The last month of winter sees a turnaround in the way the lake fishes.

Most of the brown trout have spawned and have returned to the lake so are looking for a feed.

Most of the rainbow trout spawned a little early and although there will be some small spawning runs to come in the Thredbo River, the majority of fish are already back in the lake. Of course not all trout spawn, so there are plenty of fish to target this month.

The Atlantic salmon and brook trout are also on the bite at the moment and this might be your last chance to target the brookies before they all go and hide once again over the summer months.

The fact that the water level on the lake is also rising due to the snow melt and rain means the trout are cruising close to the edges and that has to be a good thing if you don’t have a boat.

Over the past couple of months the bait fishing has been very good. The fish are hungry and have not been too fussy about what they eat. This makes for perfect shore-based fishing.

The best of the fly fishing usually occurs when the browns return from spawning and of course that is now. Polaroiding cruising trout around the edges of the lake is 1 of my favourite things to do. You sometimes have to look for shadows as the trout can be hard to spot. Of course you have to be a reasonably accurate caster and the fly has to land on the water without spooking the fish, so all of that adds up to a good challenge and that is what is so exciting, especially when you see the trout move towards the fly. If the trout takes the fly, then that is the ultimate adrenalin rush and playing out the fish is just so exciting, even if it does end up busting you off.

Some days the trout will take big flies like my Goldfish pattern, Hamills Killers, and Woolly Buggers, and other days the tiniest black nymph will work best. You just have to experiment a bit.

The fish are hanging about the bays with the higher lake levels, so some areas to try are Creel Bay, Hayshed and Hatchery Bay, Mill Creek Inlet, The Claypits, and The Snowy Arm.

If you want big brown trout though, look for yabby beds!

Bait fishing has been good over recent months and will again be good this month.

On the cold, windy and even snowy days, you often see anglers around the campfire or sitting in their cars waiting for a trout to bite. The ‘bite’ can happen any time of the day, so a little patience may be necessary, but the rewards will be there.

Winter is big brown trout and Atlantic salmon time and we have seen fish this season in excess of 14lb.

Worms and artificial baits have always been a favourite winter fishing approach and it always brings results. When worm fishing, use plenty of tiger worms or a single scrubby and fish them off the bottom using a running sinker.

There is a lot of weed about at the moment, so it is best to put floatant on your line to keep it above the bottom.

You can also suspend a bait under a float and if you want to use artificial bait (most float), try a little split shot on the hook to keep the bait down.

As the fish move about the lake so much over winter, there is no particular spot better than another, but try shallow water early and late and slightly deeper water in the bright sunny parts of the days — just not too deep! Try the sheltered bays at creek moths for the brookies. Wollondibby Inlet and Rushes Bay are both worth a try.

Winter boat trolling can be a little slower than the summer months, but winter is when we catch all the big trout, even if we have to put in the hours to get them.

Gaden Trout Hatchery have released all the excess Atlantic salmon and brook trout brood stock, so if you want to troll up a brookie, now is the time to do it because there is very little chance of you achieving it over the warmer months when they lie low.

Brookies are so aggressive that lure fishing is usually best, and trolling is 1 way of locating where they are as you cover so much area by moving around.

Atlantic salmon are not fussy as to where they move to and what lure they take. Jointed Rapalas similar to the ones we spin the lake edges with are worth a try, and the bigger the lure the better. We quite often troll 9-11cm lures for the bigger Atlantics.

Like trolling for rainbows, the same applies for when targeting Atlantics. You just never know where they are in winter and so the more area you cover, the better. Older proven Tasmanian Devil colours like pink number 55 or orange number 56 are still the best over winter. These are aggression colours and the trout will strike these hard. Also keep in mind a number Y36 Yellow Wing for the sunnier days and Tassie Devil Holographic or number 48 or Y48 early and late in the day, or off 3 colours of lead core line.

There is still plenty of big fish at Creel Bay and it is not too difficult to fish given there is much more water this year. The Orange Tiger Rapala is also a great aggression colour and a slow trolled orange Minnow Spin is also worth a try for these pre-spawning rainbows at the top end of the lake.

Spinning from the shore of Jindabyne, even in the middle of the day, can be productive for all species. I like to use mainly minnow lures like Rapalas in natural patterns, the Spotted Dog, and even just plain black and gold. Tasmanian Devil lures are perfect on windy days and it is always best to cast into the wind rather than have the wind at your back. You catch more trout on the windward shore and the best colours are aggression colours like pink number 55, or Yellow Wing number 36 to represent goldfish, and brown number 48 or holographic pattern as these colours look like yabbies to brown trout.

A variety of soft plastics also are worth trying at this time, possibly due to the smell that is impregnated into these products. It’s best if they are also natural or cold colours for the inlets, and orange or pink for open water. The Strike Tiger range of plastics have been great in Lake Jindabyne, especially the 3” curl tail in Princess Pink and Vodka N Orange.

Best of luck with your winter fishing and if coming down to Jindabyne over the next few months, why not call in and get the latest fishing information at Steve Williamson’s Trout Fishing Shop, 1 Snowline Centre, Kosciuszko Road (next to the Shell Servo). I also run fishing tours right through winter, so why not come and catch a monster trout or Atlantic salmon on Lake Jindabyne.

My shop is open 7 days a week during winter, with extended hours over August.

If you want the very latest reports, on an almost daily basis, please check out my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LJTFA

Best method: Bait fishing, but spinning is also good.

Best lake lure: Tasmanian Devil in pink 55 or Holographic. Rapala ‘Pinkie’ trout 7cm.

Best lake area: Claypits and Creel Bay.

Best fly method: Williamson’s Goldfish or Woolly Buggers, and maybe a black nymph.

Best rivers: Rivers reopen on Saturday October 3, 2015.