Six of Gippland’s best and healthiest small trout fly fishing streams are all within about 35 minutes drive from the Toorongo River Chalets. We like to call this collection of blue ribbon trout streams the ‘Six Rivers’
And of course one of the best of them, the Toorongo, is virtually casting distance from the doorstep of your chalet.
The Toorongo itself is a classic meadow stream, flowing through a mixture of rainforest, bush and open pasture; it teams with pan sized brown trout (as well as the occasional better one) as well as some rainbows.
Toorongo is a small stream fly fisherman’s dream, offering all sorts of challenges and delights.
With abundant insect life, the stream offers superb dry fly fishing. High summer often sees the grassy paddocks of Toorongo River Sanctuary teeming with grasshoppers, and when this happens hot windy day can produce truly remarkable fishing.
The water, when settled is gin clear and careful stalking offers the chance to sight fish to risers or cruisers. These fish may not be huge, but they spook easily and can really test the anglers stalking skills – especially on overcast days.
Should you ever tire of the fishing on your doorstep (I don’t know why? But then again Hugh Grant apparently got tired of Liz Hurley, and I didn’t understand that either?), you can throw your rod and vest into the car and take a short drive to discover one of the other little gems in the Six Rivers.
SIX RIVERS FISHING
Whilst of course there is always room for the bait or lure fisherman, for us The Six Rivers region is all about light tackle fly fishing: Generally this means short, accurate casts with light tippets and delicate dry flies. The ideal summer setup around here is probably a light 7ft 3wt rod with a 6 or 7x tippet, using dry flies in the size 16 – 20 range. Some folks refer to this as ‘twig fishing’.
Our feisty and wild pan sized browns really put on a show on this light tackle.
Early in the season nymphing can be more productive on many of the waters, whilst high summer can see juicy hoppers in the 12-14 range coming into their own.
For much of the summer though, dry flies are the preferred method. Everyone has their own theories and preferences, and most will find success on these streams if employed with conviction. Popular patterns for the region include Royal Wulff, Red Tag, Adams, Royal Coachman, Coch-y-Bondu, and the Humpy. Our Toorongo has prodigious hatches of a range of caddis throughout the season, along with enough mayflies to be worth watching out for. Evening rises (both mayfly and caddis) are common right on dusk on the quieter, slower pools through summer – and well worth the short walk from your Chalet.
THE SIX RIVERS:
ADA RIVER– 20 Minutes drive. It takes a little local knowledge to get onto the good spots here. But we can help you with that.
LA TROBE RIVER – Well, that’s five minutes drive down the road from us. A bigger and different kind of stream to Toorongo it rewards the persistent angler with the opportunity to get onto some browns in the 2 pound class. In fact the best fish are around the Noojee area.
LOCH RIVER– The Loch Valley is located right next door to the Toorongo Valley. It’s a 15 – 25 minute drive. The Loch is a little smaller than the Toorongo, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good stream to fish. It could be described as the ideal ‘twig stream’ offering good dry fly action. The Loch varies in nature from a small shallow trickle to deep narrow pools which can contain feisty brown trout over a pound. There can be a bit of bush bashing to get onto the best sections or to find that better sized fish, but that’s all part of the fun of discovery.
TANJIL RIVER- A 30 minute drive gets you onto the Tanjil above Blue Rock Lake. The river is a clear, fast-flowing stream, rising in steep forest, rock, boulders and gravel bottom.
This is a generally shallower, clear cool and riffling stream in the classic Victorian Alpine style. It is a pleasure to fish with all manner of fly fishing methods, with the numerous small browns and rainbows readily taking all manner of terrestrials and classic attractor dries. Deeper runs will hold the occasional better fish, and here skill, stealth, presentation and persistence are required.
TARAGO RIVER – is in the Bunyip River basin, about 35 minutes from the Chalets. You’ll likely cross it on the way from Melbourne and think “That looks fishy!” Well, it is. In places it can be a challenging stream and some think it is better with bait and lures. But for an experienced fly fisher the slower sections offer some good nymph fishing opportunities to get onto some serious browns below Tarago Reservoir. Two to three pound fish are not unheard of in this section. Of course there are also sections of faster water suited to classic dry techniques.
Above the Tarago Reservoir the river flows through steep forest with good access hindered only by steep banks and dense blackberry growth in some areas. The water is mainly shallow (less than 50cm) with small pools to 100cm deep. The bottom is sand, with gravel in some of the riffles. This is a natural forest area ideal for wading and fly-fishing. Contains mostly brown trout, av. 150g, (max. 1kg), and some rainbow trout. Larger trout to 2.5kg enter the river from the reservoir during the winter and spring.
Tarago is a part of the Bunyip River Basin.
SUSTAINABLE FISHING
Whilst the streams in the area are in good condition and generally hold a healthy head of fish, we don’t like to take this blessing for granted. We are in the middle of a long drought, and unfortunately healthy streams are becoming the exception rather than the rule these days.
For this reason we promote sustainable catch and release fishing.
For those who truly love fishing the pleasure is in the catching. And there is pleasure also in the act of releasing and helping to keep a good head of fish in the system to bring pleasure in the days and years to come.
Let us organise the fishing gear.
If you let us know in advance we will happily organise the rods, lures and fishing tips for you.
Fishing in Noojee ‘the river town’
Six of Gippland’s best and healthiest small trout fly fishing streams are all within about 35 minutes drive from the Toorongo River Chalets. We like to call this collection of blue ribbon trout streams the ‘Six Rivers’
And of course one of the best of them, the Toorongo, is virtually casting distance from the doorstep of your chalet.
The Toorongo itself is a classic meadow stream, flowing through a mixture of rainforest, bush and open pasture; it teams with pan sized brown trout (as well as the occasional better one) as well as some rainbows.
Toorongo is a small stream fly fisherman’s dream, offering all sorts of challenges and delights.
With abundant insect life, the stream offers superb dry fly fishing. High summer often sees the grassy paddocks of Toorongo River Sanctuary teeming with grasshoppers, and when this happens hot windy day can produce truly remarkable fishing.
The water, when settled is gin clear and careful stalking offers the chance to sight fish to risers or cruisers. These fish may not be huge, but they spook easily and can really test the anglers stalking skills – especially on overcast days.
Should you ever tire of the fishing on your doorstep (I don’t know why? But then again Hugh Grant apparently got tired of Liz Hurley, and I didn’t understand that either?), you can throw your rod and vest into the car and take a short drive to discover one of the other little gems in the Six Rivers.
SIX RIVERS FISHING
Whilst of course there is always room for the bait or lure fisherman, for us The Six Rivers region is all about light tackle fly fishing: Generally this means short, accurate casts with light tippets and delicate dry flies. The ideal summer setup around here is probably a light 7ft 3wt rod with a 6 or 7x tippet, using dry flies in the size 16 – 20 range. Some folks refer to this as ‘twig fishing’.
Our feisty and wild pan sized browns really put on a show on this light tackle.
Early in the season nymphing can be more productive on many of the waters, whilst high summer can see juicy hoppers in the 12-14 range coming into their own.
For much of the summer though, dry flies are the preferred method. Everyone has their own theories and preferences, and most will find success on these streams if employed with conviction. Popular patterns for the region include Royal Wulff, Red Tag, Adams, Royal Coachman, Coch-y-Bondu, and the Humpy. Our Toorongo has prodigious hatches of a range of caddis throughout the season, along with enough mayflies to be worth watching out for. Evening rises (both mayfly and caddis) are common right on dusk on the quieter, slower pools through summer – and well worth the short walk from your Chalet.
THE SIX RIVERS:
ADA RIVER– 20 Minutes drive. It takes a little local knowledge to get onto the good spots here. But we can help you with that.
LA TROBE RIVER – Well, that’s five minutes drive down the road from us. A bigger and different kind of stream to Toorongo it rewards the persistent angler with the opportunity to get onto some browns in the 2 pound class. In fact the best fish are around the Noojee area.
LOCH RIVER– The Loch Valley is located right next door to the Toorongo Valley. It’s a 15 – 25 minute drive. The Loch is a little smaller than the Toorongo, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good stream to fish. It could be described as the ideal ‘twig stream’ offering good dry fly action. The Loch varies in nature from a small shallow trickle to deep narrow pools which can contain feisty brown trout over a pound. There can be a bit of bush bashing to get onto the best sections or to find that better sized fish, but that’s all part of the fun of discovery.
TANJIL RIVER- A 30 minute drive gets you onto the Tanjil above Blue Rock Lake. The river is a clear, fast-flowing stream, rising in steep forest, rock, boulders and gravel bottom.
This is a generally shallower, clear cool and riffling stream in the classic Victorian Alpine style. It is a pleasure to fish with all manner of fly fishing methods, with the numerous small browns and rainbows readily taking all manner of terrestrials and classic attractor dries. Deeper runs will hold the occasional better fish, and here skill, stealth, presentation and persistence are required.
TOORONGO RIVER – Described above.
For more detail on the 5 streams in the LaTrobe basin go to this link on Angling Waters of the Latrobe River Basin.
TARAGO RIVER – is in the Bunyip River basin, about 35 minutes from the Chalets. You’ll likely cross it on the way from Melbourne and think “That looks fishy!” Well, it is. In places it can be a challenging stream and some think it is better with bait and lures. But for an experienced fly fisher the slower sections offer some good nymph fishing opportunities to get onto some serious browns below Tarago Reservoir. Two to three pound fish are not unheard of in this section. Of course there are also sections of faster water suited to classic dry techniques.
Above the Tarago Reservoir the river flows through steep forest with good access hindered only by steep banks and dense blackberry growth in some areas. The water is mainly shallow (less than 50cm) with small pools to 100cm deep. The bottom is sand, with gravel in some of the riffles. This is a natural forest area ideal for wading and fly-fishing. Contains mostly brown trout, av. 150g, (max. 1kg), and some rainbow trout. Larger trout to 2.5kg enter the river from the reservoir during the winter and spring.
Tarago is a part of the Bunyip River Basin.
SUSTAINABLE FISHING
Whilst the streams in the area are in good condition and generally hold a healthy head of fish, we don’t like to take this blessing for granted. We are in the middle of a long drought, and unfortunately healthy streams are becoming the exception rather than the rule these days.
For this reason we promote sustainable catch and release fishing.
For those who truly love fishing the pleasure is in the catching. And there is pleasure also in the act of releasing and helping to keep a good head of fish in the system to bring pleasure in the days and years to come.
Let us organise the fishing gear.
If you let us know in advance we will happily organise the rods, lures and fishing tips for you.