Flyfishing

Rivers:-  Dry fly fishing has been exceptional in the local area with the fish really looking up for anything hatching or falling onto the water. With one week of warm weather the fishing has improved out of sight.  The dry might have slowed a little after the weekend of snow, but with it already warm and muggy again today as I type this, the fish won't take long to clue in on any hatches.

Beetles are starting to show, more caddis and mayflies are hatching from the streams and the fishing is still really only just begining.

Dry flies to use at the moment are small emergers like Klinkhamers, Blue wing olive parachutes, attractors like Wullfs and Stimulators, along with beetles and ant patterns.  A nymph suspended under the dry during the day is a good method to use, but a dry dusk will have beat results.

Eucumbene and Thredbo rivers have a really nice easy to fish flow at the moment and some nice browns and rainbows to be caught.

Below are a couple of photos sent in by Gary Norenbergs taken on the Murrumbidgee during the recent Fly Fishing Championships.  Makes you want to drop everything and go fishing!

Mark Bulley wading away.

Chris Dawson searching, searching.

Other rivers worth a look early in the season are the  Moonbah, Mac, Snowy, Gungarlin, and a few other smaller high country creeks.

Lake Eucumbene:-  Not a lot of change in the reports the Lake looks fantastic but the fish have not been coming in around the edges in big numbers yet.  With the edges warming and the Midges and Caddis numbers rising it won't be long before it really fires up.  Evening is the best time to hit the lake for rising fish.  Early polaroiding can be very succesful on browns when conditions are good.

A few reports suggest that the Anglers Reach, Wangrabelle Bay area have had a few fish moving of an evening right on dark.

Best areas to look are Seven Gates, Buckenderra, Braemar, Cobrabald, Waiunui, Coppermine, Collingwood, Yens, Wangrabelle, Springwood 

Night fishing will improve over the next few weeks with the rising water.  Dark flies like Craigs, Fuzzies, Phantoms, are the go.  Mudeye patterns will account for a few fish in the next week or two.

 Lake Jindabyne:-  The fishing in Jindabyne has still been quite good and better than expected. The dropping water has slowed the polaroiding for some but there are still fish around the edges that are very polaroidable. The river mouth arms seem to be the best areas. 

Night time fishing has been good with some nice reports coming in.  Muddler Minnows, Sunset flies, Fuzzy Wuzzys, Hammils and Tom Jones work very well at this time of year.

 Best areas to look at are Sids Bay, Hatchery Bay, Creel Bay, Kangaroo Bay, and Kalkite.

Lake Tantangara :- 

Trolling and Spinning 

 We now have Sting Cobras back in stock.

Our Rapala Minnow indent has just arrived with trout patterns from 1cm to 11cm. 

Eucumbene:-   Trolling has been challenging with many fish hanging deep at the present time.  Leadcore or a downrigger will produce better catches at the moment but you do have to work for them.  Daphnia has been large part of the diet of rainbows at present. Yellow wing tassies and green tassies are the go in this situation. 

With the possibility of a change of weather this week the fish may end up getting on the chew a little more and working in the shallower margins of the lake.

Tassie Y94, Y82, and dual depth S12 have been good this week.  Sting in glow grub have been very good.

Trout pattern minnows in Rapalas, Attacks, RMG Scorpions, Rebels, and Alex lures are great lures to try.  Try some of the larger lures down deep to search out the bigger browns.

Best areas to look at this week are the Dam wall, Main basin, Buckenderra, Seven gates and Anglers reach. 

 Boat launching in Eucumbene is available at Old Adaminaby, The Dam Wall, Anglers Reach, Buckenderra.

*Bruce Robbins caught 15 fish on a recent trip.  Most of the fish ate deep Merlins in Gold and yellows. Blades, Squidgies, Powerbait and fly all caught a fish.  Biggest was 1.5kg.

*Jerome Pagitz, Roger Derham, and Kylie Titterton fished Buckenderra and Frying pan arm for three hookups, but landing only one. Lofty's colour # 100 was the pick.

*G'day G'day to the Alpine Angler,

Well firstly, I don't think I've yet experienced such a diverse and unpredictable fishing week as that of the last. My father Ray, his friend Rod, my Uncle Ian and myself Andrew spent the week fishing the area's of Braemar Bay. After we visited your store for supplies we jumped back on the road where the conditions looked perfect, sunny warm and the wind was non-existent. That continued for a day or two, then the wind came (borderline gale force at times ha-ha) then the rain came then the snow. All day saturday it was like a winters day, cold and huge snow flakes covering our wee brown cabin making it white. It made for quite a beautiful picturesque scene.

Anyways to the fishing, we were doing it "Tonka Tuff" to say the least. There was very minimal action unfortunately not many fish were feeding close to shore which was a shame for us fly fishos. There was the odd bit of movement but not a great deal to get excited about. My Uncle and Rod pulled in a brown & rainbow on sunsets just coming up to dark after 7.30 or so. That was it for fly, then on one of the windiest days we had Uncle Ian landed a great conditioned brown while spinning a mud line with a yellow tassie devil. Which was fantastic because we had two nights to go and only one frozen dinner left. Perfect timing.

 

Other than the fishing being a little quiet, the weeks weather and conditions made for some enjoyable photography to happen.

Thanks for the friendly service and help while down in the store, most likely see you again in a fortnight when we next venture your way from the less than pleasant town of Sydney.

 

 

Regards,

Andrew Cameron

Jindabyne:-  Jindabyne trolling reports have been scarce but there are bound to be some good fish taken by those who fish it this weekend.

Tantangara:- No Reports.

Baitfishing :-  Mudeyes are back in stock now and are producing some good fish at both Jindabyne and Eucumbene.  Bait fishing has been excellent in Jindabyne with Gulp Power bait and standard Powerbait.   Quality fish are coming in from the Rushes Bay, Waste point Kalkite and Hatchey Bay areas.

*John Pene has had a couple of good sessions in the Anglers Reach area in the last week.  Mudeyes were the best bait and some nice fat fish have hit the bank.

*Matt Sturgeon braved the wind and the cold to catch a few at Jindabyne on Sunday night.  Spinning and Powerbait caught the fish.  When asked why wasn't your brother Stuart fishing with you, the reply was 'he had his knitting class'

Best areas in Eucumbene would be Coppermine, Waiunui, Seven Gates, Braemar and Buckenderra. 

Eucumbene  22.5%

Jindabyne    50.7%

Tantangara     7.3%

Cheers Tom

Got any reports from the local lakes or rivers?

If so, email them along with pictures to info@alpineangler.com.au  for inclusion in our weekly report.