for information on water releases go to water.nsw.gov.au  

 

EUCUMBENE LAKE FLY FISHING

 

Lake Eucumbene is still dropping but the water temp is dropping as well this is making the fishing a lot better with some good results up around Providence at the mouth of the river most fish have been taking woolly buggers and nymphs. Down at frying pan things are picking up with the rainbows and browns again woolly buggers and nymphs, Over at middling bank the rainbows have been taking Mrs Simpson, woolly buggers, nymphs and Muddlers and at buckenderra things are a little slow on the fly, Over at Braemer the reports are picking up and it seems the rainbows are coming back with good reports all around the area. Overall the fly fishing has picked up in the last week and with the water temp dropping things should only get better. 

 

 

 

JINDABYNE LAKE FLY FISHING

 fishing at Jindy has been holding it's self really well in the last two weeks with some good reports coming from all over the lake with the rainbows and browns but most reports have been coming from kalkite, Curiosty bay, waste point and poo bay. Most fly fishers are throwing wet flies woolly buggers, Mrs Simpsons, Muddlers and Bushy Horrors. So if you are looking for some nice rainbows jindy is the place.

                   

 

 

                                               EUCUMBENE ADVENTURE

 

Some Pics of Lake Eucumbene Adventure. Started off with a beautiful sunrise leaving Traralgon on a good 500k trip up to Anglers Rest in a cabin we had booked out for our three nights, on arrival at Finnish Cottage Anglers Rest we opened the door and was greeted with a very well maintained and clean cottage, sauna, log fire, and a wood fire oven pizza, after taking a quick look at Bec and seeing the smile I knew we had picked right in great place for her to relax and soak it all up (being 3+ months pregnant), we soon settled in and unpacked with one thing on my mind..Fishing. Setting the rods up it wasn’t long before myself and Becs son Caleb (just turned 12 the day before) headed out for our first fish, we had a nice little session with Caleb getting his first ever trout, a nice brown and he sure was hanging on tight for the pic we got, the smile said it all and from the moment on he was hooked and had a fishing companion for the whole trip!! I also ended up with nice male rainbow coming in around the 60cm and couple of smaller ones. Next morning I headed out nice and early 0500am and hooked on to another beaut rainbow who put on a show jumping and dancing across the lake at first light, only to lose it a the bank as I didn’t have a net...lesson learned and was back into Cooma to get one at the Alpine Angler and pick up some Mudeyes, the owner was stocked with the young fella and his first trout that he threw in some hooks and relived the pain of me loosing that nice trout without a net!!

Back into that Evening after taking a look around for new fishing grounds and quick trip up the Providence to see if they were still letting water out from Lake Tantangara and they were, excellent I thought and knew straight away the big browns would be pushing up from Eucumbene into the narrows and up to providence, no doubt they were and holding the banks tight as they sought the run off but as it would have it I had the dog with me and was a no go zone, no probs I will head back down further and make our way in have a fish there only to be greeted with 1080 bait for wild dogs signs, right out of there and quick memo to myself not to take the dog to this area again. We soon set up at a place we had looked at earlier and without a touch for a couple of hours decided to make a move, it was the right choice and noticed a lot of small fish taking insects of the top of the water, not what I was after but started to think if they had released any hatchery fish recently, and if so they they would be schooled up still and even tho these were not our targeted size the bigger lake fish being curious would come around to see what all the fuss was about, proved to be the right call and soon I was on landing a nice rainbow, followed by young Caleb on to another nice rainbow and landed, we caught a few more and missed just as many..Hey Bec!!! All up a nice evening night session.

Next day took Caleb up to Eucumbene River and while there was not heap of water flowing making it difficult we still battled on, walking the rivers looking to find some good runs, ended up missing two nice size fish where on both occasions I had them hooked only to see them lift a good foot out of the shallow water and dislodge my lure...still I wasn’t discouraged and was mostly my fault as I was busy taking in the scenery and peacefulness and not concentrating, the fish won that day but I still looked at it as worthwhile making the trip up there and enjoyed the moment. Was a pleasure to see the young fella growing in confidence casting and putting his lures into the right areas. We had plans onto calling in and fishing providence on the way back only to hear a rattle from the suspension, taking a look and the bottom shock absorber bush was completely gone, taking it easy we headed into adaminaby with the young fella sporting a gumboot full of water from his earlier leap of faith across the river. Picked a dodgy looking mechanical place with plenty of cars around and sought about repairing the shock absorber, we were soon on our way with our make ship shock bushes, hmm I had them all replaced no more than a few months ago and while under 80 series happened to noticed they even put in the wrong front sway bar bush!! Ok won’t be using that mechanic again..

That evening being our last I was really keen on tracking down a large Brown, and set off to make this, it was do or break the wind was playing havoc and knew it was going to be hard, as the sun started to lower I was on, didn’t jump, maybe this is what I was after and line was peeling of the reel effortlessly, was long and I had my first look at it and was a beautiful brown, was in awe and managed a smile, landed and some pics, it really did make it worthwhile, she was a solid fish around the 5-6lb mark and very healthy, feeling of I'm coming back here started to over whelm me and might even brave the winter before the closures to have another go at these awesome lake fish.

On our way back after having a great short holiday we had got no further than 17 k's out of Adaminaby towards Cooma and bang, all the dash lights come on, those are ones you dont want to light up!! The irony is it was one bolt that held us in our tracks...the alternator pivoting bolt had come out and threw the belts of destroying one in the process, no probes I’ve got some spare I always carry and will fix this up and we will be on our way soon, well that was not what happened and I didn’t have the right socket/spanner for this Bolt..after a couple of hours and with only just getting phone reception with one bar we called a tow truck from Cooma, they were on their way and picked us up and took us back to their workshop. It didn’t take them long to diagnose the problem, Alternator Bolt, yeah right well I knew that but why, turns out when we had the Alternator replaced just 1 month ago by another but different local Traralgon Mechanic they also replaced the Alternator bolt, the same one that had stopped us dead in our tracks, an aftermarket bolt just a bit longer than a factory was used by them and even when done up tight it was still loose and not holding the Alternator tight..Different size bolt head to what it should of been meant I didn’t have a chance of being able to fix it on the side of the road but even if I did it would of happened again somewhere else down the track. Big thanks to the tow truck driver and mechanics in Cooma who replaced this one bolt with the right one, new set of belts 3 in total, and we off and on way near 4 hours later!! Big thumbs or is that down to our local Traralgon Mechanics who both had one job to do on the vehicle and they both stuffed it, be fair to say I have lost faith in getting good mechanical service from around our area and will never use these two mechanics ever again.

But in saying all that we still had a great time, successful on the fishing, relaxing and just a beautiful place to be, we are already planning another trip up there again.

Funny thing as a child and teenager fishing this place many times, it amazed me to see some things had never changed, and the memories came flooding back, both good and bad, Lake Eucumbene will always hold a special place in my heart and is imo the pinnacle of big lake trout fishing in mainland Australia.

 

 

                               
 

EUCUMBENE TROLLING

Trolling Eucumbene has been up and down on the lake but after last nights rain thing are looking good yes the lake is dropping and the fish are going deeper so move out into the deeper waters and slow down most trollers have been doing a lot better. Most Tassie have been working well along with the Rapala’s , Minnows , Blades and crick hoppers behind cow bells and ford fenders, Best times are around 6am till 10am and late in the afternoons remember stay away from the banks go out into the deeper waters.

Best areas are Braemer bay start heading down the lake if you're fishing Buckenderra get out into the deeper water.

 

 

JINDABYNE TROLLING

Well jindy has Improved a little with some good reports coming from the dam wall and east Jindabyne up around Kalkite the trolling has been good late in the afternoons. Like Eucumbene move out into the deeper waters slow down, Best lures are Stings, Blades, Rapala’s and larger Celtas. Overall Jindabyne is fishing well just get out there at the right time things will Improve unlike Eucumbene the lake is high and the water temp is good overall jindy is the place to fish at the moment.

 

 

 

BAIT FISHING

Jindabyne has been ok with some good reports coming from Kalkite, wast point, poo bay, Hatchery bay if you are fishing after 10 am go find the deeper water and try the worm under a bubble and power bait with a two meter lead don’t go out there doing the same old thing try something different longer leads and worms with a bubble float that will keep the yabbies away from your bait. Mud eye's are working well all over the lake But we are finding them hard to get. Yes we have mud eye's but running out very quickly sorry we are not taking any orders for mud eye's.

Overall the fishing is ok you just need to find the right time and spot and that would be late afternoons and in the deeper bays.

 

 

Eucumbene is fishing a little slower then Jindabyne at the moment as we all know it's dropping at a fast rate so keep out of the bays and go look for some deeper water and if you are going to fish bays look for the gully’s after the rain last night you should find some fish holding up in these areas. Worm are still working ok but like Jindy try the worm under a bubble float and if you going to use power bait you will need about a half of a meter lead mud eye's are going well but at the moment we are finding them hard to get. Best bait Mud eye's. Again the fishing is ok you just need to look for the deeper bays and fish in the gully’s