Trout hooked first-up

THE trout season opened with a bang for many and I was lucky to be one of them.

At a small river in the North East, I managed a nice brown (which was released) on a favourite lure, on my first cast.

My mate, who was also fishing, managed his fish on the first cast as well.

Alas, it went downhill from there, with not a touch for a couple of hours.

Looks like the Tyenna will be a good river to fish this year with a number of double figure fish coming from its lower reaches on opening weekend.

Anglers fishing hard bodied bright coloured lures managed to land 4 nice fish with one whopper going nearly 6kg.

It was the same story around the state, with a seasoned angler getting among some beautifully conditioned rainbow and brown trout in Lake Macintosh on the West Coast.

I had another report of an angler cracking some good river fish from the Mersey at first light on opening morning on the new Huey’s Maggie lure.

Another water that fished well was Blackman’s Lagoon in the North East with football-sized brown trout coming ashore by boat anglers fishing lures with a lot of red colouring.

The Great Lake was a hot spot with some good brown trout coming deep from Brandum Bay and the angler I spoke with told of losing a huge fish, 1 metre long, alongside his boat after a brief tussle on a 2kg leader. He has since upgraded to 4kg leader.

A lot of anglers lost fish because they didn’t have a landing net.

The fish tend to go bit nuts alongside or near the bank, so a good landing net can be a must.

When I’m in my boat, I often get a laugh from other anglers because my landing net is 1 metre across.

It serves me well, because I don’t lose many at net.

My bankside landing net is a small folding model with the new environet mesh as hooks won’t tangle in the mesh.

A true godsend if you are in the market for a new net.

Rivers are down a bit, with rain needed now to bolster fish populations.

Spawning is now nearly done for browns, with rainbow still doing their thing.

Designated rainbow trout waters open September 28.

Protected species

IN a footnote from Inland Fisheries, estuarine perch are now a protected species, meaning you can no longer fish for them.

If you do catch one, you must release it.

Most estuarine perch are caught in the Arthur River area.

I have also been fielding inquiries from a few people regarding the cost of licenses for Inland fishing, for an adult the full season cost is $75.50 which is a moderate fee for something that can provide a lot of enjoyment.

For pensioners, expect to pay $41.50.

My tip for somewhere to visit this week would be Lake Leake, where some fat rainbow were taken over the last few days or perhaps Lake Dulverton at Oatlands with some cracking brown trout lurking there just awaiting a fat worm or a lure.