Headlines:  Well it was a wet and cool start to the trout season weather wise but the fishing was certainly hot enough.  Rivers have fished well for spawn run rainbows and the lakes have also fired.

It is snowing at the shop and in the mountains as I type this today which will see even more water for the lakes and rivers.

Lake Eucumbene continues to rise and is now at 30% plus!  The ground being covered has not seen water for three years and there is plenty of food coming out of it which is attracting the fish in to the margins. 

The Yamaha and Freshwater Fishing Australia, Snowy Mountains Trout Festival is drawing closer. 

Dates are Saturday the 31st of October - Friday 6th of November 2009

This year sees the addition of a new 'soft plastics' category.   Once againg there is the chance to win a Quintrex boat, Yamaha Outboard Motor, Minn Kota electric motor and Humminbird sounder all on a trailer ready to go.

See www.troutfestival.com for more competition details

Opening Season Store Trading Hours

Mon-Thursday  9am - 5:30pm

Friday       9am - 7pm

Saturday  7am - 5.30pm

Sunday     8am - 4:30pm

FISHING LICENCES These are available online and you can purchase them directly from the NSW fisheries website with a credit card.  Click on this link below.

https://www.licence.nsw.gov.au/gls_eservice/renewals/Application.aspx 

Note: We do not have licences available through the store with Cash or EFT.  We can do them online with a MasterCard or Visa only. 

Flyfishing

Rivers:-  Have fished very well over the weekend with the Thredbo and Eucumbene holding good numbers of fish. Glo bugs and nymphs, as usual were the best patterns and weight was needed with the fast flow in both rivers.

Bead head nymphs in black, brown, pheasant tail, copper john, green drake, olive, prince are all great patterns to fish in tandem with a glo bug.

Dry fly fishing has been a little quiet due to the cool weather and rain.  As soon as we get a few warm days this will improve dramatically.

Other rivers will also fish well and if the weather is warm enough some dry fly fishing is certainly on the cards.  Try patterns like the Elk hair caddis, klinkhamer, royal wullf, humpy, adams, bluewing olive, stimulator, bushy's emerger. 

The Moonbah, Murrumbidgee, Gungarlin, Eucumbene, Thredbo, Little Thredbo are all great rivers to have a look at over the weekend.

Lake Eucumbene:-  Fly reports have picked up with some nice fish being taken off the bank in several areas.  Evenings and first light on a morning have been the best though you can polaroid the dam wall area for good results at this time of year. 

Already there are reports of midges moving in the mornings and this should be the start of a great midge year.  Fish have been found to have lots of pin head sized black beetles as well as numerous small grubs in them.  These have been drowned with the rapidly rising water.  It is a great time to be on the lake at present.

The lake has plenty of non muddy bank access at and with the continuing rise of the lake will be this way for most of the season. 

Try a Scruffy, Hamils, Simpson, Bugger, Fuzzy Wuzzy in likely looking spots with a bit of a drop off or soak and you should be able to hook up on a couple.

Midge pupa and other small size 14 and 16 wets and nymphs like stick caddis,  should do well in the shallow margins early and late also.

Areas to look at are Wangrabelle,  Seven Gates, Buckenderra, Braemar, Springwood, Yens and Cobrabald.

*Hi Tom,
Thanks for the early season pep talk. Managed to get some runs on the board including my first decent sized rainbow on fly. Dropped a few but managed eight all up around the Buckenderra area between Monday evening and Tuesday evening mostly searching around with wooly buggers. Most fish were around the 40-45cm mark and were all thrilling to chase (and catch). Wind was a bit of an embuggerance but once it died down, first and last light was the most productive times for me. Having said that, spotted some clunkers cruising around the lake margins right in the middle of the day. Itching to get back to continue the chase; see you again soon.

Photo to come

Regards


Ken

Lake Jindabyne:-  Jindabyne has picked up a little with a couple of quality fish caught by polaroiders recently.  The lake has risen a fair amount but the fish don't seem to be worried by it at this stage.

Searching with a woolly bugger will produce a few nice ones or just wander the bank looking for fish and cast a small wet or nymph at any fish found cruising.  There is still a heap of weed in many of the bays that is drawing the fish in to the food that it holds.

Try Bushy's horror, gold ribbed hares ear, stick caddis and midge pupa.

Try the Eastern side during the morning and Western side in the early afternoon.

Sids and Rushes bay, Kalkite are all worth a look as is Hatchery bay, Hayshed bay and Kangaroo bay.

Lake Tantangara :-  Should fish well and with snow and rain in the catchment may rise again over the week.

Trolling and Spinning 

We have a large range of great trolling and casting lures in stock for the season, including a great colour range of McGrath divers, six blade/vibe stlye lures, New Celtas in rainbow and brown trout, New Metallic Gold Rapalas, Tassies, Lofty's, Sting's, Rebel, Viking, Stumpjumper, Jack's hopper, Flatfish, Strike Pro, TT, Squidgies, Come in and pick our brains on what to use where.

Eucumbene:-  Eucumbene trolling reports have been a little quiet though I am sure this due to not getting the reports than a lack of fish. Deep trolling and drifting and casting lures amongst the timber are good methods to use at the moment.  Be aware that with the rising water there have been some logs and other debris starting to float and drift around the dam.  Keep an eye open for these while travelling around the lake.

Flat line trolling in very close in the shallower bays has produced some nice fish and the fish will move into shallow water early looking for food.  Drifting and casting small minnows or plastics will turn up some good rainbows and the odd brown in the hour or so around sunrise.  Look for any of the soaks and channels that have filled up with the rising level and work these areas over carefully.

Leadcore line trolling has been working well with tassies, cobras and vibes this week.  The deeper water off Cobrabald and Yens bays has produced some nice rainbows.

Boat Launching is available in many areas.  Anglers Reach, Buckenderra, Old Adaminaby, Dam wall.  

Best areas to try would be Anglers Reach, Dam Wall, and Buckenderra.

Jindabyne:- Jindabyne has produced some nice fish over the weekend with some great fish taken both trolling and spinning.

Trolling in the Kalkite and East Jindabyne area is a good place to start at present.  Creel bay and the Waste point area is also a great option.

Baitfishing 

The bait fishing in Eucumbene has been fantastic and will continue with the rising water.  Scrubworms have been doing very well as have Powerbait and Gulp bait.  Grubs will also be a great bait especially for browns that are starting to search the flooding bays.

*Tony took young 13yr old Jacob Hoey (on left) and 11 yr old David Hoey out to Eucumbene and they had a great time in the Buckenderra area.  They managed 19 fish for the weekend, mostly rainbows with two browns landed also. They used a variety of methods with fly and Rainbow trout Squidgies working well.  Powerbait and scrub worms were the best baits.

Mudeyes are currently available and should provide some good evening and early morning fishing especially when the weather warms.

There are hundreds of likely looking bays, soaks and corners in the lake at present but the ususal haunts of Seven Gates, Buckenderra, Yens Bay, Cemetary point and Anglers Reach are the pick of the areas overall.

Jindabyne has risen considerably and will produce some excellent bait fishing as well over the weekend.  Grubs, Scrubbies and Powerbait will be the pick there.

Try areas like Rushes Bay, Hatchery Bay, The Clay pits, Curiosity rocks and Kalkite.

Lake Levels

Jindabyne    56.8%  

Tantangara     13.6%

Cheers Tom

Got any reports from the local lakes or rivers?

If so, email them along with pictures to info@alpineangler.com.au  for inclusion in our weekly report.