The school holidays were a perfect time to take the kids down to the local family lakes for a trout fish.

Fisheries do a great job stocking the family fishing lakes for the school holidays and Gippsland has a few locations to chase stocked rainbow trout in winter and they include Morwell Lake, Lake Hyland and Heyfield Lake to name a few.

The school holidays were a success and we saw plenty of rainbow trout caught with PowerBait fished on a running sinker rig being very successful, but some of the young guns were out there practicing their lure skills using small soft plastic lures and spinners and were absolutely smashing the fish and practicing catch and release, so they could go back the next day and catch more.

Just remember, these fish are put there for families to get an opportunity to catch a good trout, so anyone thinking they are there for a free feed better think again. Leave the fish there for kids and families to catch, and remember the longer the fish get to be in the lakes, the bigger they will get.

The rivers are closed, so there’s not much to report, however blue rock has been a popular place to fish and you can still chase trout during the closed season. Anglers have been trolling some good trout up the river arm and surprisingly, the odd bass has been caught as well by anglers trolling Tassie Devils and spinners meant for trout, even in the ultra-cold water.

Next month, the trout season will open again and we should see some great fishing as the rivers have all had a good flush out.

• 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. Tune into Rex Hunt and Lee Rayner’s Off the Hook on 1242 to hear Will’s report on what’s going on in Gippsland!

Photo courtesy of DEDJTR.