Headlines Fishing options are many with great water and conditions for fishing. Jindabyne and Eucumbene have been the pick of the lakes with some good browns showing amongst numbers of rainbows.
We are open everyday during the holiday and new year period.
Flyfishing
Rivers:- Stream levels have been very good over the past week or so with some nice fishing to be had when the weather allows. Mayfly hatches have been good on the Eucumbene with the Thredbo having some good caddis hatches from reports had.
Best river fish this week was a 63cm fish taken on a weighted wooly bugger below the portal on the Eucumbene. The fish was in excellent condition.
Other streams worth prospecting are the Moonbah, Gungarlin, Little Thredbo, Snowy and Murrumbidgee.
Best dries have been Elk hair caddis, foam black and green beetles, stimulators, humpy, Wulffs, klinkhamer, adams parachute, red tag and deer hair beetles. Small blue dun or greenwells glory have been good for the mayfly hatches.
Nymphs that are working have been pheasant tails, gold ribbed hares ear, black and brown beadheads and blue copper johns.
Lake Eucumbene:- Has risen to 28 % over the past week.
Plenty of rainbows have been caught of late with fish condition improving.
Browns have been in excellent condition and have been on yabbies in a big way. They are still taking small flies but a large streamer would be a good bet to chase these fish.
Fast stripped or slowly worked beadhead nymphs are working well during the day on rainbows, with stick caddis, midge pupa or unweighted nymphs working well during the evenings. Beetle patterns on hot days may also be worth using as a few more beetles are starting to show on the water.
In some areas fish have been on snails so they are worth having in the box along with some klinkmers if the fish are on individual midge.
Fishing is excellent in the Middilingbank and Seven Gates areas and a few reports suggest the Angler's Reach area has picked up.
*Daniel Wilkins, Matt Daniel, Antoni Latter and I fished an eveing last week with 21 rainbows landed between us. Wooly buggers, bead head nymphs, klinkhamers, midge pupa were the pick of the flies.
*Fished again myself on Monday night for three rainbows in the freezing southerly wind. Hooked two on pupa and two on klinhamers losing one fish and missing a couple of others. Kept one very fat 45cm fish that was full of snails.
*Mick Patton, Dave Maurier and Dr. Andrew Egan from Cooma had a great session last week catching ninteen fish between them at Buckenderra. Some nice fish were caught on Windlane and Olive nymphs and sz 10 wooly buggers. One of the fish landed had several crucian carp in its stomach.
Photos to come.
Lake Jindabyne:- Jindabyne reports have been quiet over the past week. The one report we have had suggests tough fishing and more fish working in the morning than evenings. This may depend on the day though.
Lake Tantangara :- Has started to drop and may well help the fishing as the lake had risen perhaps to rapidly with the rain of two weeks ago. There are still numbers of midge, damsels and beetles that have had the fish on the chew. Quality of the fish has been excellent but finding some that are feeding consistantly has been hard. Best flies will be small nymphs both beadhead and unweighed, stick caddis, caddis pupa, midge pupa, black and peacock spiders and woolly worms and buggers.
Trolling and Spinning
Eucumbene:- Eucumbene trolling reports have been better with both flat lining and leadcore working well.
Tassies have been working very well in the early hours in close.
Most of the fish being caught have been rainbows but there is always the chance of a brown.
Small Attack minnows in pink have accounted for several fish for one group while brown trout rapalas have been great for another boat.
Browns have been on yabbies overall so a deeper bodied minnow like the Rapala Jointed Shad Rap in 5 cm will get down and is a cracker for targeting these larger aggressive fish.
Jindabyne:- Trolling reports have suggested Sids bay and the Islands (or what is left of them) nearby has been very good with some nice fat rainbows being taken. Small minnows and tassies, lofty's or stings are the best lure stlyes to use. Downrigging tassies will produce some great fish and keep an eye out on the sounder for any daphnea blooms as these are great fish magnets and the rainbows in particular have been feeding on these blooms.
Bait Fishing
We have a large range of Powerbait and Gulp in stock with many rainbows still being caught on a range of colours. Chunky Cheese, Sherbert Burst and Lime twist and lemon twist are still the standouts.
Best baits on Euc have been the above powerbaits and scrub worms. Seven Gates has been fishing very well as has Buckenderra. Mudeyes have been hard to get but we are still trying.
Jindabyne has also fished well with plenty of good fishing to be had. Curiosity rocks and Hatchery being good locations to try.
The new Gulp Crickets are now in stock and will make a great substitute for a mudeye under a bubble. They look just like a mudeye so with a few colour choices and built in scent it would be amazing if they don't account for a few feisty rainbows and browns in the lakes.
