Ho, Ho, Ho fishos. The big jolly man in the red suit isn't far away now.
This time next week he'll have been and gone and you'll hopefully be playing with some new fishing gear ... or something else you were hoping for.
With a bit of luck, you should be able to get out and about too.
It would appear, apart from a slight chance of showers Saturday and Sunday, we'll have a dry week leading into the Christmas break, and that should make for perfect conditions in streams and rivers right across the region for the first time in a long time.
Persistent rain has kept lots of popular areas a tad high or dirty and made some virtually unfishable for quite a while. A week of very little to no rain is just what we're looking for.
Dartmouth (87.38 per cent): sorry, but just haven't heard much from that way.
I'd presume though, that with the warmer weather predicted from here on in, you'll definitely have more luck using lead lines, downriggers, etc to get you down a tad as that surface water temp keeps rising.
Streams: are really starting to shape up now and should fish sensationally over the rest of summer.
Hoppers are starting to show up in numbers which always fattens those streamies up and keeps them active during the day, so a well-presented bait, lure or fly should see you picking up one or two.
Hume (98 per cent): is doing well. There's not too many fishos heading out there and coming home without a feed of reddies.
All methods are working - trolling, flicking vibes etc and bait are all pulling fish and there's plenty of reasonable ones among them.
Ice jigs have also been very successful vertical jigging or casting.
The yellas seem to have backed off a bit now although there's still enough about to keep those keen yella fishos interested.
The Upper Murray: has settled quite a lot compared to cod opening weekend and will just keep improving as it drops and clears even more, so we're expecting some great results up that way over the break.
Murray below Albury: is pretty much in the same boat. It should settle to a steady-ish level and that will no doubt improve the fishing no end.
Don't get me wrong, there seems to be a few cod and yellas already being caught, but those crazy high levels we had over the opening weekend and since, shouldn't come back in a hurry and the fishing will just get better because of it.
Mulwala: has seen a lot of very small cod showing up on both bait and lure among a few in the keeper window and the odd big fella.
Trent Freer managed six small ones on a successful fun family day trolling hardbodies and we've had a couple of similar reports.
Biggest I've heard of this week was a very fat 95cm job that ate a swimbait.
Hopefully the water's not too far away from clearing up a bit and things will no doubt get even better when it does.
Talbingo: has also been good on the redfin scene of late and the trout have been a bit active too.
Bait in among the timber for the reddies seems the go, but quite a few were trolled along with some solid trout.
Khancoban: has seen a few solid trout pulled out as well on the troll, although this hotter weather might mean early starts and late finishes are the best way to pick 'em up.
A worm or mudeye soaking up the back of the lake is always worth a try.
The Bidgee: is still running pretty hard, but again should settle enough to come good for everyone visiting its banks for the Christmas break.
It always produces good numbers of cod, particularly for bait fishos, and this year will be no different, I'm sure.
Eucumbene (46.12 per cent): is looking a picture, and fishing well from all reports.
There seem to be some quality browns around the edges along with solid rainbows, so I'm sure it will fish the best it has for years over the Christmas break.
Blowering (98.7 per cent): has picked up a little on the redfin front. There seems to be a few better reports floating about but they're still patchy, just like everywhere else, you've still gotta find 'em.
There's also a few yellas and cod being sighted cruising the shallows too, which isn't uncommon for this time of year.
The odd cod is still trolled and angled from the bank but they're not going gangbusters.
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