The Alpine Angler

This years 32nd annual Yamaha Snowy Mountains Trout Festival was another great success with over 500 entry's - and some great fish caught.The prize presentation at the Berridale Community Hall on Friday also went well, with many saying it was one of the best presentations to date - so we will look at using it again next year.

I have now finished up dating all the final results which can be found @ www.troutfestival.com Thanks to ALL of our sponsors for their generous donations & support, as with out them we wouldn't have an event. I would also like to thanks all of the committee who put in a lot of hard work through out the year to make this event happen.Finally a BIG thanks to all who competed - we look forward to seeing you and your friends again next year.

*Tony Brine with a set of the popular Trout Festival beer glasses - for his largest rainbow of 1274 grams at our weigh in station on day one.

Rivers:- Both the Eucumbene & Thredbo Rivers have had plenty of rainbows holding back after spawning since the opening - although they have thinned out over the last week with plenty of rain getting the rivers up .The average fish have been around the kilo mark with quite a few over 2kgs. We should still see quite a few of these fish stay on and may provide some dry flyfishing once we get some warm weather and hatches.There have been reports of termites and dun's over the last week - bring on some stable weather !

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. Patterns worth having in your box at present 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:- There's been a few fish about - but not a lot of fly anglers chasing them. Best fishing has been 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 great on Eucumbene over the last few months with some thumping rainbows & browns coming in. 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.

*Cameron & Beau from Canberra trolled out from Old Adaminaby with 3 colours of lead line with Rapal's & Killer lures for 6 good rainbows averaging .800 grams.

*Shane & Mark from Canberra also fished out from Old Adaminaby with both lead & flatlines and Tassies in Col 4 & 51 as well as our own Black Hole for 12 nice fish , mostly rainbows to 1kg and a couple of browns 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:- It's been a little patchy of Jindy over the last few weeks, with best area's being up around the Thredbo river mouth at around Waste Point and the eastern shoreline around Sid's Bay . 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.

Baitfishing

The baitfishing has been great,with some fantastic browns starting to come in over the last few weeks. The best rig through winter was combining a 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.

Powerbait Dropper Rig

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 !

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Archive Date: 12/11/2005