November 10, 2026
We’re only weeks away from the first line being cast at Tarago Reservoir since its closure to recreation access in the 1970’s.
Recreational fishers have been eager for the opening of Tarago Reservoir as it’s widely considered as having the potential to become one of Victoria’s premier trout fisheries. Not only has it been closed to fishing for decades, it is known to have a strong self-sustaining population of large brown trout as a result of stocking programs prior to its closure to recreational access. This has been confirmed by electrofishing activities by the Victorian Fisheries Authority and Arthur Rylah Institute in recent years.
In 2022, the Victorian Government announced plans to open a new boating facility at Tarago Reservoir as a key commitment of the Victorian Government’s Go Fishing and Boating Victoria plan. In November 2024, the project was progressing and an announcement by the Minister for Outdoor Recreation at the time, Steve Dimopoulos, revealed the selected location of the new boating facility – along Tarago Reservoir’s western shoreline, off North Jindivick Road. The new boating facility has been built at the reservoir and includes a single-lane boat ramp, car park and amenities block to allow recreational fishing and boating access at the reservoir.
Once opened to the public, Tarago Reservoir will provide recreational fishers with access to a high-quality water storage close to Melbourne. Tarago Reservoir is a drinking water storage managed by Melbourne Water and provides water to Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs as well as the Mornington Peninsula and towns in the Westernport region.
To support recreational access to the reservoir, water treatment upgrades were required and undertaken by Melbourne Water and Gippsland Water. Additionally, further approvals were required as well as a proposed waterways rules and a Recreational Area Management Plan to identify how the boat ramp, boating and fishing will be managed at the reservoir including rules required to protect the drinking water quality.
To assist the Victorian Fisheries Authority in developing the fishing regulations for Tarago Reservoir, VRFish recently asked Victorian recreational fishers to participate in an online survey to share their views on how they’d like to see the fishery managed. The feedback from the survey is shared below and VRFish have provided a full summary of the results to the Victorian Fisheries Authority for consideration.
Survey Results
As the peak body for Victoria’s recreational fishing, VRFish asked recreational fishers to provide their input into how they view the Tarago Reservoir fishery should be managed once it is opened to the public.
Over a ten-day period from 22 October to 1 November 2026, recreational fishers were asked to have their say on fishing regulations for Tarago Reservoir ahead of its opening to public access, including recreational fishing and boating, later this year.
A total of 789 respondents participated in the survey which was distributed via an email invitation sent to VRFish members, subscribers and recreational fishing licence holders, social media, and the VRFish website.
The survey consisted of three key questions including:
- Which of the following regulations do you support for Tarago Reservoir?
- Do you support Tarago Reservoir to be managed as an exclusive Brown Trout fishery, with only brown trout to be considered for future stocking programs?
- Do you have any other comments to add?
Question 1: Which of the following regulations do you support for Tarago Reservoir? (n= 789)
In Question 1, respondents were asked to identify which of the proposed regulations they support for Tarago Reservoir. This includes (1) the standard trout regulations for lakes and impoundments, (2) the ‘trophy trout’ waters regulations or (3) an alternate ‘Tarago Reservoir’ option.
- In Victoria, trout and salmon regulations allow a bag limit of 5 fish per person, and no size limit for trout and salmon in lakes and impoundments.
- Trophy trout waters, Hepburn Lagoon and Toolondo Reservoir, maintain a minimum 45cm size limit for brown trout and a bag limit of 3 fish per person.
- An alternative option for Tarago’s trout regulations which provides the opportunity for everyone to fish the reservoir with their chosen method and to take a fish for the table, whilst still maintaining a sustainable approach to managing the fishery. This includes a proposed bag limit of 2 fish per person, a minimum size limit of 35cm, one rod per person and no treble hooks (single hooks only).
The table below provides a summary of the three potential options of fishing regulations for Tarago Reservoir.
| Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | |
| General trout rules for lakes and impoundments | Trophy Trout Lakes | Alternate option, specific to Tarago Reservoir | |
| Bag Limit | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Minimum Size Limit | No limit | 45cm | 35cm |
| Rod/s per person | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Additional Provision/s | Nil | Nil | No treble hooks (single hooks only)Signage and information about fish handling to support catch and release |
Question 1 Responses:
| Answer Choices | Percentage | Respondents (Number) |
| Option 1: General trout rules for lakes and impoundments | 15.84% | 125 |
| Option 2: Trophy Trout Lakes | 24.59% | 194 |
| Option 3: Alternate option, specific to Tarago Reservoir | 59.57% | 470 |
Question 2: Do you support Tarago Reservoir to be managed as an exclusive Brown Trout fishery, with only brown trout to be considered for future stocking programs? (n= 789)
| Answer Choices | Percentage | Respondents (Number) |
| Yes | 72.62% | 573 |
| No | 27.38% | 216 |
Question 3: Do you have any other comments to add? (n= 454)
In the final question, respondents were invited to add additional comments. 454 respondents left comments.
Comments were tagged by their appropriate theme regardless of positive or negative sentiment. Comments were tagged with all relevant themes included within the comments.
Key themes throughout the additional comments that were left by respondents included:
| Theme | Number of Comments |
| Access: On water (Boating) | 67 |
| Access: Land based | 29 |
| Bag Limit | 35 |
| Catch and Release | 78 |
| Enforcement | 39 |
| Fishing Method | 84 |
| Fly/Lure/Artificial Only (No Bait) | 63 |
| No Stocking | 6 |
| Other Suggestions | 63 |
| Rod Limit | 20 |
| Size Limit | 34 |
| Stocking – Natives/Other | 39 |
| Stocking – Trout | 62 |
