The Alpine Angler

Headlines: Rivers have fished well for spawn run rainbows again this week and Lake Eucumbene is fishing well for fly and bait anglers.

Lake Eucumbene continues to rise and is now at 32% 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Large numbers of fish may have already dropped out of the main rivers and back into their respective lakes. There are still plenty to catch.

I had a pretty ordinary opening weekend on the bidge, got two rainbows and a brown on beadheads (only one legal), but I saw a great hatch on saturday of olive emergers and later on that afternoon some small blue stoneflies, I think thats what they where? any advice?, I got two takes on a small olive emerger, hooked one but lost him in the flooded reeds. The river is the highest and fastest Iv'e seen it since I was 10 and i'm looking foward to a better season even if it started a bit slow for me.

*Mick and Dave had a couple of sessions on the Euc and Thredbo this week and managed some nice rainbows in both rivers. Nymphs were the best flies and getting down was crucial to hooking fish. Mick said he covered fish after fish without a look in and it wasn't until he added some split shot to get down further that the fish ate the fly.

*Hi Tom,

Sorry that these photos are a little late, but we just got back to Port Macquarie on Friday. The photos are of my son Cortlend Morosin with his first Brown Trout caught on the Fly on the Eucumbene River on the long weekend. He had a little trouble netting the fish as the bank collapsed underneath him

but was not deterred and landed the fish.

The water temp was a cool 8 degrees cel. The trout was a 4lb Brown Trout. We took some underwater photos of other Rainbow Trout that we also caught.

We caught 12 trout. All Rainbow Trout caught were released as they were spawners .

Cheers Mauro (Port Macquarie)

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.

Searching with wets and small nymphs has been productive on the rainbows at all times of the day and all weather conditions.

*Below Monir with a nicely conditioned rainbow taken during a strong wind on the lake. If you have a fly in the water you have a better than average chance of catching these good fun fish at the moment. As Monir would say "go team beadhead".

A little bit of footage from the weekend also. To view click on the link below.

Evenings and first light of a morning have still been the best though you can polaroid the daytime for some nice browns if conditions allow.

*Bill from Canberra (pictured below) had a good couple of sessions landing some nice rainbows as well as dropping a couple. The brown pictured was taken right in close on a small midge ball after Bill spotted him cruising. Good fishing.

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 black beetles (around a size 14 or 16) 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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Archive Date: 20/10/2009