Big weekend for footy ... and for fishing

AFL Grand Final weekend is coming up – for most footy fans it is the highlight of the year and for those that aren't into footy it's usually a good time to go fishing.

That said, the weather gods are still having their say but temperatures look set to rise this weekend even though it still looks windy.

I had the opportunity to visit Lake Sorell with some good friends last weekend but fishing conditions were far from ideal. Snow, hail, wind and rain has battered the area and most of the state for weeks now and although water levels in Lake Sorell are high, visibility and water temperatures are down and we all went fishless in limited time spent on the water. 

Lake Crescent isn't as big as Lake Sorell but is just as shallow and although we didn't get a chance to fish there it's good to see water levels up as well.

I'm sure once the weather settles and temperatures rise, both these waters will fire like a lot of others around the state.

Lots of water was flowing through the Derwent River again last weekend after more water was being released from Meadowbank Lake. Anglers were able to land some sea run and resident trout mostly from the lower reaches on bait and lure earlier in the week and reports from the upper reaches also mentioned some landing rainbow trout.

People were wondering about this and back in August 2023 the IFS released over 5000 triploid rainbow trout into Lake Meadowbank and the likely scenario is that some of these fish have come

down through the Derwent during the recent flooding and water releases from the lake.Most of the North West and West Coast catchments were spilling again over the weekend as were all of the Lower Derwent Catchments and It's been a long time since we've seen conditions like this through Winter let alone Spring.

EVERYONE who loves trout fishing will be familiar with the popular lure brand Rapala.The original Floater or F series is and has been one of the greatest lures in trout fishing history and the "F" series has now been updated with "Elite" features like it's awesome brother the "Countdown".

Built with the legendary balsa wood design and the “Wounded-Minnow” action of the Original Floater, the new Floater Elite 85 can be cast longer distances which is great for open water angling as well as being perfect to use in smaller fast flowing waters.

New features include a modern construction of it's wooden balsa body,fully wired-through two points, and what I think is best of all ,the "elite" enhanced gilded paint jobs.

Another feature is the lure’s lower centre of gravity which is beneficial for various retrieves when using them.

The Floater Elites are great for fishing in flowing water whether it be fast or slow and they can also be used as jerk or twitch baits as well as trolling.

Rapala Floater Elites are 8.5 cm long and weigh 6.5 gms and run from around 1 m-1.2 in depth and cost $29.95.

The lures are available nationwide and Williams Outdoors have just sourced three of the eight colours, Gilded Brown Trout, Gilded Mediterranean Trout and Gilded Chartreuse Yamame.

Other colours, Gilded Yamame, Gilded Minnow, Gilded Live Roach, Gilded Rainbow Trout and Gilded Wakasagi should also be in stock sometime soon. News surfaced recently of the new floater elites being released and many are also asking if they will be also available in other legendary sizes and it's expected that they will be available sometime in the future.

Tight lines until next week.

Tip of the Week - The Inland Fisheries Service recently sourced some Atlantic salmon from Tassal's Russell Falls hatchery and distributed them into some waters last week. The fish weighed on average around 1.2 kg and Craigbourne Lake took well over 500 fish and both Lake Kara and Meadowbank Lake took 180 as well.

Send in your fishing reports,pics and tips to valleyfishes@gmail.com and keep track of the Derwent Valley Gazette Fishing page at derwentvalleygazette.com