I wasn’t wrong when I said last month that the trout season was going to be a cracker, with reports coming in thick and fast and punters taking advantage of the sheer numbers that are up and about and on the chew.

It’s quite interesting that some of the fish that have been caught appear to have already spawned and are back trying to get some condition on already, while other fish are still pre-spawn.

This happens down this way and the actual closed season might be a little late for our fish, but let’s face it, it’s been a very strange past 18 months or so with the weather.

It’s great to see the trout going off like they are. A lot of anglers were concerned that there hadn’t been enough stocking of trout, as the natives were seemingly taking priority, which is the way it should be in my opinion.

Sheer numbers this season vindicates the strategy that our good mates at Fisheries have taken in turning Eildon into a better all round fishery.

On a cold Saturday arvo recently, good mate Daz went out for a quick session with about half an hour of light left and armed with his clown pattern Tassie Devil, picked up a lazy five browns for his trip in quick succession. It seems that right across the board that a majority of fish being caught are between 38-42cm, with some bigger models coming in as well.

The humble old StumpJumper is another stand out of late as well, particularly in colours with big contrasts in colour such as black with green, black with hot pink, brown with white and so forth.

Donovan Wilson had a trip recently with his young daughter and trusty family dog, and they picked up five. It’s great to see a father and his daughter having a fish together, although I think her and the pup did a bit of sleeping up the front of the boat as well… So get yourself up here and take advantage of the great trout on offer.

There have also been a few cod getting picked up as well, but they have tapered off slightly with the frosty mornings being more common.

Some of the big bangers should come out for a look over the next month or so, so keep your fingers crossed.

The mornings have been ridiculously cold, sometimes down to -2° and plenty of 0º days, so rug up and stay safe.