Trout fishing season in rivers closes soon

Recreational anglers are being reminded that the trout fishing season in Victorian rivers officially closes at midnight 8 June this year.

Fisheries Victoria Executive Director, Travis Dowling, said the closure, which remains in place until early September, protects spawning trout and gives wild stocks an opportunity to reproduce.

"The Queen's Birthday long weekend provides freshwater anglers with their last chance to catch trout in our rivers before the season finishes up," Mr Dowling said.

"Although the streams and rivers close during winter, anglers can still fish for trout and salmon in Victorian lakes and reservoirs, which remain open year round.

"The three month trout and salmon closed season applies only to rivers and streams, although sections of sea-run rivers, such as the Aire, Gellibrand, Hopkins, Merri and Moyne, remain open.

"Fisheries Victoria stocks more than 130 lakes annually with trout and salmon so there are still plenty of inland fishing opportunities available while most rivers are closed.

Mr Dowling said the state-wide fish stocking program helped maintain productive trout fisheries and was funded by recreational fishing licence fees and the State Government's 'Target One Million' plan, which aims to grow angler numbers to one million by 2020 and boost fish stocking from three million to five million.

"Some of the most productive trout-fishing lakes recently have been Lake Wendouree and Toolondo Reservoir where anglers have been landing stocked brown trout between 1 and 3kg using a variety of methods.

Other stocked lakes worth a visit during winter include:

For a full list of stocked trout lakes, visit www.vic.gov.au/fishstocking