During early March we did a box trap survey of the trout in Lake Crescent. Lake Crescent has been a real go to fishery again this season, with trophy brown trout luring anglers.

During the survey, the catch rate was lower than expected due to the warm shallow water. A total of thirty brown trout and three rainbow were caught over two days. The biggest brown trout weighed 4 kg and the smallest 0.2 kg. A third of the brown trout weighed between 3 - 4 kg.

Interestingly, two brown trout weighed under one kilo. This shows there is natural recruitment that is either coming from Agnews Creek on the eastern side of Lake Crescent or from Lake Sorell now the carp screens have been removed.

With natural recruitment there is no need to stock these waters with trout at this point. The lakes are both healthy after several wet years. Anglers are reporting brown trout in the 1.8-2.2 kg range from Lake Sorell.

With cooler water, both lakes Crescent and Sorell will be a good Easter fishing option.

A detailed report will be out soon.