millbrooklakes.com.au
Stay in touch:
  • Home
  • The Fishing
  • Accommodation
  • Guiding
  • The Blog
  • Rates
  • Swampy Plains Lodge
  • Contact

Late Winter rain fills the lakes

23/8/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
​It’s always a great moment at Millbrook when the lakes fill and spill. As that’s happened a lot in the last few years, it’s easy to assume we can take that for granted. But not so. In recent decades, some of Millbrook’s best lakes have become perilously low on the back of successive dry years (remember the aptly named ‘Noughties’?) True, even in the worst years, we’ve always had good fishing somewhere, but it’s fantastic when every lake is brimming. Not only does that guarantee water for this season, it covers next season as well. (Once full, most of our lakes can provide at least 18 months good fishing, even if – heaven forbid – the tap was turned off tomorrow.)      
 
Well, today’s the day. After a pretty good year anyway, in the last 24 hours, August up here has shot past its long-term average on the back of 35mm of rain in the last 24 hours. This was the run-off downpour we’ve been waiting for, the one when heavy rain falls on already-saturated catchments. As Mark says, this is when we’re reminded why we go to the trouble of putting trout-proof screens on lake outflows!
 
Besides water security, these big inflows/ outflows also help water quality by, if you like, flushing the lakes (changing the old water over with new). Meanwhile, lake water which floods revegetated ‘new ground’, not only gives the trout an initial food boost through all the drowning worms, grubs, ants, beetles etc., the subsequent rotting vegetation is much appreciated by aquatic insects and midge in particular, which really boom on this flooded bounty. (Yum, rotting grass!)
 
So, it might have been snowy, icy and wet over the last few days, but at Millbrook, we’re smiling from ear to ear!          

0 Comments

Late winter fishing

12/8/2020

3 Comments

 
Well, just as Millbrook bookings were booming in mid July, that nasty little virus shut us down for a second time. As we write, we can fish personally for recreation and exercise, but we can’t guide or offer accommodation.

And we hate to say it when there’s only the guides to take advantage, but the actual fishing has been really good! Yes, there’s been the inevitable winter blizzards and quite a lot of rain, but the former haven’t lasted for more than a day or two, and the latter has been steadily adding to lake levels. All other things being equal, trout like rising water, and Millbrook’s trout have been as active as you might expect. Midging trout have been the big deal, but there have been tailers too, and excellent polaroiding.
​
Meanwhile the wattle is blooming everywhere, daffodils are flowering, mayfly nymphs are writhing by the handful under the rocks, and there’s just a little less edge to the cold. It’s going to be a cracking spring; let’s hope you can come up soon and enjoy it with us! 
3 Comments

    Archives

    March 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    July 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly