What a summer it’s been. I think we have all forgotten what summer is actually supposed to be like, as it has been a few years since we’ve had so many days in February over 35 degrees.

Perhaps we have been a bit spoilt in previous years having good trout fishing in our small local streams so far into summer. This year the lack of water has made the local fishing tough, however the keenest have still been able to have some fun.

Traralgon Creek is very low, yet the deeper holes are holding plenty of fish up to 10 inches long. The bait anglers using worms and a very light running sinker or split shot rig are catching a few fish per session, while the fly fisherman are still catching plenty on dry flies such as Parachute Adams. Hopper patterns have also been working, but mainly in the smaller sizes around 8 to 12.

I had a couple of sessions with soft plastics down the lower sections of Traralgon Creek in a few places with deeper holes, but all I managed was a stack of redfin. There really are a lot of redfin in the creek these days and they are competing heavily with the trout. They are much more aggressive and less shy than trout, which is why they are such a formidable competitor.

The redfin seem to be getting bigger – two of the 30 fish that I caught nudged 30cm, which is vastly bigger than the normal 10-15cm specimens that there seem to be so many of. I did see one nice sized brown that would have been around 1kg, but he was too good for me!

The Tanjil River has by far been the best place to fish recently considering the good water levels it has maintained due to Blue Rock Lake and the subsidence of the recent bushfires in the area. There have been plenty of rainbows and browns above the dam, and some of these fish have been around 35cm. Small hard-bodied lures such as Rapalas and Rebels have been working a treat, as have the humble Celta and Mapso bladed lures.

For more information about fishing Central Gippsland, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on (03) 5174 8544.