Warburton Trout?

[Aimless]

Hey fellas,

I am heading up to Warburton this weekend. My wife is catching up with some colleagues and in return for being her company, I am off the leash to do some fishing mid-morning and/or later in the afternoon.

My ongoing dream to catch a trout in Victoria has not dwindled despite many lures lost in trees. Truth is I am not equipped so well for it - I have a chunky little 6' rod with braid and 8lb leader, and a bunch of lures and soft plastics and bait tackle.

Any advice on how I might hook up around Warburton? I know the main part of the river through town pretty well which is nice and deep and flows well, have seen a few people fish that but never tried myself.

I have a pair of waders and have had a go further upstream where it's a little more narrow and treacherous. I also know some of the small streams around town have a good reputation but I suspect most of my gear is too big to target anything in there.

Not much came up on a search of the site so hoping for any advice.

Cheers!

[hornet]

If your not confident with your gear there are some good quality cheap combo's for light trout fishing at the moment at Anaconda or BCF...

[Aimless]

Hey Hornet, yep I am going to be 'recapitalising' my gear over the next few months for sure. Tempted to see what comes up immediately after Christmas as I'll have a few weeks off to go bananas.

That said I won't have a chance before getting up this weekend so I will be flicking whatever I have on me.

[Sebb]

If you're new to lure trout fishing, start with spinner lure such as Mepps. Cast upstream 45 degree angle across and straight away wind after the lure hits the water.

[happyfriggincamper]

Based on what info you've given, your setup sounds like it could be much worse but will be usable for getting onto trout up there.

There's pretty much trout everywhere up there - and trout in general are pretty standardised in where they will be found and what techniques and approaches will get them. If you havent already - id suggest to read or watch online about typical trout lies in a river.

From there id recommend focus on 1-3ft deep sections and translating what youve learned into identifying lies in the section you are fishing. Just throwing spinners is fine, they are pretty much a universal trout lure, cast ahead of the lie you think might hold, retrieve the lure to basically match the pace of the current and aim to keep the lure 3-5 inches off the bottom.

There are trout in the deep sections (that can be very surprising how deep it gets) - but those 1-3ft sections are gonna be the easiest way for you to have your lure in their strike zone.

[happyfriggincamper]

Post a report as well mate

[Aimless]

Thanks for the advice guys. I had caught plenty of trout out of dams in SA and they all loved spinners so I'll give it a go.

I also did a beginner's trout trip up to the high country learning to fly fish. That was on my bucket list, didn't catch a thing (my wife pulled in a lovely brown on the last cast, pitch black... she has held that one over me ever since. Even took her horse riding the day before to even out the weekend since she's not a super keen fisho) but I had a few rises and got a good idea of where the trout live.

Cheers! Will definitely report back.

[russellh2]

Fish the river at first and last 2 hours of daylight / Fish from the top of pools to the bottom end / Always fish upstream as fish face upstream to catch food and aid water flow over gills / Fish shadows not areas exposed to directs sunlight / cast upstream past rock / boulders / snags and let lure / bait drift / spin back to you - Fish a section as far as you can cast safely then move up river about 3/4 of your cast length and start again. Good time to drift worms - Use just enough weight (Split Shot) to allow bait to drift along to bottom - fish eddy's as well = good luck

[Aimless]

Hey fellas. Well my report is donuts as the wife's shindig went on too long and I couldn't get away before dark. But the good news is we now have two lots of people living right near the river up there. I will try and get up next weekend or the one after for a proper shot. Also seems I'm out of spinners in the tackle box so I wouldn't have had any good lures to go on anyway! Will report on my next trip, thanks all for the advice.

Good news is that though the fishing was nonexistent, I never come home empty handed - got an awesome cane peacock chair from hard rubbish on the drive back.

Off to Mornington tomorrow to try for some saltwater seafood.

[Lightningx]

Sounds like you scored on the way home!
Good luck tomorrow.
Cheers