I find looking for new waters an exciting process. Maps are pored over, and Google is given an absolute hiding searching for any old articles/fishing reports/blogs, etc. that may give a clue to some hidden gem of a forgotten trout stream.

Living in the Eildon area, surrounded by good trout fishing, means I don’t have to travel far to flyfish. Why should I? There are plenty of options within an easy drive of home. However, while for the majority of the year there is enough room for everyone, during holiday periods, the traffic increases and I’m not so keen on fighting for a place on the river. The sad thing is that much of the politeness that’s experienced during most of the season, is lost. As crowds increase, manners seem to decline.

I like my stream fishing relaxed, and without too many other people around. Sounds spoilt I know, but it’s true. So when I want a trout fishing fix in peak times, I search for new waters to explore. The Jordan River, in the Thomson River catchment, has long been in the back of my mind. I’d heard or read something about it, had the occasional look at Google maps, but hadn’t done anything about it.

When my son Scott rang wanting to come up home and have a fish, it prompted me to think about the Jordan again. It’s in a fairly isolated position, is not well known, and chances were there would be few people fishing it. So it was decided, we’d go and have a look.

The Jordan flows through a steep-sided valley that wouldn’t see much sun during the winter months. In the mid 1800’s ,it was part of the gold rush and a series of towns like Jericho and Red Jacket were developed to service the influx of hopeful miners.

We drove first from Matlock to the old Jericho township site. Unfortunately, the Jordan here was absolutely swamped by blackberries. We saw glimpses of the stream from the road, but access was just too hard. Maybe our trip was wasted as we wouldn’t be able to access the river? With a bit of a glum mood in the car we drove on to Red Jacket, where the map indicated a small car parking area near a bridge over the river.

A bushwalker, who was hiking the Great Alpine Track, was resting in the shade when we pulled up at the carpark. While we were talking to him and he refilled some water from our supply, two trout and an eel showed themselves, cruising around the large pool adjacent to us. One of the trout was quite respectable for a small stream and our hopes for fishing lifted. Then a quick look over the bridge upstream spooked a 10 inch trout. Things were starting to look up, and there was a bit of a rush to get the wading shoes on and the rods rigged!

We decided to use the bridge as an access point to explore the river upstream. The Jordan proved fairly small, averaging about 5 metres wide and often shallow. However the water was clear, the flow adequate and, as we found out, there’s the odd pool over a metre deep.

With cicadas buzzing in the extremely hot conditions, Scott loaded up with his own cicada pattern and never looked back. While there were numerous 6-8 inch fish, there were enough 10-12 inchers to keep us entertained, and there was the occasional 14 inch trout as well. In the tight conditions we both lost precious cicada flies to these larger trout. We even abandoned the 3lb tippet and upscaled to 5lb.

After an hour or two, we’d caught enough fish, been broken off a few times, and had enough slashes and missed hook-ups to satisfy our trout fix and give us some fond memories of this little isolated Gippsland stream. Of course we could have kept fishing, but the further we went looking for that next good run, the more we were conscious of the long walk back downstream, given there was no sign of an exit point through blackberries on either side. And as it was extremely hot, some ice-cold water from the car fridge was also becoming too much of a temptation.

It was a real joy to see numerous fish in Jordan and it was great fun to fish. Polaroiding was relatively easy in the clear water, and the larger runs and pools held good-sized trout for a small stream. Small cicada patterns and black Stimulators worked well, although probably any dry would have worked.

So the planning and exploration was a success, and well worth the effort. The anticipation of finding new water was matched by the good fishing at our destination and it was great to share a stream session with my son – even if he did steal most of the good water! The disappointment of the first sight of the blackberry-choked stream was forgotten, and with smiles on our faces while savouring an icy cold beverage, Scott picked up the map and asked, ‘Where to next?’