Vic Fisheries (not their real title, but it’ll do us) has just dropped another decent load of trout into Lake Hume, which is just another show of the commitment they have toward improving fishing across the state.

A few fishos have questioned the success of stocking rainbows into Hume, and I’d have to agree you don’t see as many in anglers’ bags as you think you would considering the amount released over the years.

What I would point out, though, is the rainbows that appear in fishos bags from the Mitta and its tributaries. Considering these streams don’t get stocked at all, there’s only one place these rainbows could be coming from.

I’m pretty sure the browns that get released into Hume must do the same thing, as the improvements in the fishing in the Mitta usually coincide with successful stocking years in Lake Hume. It’s just too much of a coincidence not to be true.

For me, that means stocking trout in Lake Hume is a great success.

On that note, we reported back in April that 900 tagged trout were released into Khancoban Pondage.

Since their release, there’s been 32 recaptured, 10 in the pondage and 22 in the Swampy Plains River below. 

Same story, those trout are still being caught in the local area, so there’s not too many complaints and definitely none from those reporting them, as they get a free Oar Gee lure for their efforts.

Dartmouth (88 per cent) – was patchy for competitors in the TBS Marine Dart Cup last weekend, as was the weather. 

Friday had competitors fishing in a fair bit of wet weather and Saturday morning wasn’t great either. Luckily things picked up for the rest of the weekend, with most fishos finding a few for the comp. One boat I know picked up 28.

Mitta valley locals Todd Ellis and bus driver JB were lucky to have Toddy’s young bloke along with them to keep them on the straight and narrow. He made them look good by catching a few fish, five in total, I think.

About 460 fished the comp, with around 800 fish weighed in.

Biggest brown was just over 2kg, and the biggest rainbow was .730g.

The teams event was shared by The Russians and Bullet Lures, who both had their 10 best fish weigh in at 8.425kg, with Team Extreme third with 8.005. The boat and motor was won by Rayne LeBusque. More details are on the Dartmouth Anglers Club Facebook site.

Trout Streams – are now closed, in both NSW and Victoria.

Lake Hume (38.4 per cent) – has jumped another 1 per cent this week. But it hasn’t had a lot of traffic, which is an indication that it hasn’t been going gangbusters.

There are, however a few trout starting to show up and the odd reddy still being caught – though I don’t know that this weekend’s weather predictions will fill anyone’s heart with joy and enthusiasm about heading out.

Paul Rennie reported dropping a decent fish, believed to be a trout, at about 10 metres off a downrigger. Another customer reported he’d picked up a 1.5kg brown flat lining a silver King Cobra, so they are about.

The Murray –  below the Hume is still low but still producing some great crays, along with the odd cod and yellow belly on lures.

There’s been numerous reports of some monster crays being picked up among the legal size stuff. Nobody seems to be having any trouble catching a few.

Mulwala – is at 0 per cent and is only accessible to canoes, kayaks and other very light vessels.

There’s still some cod being picked up though, with a clip of a 124cm model getting about. Could be worth a shot if you’ve got the right craft.

Blowering – was great on Saturday night if you ask the world’s greatest concreter, David Bauerle (Poddy). 

He nailed a 950mm job casting a pink Tassie devil near the wall. Well, that’s what he tried to tell me anyway. He actually caught it casting a soft plastic and fishing just under the surface, but unfortunately it was the only one seen between a few fishos in that crew.

Things should improve as the moon builds, though.