Please find the Trout Stocking Victoria 2024 Schedule. Please note that before each school holiday break, ‘ready-to-catch’ rainbow trout are stocked into designated family-friendly lakes around Melbourne and Victoria. Please remember that a daily bag limit of five trout applies, of which only two can exceed 35 centimetres. This is all part of the VFA target of 1 million by 2020 and a target of 10 million by 2022 initiatives. The schedule below can change without warning due to local conditions, including low water levels, drought, algae, or fire.
If you want help catching trout, please read our guide on Tips. We detail the best baits, lures, rigs, and techniques to catch trout below under the schedule table a video tutorial on how to catch stocked trout in Victoria.
School holiday trout stocking schedule 2024
| Water | 1st Term Holidays (Easter) | 2nd Term Holidays (June/July) | 3rd Term Holidays (Sept) | Gone Fishing Day (Oct) |
| Albert Park Lake (Albert Park) | 0 | 1500 | 1500 | 0 |
| Alexandra Lake (Ararat) | 0 | 300 | 300 | 0 |
| Allans Flat Dredge Hole (Yackandandah) | 0 | 750 | 750 | 500 |
| Anderson Lake (Chiltern) | 0 | 500 | 500 | 0 |
| Arboretum Dam (Euroa) | 0 | 450 | 300 | 0 |
| Bannockburn Lagoon (Bannockburn) | 0 | 300 | 300 | 0 |
| Bartlett Lake (Tatura) | 0 | 150 | 150 | 0 |
| Berwick Springs Estate Lake (Berwick) | 0 | 750 | 750 | 0 |
| Calembeen Lake (Creswick) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Casey Fields Lake (Cranbourne) | 0 | 750 | 750 | 750 |
| Cato Lake (Stawell) | 0 | 300 | 400 | 0 |
| Caulfield Racecourse Lake (Caulfield) | 0 | 300 | 0 | 0 |
| Cobden Lake (Cobden) | 0 | 0 | 300 | 0 |
| Coleraine Lagoon (Coleraine) | 0 | 300 | 300 | 0 |
| Crusoe Reservoir (Kangaroo Flat) | 0 | 550 | 450 | 0 |
| Darlingsford Lake (Melton) | 0 | 0* | 500 | 0 |
| Don Lake (Healesville) | 0 | 600 | 400 | 0 |
| Dunkeld Arboretum (Dunkeld) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Eildon Pondage Weir (Eildon) | 3,500 | 3,500 | 3,500 | 3,500 |
| Emerald Lake (Emerald) | 0 | 500 | 500 | 0 |
| Esmond Lake (Ballarat) | 0 | 250 | 250 | 0 |
| Ess Lagoon (Casterton) | 0 | 500 | 500 | 0 |
| Felltimber Creek Wetlands (Wodonga) | 0 | 600 | 600 | 0 |
| Ferntree Gully Quarry (Ferntree Gully) | 0 | 450 | 450 | 0 |
| Foletti Caravan Park Lake (Donald) | 0 | 350 | 350 | 0 |
| Forest Lake (Kangaroo Flat) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Garfield Lake (Garfield) | 0 | 100* | 250 | 0 |
| Glenlyon Dam (Glenlyon, Victoria) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Glenrowan Recreational Reserve Lake (Glenrowan) | 0 | 200 | 600 | 0 |
| Goldfields Reservoir (St Arnaud) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golf Course Dam (Longwood) | 0 | 0 | 300 | 0 |
| Great Western Racing Reserve Lake | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Guthridge Lake (Sale) | 0 | 250 | 250 | 0 |
| Haddon Reservoir (Haddon, near Ballarat) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Hamilton Lake (Hamilton) | 0 | 500 | 0 | 0 |
| Hanging Rock Lake (Woodend) | 0 | 350 | 350 | 0 |
| Heyfield Racecourse Lake (Heyfield) | 0 | 300 | 300 | 0 |
| Hyland Lake (Churchill) | 0 | 800 | 800 | 800 |
| Jack Emmett Lagoon (Rupanyup) | 0 | 0 | 350 | 0 |
| Jil Jil Lake (Donald) | 0 | 500 | 0 | 0 |
| Jubilee Lake (Daylesford) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Jubilee Lake (Skipton) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| King Lake (Rutherglen) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Karkarook Lake (Moorabbin) | 0 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Kennington Reservoir (Strathdale) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Les Stone Park Lake (Wodonga) | 0 | 300 | 300 | 0 |
| Lethbridge Lake (Lethbridge) | 0 | 300 | 300 | 0 |
| Lilliput Lane Reserve (Pakenham) | 0 | 100 | 100 | 0 |
| Lillydale Lake (Lilydale) | 0 | 1000 | 1000 | 0 |
| Lismore Golf Club Dam (Lismore) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Marma Lake (Murtoa) | 0 | 350 | 350 | 0 |
| Marysville Lake (Marysville) | 0 | 500 | 500 | 0 |
| Merriwa Park Lake (Wangaratta) | 0 | 200 | 0^ | 0 |
| Minyip Wetlands (Minyip) | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 |
| Mooroopna Recreation Reserve Lake | 0 | 150 | 150 | 0 |
| Morwell/Kernot Lake (Morwell) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mount Beauty Pondage (Mt Beauty) | 100 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Navan Park Lake (Melton) | 0 | 600 | 600 | |
| Neangar Lake (Eaglehawk) | 0 | 400 | 300 | 0 |
| Nhill Lake (Nhill) | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 |
| Numurkah Lake (Numurkah) | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 |
| Nursery Reservoir (Macedon) | 0 | 500 | 0 | 0 |
| Ouyen Lake (Ouyen) | 0 | 500 | 0 | 0 |
| Old Hamilton Reservoir (Hamilton) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Pakenham Lake (Pakenham) | 0 | 750 | 750 | 0 |
| Pertobe Lake (Warrnambool) | 0 | 600 | 450 | 0 |
| Police Paddock Dams (Horsham) | 0 | 450 | 550 | 0 |
| Quarry Street Reserve Lake (Trentham) | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| Rainbow Lake (Rainbow) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Rokewood Reservoir (Rokewood) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Rowville Lakes (Rowville) | 0 | 550 | 550 | 0 |
| Roxburgh Park Lakes (McIvor Lake) | 0 | 400 | 400 | 0 |
| Saint Augustine’s Water Hole (Geelong) | 0 | 750 | 750 | 0 |
| Sambell Lake (Beechworth) | 0 | 450 | 550 | 0 |
| Shadforth Reserve Island Pond (Violet Town) | 0 | 0* | 0 | 0 |
| Simpson Recreation Reserve Lakes (Simpson) | 0 | 300 | 300 | 0 |
| Spavin Lake (Sunbury) | 0 | 600 | 600 | 0 |
| Stanley Ditch Dam (Stanley) | 0 | 500 | 500 | 0 |
| St George’s Dam (Stawell) | 0 | 100 | 100 | 0 |
| Sumsion Gardens Lake (Wodonga) | 0 | 400 | 400 | 0 |
| Tchum Lake (Birchip) | 0 | 1000 | 1000 | 0 |
| Tea Tree Lake (Mortlake) | 0 | 450 | 300 | 0 |
| The Gong (Buninyong) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Tom Thumb Lake (Eaglehawk) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tronoh Dredge Hole (Harrietville) | 0 | 400 | 500 | 0 |
| Upper Sandy Creek Dam (Sandy Creek) | 0 | 750 | 750 | 0 |
| Victoria Lake (Shepparton) | 0 | 750 | 750 | 0 |
| Victoria Lakes (Ballarat) | 0 | 500 | 500 | 0 |
| Walter J Smith Reserve (Riddells Creek) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Yaapeet Lake (Yaapeet) | 0 | 200 | 200 | 0 |
| Yarrambat Lake (Yarrambat) | 0 | 1000 | 1000 | 600 |
How to catch trout
Watch this video below of FishingMad walking you through setup and tips to land a trout of a lifetime
We recommend targeting trout with a 1-3 or 2-4 kilo fishing rod coupled with 1000, 2000, or 2500 reel spooled with 4-8-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader. If there are larger trophy-size trout around then you can go heavier moving up the scale to a 3-5 kilo class spin rod spooled with fine 8-12-pound braid and equivalent fluorocarbon leader. The best baits to catch trout include mudeye, power bait, scrub worms, maggots, earthworms, and live minnows suspended from a float or with a very light running sinker.
A simple yet effective fishing rig is to thread a small running sinker through the mainline shown below in blue around 6 pounds. Then tie a small swivel to the end allowing the sinker to run up the mainline freely. On the other end of the swivel tie 50cm of 6-pound fluorocarbon leader which is shown in grey. Finished with a hook size 6 bait keeper hook.
You can catch trout on many types of different lures. Your choice will depend if you fishing in a lake river, or a shallow stream. Good choices include metal spoons, hard body minnow imitations like the Daiwa double-clutch, Rapala Countdown series and bullet lures. Soft plastics such as minnow imitations, curly tails and paddle tails and bug imitations such as mayfly work well. Old classics such as Tassie Devils and spinners continue to be proven successful options for trout. Some of our noted favourite lures include Bluefox spinners, Nories wasabi spoons, Pontoon 21 Paco spoons, Bullet lures, Rapala CD 5, Pink Tassie Devil, Savage Gear 3D prey minnow, Yo-Zuri crystal minnow, EcoGear MX series in shallow streams. Fly fishing is almost a sport in its own right. If you enjoy targeting trout then it would be a great idea to pay a highly qualified fly fisherman to take you out for the day and teach to the basic skills to get you started.
Best Soft Plastics and Lures to Catch Trout
Trout loves shallow diving lures, spinners, and tassie devils. It may surprise you but they also love soft plastics. Particularly small paddle tails and grubs. You are encouraged to mix up the retrieval speed working both lures and plastics at a medium pace. Cast in one area for a few minutes if you don’t get any bites then move on. Keep doing this until you start getting some bites. Mix up colours and lure styles if the bite goes quiet. Some days bright colours work great the next day natural colours. For jig head selection it’s a good idea to have multiple weights and sizes with you. This way you can adjust based on the current strength and weather conditions. We generally would have a 1/4, 1/6, 1/8, and & 1/12 jig head in a 2/0 and 3/0 size. Take your time when rigging and make sure the plastic is on straight, this improves the plastic action.
Need some help choosing lures and soft plastics to catch trout. The video below is a detailed guide to get you started.
- Rapala countdown floating minnow
- EcoGear MX48
- YoZuri pins minnow
- Daiwa presso minnows
- Nories laydown minnow
- Bluefox spinners
- OSP bent minnow
- Daiwa DR joint minnows
- Strike tiger nymph
- Daiwa bait junkie 2.5-inch grub
- Daiwa double clutch
- Berkley powerbait grub
- Tasmanian devil blade
- Bullet lures 5-0 minnow
- Tasmanian devil lure
- Zman 2.5-inch grub
- Bullet lures 3cm lure
Best Baits to Catch Trout
Our best bait recommendations include power bait, scrub worms, minnows, and mudeye. The are several ways to present baits either a running sinker rig or a paternoster rig. The rig choice will be dependent on where you are fishing, the casting distance required, and the conditions such as tidal strength. Where possible fish with as little weight. When land-based you may need a heavy sinker to cast out as far as you can.
The video below demonstrates the best baits for trout and how to rig them correctly.
- Mudeye
- Powerbait
- Scrub worms
- maggots
- Earthworms
- yabbies
- live minnows
- caterpillar/crickets/grasshoppers/beetles
General tips for trout fishing
Your eyes can be an essential guide when trout fishing. Look for signs of breaking water and cast lures and baits in those directions. Keep an eye on stocking programs. Trout are generally released just before school holidays to give kids a great opportunity to catch trout in local river systems. Use waiders to allow you to fish from within the water allowing you to target better spots or cast further. Though Trout can be spooked easily so tread cautiously and try to keep the noise down. If you fish shallow streams they walk against the current when casting flies or floating hard body lures.
Best locations to catch trout in Victoria
- Eildon Pondage
- Lake Purrumbete
- Rubicon River
- Hepburn Lagoon
- Tullaroop Reservoir
- Moorabool Reservoir
- Lake Tolondo
- Wurdi Buloc
- Lillydale Lake
- Mitta Mitta River
- Albert Park Lake
- Blue Rock Lake
- Bostock Reservoir
- Lake Hyland
- Lake Bullen Merri
- Daylesford
- Eildon Pondage
- Goulburn River
- Karkarook Park
- Kennington Reservoir
- Casey Fields Lake
- Pakenham lakes
- Coliban Reservoir
- Lake Fyans
- Lauriston Reservoir
- Lillydale Lake
- Newlyns Reservoir
- St Augustine water hole
I hope you find this article Trout Stocking Victoria 2024 useful. If you feel this article is missing key information or needs any corrections made. Then please let us know by emailing our team at enquiries@fishingmad.com.au with specific details in the email. You can also see further details on the stocking page of the VFA website ( Victiorian Fishing Authorities ) Thank you