Headlines: Not a great deal of change in the fishing this week.  Fishing has continued to be exceptional for bait anglers this week with fly and spinning being the next best methods.

Lake Eucumbene is on the rise.  The level is already 7% higher than at this time last year.  The potential for the lake to fish as well if not better than last season is very real.  Let us hope it keeps on rising up.

The boat ramp near Snowline at Jindabyne will be closed temporarilly from the 15th - 24th of July to allow workers to extend the ramp while water levels are low.

The Yamaha and Freshwater Fishing Australia, Snowy Mountains Trout Festival is on again this year.

Dates are Saturday the 31st of October - Friday 6th of November 2009

This year sees the addition of a new 'soft plastics' category.   Once againg there is the chance to win a Quintrex boat, Yamaha Outboard Motor, Minn Kota electric motor and Humminbird sounder all on a trailer ready to go.

See www.troutfestival.com for more competition details

Store Trading Hours

Mon-Thursday  9am - 5:30pm

Friday       9am - 7pm

Saturday  8am - 5.30pm

Sunday     9am - 3:30pm

Flyfishing

Rivers:-   NOW ALL CLOSED 

Lake Eucumbene:-  Fly reports have been spasmodic but ther are certainly some nice fish poking around.  Locals in the Anglers Reach area have been turning up some nice fish over the last week.  The fish are not coming in for very long, around 30- 60 minutes,  but there have been some crackers nearing 2kg being caught.  Most are around the 900gm to 1 kg mark.  Fish quality has been excellent. 

Polaroiding the steeper western shore would be a good option this weekend with some good weather forecast.

Best flies have been woolly buggers, mountain shrimp, fuzzy wuzzy, woolly worms and beadhead nymphs

Best areas have been Seven Gates, Cemetary point, Anglers Reach and Buckenderra.

Lake Jindabyne:-  Jindabyne has been great in the evenings and there is plenty of good polaroiding opportunities when the weather is good.  Searching with a woolly bugger will produce a few nice ones or just wander the bank looking for fish and cast a small wet or nymph at any fish found cruising.  There is still a heap of weed in many of the bays that is drawing the fish in to the food that it holds.

Polaroiding reports have been scarce but there are fish poking around so if you get the right day you will see a few.

Try Bushy's horror, gold ribbed hares ear, stick caddis and midge pupa.

Try the Eastern side during the morning and Western side in the early afternoon.

Sids and Rushes bay, Kalkite are all worth a look as is Hatchery bay, Hayshed bay and Kangaroo bay.

Lake Tantangara :-  No reports from Tantangara.

Trolling and Spinning 

Eucumbene:-  Eucumbene reports have been varied with some good fish being taken by those who put in the time.

Several of the bays along the Western shore have produced quality fish on the downrigger.  Other areas have been good like Collingwood and Coppermine areas with Strike pro vibes 35 taking some great rainbows.

Spinning off the bank is excellent in the Anglers reach and Old Adaminaby area with Mario's Snowy Minnow being the best lure to use at present.

Weather is going to be excellent over the coming weekend and there should be plenty of opportunity to troll a few up.

Cowbells and worms, flat lined Tassies and Vibes, Leadcore, Minnows, Downrigging will all work at the moment.

Try areas like Anglers Reach, Dam Wall and Cobrabald.

Jindabyne:-  Jindabyne has produced few reports this week.  There are still some good fish to be caught in Jinde but early starts are the key to catching them especially when the weather is super calm. 

Try pink tassies and yellow wing patterns flat line and on leadcore. Rapalas and RMGs around the edges early can also be deadly.  Reports suggest that fish have been chasing the goldfish regulalry so using small minnows is a good way to imitate these baitfish.

Baitfishing :- 

After a long period of nil supply we now have wood grubs back in stock this week.  They make a great winter trout bait in the lakes.

Baitfishing in Eucumbene has been sensational despite some windy conditions over the weekend.

*G'Day,

Despite reports on BOM that the two fronts were just about to hit the region I thought duck down quickly to my favorite spot saturday night (11 July).  I headed towards the side of Wallace Island facing Old Adaminaby via Seven Gate Rd around 20:00.  Whilst driving from Canberra via Cooma there wasn't a smidgen of wind.
Got to my spot and it must have been blowing at least 20-30km/hr and picking up during the night.  Waves hitting the shoreline would have had to be at least half a meter.  Still managed to catch 6 rainbows (800g-1.1kg) on a combination of wood grub and power bait.

Regards,
Frank from Canberra

*Johnny Scrubworm has been catching some really nice fish in the Buckenderra area with local scrubbies and powerbait.  Spinning with wet flies under a bubble after dark as also been productive.  He reckons his mates are soft and can't handle the cold but he his happy in the knowledge that he is catching the fish for them as ususal.

Other anglers have reported some great catches at Old Adaminaby in front of Rainbow Pines, Homeleigh Bay, Wangrabelle Bay, Cemetary Point, Buckenderra and Wattledale.

Browns have been eating Powerbait with one angler at Buckenderra catching three quality fish on Powerbait alone.

Wood grubs and scrub worms have been very good and make great combo baits fished in conjunction with Powerbait on a dropper rig.  Cocktailing grubs and Powerbait in the one hook is also a dynamite way to catch the fantastic rainbows that are cruising around the edges during the day.

Many of the better catches have come during the early afternoon (1-3pm) but the fishing has still been very good through the night.

Jindabyne has been slow report wise but there are bound to be some good fish cruising the edges and will fish very well with any of the baits listed above.

Jindabyne     46.2%  

Tantangara     9.7%

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.