The Alpine Angler

What an opening weekend we had in the mountains.Both the Eucumbene & Thredbo rivers where FULL of rainbows , with fish to 4kgs being taken ! There where also some great reports back in from those fishing the lakes. If it hadn't blown an absolute gale on Sunday & Monday it would have been even better. All in all things look set for a ripper season ahead

Remember to call in to the store for a cuppa on your way through or home and we'll update any further details on the day.

This years 32nd annual Yamaha Snowy Mountains Trout Festival will be run from Saturday the 29 th October to Friday the 4 th of November. The last weigh in time will be 10am on Friday morning.

This years prize presentation will be held at the Berridale Community Hall from 2pm on Friday the 4th of November 2005.

Remember all you have to do is enter this years event and attend the prize presentation to be in the draw for the Fantastic new Quintrex 385 Explorer boat, with 20hp Yamaha motor and trailer prize valued at over $7000.00 ! This years competition is made possible with the continued support from www.yamaha-motor.com.au . who have donated the fabulous 20 hp motor in conjunction with Ken's Marine Canberra, who have supplied the new Quintrex 385 Explorer boat and trailer. We thank Yamaha , Quintrex and Ken's Marine for their generosity and hope that you will be able to support them in future.

You also have the chance of winning $1000 worth of quality tackle for each fishing category. Our ability to make these prizes available is due to the strong support from some of Australia's leading tackle wholesalers, EJ Todd & Son, JM Gillies, Pure Fishing, Rapala VMC, Basser Millyard & Saga Tackle . Combined with the strong support from local business's helps make this a fishing event not to be missed.

There will also be daily "secret weight cash prizes" valued as much as $1000.00 !

We're also lifting the prize pool on the NEW Clubs/Team Catagory to $750.00 CASH !

There will also be the prized Festival Beer Tankards for the largest rainbow and largest brown trout recorded at each weigh in centre.

The committee hopes that you will enjoy the fishing and sites which the beautiful Snowy Mountians area has to offer,and look forward to seeing you all again.

Rivers:- Are Now ALL open

Both the Eucumbene & Thredbo Rivers fished well over the opening weekend with LOTS of good rainbows still running.The average fish where around the kilo mark with quite a few over 2kgs. These fish should stay in these rivers until the end of the month.Best fishing has been with Glo bugs & nymphs , ensuring you keep your flies on the bottom being the key.

*Gordon Jobson from Dapto with a beautiful 4kg hen rainbow caught in the Thredbo river.Gordon is having the fish mounted by Skins Alive !

*Tony & Bobby from Shellharbour fished the Thredbo river as well , driftrigging with glo bugs and nymphs for "stax" of rainbows averaging 1kg , with the best going 2.6kgs !

*Murray & Myles from Qld trolled out form Crows on Eucumbene with both leadlines & flatlines and Tassies in Y82,S12 and 89 , catching their bags easily each day.Mostly rainbows to 1.5kg with a few better browns to 2.5kg.

Guys,Photo of good brown trout caught by Terry Fear of Castle Hill (NSW)in the Kosciusko National Park on October 2005 Long Weekend on Geehi River. Fish was caught and released. Terry would dearly love it if you could get the guys at Fishing Monthly or Fishnet to put it in their magazine or on their website.An absolute pearler of a fish!

Lake Eucumbene:- There have been some nice browns showing up down around the Buckenderra / Middling bank Frying pan area with fish to 2.5 kgs being taken. Although the rainbows are now spawning there are still plenty of opportunities to catch these fish. Middlingbank,Seven Gates, the dam wall and Frying Pan are all worth a look. You just have to be out there to get them .Patterns worth having in your box include Woolly buggers,Fuzzy wuzzies, Craig's night times,Tiahape ticklers and lumo baby dolls.Remember to up your tippet after dark to atleast 8lb as there's always a chance of a BIG one during the night

Lake Tantagara :- Has started to produced a few fish , and should get better once the lake level stabilizes a little as it's been up & down like a yo-yo recently.

Lake Jindabyne:- It's been one of the best polaroiding seasons in years - BUT the lake is now rising fast , so the polaroiding will start to taper off. Best fishing will be working yabby beds with streamers until we start to get some warmer weather and some insects moving ie:midges,caddis etc.Flies worth having in your box include :- woolly bugger's, and fuzzy wuzzy's, Bushy's Horror's,sand cases caddis,black and peacocks, midges etc

Eucumbene:- The trolling really has been HOT on Eucumbene over the last few weeks with some thumping rainbows & Browns coming in. Some anglers managed some good fish this week but were a little hampered by weather at times. Both leadline and flatlines have been producing fish with the cooler surface temperatures.The best fishing has been down the bottom of the lake well away from the main river in-flows. The rainbows are in peak condition and averaging around the 1kg mark, feeding heavily on daphnia in the open water. Consistent lures include Tasmanian Devils in Cols 36,89,55, 72,S12, Y82 & Y62. Our own Alpine Cobra's in the Alpine Attractor, Black hole , Lime spider and Alpine Special patterns, Rebel crickhoppers and crawfish,Storm Hot N Tots , ultra deep Merlins,Stump Jumpers,RMG Scorpions & Poltergeist.

*Bill Huber,Ian Crawford & Jim Vallentine from Canberra fished out from Buckenderra trolling Alpine Cobras in the "black hole" pattern and Tassies in Col 89 for 20 fish , mostly rainbows averaging .800 gms , with the largest brown going 1.5kgs.

*Alan & Michael from Penrith fished out from Buckenderra also trolling Tassies in Col 55 for 9 rainbows to 1.2kgs.Michael also landed two rainbows on fly using woolly buggers and dropped a BIG fish !

*Simon,Liam & Duan form Canberra fished out from Buckederra trolling Tassies in Col Y05 and gold stump jumpers for 7 rainbows and one brown to 2kgs.

HOT NEW LURES : Just arrived in-store for the opening weekend , River 2 Sea Humbugs, Eco Gear SX 40F & 48 F minnows, 2"inch Bug Ants, Sting Cobra Col B/S, Squidgy "Slick Rigs", Team Diawa Pro-Vibrations,Trout Killer E-Chips !

Jindabyne:- Not many reports from Jindy this week. The Thredbo river mouth up around Waste Point and the eastern shoreline around Sids Bay have been the most consistant area's. Fishing a mixture of small minnows like RMG Scorpions, Merlins & Attacks along with Tassies in "Yellow Wing" patterns should see a few nice fish in the boat.

*Adrian & Rick from Canberra fished Tantangara , trolling with flatlines and Tassies in Col S12 & Y62 for 4 browns & 3 rainbows to 1.2kgs

*Steve & Rod from the Canberra fishermans club fished Kalkite with scrubbies & powerbait for 4 good browns to 2.2kgs .

Baitfishing

Tash Smart from Canberra with one of a swag of nice rainbows she caught while sharing "Quality time" with Dad

The baitfishing has been great this winter , with some fantastic browns starting to come in over the last few weeks. The best rig through winter has been combining scrub worms with a Power bait dropper ( pictured below).Power bait in orange, rainbow and lemon twist have been the main fish takers.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. 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.

Lucky,Pete,Aaron & Dom form Queanbeyan fished Kalkite with wood grubs for 5 rainbows average 1kg and 8 browns to 3.5kgs - Lucky caught the BIG one

Best areas on Eucumbene include: Middling bank, Frying pan, Seven Gates, Yens bay, Breamar bay ,Providence around the Eucumbene River Mouth and along the dam wall at Eucumbene Cove.

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

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

#Please Note - NSW Fishing Licences:- Due to the amount of work involved with licence returns we are now ONLY offering fishing licences On-Line Via the NSW Fisheries web site with the use of CREDIT CARD PAYMENT ONLY !

Fishing Report Archives: Print friendly version

Archive Date: 05/10/2005