I am pleased to report that it is all good news from East Gippsland this month. During December we received good widespread rain over the whole region, including the catchments, which has been followed up in January by mild weather. The result is that the rivers and springs are all running well and the water temperatures are to the trout’s liking.

The upper Mitta Mitta River (upstream of the Bundarra River) is flowing nicely and yielding plenty of smallish (500g) browns. There are also reports of the odd bigger fish up to 2kg but these are rare. There are plenty of hoppers around and the evening caddis are putting in an appearance most nights.

Further downstream, in the Himmomungee area, it is the same story. Mick Rosenboom was fishing there last week and caught lots of browns up to 600g, mostly using nymphs. Although there were plenty of ’hoppers around the fish were more active below the surface than on the surface. This could all change if we get a few hot, windy days to get the ’hoppers active and blow them onto the river.

Further downstream towards Tablelands the fishing is much the same, however a few larger fish are showing up too. Chris Banks and his family did well fishing this area using spinners.

The Bundara River is also flowing well for this time of the year. Good numbers of browns are present, although most are under 500g. Nearby the Cobungra River is also producing some good fishing.

Peter Abel recently fished the Innisfail area and caught fish up to 700g. Peter found the same as Mick Rosenboom; although there are plenty of ’hoppers around the trout are happier taking other offerings. Peter was successful using a Royal Wulff fly.

Bait fishing in these two rivers has also been quite productive. These are two good rivers to fish at this time of the year as they are both surrounded by farmland and have plenty of terrestrials, including ’hoppers along their banks.

The Gibbo River continues to fish well as it has done all season. There are huge numbers of small rainbows in this river but there are also a few bigger fish, both browns and rainbows up to 1kg. All forms of fishing are successful here and it is fishing well throughout its entire length.

The Gibbo River can be a good option if the weather heats up, as it is well shaded from its confluence with Japan Creek upstream. Morass Creek, which flows into the Gibbo River at Gibbo Park, is dirty as usual and fairly low, which means it’s not fishing too well. However, this creek holds some huge fish at times.

Livingstone Creek is flowing well and producing some reasonable fishing around the Cassilis area. Natural and artificial ’hoppers are the go in this small waterway. The Timbarra River has been a bit quiet recently, however it is still worth fishing during the evening. Most of the trout are around the 200g mark.

Hubert Reichelt holding a typical small rainbow trout caught in the Gibbo River. There are thousands of these fish in the river at the moment.