Last weekend’s weather really didn’t do anyone any favours, and although it improved through the week it hasn’t been spectacular.

Despite that, there were a few success stories. 

Anyone who knows Dale Broadfoot probably already knows about his success at Blowering during a stopover on the way to Eucumbene.

A few weeks back, poor old Broady copped a bit of a pizzling from his wife at Eucumbene, where she landed five beautiful trout and he caught bugger all.

I must admit I did enjoy hanging a bit on him, calling him “net boy” at the time. 

But on this occasion, he and guide Mick Lubke trolled and spun banks around Blowering. They had a bit of a tough time of it for six hours or so. After a break, they headed back out, late at night and in wintery conditions, and Mick put Broady on to two monster cod.

The first fish went 130cm and the next about 135cm. I say about because the brag mat only went to 130cm.

There’s no way I would have caught those fish. I would have been tucked away firmly in my bed at that hour, and in those conditions, so your hat has to go off to the boys for just being out there. That’s a couple of monster fish and something I’m sure those gents won’t forget for a long, long time.

I’m also sure that anybody that knows Broady won’t stop hearing about it for a long, long time either.

Last week’s column mentioned stockings in Lake Hume. During the week I chased up a few figures, which I must admit surprised me.

The total number of fish released since 1994 by Vic Fisheries is just over 3.16 million, made up of 684,151 brown trout, 1,793,000 golden perch, 437,750 Murray cod and 251,330 rainbow trout.

That’s a lot of fish. This doesn’t include fish stocked by NSW Fisheries prior to the Vic “takeover” of Lake Hume a few years back, and NSW also stocked heaps.

Even a quick look at the numbers raises a few questions though. Probably the biggest is, where are all those rainbow trout? I’ve only heard of a couple being caught in the lake.

I think we could probably agree that most would have sniffed out the cool waters flowing in from the Mitta and headed in that direction, along with quite a few of the browns. This would explain why the Mitta has fished so well throughout the past couple of seasons in particular, when virtually all other Victorian streams have struggled.

The number of cod caught over the past couple of years in Lake Hume and beyond have improved out of sight and that’s not hard to see why either.

A few of them may have moved about into either the Mitta or the Murray.

But who cares, they’re still in our local area and a huge part of our local fisheries.

Again, well done to the authorities. It’s good to see our licence money going into putting fish on hooks.