Some years ago I spent a year in England and looking at Australia from that distance, I missed Victoria’s north-east the most.
The Mitta tailwater in autumn is a great place to be.
I like the clear, strongly flowing streams. I like the mountains. I like the golden poplars in autumn. And I love the trout fishing even if it is challenging. In fact, it is always challenging and that is why I love it.
Decent Mitta browns are worth the effort – I think!
Paul and I fished the Mitta Mitta above Eskdale, the river looking a treat and the weather being unusually mild if not warm. Strangely, Paul took my advice and fished mainly the tails of the big pools with a small para Adams and bead head Hare’s Ear nymph below and he did well, generally landing a fish or two each time we fished. The trout seemed to cruise in and out of the willows, and Paul being both persistent and patient hooked into a number of decent trout, some of which he landed.
A brief change of scenery on Snowy Creek just upstream from Mitta Mitta township.
In my case, I ignored my own advice and tried a range of approaches. I tried deep nymphing into the heads of deep pools, using two small bead heads below a heavy swivel and a large indicator and caught a couple – food for thought and later experimentation. I fished a small bead head below a Royal Wulff in the runs and caught a very occasional fish as the light faded. I fished across and down with a heavy nymph and a small trailing nymph and despite catching lots of tiny fish and a couple of nice ones, felt I was largely ignored or perhaps that the fish were in either the pools themselves or near Paul…
The deep nymphing rig produced this rainbow and a couple of other nice fish.
As always, the quest for understanding is the motivation!
