G'day fishos. The coronavirus ... I know, everyone's already had a gutful of it, but the reality is it's going to be around for months to come.
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We've got to keep out of crowds, we've got to be careful not to touch well-used surfaces, we've got to keep washing our hands, we can't shake hands, we've got to cough into our elbows and so on and so forth.
Between the public hysteria and the constant media coverage, it's doing my head in - and I'm sure I'm not the only one!
What can we fishos, do about it? It's simple! Take yourself out of the equation and go fishing.
It won't matter if you go out of the bank or out in a boat, you'll be away from the crowd, away from all the negative media and you'll be in with a chance of catching a feed.
It's as simple as jumping in the car and taking yourself away to a favourite spot.
Enjoy the benefits of the clean air and open spaces that we are lucky enough to have endless quantities of.
AT A GLANCE
Dartmouth (46.7) - fired for some and not others last weekend. Stories we got varied from eight fish in a day to donuts, and in some cases techniques were very similar.
There's still some yabbies being reported, although you'd expect them to slow within the next month.
Rich Urbanavicius also nailed a ripper rainbow trout during the week that went around somewhere near 6.5lb.
Streams - are looking great and there seems to be no real shortage of smaller fish in them at the moment.
While there's still the odd big fish about, there are plenty of little fellas taking crickets, hoppers, lures and flies of all descriptions. With a drop of rain predicted here and there, things are looking great for the Easter break!
Another "golden tag" fish was pulled from the Mount Beauty pondage recently too.
Congrats to my old mate Cliff Winnel, who landed a 60cm brown on a Tassie.
The Upper Murray - has been great from Jingellic upstream, with numerous reports of cod being caught despite the dirty water.
Lures probably aren't the best option at the moment because of that water clarity, or lack of, but it doesn't seem to be worrying the fish. I did get a very promising report from one fisho that camped on a reserve just above the old Dora Dora pub last week.
He was part of a camp of not very active fishos and mentioned they had caught a small cod and a carp during they're stay. The cod was reportedly about 250mm long.
That's not a big fish in cod circles, but a very important sign for all fishos that love that area.
Reports of cod have been non-existent since the fires and the black water event that followed soon after, so that one report takes on a fair bit of significance.
If you catch a cod anywhere between Jingellic and Lake Hume, please get a photo of it and let us at the Compleat Angler and either Vic or NSW Fisheries know.
Blowering (39.8) - was tough going last weekend. Two separate comps were run and many participants failed to trouble the scorers, although there's still a few coming off the banks on bait.
The Bidgee - is pretty low but producing some reasonable numbers.
Eucumbene (26.2) and Jindabyne (66.3) are both going OK but not huge numbers for the trollers, while Tantangara (11.2) has been decent but access is only from the back road.
Hume (16.3 per cent) - had risen fractionally this week, and the reddies seem to have liked it with quite a few people saying they'd been able to catch a feed.
One customer who heads out regularly reckons they were taking vibes and jaggers more readily than bait this week.
He ended up with 27 reasonable fish, but also said he was still being plagued by little fish as well.
Unfortunately, it's started to fall a tad again now.
You might be able to get your boat in at Bowna, but it's getting difficult and I'd only try it with a smaller outfit.
Lake Hume Resort ramp (8 per cent), Ludlows (10 per cent), Ebden (5 per cent) and Kurrajong (6.5 per cent) will all be usable for a while yet.
There's been no news of any of those golden tagged fish from Hume. However, I noticed there was one picked up at the Mount Beauty pondage.
There are now up to at least 16 tagged fish, with each one still worth $2000.
Remember that, if you do get one, to cut the tag off and keep it - but make sure it's a "golden fish" tag first, not just a standard one.
The Murray - below Albury is pretty low, but there's a few yellas and cod about.
It's a bit harder to get about, but all good fish hidey holes are pretty well exposed which makes life easier.
Quite a few of those being caught are being spun up on spinnerbaits and hard bodies, but the bait fishos are getting their share.
