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Archive Date: 23/08/2004

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The big Fish - Bonita Brown with her first trout

We had a big weekend in the Snowies with the ABC's BIG FISH - Bonita Brown ( http://www.abc.net.au/illawarra/afternoons/features/fishing.htm ) .Apparently she thought our local fishing reports where to good to be true - so she came up to put us to the test. We also had Steve ( Starlo ) Starling and Kaj ( Bushy) Busch tag along with us over the weekend. We based Bonita and crew out of Buckenderra on lake Eucumbene ( Thanks boys for the service & hospitality ) which has been fishing really well over winter. Starlo started the ball rolling with a productive trolling session on Friday in the Middlingbank arm with Dan Power from Yamaha motors Australia. Steve and Dan landed 6 fish in a few hours running flatfish and Rapala jointed shad raps on flatlines.Their best brown going 2kgs and the rainbows averaging around 1kg. Bonita and husband Matt arrived Friday night and after a great dinner at Roses restaurant ,where ready to hit the water Saturday morning. Unfortunately the wind was really up on Eucumbene so we headed over to lake Jindabyne around 10am. You wouldn't have believed the difference in conditions if you hadn't seen it for yourself.It was nearly glassy calm in front of the main town ship around Lion and Cub Islands, with only a light Westerly breeze across the rest of the lake.Bonita started out fishing with Starlo, while Matt went out with Bushy.I started in Rushes bay at East Jindabyne , running a couple of RMG Scorpions in the redfin and metallic frog patterns.It didn't take long before I had a nice rainbow in the live well, followed by a brown and a salmon - just needed a Brookie for a grand slam !

Steve "Starlo" Starling with a nice double from Middlingbank

Bonita decided to jump boats at this stage , and it was only five minutes later she had her first trout in the net - a nice rainbow around .800 grams. The fishing really was great and we ended up with a dozen nice fish up to 1.5kgs, with Bonita adding brown trout and salmon to her new list of fish species caught. I ended up giving Starlo a couple of RMG's , which he used to great effect, landing a couple of nice fish as well. He then redeemed himself with a short polaroiding session from one of the East Jindabyne Islands, spotting five nice browns sitting in a calm bay.Steve presented one of his own yabby patterns - with a big browns pouncing on it straight away. You can't beat this type of visual fishing and Steve was stoked with a lovely brown of around 2kgs.Bushy and Matt also had a productive session with one really nice rainbow nudging 1kg.Matt also dropped a big salmon at the boat of around 2.5kgs when the hooks on his Tilsan minnow straitened.Bushy also had a good run and popped the leader on another heavy fish. The wind then really came up again from the West so we called it a day.

Starlo with a beautiful brown caught whilst polaroiding with one of his own yabby pattern flies on Jindabyne

Sunday Morning dawned quite calm so I took Bonita and Matt out on Middlingbank for a look. We ran a deep diving Merlin, Rapala Jointed Shad - rap and an RMG's all on flat lines. Working in 3-4 metres of water , I marked quite a few fish on the Humminbird Legend ,before getting our first strike.Bonita beat Matt to the rod and landed a nice plump rainbow around .800gms. We didn't go long between strikes with another 2 rainbows and a brown coming to the net over the next few hours.Starlo joined us for a troll and quickly pulled a couple of nice fish working some timber with the Shad raps as well.The wind came away again from the West around 10 am , so I decided to give "dead cow" bay a quick run before heading in.Matt was holding the rod with the jointed shad rap , when it was nearly ripped from his hands.Big head shakes indicated a good fish as myself and Bonita cleared the other two lines. Matt went quite when we got our first look at what was a beautiful big brown, with visions of straitened hooks from his previous days big salmon.You could have heard us back at Buckenderra when I slid the Enviro-net under that fish and lifted it aboard.A great fish - Brown trout of around 2.5kgs. A perfect way to finish off their trip. 

 Matt & Bonita with Matts BIG brown from Middlingbank

It was a great weekend, with a lot of fun had by all, not to mention some terrific fishing.I'm sure Bonita has some great listening lined up for you over the next few weeks - so make sure you all tune into "The Big Fish" with Bonita between 3pm & 4pm Wednesdays on the following frequencies :- 

For the Illawarra: 97.3 FM

Bega: 810 AM

Moruya: 103.5 FM

Eden: 106.3 FM

Cooma: 1602 AM

Bombala: 94.1 FM

Thredbo: 88.9 FM

Jindabyne: 95.5 FM

For more details on the day, call into the store on your way through and we'll update things over a cuppa in front of the fire 

Flyfishing

Rivers:All general trout streams are now closed to all fishing until Saturday the 2nd of October 2004 ( Start of the October longweekend).However our lakes are open all year round with some of most consistant coventional fishing on Lake Eucumbene and Lake Jindabyne occuring over winter.

Eucumbene: There's still some nice rainbows being caught down around Buckenderra, Frying pan and Breamar Bay. The Eucumbene dam wall is also a reliable area through winter, and well worth a look on a bright day. The winter polaroiding along the wall was quite good last winter on the rainbows .For those who are prepared to put in the time and dress accordingly, we'll still see some good fish caught from around the Eucumbene river mouth right through winter as well. You can still fish this area so long as your are outside of any visible flow - which is basically below the last set of rapids in the river all year round. So once the browns have gone, you'll see some BIG rainbows come through in September.

 
Jindabyne: We have had a few fly anglers out for a look on the lake over the last few weeks with mixed reports. We should see the bulk of the browns start to drop out of the Thredbo this month, and the polaroiding kick in. With the lake now down to around 50% the level will be good this season - all we need is a BIG high pressure system on the map.We'll keep you posted once we get some more feedback.

Trolling

The trolling really has been fantastic on both lakes this winter and only looks set to get better as things warm up.Matt and Andrew Taylor spun from the shore at Middlingbank with Rapala Vibrax Minnow spins for a couple of cracking browns - 1.8kg and 2.5kgs.The boys commenting that both fish had small goldfish in their stomachs. Generally the best colours in the Tassie's have been Col 19, 55,64,67,89,FLP and Y82.Our own Alpine Cobras have also developed quite a following with the Alpine Attractor, Pink wings, pink bits, black hole and midnight special all fishing well of late. Minnows are also always worth having in your spread with RMG Scorpions, baby merlins, Attacks and Rapala's all worth a swim. Best colours are rainbow and browns trout patterns, tigers and pink/violets. The rebel crick hoppers also continue to fish well with the black one being the pick along with the Smilin jack version in black/gold. Running 3 colours of leadline can also help pull a few fish through out the day, getting your lures down around the 3 metre mark.

NEW Duel Depth Tassie Colours:-We have just recieved the new "Yellow Wing" Duel depht Tasmanian devil range - Including the popular S12 sparkler.These are sure to become favourites in a few tackle boxes - Give some a run next trip.

Jindabyne: We did really well up on Jindy over the weekend, and saw a few other anglers bring fish in - just need to put some time in for one of those BIG salmon.Generally the best areas have been around the Islands in front of the main township, Rushes/Sid's bay at East Jindabyne, Creel bay and around Waste point and the Western side up around Kalkite.We should also start to see some of the BIG salmon turning up from now on in as they'll be pretty hungry by now ! 

Baitfishing

The baitfishing has been fantastic this winter with some real quality in the fish being caught as well.The best reports have been from anglers fishing with bardie grubs, using a Power bait dropper (pictured below). This rig has really proven itself over the last few seasons; with both options you really have it covered. Power bait naturally floats, so the distance you make your dropper is the distance you can expect your Power bait to be above the bottom. This means that fish will find your bait a lot quicker even if you have cast into weeds. If they don't eat the Power bait they have found your main bait a lot quicker. Scrub worms can also be fished instead of the Bardie grub, being a cheaper alternative. Best colours in the Power bait have been Orange, Sherbet, Lime twist and rainbow. The hook is important when fishing with Power bait and we get a special "single egg" pattern in from Gamakatsu just for the job - which has a short shank and ultra wide gape. Feel free to ask us to go over the rig next time your in if still unsure.Peggy and George Binds from Canberra fished Kalkite with bardies and Powerbait for 20 fish ,16 rainbows and 4 browns - keeping only 6 fish averaging .800gms.Paul , Alex and Conor form Canberra fished seven gates on Eucumbene with bardies and Powerbait also for 3 rainbows to 1.5kgs.

Powerbait dropper-rig

Best areas' on Eucumbene include: Middling bank, Rushes bay at Frying pan, 7 gates, yens bay, Breamar bay and along the dam wall.

Best area's on Jindabyne include: The clay pits in front of town, Hatchery bay, creel bay and Kalkite.

Jindabyne Dam Wall project Up-dates :- For detailed information regarding the work being caried out on the Lake Jindabyne Dam wall, including road delays etc go to :-

http://www.snowyhydro.com.au/LevelThree.asp?pageID=56&parentID=254&grandParentID=3

Lake Levels

Eucumbene 49 % and Rose

Jindabyne 48 % and falling

Tantangarra 10 % Rose

That's all till next week!

Regards Scotto