I’m just off the phone from my mate JD up Eildon way. After a couple of enjoyable trips to the Goulburn and surrounds in September, I haven’t had a chance to get back since, so I’ve had to rely on his reports for a sense of how the season is progressing up there.

While all that has been going on, it turns out something even more significant than fishing has just arrived in JD’s life – he’s become a grandad for the second time. And JD reckons the arrival of baby Nicholas, near the start of stream trout season, has some analogies with the fishing. As he sees it, new babies don’t do a lot, but as time progresses, they wriggle around a bit more, then crawl, then start some wobbly walking. Before we know it, they’re toddlers, tearing around the house, grabbing for anything within reach that looks half-interesting.

JD says that, so far, his local fishing on the Goulburn and nearby natural streams, has largely been in the infant stage – good fun, but more a crawl / wobbly walk than a busy toddler. The inflation of the Goulburn from a gentle 1700 ML/d at the start of the season, to a massive 9000 ML/d , and now back to a moderate 4000 ML/d, has made for some confusion. Still, there’s been a trend towards more consistency in the evening rises (modest, but significant), and some evening action on the natural streams too – at least between cold snaps and rain events.

Meanwhile, around home in central Victoria, my own fishing has been limited. However, I did manage a couple of shore-based hours at Wendouree for a bright blue early afternoon session on Wednesday. Given the conditions, a dun hatch was probably a stretch, but I did find a few dragonfly/ damselfly leapers, and I managed to catch a fat 3 pound brown on a retrieved Dirty Stick Caddis. Interestingly, for a short time, the gulls and terns were very busy up the western end of the lake. These birds are often an indicator of duns, although they were just a bit far out for me to be able to confirm anything. Dun hatches have been reported by a couple of contacts on cloudy days.

Back to the streams, and my sons have managed the odd session on the local creeks. They report the fishing as more challenging so far than last season, though still well worthwhile if you put in the time and look very carefully for targets. (They say blind searching is inclined to spook unseen fish in the very clear water and relatively gentle flows.)  Most trout are now taking dry flies.

So to paraphrase JD, it seems like the fishing in general is still in the earlier stages of development, although with promising signs the toddler phase is just around the corner!