Headlines: Lake Eucumbene is right on last seasons high and is going to be great for bait and fly anglers from the shore. Midges are about and will provide some fantastic fly fishing very soon. Trolling is producing a few fish. Rivers have been holding some good water and fish also.
There has been some ramp work done at Angler's Reach recently. One is at Angler's Reach Caravan park. The other is located past the caravan park, on the right, near the end of the main road. This ramp is usable now and reports suggest it is very good.
Getting close now.
Trout Festival 2008 - Not long to go now till the start of The 35th Yamaha and Freshwater Fishing Snowy Mountains Trout Festival. Dates for the week long competition are Saturday the 1st of November - Friday 7th of November 2008.
More details and entry form downloads can be found at www.troutfestival.com
There are some fantastic prizes on offer and with the way the fishing is shaping up is bound to be a great event this year.
Lost Rod - From last weeks report was found and is being returned to its owner Chris. Thanks to Eftin from Wollongong.
Store Trading Hours
Mon-Thursday 9am - 5:30pm
Friday 9am - 7pm
Saturday 7am - 5pm
Sunday 8am - 4:30pm
Flyfishing
Rivers:- All now open for fishing.
The Thredbo and Eucumbene rivers have fished well again this week. Plenty of fish in both rivers have been seen, lost, caught and released. Most have been rainbows but there were a few nice browns caught as well. Nymphs have been the main fish takers this week but Glo bugs will continue to produce.
Dry fly fishing is starting to improve with the warmer weather. 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
Other rivers worth a look early in the season are the Murrumbidgee, Moonbah, Mac, Snowy, Gungarlin, and a few other smaller high country creeks.
There have been a few termite falls this week and with some good stormy weather this will continue. Some brown, red and black ants are a must in the box at this time of year. They usually fall in the evenings and the following morning fish can be found mopping them up. They provide some exciting fishing.
*Hi Tom ,I fished the Eucumbene River at Providence over Friday and Saturday with Vince, over 3 sessions we managed to catch good numbers of fish. Early mornings were best with the fishing slowing as the day progressed. This was the case on Friday afternoon as the number of people on the river increased. Of course the fishing was more challenging than it had been for the past week or two and the fish preferred nymphs to the glo-bugs or egg imitations that had previously accounted for the majority of fish. A couple of pics are attached.
Cheers Kieran
*Hi Tom / Mick, Mick suggested I send you guys a quick report of two of my young sons efforts recently down at Jindabyne during the last week of school holidays. The picture is of my son James (15 yrs) with his first fish (rainbow trout) on fly caught at Eucumbene River on a tandem nymph rig.
Cheers Chris Harding
Vice President
Illawarra Fly fishers
Wollongong NSW
Lake Eucumbene:- Is set to fire again this Spring. As mentioned the lake level is right on last seasons high.
Some of the bays in Eucumbene at the present time.
Those that fished the lake last season will remember the huge amounts of aquatic insects, caddis, corixa, snails, damsel nymphs, midges, mudeyes etc that were in abundance, as the lake rose into the grass, and the subsequent rainbows that came in close to feed of an evening and morning.
The lake should rise to somewhere between 25% and 30% with any luck.
With all this happening again and with warming edges the midges will come on and the fish with them. There are more and more midge starting to hatch and even in areas that are not grassy. Several anglers have reported seeing numbers of them in some of the secluded, muddy bottomed bays on the Western shoreline. It is shaping up to be as good as Spring 2004.
The lake is not quite firing yet but it is not far off.
Saturday night saw a bit of a rise as the lake glassed off and some termites fell. There were a few fish moving but a fair way out. Boat anglers should do well at these times.
Think locations like Seven Gates, Buckenderra, Braemar, Cobrabald, Waiunui, Coppermine, Collingwood, Yens, Wangrabelle, Springwood all these areas are and will continue firing for a good couple of months now both with polaroiding and evening rises.
A couple of reports of fish taken during the day were received this week and fishing deep was the key.
Night fishing will improve over the next few weeks with the rising water. Dark flies like Craigs, Fuzzies, Phantoms, are the go.
Best areas to fly fish the lake at present are all those bays just mentioned, depending on the wind.
Lake Jindabyne:- The fishing in Jindabyne has still been quite good and better than expected. Despite the rapid rise there are still fish around the edges and are very polaroidable. The river mouth arms seem to be the best areas.
As in Eucumbene the night time fishing will improve over the next few weeks.
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 :- Although the dam dropped a little this week it is still more than worth a look at present. The edges will be the place to fish with small wets and nymphs.
Trolling and Spinning
We now have Sting Cobras back in stock.
Eucumbene:- Trolling has improved in the lake and boat access is very easy also. The best launching areas are still Buckenderra, Old Adaminaby, Anglers Reach (2 ramps) and The Dam Wall.
The lake has cleared significantly in the last week. Trolling will be good but you still have to find the fish. Reports suggest that hugging the shore in close early has produced best results. Other have found fish in the deeper water near the dam wall and Braemar.
All types of lures will work this week with yellows, greens and pinks in Tassie and Cobra style lures very popular.
The new Viking Minnows are proving popular and have taken a number of fish already. Great little lures and very nice colour schemes.
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.
* Bob Bopping trolled out from Braemar Bay and down to the dam wall on the weekend and scored twenty four fish to 2kg! That is awesome fishing. Rebel Green Crickhoppers and Black Crickhoppers were the best lures.
*Hi,
I read your fishing report all the time, thanks for all the helpful hints and info.
My first report from Eucumbene, hope you can use some of the info.
Have been to Cobrabald Bay around this time for the last 14 years. Thought you might find the following information and pics helpful.
8 fishermen 4 boats, on lures both flat lining and down rigging, Tassies varying in colour from Fruit salad to Yellow wings versions.
Mostly anything with some Yellow/gold/ green (Frog was a great one)
Lots of fish caught in the week. We kept 40 good fish and released that many again.
Found that distance from the boat was a critical factor , anywhere between 40 and 60 metres back.
Rainbows to 2 lbs and browns in excess of that (2.5 to 3 lbs) the biggest a brown of 7 lbs (full of yabbies see photo) )on a Freddo frog yellow wings Tassie.
Lake has risen what looked like a metre in a week.
Regards
Wally
Rebel Crickhoppers and Smilin Jack Hoppers behind cowbells or fenders are another great early season lure to try.
Best areas to look at this week are the Dam wall, Main basin, Buckenderra, Seven gates and Anglers reach.
