Another gorgeous day at Khancoban, not a cloud in the sky! This is an angler’s dream – cool nights, sunny days and excellent fishing!

As we head for Easter and peak fishing we have finally seen a reasonable drop of rain. Summer started well with good early December rainfall, but since Christmas it’s been very dry. All I can say is ‘Thank God for the Snowy Hydro’.

Khancoban is extremely fortunate to be on the tail end of the hydro-pipes. The Pondage and Lower Swampy rivers, as well as the Murray below Bringenbrong Bridge, are replenished daily with cool clean hydro water. This water is chilled as it flows from Lake Eucumbene through 50km of tunnels and pipelines before emerging from Murray 2 power station into Khancoban Pondage.

This water and the all-year-round abundant food supply in Khancoban Pondage is the key to the area’s exceptional fishing. There are not too many places, especially on the mainland, where you can catch trout up to 7.5kg – that’s 15lb in the old language!

We see up to a dozen 5kg trout each year and one of these monsters has your name on it! Easter through to the end of November is the best period to try.

We are now heading into the business end of the trout season. The trout are feeding up in preparation for the spawning run. Due to the dry conditions, insects have not been as plentiful as normal so the trout will take a nicely presented bait, lure or fly. Hoppers and crickets have been around in some numbers, so yellow winged Tassies have been productive. The trout have been after small redfin and galaxias, so hardbodied lures in redfin colours have also been successful.

If you are serious about your trout fishing visit the area that is still heavily stocked – it gives you the best chance of wrestling a trophy trout from the depths. Now is the time!