Stocker Trout Fishing News

Lots of rain recently has us indoors for the time being. Luckily, others are able to get a round or two fishing in their areas. Of note, is the latest update from our friend Steven in Australia! Looks like the fish are biting. Always great to hear from Steven and how the bite is going in OZ! “Our weather is all over the place at the moment–hot, cold but not a lot of rain. It’s pretty windy outside so we might make sure nothing is in risk of blowing away. Most of the local creeks and streams are pretty low and clear. The trout are there but very skittish. I’ve fished the Badger Creek nearby and caught and released a few nice brown trout recently. I used my 8 foot tenkara rod and a Royal Humpy with a nymph on a dropper. I fished the Stevenson River at Marysville a few days ago. Again, very low and clear but I hooked and lost a few trout, a couple that were probably well over the pound mark as they pulled really hard on the 12 foot tenkara rod. Used a Black Woolly Worm–my favourite wet fl...

Received an update from Steve in Australia… Great to hear the Near Deere is getting bit in OZ! Thanks for the update Steve! My two fishing trips were to Marysville Lake and Don Road Lake at Healesville. At Marysville I used my 12 foot tenkara rod as well as a spinning rod with a Crystal Cast float. The flies I used were the Near Deere and a Bead Headed Green Crystal Woolly Bugger which I reckon looks a bit like the Near Deere on steroids! Picked up a few rainbow trout on both flies but it was hard going. Don Road Lake is less than five minutes drive from where I live. It gets stocked with rainbow trout in the cooler seasons but it also holds perch, roach, big goldfish and eels. I fished a 9 foot 6wt fly rod with bead head GRHE nymph and a San Juan Worm under a pea sized indicator. Only caught the one fat rainbow trout that was full of milt and an 8 inch perch, both on the nymph. I’ll try to add the pictures at the end of this email.  

Latest report from Steve in Australia has trout caught on the fly with a Tenkara Rod! Steve sends a picture of one trout – first one on a Tenkara Rod and a brief summary of the trip below. I went up to Marysville on Tuesday afternoon and fished my tenkara rod in the recently stocked lake. Once I got used to the limited casting range, I really enjoyed it. With the 8 foot rod, 12 foot level line and 6 foot of 3 pound tippet, I could reach out over 20 feet, which was quite adequate. I tried soft hackle flies and nymphs but had no luck with them. Changed to a black Woolly Worm and caught and released 6 nice pan size rainbows. All up pretty happy with the outfit, even if it was a little under gunned for lake fishing. Looking forward to trying the tenkara rod in the local creeks in September. For more pictures from Australia as well as fish of interest sent by Readers, do check out the Fishing Bulletin Board !

From Steve in Australia who is enjoying the good life fishing at a nearby creek – near as in his backyard, pictures of the first trout caught since moving to the new homestead, the creek at the end of the garden, and some cool looking plant life! Thanks for the pictures. We look forward to more updates from Oz! Living the Good Life!

Good to see others are able to hook up in 2016! Received the latest from Steve in Australia. Although it was only one Trout, it still was a great day to be out fishing! Wish we could have been there too working a fishing fly in the river! Steve writes: About a week ago I fished another stretch of the Steavenson River near Marysville. I usually wade the part in and above the town which narrows up quickly and becomes difficult to fish due to the heavy stream side vegetation. This new, to me, stretch flowed through farmland and was wider and casting was much easier. Beautiful piece of water. I fished a bead head nymph under a Royal Humpy and got many hits from trout, mostly on the nymph as far as I could see. I landed one small rainbow trout but briefly hooked and lost 4 or 5 others. I think I can put this down to the 5/6wt outfit that I was using that is a bit too stiff. I have a better landing rate with a little 6’6″ 3/4wt rod that I usually use. Although I only landed and re...

Weekend outlook has the Field Team in limbo; rain is in the forecast so we may shift to other fishing related things like tying more fishing flies. We lost a number of fishing flies on our last fishing trip courtesy of the trees and some of the trout at Turner Falls! Regardless of the weather in our area, it looks like others are catching Trout to include our friend Steve in Australia! Here is his latest fishing report and pictures! I went fishing last Friday. Drove up to Marysville and fished the lake until it got light. Not much activity and only got a few plucks and following trout using two North Country Spiders ( Snipe and Purple and a Partridge and Orange ). Walked up the nearby Stevenson River and caught and released a small wild rainbow trout on the Snipe and Purple. After breakfast at the local bakery, I  drove to the nearby Acheron River where I picked up a nice wild Brown trout  about 10 inches on a floating Basin Hopper. Next , I drove to Warburton via the Acheron Way which...

Received an update from Steve in Australia. He was able to catch a nice looking Brown Trout from an undisclosed location. Below is a picture of the Trout! Nice…!

Here is the latest from Steve in Australia. Nice looking Brown Trout caught on the fly! Last Friday morning I took another trip up to the Marysville/Narbethong area. I first fished the little lake at Narbethong in the pre-dawn with a Crystal Clear float and Black Woolly Worm. No takers but saw a few fish moving in the shallows. After an hour I drove to Marysville and fished the same outfit until it got light. Caught and released 3 small rainbow trout. The stocked trout have been all small pan sized fish over the last few stockings. One time some decent fish around a pound or so were stocked. When it got light I rigged up my 3/4wt 6’6″ fly rod with a Black Woolly Worm and waded up the Stevenson River, which flows near the lake. The stream was quite low and clear. I caught and released a nice little wild brown trout about 9″ long. I waded up as far as the stream vegetation would allow but didn’t interest any more fish. It was the end of the school holidays and the ...

Work schedule remains crazy right now but still making time to get the latest update from others in the field. One update in particular comes from Steve in Australia. Here is the latest update courtesy of Steve… Great report and pictures. Keep them coming! Last Friday, I waded up the Grace Burn, which runs through Healesville and caught/released a nice wild brown trout on a Berkley 1″ Nymph fished on an ultra light spin outfit. Never used the Nymphs before and was very impressed with their fish attracting qualities. On the retrieve before I hooked this trout I saw a boil near the lure and then hooked the trout on the next cast. I may even try these Nymphs on the fly rod. Later that morning I’d arranged with the local water watch group to collect bug samples in the Grace Burn. We spent a couple of hours collecting and counting bugs and I’m pleased to say that the Burn scored very well as a healthy creek, which didn’t really surprise me. There were plenty of ...

Latest from Steve in Australia has rain in the forecast but Opening Day is just around the corner! Steve reports… Went up to Marysville again last Sunday, this time to fish a new lake I’d been told about. This small lake is on the edge of a huge government pine plantation and cannot be seen from the road because of the trees. A lovely spot. I fished an OZ Dragonfly Nymph on a spinning rod with a Crystal Cast float. This let me cast a decent distance and cut through the wind which was awkward at times. I hooked and released only the one fish but it was a beautiful wild brown trout.  At first I thought I’d snagged the fly on some underwater vegetation but then the”snag” moved. It’s always a buzz to catch wild fish. I saw other fish rising. I’ll definitely go back to this spot again soon.  Another thing of interest were the fresh deer tracks that were on the track around the lake. I very occasionally see sambar deer when I’m driving home from...

Looks like the Trout action was good for Steve in Australia despite having to work around the rain showers. Excerpt from Steve’s report: “It was still raining on the way up and never really stopped in the few hours I was there. I took the fly gear but only used a spin outfit to cast a CrystalCast float and fly.  In a couple of hours fishing I caught and released around 15 stocked rainbow trout. Used a sunk small Muddler Minnow which worked for a while, then a bead head Pheasant Tail Nymph which got no takes at all, then switched to an OZ Dragonfly Nymph. This last fly was created and tied by my friend in the US. It has squirrel hair, rubber legs and bead eyes. It is a great mudeye fly. Mudeye is our name for dragon fly nymph. With this last fly, I found that a very slow steady retrieve worked the best .” Below are Steve’s pictures! Spin outfit, CrystalCast Float, Muddler Minnow and small stocker rainbow. Caught today Monday July 13.   Artificial waterfall at...

Just in from one of our Readers. Two nice looking Trout sent from Steve in Australia! Steve noted, “The first one is the wild brown trout and the second photo is a stocked rainbow trout from a small lake about 30 minutes drive NE of where I live. The fly is a rubber legged bee fly that was tied and sent to me by good a friend in the US. I think it is a bluegill fly but the trout here like it.” Thanks for submitting the picture Steve! Wild Brown Trout Stocked Rainbow Trout