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Archive Date: 26/07/2004

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The fishing has been great this winter - probably the best I can remember. It has mainly been the bait anglers and trolling brigade.A few fly anglers have been out for a look/polaroid on Jindabyne over the last few weeks and are just starting to see some browns around the edges.This should really improve over the next month as we get more browns dropping back out of the Thredbo river. 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 

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.

Lloyd Hatz with a beautiful brown taken on a deep diving jointed Rapal shad-rap.

Trolling

The trolling has been so good - I decided to get out for a run myself on Friday afternoon.I launched out at Buckenderra and fished the Middling Bank arm - flat lining with our Alpine Cobra's in the black hole,and ran a Rapala deep diving shad-rap down the middle.We ended up with two rainbows around .800-1kg and Lloyd got a beautiful brown close to 2kgs.We also dropped three - not a bad effort for 3 hours fishing.It has been some of the best winters fishing I can remeber this year. Most fish have been coming in on leadlines & 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.

Just to prove I do get out - nice fat rainbow caught on our Alpine Cobra "Black Hole".

Jindabyne: No reports on the troll over the weekend - however the bait anglers have been doing very well , so the fish are about.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

The baitfishing has been fantastic this winter with some real quality in the fish being caught as well.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.The "Butt" brothers from the Canberra fisho's club did well up at Jindabyne Saturday night, with 16 rainbows and 1 salmon to 1.6kgs.The boys fished with bardies and orange Powerbait , commenting the strikes where quite soft and you had to really watch your rods.Mathew,Craig,Bert and Richard from Canberra fished out from Anglers Reach  for 9 rainbows and 2 browns - dropping a few good fish as well.The boys again fished with Power Bait in Orange and Chartruese.Chris from Karratha WA was also over visiting mates in Cooma ,weting a line up at Kalkite Sunday night for 7 rainbows to 2kgs.Chris commented that it was "A bit cooler" than back home - good thing they had some rum !

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 52 % and falling

Tantangarra 7% Rose

That's all till next week!

Regards Scotto