The Alpine Angler

Rain has started this morning and this should give a boost to spawning fish in the Thredbo and Eucumbene rivers. It has been quite steady so hopefully the rivers are getting a good drop too. The coming long weekend should be a great one for all anglers fishing the area with some good reports from the area again this week.

It's on again this November, 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.

Once again prizes will include a Boat, Motor and Trailer package, Category prizes for Trolling, Spinning, Fly and Bait fishing, daily secret weight cash prizes, plus an overall secret weight cash prize. The fishing is bound to be excellent and it is a great family orientated event. Book your holidays early and don't miss the countries premier Trout Fishing event.

*From 1st May the bag and size limit in the Eucumbene River and Thredbo River changes to 1 fish only over 50cm. All fish under 50cm must be released and only one over 50cm may be kept. The whole of the Eucumbene River is open to fishing. Artificial lure and fly only in both rivers.

Rivers:- Fishing has been great in the rivers. There is some great Glo bug fishing to be had and the rain wills see more fish in the Thredbo and Eucumbene. Glo Bugs and Nymphs are the go for this fishing, under a strike indicator. Early starts are a must for these areas and although it can be cold the fishing becomes tougher once the sun is on the water. Flies? Pheasant tails, Hare & Copper, Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, Black and Brown Nymphs in conjunction with a Glo Bug.

*Steve Lovett caught a very nice Brown on a grey bead head nymph on the weekend.

*Other anglers reported good numbers of fish in the streams at Kiandra, the upper Murrumbidgee, and Three Mile Dam. Although nothing of any real size some great fun fishing up high at present.

*Paul Adams from Sydney caught a very nice 3.4kg Brown in the Thredbo last week on a big black streamer pattern.

Lake Eucumbene:- Reports have been a little quieter from Eucumbene this but there are still some great Rainbows to be caught.

Wet flies on dark are the best options with Craigs Nightime, Mum's Poodle, Fuzzy Wuzzy, Woolly Buggers and Lumo's being the best patterns to try. Homeleigh Bay, Rainbow Pines, Seven Gates and the River Mouth are the best spots to look at. Pick areas with good weed beds and some depth. Searching out clear water is a must as wave action is stirring up some areas and making the water cloudy.

Lake Jindabyne:- The lake has really fired over the weekend. Some great catches of Rainbows were made in the main lake after dark and most are cracking sized fish. We have had two seperate reports of 30 + fish being caught in a night by different anglers so the fishing is nothing short of exceptional at the moment. Of course nearly all of these were released.

There have been a few Brook Trout and Atlantics caught since the release two weeks ago. There is a good chance of picking up one of these fish in the lake at the moment.

*Local angler Dave Maurier had a tough time from his float tube on Saturday night. He had no trouble hooking fish but they were all uncontrolable and he was smoked several times. Obviously 4kg tippet was not enough on this occasion.

*Mark Gall from Sydney had a great session polaroiding the lake, hooking a monster that did him in the weeds, he then managed to land another six nice fish on Hares ear nymphs. He fished after dark as well catching and releasing an estimated 4kg Brown on a Fuzzy Wuzzy. It was one of his best sessions on Jindabyne and he landed at least thirty fish in three days and nights fishing.

Best Flies have includedFuzzy Wuzzy's, Taihape Ticklers, Hamills Killers and Zonkers.

Just went to kancoban for a few days (Sun Mon) landed a 4 pound trout down the river just below the dam wall, took 20 min to land what a beautiful rainbow trout also very tasty. Frank Martinez

Eucumbene:- Reports have been patchy but there are still some good fish being caught. Leadcore and Downrigging has been the best bet although some anglers are picking up fish on flat lines as well.

Early and late has been the best times, as usual but some are still being caught during the day. Once again the river mouth is an area that too few anglers concentrate on with soft plastics and bibless minnows. This is a definite hot spot to try these methods at present.

Best lures have been the Alpine Cobra in the Alpine Bomber colour scheme has fired over the weekend has been taking a few fish this week down deep with .

Tassies in yellow wing patterns are very good, as always. Dual Depths Tassies in # 36 and Y48 have had good succes.

Best areas have been around the mouth of Seven Gates, Waiunui, Coppermine, Brookwood and Cemetary point area.

Spinning the Thredbo mouth from the boat is a great way to target staging Browns qth this time of year. Drifting and casting soft plastics and River to Sea Tungsten Vibes is a great way to connect with some good Browns. It is important to get the lure on or very near the bottom before starting a retrieve and keep it down for as much of the retrieve as possible. Using a sounder is a good way to find the actual river bed and also fish. Rainbow Trout Squidgy fish are another great lure to use in this area either with a standard jig head or a TT Rev head which is a lead jig head with flashing blade built in. This technique is very successful and with a little time and effort can be extremely rewarding. Give it a go. Best areas have been in the Kalkite, Snowy and Thredbo arms.

*Hi,
Fished Jindabyne on the 31st, lake was very quiet with not a touch on the bait rods (2 types of powerbait, bardi grubs and scrub worms) in the 3 hours I fished (3-6pm). The day was saved by this male Brook Trout I got on a soft plastic. I assume it was a recent release, but it fought like a freight train compared to the hatchery Atlantics and Brooks I have caught in the past.

It was released unharmed.
Marty

*Hi Tom, Fished the Thredbo Thursday 29th last week and landed my first end of season Brown on soft plastic. 58 cm bruiser that was returned to the river. I was using soft plastics for the first time and missed heaps of Huge trout because they were nailing the rear of the plastic with no hook. With the problem kind of rectified with another hook added i landed the big guy before the bite died off. I was extremely happy with the performance of soft plastics in the rivers and there ability to bring the big browns out from the depths for a chew of the plastic. It was fantastic to watch them race out and hit the plastic over and over again because they were not getting hooked. Plastics are GOLD on spawn run trout.

Daniel Barwick, Queanbeyan

Tantangara:- No Reports.

Baitfishing :- Mudeyes are at the end of supply this week so Powerbait and Scrubworms will be the go. Bait fishing seems to have been a little tougher over the weekend but with a little rain this week it should fire.

Best areas in Eucumbene have been at Buckenderra, The Dam wall, Seven Gates, Yens, Old Adaminaby, Coppermine, Collingwood, Wainui, Spring wood.

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Archive Date: 10/06/2008