After the Easter weekend crowds had died down, I decided to head up to the Victorian High Country for a couple of days to camp and fish for trout.
Prior to this trip, I had never fished for trout in a natural, freshwater river and thus spent many hours asking questions about general trout fishing and researching the area. As with all my fishing trips, I left with no expectation of catching fish - seeing or catching any fish would be a bonus.
After a couple hours of driving from Melbourne and hurtling down dirt roads laden with pot holes, I finally reached the campsite. It was nothing like I had ever seen. A beautiful, clean river ran right past where I would eventually pitch my tent. The air was clean, fresh and crisp, nothing like what we are exposed to on a day-to-day basis in Melbourne. This was true Victorian country.
I quickly set up camp and got the rod out. I was using a 6 foot 6 Jarvis Walker Bullseye rod with 6lb mono. I brought an arsenal of lures including some shallow divers in brown trout colour (Muzza lures - highly recommend), and a plethora of Mepps spinners, courtesy of Adrian.
The first spot I decided to fish was a tiny deep pool just upstream of my campsite. It was not very big but was incredibly deep.
I clipped on one of the Mepps spinners and cast in a few times. After a while, a small shadow emerged from the depths and followed the spinner. There was no hook up but it was clear that there was something lurking in the depths.
With some more persistence, the fish eventually latched onto the Mepps spinner. After a quick battle, the fish was landed and placed in a small pool of water that had accumulated in one of the recesses of a rock. I had never caught a fish like this but instantly recognised it. A small Macquarie perch. The lure was quickly removed and it was released back into the water.
Over the course of the next couple of days, I trekked through many different areas, finding more deep pools to fish in hopes of catching a trout. My hands and arms were covered in scratches from the masses of blackberry bushes which I scraped along the way.
My mate landed two beautiful brown trout which were kept for dinner. They were slowly cooked over a campfire on a hot plate. Simple but they tasted amazing.
Both were caught in the same stretch of the river so we returned the next day to the same spot in hopes of finding some more trout. A trout latched onto a hard body lure but managed to unhook itself as I attempted to tighten my drag. Nevertheless, it was an exhilarating experience to even come close to catching one.
Trout or no trout, this was some of the most beautiful country I have ever experienced. Seeing the morning fog roll over the river in the morning and an unpolluted view of the Milky Way at night made the trip entirely worthwhile. Getting to see some fish was the icing on the cake.
I hope our future generations are blessed with this unique and largely untouched area of Victoria.
A huge thanks to the forum member who helped me prepare for the trip (you know who you are). And thank you to Adrian/Meppstas for his unparalleled generosity and advice with regards to trout fishing.
