Canberra anglers staying put this Christmas should have little trouble finding some fishing action close to home.
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Your first port of call should be any one of the local urban lakes, which are fishing extremely well despite the heat.
![Trout are about in the mountain streams. Temperatures are a lot cooler than Canberra, too! Trout are about in the mountain streams. Temperatures are a lot cooler than Canberra, too!](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/kDqE8LvSwvU8fyZkrZC97F/7fb0a7e8-e6c4-4872-875c-2a0be4988340.jpg/r0_0_4272_2848_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
All these waterways are teeming with redfin. Although they're mostly small, they're fun on light tackle and you never know when a 35cm-plus fish will grab your offering.
Golden perch are worth targeting in the early morning or late evening. Lake Burley Griffin, Lake Tuggeranong and Lake Ginninderra are fishing well - just walk a likely looking stretch of shoreline with a few lures and see what happens.
It's been a terrific Murray cod season so far. Heaps of fish have been taken from the local lakes and the nearby rivers. These fish love low light levels; target them at dawn and dusk with big spinnerbaits, swim baits and surface lures.
It's worth putting in the effort as there are some hefty fish on offer. If you have any luck, take a quick picture of your catch and let it go, so other anglers can enjoy some Murray cod magic.
Nearly 40,000 cod fingerlings were released into Canberra's waterways earlier this week, so the future of the local fishery looks bright.
A great way to beat the heat over summer is to head for the hills.
Temperatures can be around 10 degrees cooler up in the mountains, and the summertime trout fishing is often exceptional around Christmas.
Insect activity around the Snowy Mountains streams is reaching fever pitch and there are lots of hungry little trout about.
Fly fishing with dry flies or spinning with small lures can be extremely rewarding. I often experience success with virtually the same set-up I use for fishing for bream in the coastal estuaries.
Water levels are healthy too, thanks to late season snowmelt and small amounts of top-up rain. They're certainly looking a lot better than streams and rivers at lower altitude.