Anglers prepare for trout season opening

Tuesday, August 31, this Tuesday, heralds the end of cray season and cod season in both states.

Saturday, September 4, next Saturday, is the opening day for trout season in Victoria, which also coincides with the biggest day of the year for all dads, Father's Day.

Unfortunately, lockdowns on both sides of the border are making it difficult for most of us to attend all three, but I'm sure we will all get through it.

Dartmouth (73 per cent): is still steadily rising and should fish extremely well once things open up.

It's been rising for a long time now and is covering ground that hasn't been covered for quite a while, so you'd hope the little buggers would be nice and plump when we can get at 'em too.

It'll also be interesting to see how both the Maccas and the yabbies perform with high water this year.

We've found the Maccas don't seem to mind it, but the yabbies can go either way. Only time will tell.

Streams: are only seven days away from opening, with the only minor problem being we don't look like being able to fish them.

Lucky locals that live only five kilometres from them will certainly notice a lack of other fishos about and will no doubt enjoy the quietest trout opening in Victoria's history.

Lucky buggers will be the envy of every trout fisho in the state!

With regular rainfall over the past months, it's shaping up to be another decent season too.

Hume Dam (93 per cent): also continues to rise despite the releases being increased.

It's looking sensational and is also fishing well.

Trout trollers are putting in a bit of time and there are certainly rewards for those putting in the effort, with trout up to 70cm being caught!

Tassies are still most fishos lure of choice, and if they're your choice too, can I just offer one piece of advice?

Experienced trollers are generally aware of this, but you've gotta make sure you're travelling at the right speed to make your lure work at its best.

That speed will often vary from brand to brand of winged lures but can even vary between lures of the same brand too! The best way to check is to drop them over the side, drop your lure back around three metres and then vary your speed.

Ideally, you want them to basically do a figure eight pattern sideways with an odd flip.

When you've got your rod in its holder, and you've got it right, that'll give you an even beat, with the odd thump in between.

Generally, a nice even beat means you're travelling too fast and the lures revolving constantly, or you're going too slow, and it's just dishing sluggishly from side to side.

I've found my ballpark figure is 3.5km to a bit over 4km per hour and I'll give the motor a bit of a squirt for a second or two to change things up every few minutes as well.

Getting that speed right makes a huge difference to your strike rate.

Reddies are also on the chew, with decent bags coming from vibes and plastics, but bait fishos seem to be going well too, particularly on worms.

The Murray: below Albury is going great. Apart from heaps of crays, there's also quite a few trout on the chew below the wall and on gravel bars right through to Albury.

There's been a fair bit of movement in the water level, and that will continue, with expected rises to start tomorrow. The releases are about to increase again from 3000 meg to 5000 meg a day by Tuesday, then an increase to at least 7000 meg by Friday.

These fluctuations are on top of last week's, where we saw the river at 9000 megs at one stage before dropping back to 3000. Hume being at 93 per cent and more rain forecasted is the main reason for the releases, I believe. It certainly won't worry the fishos that hit "the wall", though the more water, the better!

Lead fish are the order of the day on high water but minnows, plastics and tassies have all been good while it's been down a little.

I had a great day out with mate Kelvin Smith on Thursday, catching heaps of crays and a couple of trout on the way back to the car.

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