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The great fishing continues on both lakes Eucumbene & Jindabyne , with a few browns also showing up in the rivers with the recent rain. You can always go back through the last few weeks Fishing Report "Archives" if you have missed some of the recent action ! The next few months generally produces some of the best fishing of the season, with the fish in peak condition prior to spawning .Remember to call into the store for a cuppa on your way through and let us know how you go on your way home - we may even be able to take a photo of your fish for this report 
Fly-fishing
Rivers:- The recent drop of snow & rain has produced enough run off to see a few browns sneak up the main rivers in the lead up to spawning. So keep an eye on the lower Eucumbene and Thredbo rivers from now on - remembering the rules will also change as off NOW ( 1st of May ) on these rivers to 1 fish a day OVER 50cm. Due to the amount of anglers enjoying the fishing this season your best results will be found away from the main access area's. Other area's worth a look include the Mowambah, Gungarlin , Guthega pondage and Island Bend ,Murrumbidgee and 3 mile dam. Best fishing is still with an attractor style dry fly with trailing nymph dropper. Patterns worth having in the box include Royal wulffs, stimulators,klinkhammers,elk hair caddis, red tags, hares ear nymph, pheasant tail nymph ,some bead heads & Glo bugs won't be too far away either.
Lake Eucumbene:- Stax of very nice rainbows averaging .800 grams to 1kg coming in over the last few weeks. You just need to pick a bay with some weed beds and a bit of structure for the best fishing. The rainbows seem to come in for that hour on dusk chasing mudeyes & yabbies. The falling lake levels have really got the yabby's moving, so fishing a woolly bugger into the night will help you find the better browns.
*The SouthWest Fly fishers from Camperdown in Vic had a club outing based from Crows near Breamar Bay, with 9 members landing 24 browns to 3kgs and 216 rainbows to 1.5kgs over 8 days/nights fly fishing - with most fish released.The best fishing was through the day on nymphs and of an evening/night with larger streamers like woolly buggers,lumo baby dolls, and Muz Wilson's Emu Buggers. All fish kept where chock-a-block full of yabbies and in top condition.
Lake Tantagara :- There have been a lot of small fish moving of an evening on caddis & midges with a few also being taken after dark on streamer patterns.
Lake Jindabyne:- Had some good reports back in from Jindy over the last few weeks, which should only get better with the lake holding it's level well and now starting to cool off. Mostly evening fishing with mudeye patterns and streamers like woolly buggers and fuzzy's etc. Area's worth a look include Stinky Bay, Sid's bay, Hatchery Bay, Creel Bay , Snowy arm and Kalkite.
Trolling
Eucumbene:- The great trolling continues, just stick to the main launching area's with the falling lake levels ie: Buckenderra , Old Adaminaby, Anglers Reach,Breamar Bay and the Dam wall for smaller boats. Both leadlines at 3 colours and flatlines have been producing the goods. The rainbows are in peak condition and averaging around the 1kg mark, feeding heavily on yabby's with the falling water levels, while some better browns have also started to show up as they get itchy for spawning. Consistent lures include Tasmanian Devils in Cols 36,89,55, 72,S12, Y82 & Y62. Our own Alpine Cobra's in the Alpine Attractor, Alpine Special,Pink Wings and Pink Bits patterns, Rebel crickhoppers and crawfish,ultra deep Merlins,Stump Jumpers,Rapala minnows, RMG Scorpions & Poltergeist.
*Gordon Simpson from Bowral did well spinning up on Tantangara with seven mates, landing 25 browns averaging 1kg. Best lures included Stumpjumpers and Rebel crawdads.The boys also caught A LOT of small rainbows , which they released.
*Hi - When I dropped in and purchased some lures you asked for some feedback.Over the first period 18-21 April - 4 boats 4 dads and 6 kids at Kalkite in the main bay and leading into the Eucumbene River over 60 rainbows and 1 brown predominantly caught on yellow, gold and green Tassies, Rapalas Trout pattern on 2.5 to 3 colours of lead core at a fast troll 2 mph. Some fish were taken on surface Rapalas but they were smaller, some fish taken on large Hammill's Killer weighted flies on fast sink line stripped hard. The fish were in excellent condition we noticed two finned clipped Rainbows they ranged from 1.5 kg to 1 kg mostly female.On 25-26 April 2 boats 2 dads and 3 kids at Kalkite same area two sessions one evening one morning. A total of 26 fish same routine as above with no sizable fish taken on the surface.
All in all a terrific Easter/Anzac trip, best for years with each family taking home a few fish (most were released) and having lots of fun with the hard fighting rainbows.Thanks Bill
* G'day Scotto. Just a quick report on the weekends fishing.Trolled out of Buckenderra Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Picked ip 6 saturday evening a 3 hour session then 10 Sunday morning in another 3 hour session. Total was 16 fish for 6 hour trolling consisting of 15 Rainbows and 1 Brown. Fish averaged 40cm with the largest a 1.7kg Rainbow at 55cm. All fish were caught on flatline trollling in around 3-6m of water. In the bright conditions tassie 36 accounted fro the lions share. FYI... With the limited time and trying to keep everyone happy, i didn't manage to work the timber with plastics.Axe
*Cathy & Randy from Canberra did well spinning with Squidgy fish up in the timber around big Tolbar for 10 rainbows and a couple of nice browns including this 2.5kg fish Cath is holding above !
Get a Feed of Yabby's ! You are allowed to use up to five - 2 ring yabby, lift nets on the Snowy Lakes, and the yabby's have been thick - with some as big as small lobsters ! We have continued our special with 2 nets for $12.00 - so grab a couple and get a great feed - just bring along some livers
Jindabyne:- There has been some great trolling up on Jindy over the last few weeks, with the best area's being out around the islands in the main basin in front of town & Sid's Bay ant East Jindy, up around Waste Point and at the top of the lake around Kalkite. Fishing a mixture of small minnows like RMG Scorpions, Merlins & Attacks along with Tassies in just about all the "Yellow Wing",as well as our own Alpine Cobra's in the Alpine Attractor & Pink Wings patterns producing the goods.
*David Baker from Canberra trolled both leadlines & flatlines with Tassies in the Col 4 Clown pattern for 4 rainbows and one good brown to 1.5kgs
LURE SALE - Buy 5 Flatfish OR Rapala Lures and Select a sixth ONE FREE !
Baitfishing
*Tom & Sam from Michelago fished 7 Gates with mudeyes and Powerbait for 6 nice rainbows overnight Saturday.
*Steve & Dave from Queanbeyan also fished out at 7 gates overnight on Friday with Lime Twist Powerbait for 12 rainbows and 2 browns to 1.5kgs.Commenting the bite was so good it was hard to enjoy a beer at times !
*Alex,Paul,Connor and Stan from Canberra also fished 7 Gates with Powerbait in the Rainbow & Sherbet colours for 11 nice rainbows Saturday night !
*Jason Szkwarek with a nice brown on a Tassie Devil
*Our annual trip to Eucumbene was taken 3 weeks early this year. My Father, son and two brothers in-law made the trip from Latrobe valley to providence to chase that elusive big brown. We were met with extremely low water and as usual with this place we had to come up with a different plan to previous years. Simon landed 2 nice rainbows and I landed a nice rainbow and a big brown on Tassie devils spinning from the shore.
Now neither of us had used powerbaits before and I didnt really come up here to bait fish but the good advice from one of the locals was too hard to ignore. We found a nice part of the lake with some good structure and set two line each. I would have to say that this was the turning point of our trip as the action was fast from mid afternoon until 1 hr after sunset with dusk being the prime time. We landed 17 rainbows between us and went home very happy. My son caught his first good sized trout and we found another piece of the Eucumbene puzzle.See ya next trip - Jas
The baitfishing has been unbelievable over the last few weeks with incredible catches coming in from Eucumbene. Just about all the main baits have been taking fish with mudeyes still doing very well and Power Bait accounting for the most captures. Make sure you pick an area with plenty of weed and some structure like rocks and tree's. Scrub worms fished in conjunction with a Powerbait dropper is still proving to be a popular rig ( Pictured below ).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 have a special NEW "circle hook" pattern from Mustad just for the job - which hooks them for you ! Feel free to ask us to go over the rig next time your in if still unsure. The mudeye fishing has also been pretty good over the last month and should only improve as things warm up.The best way to fish mudeyes is with a running bubble rig (Pictured Below ).
* Please call into the store and ask us to show you how to rig these baits if your having trouble
