Back in the dark ages, before there was even a trout season on the Victorian streams (let alone size and bag limits), I rarely fished the creeks and rivers in September. Or if I did, it was likely to be on the waters in the west of the state, not the north-east. I had worked out that, this early in spring, the fishing was (usually) a shadow of what I could find in the flowing water once things warmed up by, say, November. I was better off sticking to the lakes.
Back then, if it had been a particularly cold and gloomy winter, maybe my mates and I would head out to a north-east stream for the sake of it, but the quality of the fishing was such that the occasional good session stood out because it was good – like that Mitta afternoon with Simon in September near Tallandoon, when the trout were up rising for drifting stick caddis as if there was a Kossie dun hatch. We finally figured out what was happening in time for half an hour catching 3 pounders, before the drift stopped and the trout disappeared. Like I say, I remember this afternoon 30 years ago because it was a September standout, not the norm. (And by the way, I’ve never witnessed the same phenomena since.)
Nowadays, I fish streams in September more often, not because things are fundamentally different, but because I can. There’s even a sense of celebration – in my case, as much for the fact that there is a closed season when there wasn’t always.

Good to be back!
A couple of days ago, I opened my 2024/25 stream fishing with Daniel and JD on the mid Goulburn catchment. By good luck (I only had two clear days) we struck a patch of mild, settled weather.
Even allowing for the odd swooping magpie, it was bliss to be out on running water again. With air temperatures ranging from the low to high teens, it would have been easy to imagine it was late spring, and to expect the trout and bugs to behave accordingly. By September standards, flows and water clarity were both fine too – even if retrieving flies from underwater snags felt like plunging your fingers into an ice bath.
Good flow & clarity, but icy cold.
As it turned out though, we found typical early September fastwater fishing – enjoyable, but not prolific. While we all caught trout on every stream we fished, tallying the catch for the diary wasn’t the complex exercise it can prove to be in a couple of months’ time.
Most trout took wets, but a few – like this one – took the dry.
We fished dry flies (mainly Royal Wulffs) with small, heavy nymphs underneath. I contemplated using a standard indicator, but having a dry fly as an indicator was homage to hope, and every so often a trout actually ate it.
It doesn’t take many fish like this to make a good trip.
The highlight for visual action at least (and proof you always have to be ready to adapt no matter the time of year) were trout leaping for dragonflies. Like those drifting Mitta stick caddis three decades ago, I suspect that’s a one-off for early September. However, we improvised our go-to dragonfly leaper tactics usually employed later in the season, and caught some really nice fish.
Releasing a dragonfly leaper.
On the trip home on Wednesday evening, we drove into torrential icy rain, hail and a black sky cracked by lightning, and it stayed that way almost to my front door. It was a hard reminder that, despite superficial appearances, it’s only the start of spring after all. There are many months ahead for the stream fishing to settle into what we dream of in the middle of winter.
JD and the big G.
Late next week, I’ll be heading north-east again for the Talk Wild Trout conference in Mansfield, and I’ll be sure to combine that trip with some more fishing. While it may not be high season yet, the day I’m anywhere near Mansfield in trout season and don’t go fishing, is the day I should give it away!