Fishing Report Archives:   Print friendly version

Archive Date: 20/07/2004

Headlines

Well what a weekend it was - with the best dump of snow I have seen at the store in over 13 years of living in Cooma . Believe it or not some anglers stiull went fishing - AND caught some nice fish.You had to be keen ! The front has now moved on and teh weather here today was nothing short of magnificent , with clear blue skies and not a breath of wind. Should be worth a look for the fly anglers who like to polaroid over the next couple of days. Some of our best fishing actually occurs on our lakes over the next few months, so just keep an eye on the weather map and bring your warm clothes. For more details on the day, call into the store on your way through and we'll update things on the day over a cuppa in front of the fire 

Bonus release of 'monster salmon' into Lake Jindabyne

They'll be getting hungry now !

The odds grew even better for Snowy anglers this winter, with the first of 200 extra monster Atlantic salmon released into Lake Jindabyne last month.

Director-General of NSW Fisheries, Steve Dunn, released the Atlantic salmon, which are already legal size and weigh up to 7kg each.

These salmon have previously been used in the hugely successful fish stocking program at the Gaden Trout Hatchery, just outside Jindabyne, Mr Dunn said.

Now they will help boost the popular angling season in the Snowy region over winter, which sees anglers flock to Lakes Jindabyne and Eucumbene and Talbingo Dam.

Full details at http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/gen/news/fb_04jun11_bonus.htm

Flyfishing

Rivers:All general trout streams are now closed to all fishing until Saturday the 2nd of October 2004 ( Start of the October longweekend).However our lakes are open all year round with some of most consistant coventional fishing on Lake Eucumbene and Lake Jindabyne occuring over winter.
 
Eucumbene: There's still some nice rainbows being caught down around Buckenderra, Frying pan and Breamar Bay. The Eucumbene dam wall is also a reliable area through winter, and well worth a look on a bright day. The winter polaroiding along the wall was quite good last winter on the rainbows .For those who are prepared to put in the time and dress accordingly, we'll still see some good fish caught from around the Eucumbene river mouth right through winter as well. You can still fish this area so long as your are outside of any visible flow - which is basically below the last set of rapids in the river all year round. So once the browns have gone, you'll see some BIG rainbows come through in July, August and September.
 
Jindabyne: We have had a few fly anglers out for a look on the lake over the last two weeks with mixed reports. We should see the bulk of the browns start to drop out of the Thredbo this month, and the polaroiding kick in. With the lake now down to around 50% the level will be good this season - all we need is a BIG high pressure system on the map.We'll keep you posted once we get some feedback.Steve Anderson put up with the snow on Saturday morning, fishing around the mouth of Woollondiby creek with an intermediate line and fuzzy wuzzies for a nice 30cm Brook trout and busted another good fish off ! 
 
Trolling

Believe it or not we actually had some keen anglers out fishing on Saturday morning in that show storm - and they did quite well. Colin Myles ,Bill Huber and Ron form Canberra trolled out from Buckenderra, using both lead lines and flats lines with tassies in Col 89 and the NEW 91- for 25 rainbows averaging around 1kg.The boys said the fishing was awsome with double hook ups between 7am and 10am , before their boats filled with snow ! A couple of local lads also did well spinning along Middlingbank on Friday and Saturday morning , using Tassies in Col 80 landing 3 browns up to 2.5kgs.They also commented that the fish all had small carusion carp (goldfish) in them and could see these small fish swimming around in the weeds near the creek.The trolling really has been very good on both lakes with some great reports over the last few weeks.Most fish have been coming in on flat lines with cobra's.The best colours in the Tassie's have been Col 19, 55,64,67,89,FLP and Y82.Our own Alpine Cobras have also developed quite a following with the Alpine Attractor, Pink wings, pink bits, black hole and midnight special all fishing well of late. Minnows are also always worth having in your spread with RMG Scorpions, baby merlins, Attacks and Rapala's all worth a swim. Best colours are rainbow and browns trout patterns, tigers and pink/violets. The rebel crick hoppers also continue to fish well with the black one being the pick along with the Smilin jack version in black/gold. Running 3 colours of leadline can also help pull a few fish through out the day, getting your lures down around the 3 metre mark.

NathanWolhunter from Canberra with a nice Atlantic Salmon caught trolling on Lake Jindabyne with Steve Williamson Saturday morning - in the snow

Jindabyne: You had to been keen to be out on the water over the weekend - but it paid off for the few who did.Jason Wolhunter and mate from Canberra fished with Steve Williamson on Jindabyne Saturday morning, and experianced some great salmon fishing.Running both flatlines and leadlines the boys landed 4 Atlantic salmon, with the best going 3kgs ( Pictured above)Generally the best areas have been around the Islands in front of the main township, Rushes/Sid's bay at East Jindabyne, Creel bay and around Waste point and the Western side up around Kalkite.We should also start to see some of the BIG salmon turning up from now on in as they'll be pretty hungry by now ! 

Plastics & trout: We are now getting consistent reports back in from those anglers experimenting with soft plastics on the trout. The best combinations so far have been with No4 Squidgy fish fished of 1/4 oz heads, No 2 Squidgy fish fished on TT Rev heads, Atomic 2" fat grubs fished on 1/8 heads and Berkeley 3" drop shot minnows fished on 1/11 oz heads and Storm pre-rigged Wild eye Ripp'in-shads. These can all be fished either casting or trolling - with even more action being added with the use of the fantastic Wiggle fin Action Discs. We're happy to show you how to rig these up - so just ask next time your in and after a change of technique.

Baitfishing

We have seen some great fish caught over the last few weeks, and only expect to see it continue when the weather allows you to get out.The best reports have been from anglers fishing with bardie grubs, using a Power bait dropper (pictured below). 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. Scrub worms can also be fished instead of the Bardie grub, being a cheaper alternative. Best colours in the Power bait have been Orange, Sherbet, Lime twist and rainbow. 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, Rushes bay at Frying pan, 7 gates, yens bay, Breamar bay and along the dam wall.

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

Lake Levels

Eucumbene 47% and stable

Jindabyne 53 % and falling

Tantangarra 7% Rose

That's all till next week!

Regards Scotto