In hot spells, trout feed in shorter periods late in the evening and at night.

During the day, particularly in summer, they’ll often lie in deeper water to escape the heat, so you’ll need to get your lure or bait right down to the bottom. In lakes, they can often be found feeding on baitfish, bugs and hatching insects in shallow areas in the morning and late evening. In rivers, depending on conditions, trout will often sit in currents next to snags or boulders where they can maintain their position in well-oxygenated water and dart out to grab passing food. For lake fishing, southern or highland waters that have a depth of at least 2.5 metres can continue to provide trout with the cool water they need during the warmer months. From an angling perspective, this means it's often more productive to head to water at higher altitudes (such as alpine rivers and lakes) during summer, or target rivers in forested areas that offer more shade and retain good flows and depths.

Regardless of whether they’re hatchery reared or wild bred, all trout need cool, clean, well oxygenated water to thrive. Merri River and the Hopkins River in southwest Victoria). Depending on the waterway, these trout will either be stocked fish (common in many lakes) or wild fish (almost exclusively so in rivers, though there are some notable exceptions - e.g. Trout can be found in many lakes and rivers across Victoria. While early attempts to establish the species were problematic, today they are now one of Australia’s most popular freshwater fish. They were introduced to Australia from England in the 1860s, and later from New Zealand (in the 1890s), to help make newly settled Europeans feel more at home. Trout have a natural distribution across North America, Europe and northern Asia. Stocking hybrid trout may be trialled in Victorian waters in the near future. It’s worth noting that some of these species can be cross-bred to produce hybrid fish, for example brook trout can be crossed with brown trout to produce tiger trout. In Australia, we have five main types of salmonid in our waters: Atlantic salmon, Chinook salmon, brown trout, brook trout and rainbow trout. Trout is the name given to several species of freshwater fish that belong to the Salmonidae family.

Trout fishing