​The last couple of months of the year at Millbrook have continued the 2021 trend of the weird and the wonderful. The weather (something we’re obsessed with due to its immediate and also longer term effects on the fishing) has continued to be unusual. Incredibly, Millbrook is yet to have a 30C day, and forecasts at the time of writing suggest we won’t get one before the end of the year. Equally amazing, we had five days straight in the middle of November when the maximum temperature didn’t hit double figures – a 50 year plus record.
 
Meanwhile, rainfall has settled down to something like average, although the year as a whole will finish well above average, something reflected in high lake levels for this time of year. We can now expect levels to drop on many lakes through late summer and into autumn – perhaps surprisingly, this is welcome, as long as the drop isn’t too severe. Falling levels help reduce excessive weed growth, and allow exposed shores to revegetate, in turn providing floodwater feeder opportunities when levels rise again in winter and spring.
 
Plenty of water plus cool to mild temperatures have proved a godsend as we’ve attempted to fit in as many Covid-postponed bookings as possible. The mayfly obviously approve – dun hatches and spinner falls have stretched into December with uncharacteristic vigour: perhaps not as set-your-watch reliable as during mid-spring, but still providing exceptional fishing. And the mudeye fishing has been superb on those evenings which have been mild and dry. We’ve even had visits from ‘new’ insects like cinnamon jassids, which it turns out the trout love just as much as their cousins in Tassie.   
 
Ourselves and the fish will now enjoy a bit of a summer break, something we factor in each season to spare the guides, guests and the trout from too much heat. To all our friends and guests, thank you for your fabulous support through another difficult year. Have a fantastic Christmas, and we look forward to helping you bother some more of our Santa-shaped trout in 2022!

At the risk of perpetuating a spring stereotype, the word around Millbrook for the last several weeks has been… mayfly. Dun hatches mostly, although spinner falls have been of increasing value when we get the odd warm day. Mayfly hatches vary in reliability, intensity, timing and duration from year to year. Some mayfly seasons, it can feel as if we’d almost be better off without them – whole guiding days can be planned around when and where the dun hatches will happen (and the sometimes fickle trout response). If things don’t go to plan, you’re left wondering if it would have been better to just fish as if it were outside mayfly season.
 
But since late September this year, the mayfly have justified our obsession. Hatches have been incredibly reliable, long-lasting, and the trout have responded very well. The only problem really, has been some hatches so massive, the trout can’t keep up – at least in terms of finding an artificial fly among the crowd. But that sounds like the flyfishing equivalent of a first-world problem, and justifiably so. Overall, the mayfly fishing has been fantastic.
 
The big question is, how long will it last? Well, history shows that mayfly love lots of water, and we certainly have that, with Millbrook’s wet year showing no signs of abating. Last year (a good mayfly spring, but not in 2021’s league) big hatches persisted until mid-November, and we had less predictable dun action almost until Christmas. As always, nature will decide, but so far, soooo good.
 
For other fishing, the evenings have been okay, though so far not to the standard of the beetle and midge rises from late winter until mid-September. Polaroiding has been great on those quite rare sunny days… but cloud helps the duns, so you can’t have everything. Trout size and condition has been outstanding.
 
All up, it’s been quite an amazing spring, and we look forward to sharing it with more and more guests as Covid restrictions continue to ease. 

As for at least half the country, the last couple of months at Millbrook have been interrupted by Covid restrictions of varying severity. The upside?
Mark and Kiel have had time away from guiding to do some amazing work with the accommodation. The main cabin now has a new kitchen equipped with an oven and four burner cooktop.
 
The other upside is that trout and nature don't really understand lockdowns, and go about their business in blissful ignorance. With every lake full, it's all been happening. Midging trout of course, but also tailers and some fantastic polaroiding. In the district as a whole, the mythical cockchafer beetles https://flystream.com/cockchafer-time/ have appeared in the last week, providing champagne dry fly fishing. It seems downright sinful to be using size 10 dry flies at the end of winter! If only we had a few more guests to share the experience...
 
We have managed some guiding in the brief periods when eased restrictions have allowed, and we're looking ahead with everything crossed for more. The last couple of days have offered our first sniff of genuine spring warmth, with damsels and even dragonflies on the wing. Although it's something of an illusion and wintery weather is about to return, the fight between warm and cold will gradually be won as the days lengthen, and it shouldn't be too many more weeks before the first proper mayfly hatches. Hope we'll see at least some of our guests in time for those.    

June up here is always cold, sometimes wet, and occasionally windy. It’s the last feature though for which June 2021 will be remembered. On the 9th and 10th, an unusually deep low pressure brought destructive winds to many elevated parts of Victoria, and the Millbrook area wasn’t spared. The old timers say it was the worst wind they’ve experienced. Trees blocked roads and tracks for days, but fortunately, our cabin and homes were spared. And with more rain at the same time, the lakes just kept filling – with most now spilling.
 
The fishing has mainly been about polaroiding the edges for finicky fish; tailers (though these are patchy so far), and increasing midge action. As all the flooded vegetation starts to rot, the resulting midge food should see their numbers boom further – fingers crossed!
 
Meanwhile, our stocking for 2021 has commenced, and after their success since our first stocking last year, quite a few tiger trout have gone in this month. Hope we’ll be seeing them as big, pretty catches this time next year.         

Fishing is rarely predictable, and the last part of this autumn has proved the point. Following a deluge at the start of May, the month moved into a period of mild, settled weather. There were even trout caught on mudeye patterns! Then the weather flipped again, and suddenly we were back to rugging up in full foul weather gear. Fortunately however, midge don’t care about cold, and they’ve been out in droves, providing reliable evening action, and sometimes, A-grade daytime action too. The photos below include Cam with a matching pair of male and female monsters, both caught on Milly Midge during a massive early afternoon hatch.       
 
But what was that about unpredictability? The midge are pouring off on a couple of lakes where they’re normally not a feature, yet they’re sparse (so far) on a couple of lakes where we’d expect a lot more by now. And although the May fishing has been mostly consistent, there was a run of a few days in the back half of the month when it was tough. The guests were still catching fish, but it took more effort than usual. Then just like that, the trout are back again, in the usual cusp-of-winter spots, and behaving pretty much as we would expect them to.
 
In the background to all this, May rainfall has been well above average; temps for the month as a whole have evened out to bang on average – warmer at the start and colder at the end. The springs are all flowing now and the lakes are rising. Winter is looking promising.     

Was last weekend the turning point towards winter? For the first week or so of April, we fished in T-shirts and soaked up the sun. Then, last Saturday, flakes of wet snow drifted down in the rain. That might be it for T-shirts, but what about the fishing? Well, it’s still great. The duns have continued, and the trout have shown no signs of losing weight! Smelters have begun to show on some lakes. Midges have been patchy, though that may quickly change with the onset of cooler weather. Meanwhile, lake levels are fairly stable, and the water is clear on most, if not crystal clear. All up, a pretty good time to be on the water.    

Autumn is well and truly here at Millbrook. Whatever summer we had is gone, replaced by those beautiful settled days which start off cool to cold, then end up warm by mid-afternoon. Or, there’s rain – quite a bit of it – which is unusual for March. Either way, the fishing has been really good.
 
Two things are standing out this autumn: amazing dun hatches (more like the best spring hatches), and the size and condition of the trout. I know that sounds like ‘guide talk’ but it seems the cool summer and good lake levels, have kept the trout growing and thriving through summer; whereas in a hot summer, they can seem to hibernate. So, the word for autumn 2021 is ‘bust-offs’. Despite employing everything from 12lb tippet, to pre-fish trout-landing courses, to deliberately avoiding big fish lakes (not easy!) the carnage has been terrible. On occasion, the bust-off count has reached 8 or 10 fish a day, and Philip has just had his first ‘bust-off free’ guiding day since the start of autumn. Anyone know where we can buy some trout growth suppressant?
(PS: As the pics show, the women have been killing it!)   

In case you’re wondering why you haven’t heard from us much over the last couple of months, Millbrook goes into a sort of hibernation in reverse from about Christmas until the end of February. Typically, this period of high summer is often too warm for good fishing on our lakes: we’d rather not guide at all, than have a guest book a day that turns out to be too hot for decent lake fishing.
 
But then, with trout and nature being what they are, we’ve actually had an unusually cool and (until recently) wet summer, so in turn, the trout have been unusually active. This means the odd random guiding day, booked at close range, has been successful.
 
More importantly, the lack of heat and good lake levels will see us start the ‘proper’ guiding season in great shape. As we get back into full operation next week, not only do we have a range of waters in prime condition, but it looks like the trout have grown better than they normally would over summer. Without the stresses of heat and low water to inhibit growth rates, we’re noticing many pre-summer ‘stockies’ are now approaching a kilo. As for the bigger fish, anything seems possible. For the next few months, small trout may be hard to find at Millbrook!  

In many ways, not much has changed since our last report. Right through November, and (unusually) even into early December, the duns and spinner falls been as substantial as ever, although the timing of both hatches and falls became more erratic later in the month. What is new, is an increase in warm days, and a resulting bump up in the number of terrestrials like beetles and termites. With the odd warmer evening, mudeyes have also started moving on dark, providing some explosive moments!
 
Meanwhile, trout condition is just amazing. Evidently, the fish have benefitted from the now months-long trifecta of high lake levels, good water quality, and an abundance of food. Even many of the browns now resemble spotted footballs. (Turns out 2020 has been good for something after all!)
 
The final highlight of the last several weeks has been welcoming back our Melbourne friends, and even a few of our interstate guests. These recent words from Melbourne regular Janet, back for her first trip in 8 months, sum up what makes it all worthwhile for us:
“The sight fishing was amazing and the size and numbers of fish caught also very impressive. I love to fish with a dry fly. Following a challenging year of lockdown and uncertainty, this new freedom allowed me to look at Millbrook with new eyes. I was mesmerised by natures beauty; the surroundings were exquisite.” Thanks Janet!

​Late October and early November have continued where early October left off. There’s been plenty more rain, the lakes are brimming and the trout are happy… well, at least they seem to be happy! The bug blitz has continued, with dun hatches and spinner falls the best in years, and the evening midge hatches have been huge. At some point, these events must begin to fade somewhat, but it hasn’t happened yet. Not so terrestrials, damsels and dragonflies which love the warm weather: these will feature indefinitely.
 
Did someone ask about the weather? Well, fair enough: despite the odd shirtsleeves day, it has been colder and wetter than normal. But time after time, days when the forecast had guests anxious, turned out to be rippers for the actual fishing.
 
Finally, with a bit of luck, we’re on the cusp of welcoming back our Melbourne friends. It’s been too long and, whether at Millbrook or anywhere else, we sincerely wish you great fishing – you deserve it!