Rainbow trout are one of the most popular freshwater sportfish in Australia. They fight hard for their size, hit a wide range of lures and flies, and are great fun in rivers, lakes and impoundments.
In Australia, rainbow trout are mainly found in the cooler waters of Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and the ACT, with some stocked fisheries in other highland areas. Look for them in clear streams, alpine rivers, lakes and dams, especially where there is good flow, depth changes, weed edges or submerged timber.
They eat insects, nymphs, small baitfish, yabbies and other small aquatic creatures. Rainbows are active hunters and will cruise, rise, or sit in current waiting for food to drift past. They can switch between surface feeding and deeper feeding pretty quickly depending on what is available.
Tide is mostly irrelevant for rainbow trout because they are a freshwater fish, so FishCast’s tide score matters far less than the other factors. Low light around early morning, late afternoon and overcast weather usually helps, as fish are more confident and will move into the shallows to feed. Light to moderate wind can be a bonus on lakes because it pushes food onto a bank and breaks up the surface, but strong wind makes lure control and spotting fish harder. Swell does not apply in freshwater, though rough surface chop on lakes can sometimes fire them up in a similar way.
A light spin outfit with 2–6 lb line is ideal, matched with small hardbodies, spinners, soft plastics or spoons. If you are bait fishing, worms, artificial dough baits and small natural offerings work well under a float or on a light running sinker rig. Fly gear is deadly too, especially with nymphs, wets and small dry flies when fish are looking up.
Rainbow trout often jump multiple times during a fight, which is a big part of why so many Aussie anglers get hooked on chasing them.