t take too long until the lake returns to its former glory, just a few more years and it could be as good as it ever was.

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