Big brown trout are hungry at this time of year, as are the typically smaller rainbow trout, and they are in around the edges looking for their next meal.
However, with water levels in lakes well up, many spots have bulrushes, bushes, grass, shrubs and the like right where some anglers want to cast.
This means that the stock standard bait fishing approach of a running sinker rig with a floating grub or artificial bait is not the best choice. Not only will this rig see you snagged up reasonably often, but when you do hook a trout, your line is already amongst the rough stuff so break offs are more likely.
An unweighted scrub worm, or better still a bait under a float is much better approach if the foliage on the lake bed is thick, you will simply have to pick a spot where the wind is blowing out from the bank so that these presentations hold out in the water properly.
If you don’t have a suitable outfit, a Fishing Australia 662 or 702 combo is ideal for this purpose, they come ready spooled with 3 kilo line and are an absolute joy to use on trout. The latest models with glo in the dark tips are pretty cool, and they come colours to suit blokes, women and kids. They have been in short supply though, so you may have to ask your local to order them.
From there it is pretty much a case of getting down and having a look for yourself and then deciding from there-some spots still have a cleaner open yabby beds or weed beds, in which case a sinker is fine.
Early and late in the day is good, but overcast days or times with wind ripples or choppy waves will hold trout throughout the day at the moment.
Interestingly, while rising water levels are great for trout (it brings them in close and gives them more food) dropping water levels, which are probably inevitable as the weather warms up, can be a blessing in disguise as it means easier access for anglers in some areas. The fishing will still be excellent-when one door closes, another one opens.
But besides the scent of a bait, an even better way to tackle the flooded margins is spinning with shallow running long casting hardbodied lures. From a bank, or from a boat, cast to spots between 1 and 4 meters deep and most importantly keep moving along and you will find some excellent patches of trout. You see fish have an excellent sense of vibration via their lateral line, and if you look to seek them out by covering ground you will find some good action.
While researching for Fishing Australia, my friends and I have lots of standard sized rainbows, a couple of good sized Atlantic Salmon and a good number of bigger brown trout (some have been particularly big thanks to the good feed) using shallow running hard bodied lures, but a few pointers will make all the difference in the world.
For a start, some new extra long casting shallow running trout lures have finally been released for exactly this purpose. The MaxRap in 5 and 7 cm are great examples, they can be slow rolled, cracked hard in a barra like retrieve, and suspend perfectly when need be. It is very handy to be able to do all this with the one lure-often you need this flexibility to tease the bigger trout into bitting.
In fact, I’ve been helping out with some trout fishing seminars lately, and one thing I noticed is that many anglers still don’t realize the importance of considering the amount of energy they put down to a lure to match the scenario.
Try a subtle retrieve on the first few casts for in close fish in any given spot you stop to spin, and then try adding in some super aggressive barra like cracks down to the lure every 7 meters or so of your retrieve.
More energy put down a lure draws fish in from much further away, at which point they are already sold, so you can slow down in between-you don’t want to scare them off by overselling the lure once they are all over it.
This approach is incredibly…incredibly effective, yet few trout anglers pay any attention to itl. Fire that lure up if things are quite, and you’ll get more trout-it has been working for me locally and further abroad.
See you on the water,
Rob Paxevanos
FLY FISHERMEN, GET YO GAY ASS WADERS ON AND GET THE SHIT INTO THAT HIGH COUNTRY. its your duty to catch all these brown trout.
for all you non weirdos out there, leave your power bait at home cause they’re not interested in that weird shit.
like the man said floated worm or lure.. but they’re that well fed you just gotta hope you throw it into a pack of the bastards, because they really ain’t interested.
im obviously not sharing spots, but ask any older inland fisherman. they’ll know the areas for trout them old bastards