Peter from Braemar with a report ending the week December 18th 2016. The fishing at Braemar has generally been good with all methods now doing well, particularly mudeyes and trolling which is great to see, the bank fishing with bait, lures and fly has also been good although some areas are laden with floating weed which makes retrieving your catch a bit difficult, the weed beds are full of food like beetles, mudeyes, small yabby’s and tadpoles and the fish has been actively feeding amongst them for a week or so now.



With the Lake level reducing rapidly more weed beds are going to be exposed and come into play so you need to be on your game to try and get the fish into your net, the Fly Fishing has gone nuts with this activity and many fine catches of Rainbows up 800 gms and Browns up to 2kg have kept anglers satisfied, best flies have been small nymphs around the # 14 and #16 mark, buzzers, humpy’s and boatman’s, traditional flies such as Mrs Simpsons, Hammils and Woolly Buggers are also working well but seem to be doing better late afternoon and into the evening.



Trolling has also been very consistent with most anglers getting amongst Browns and Rainbows at any time of the day, David Bourke from Victoria has had his best trip in quite a while catching a variety of Browns and Rainbows trolling around many areas of the Lake, his best fish was 1400 gms and he encountered dozens of Browns and Rainbows around the 30cm mark, most fish were found in 3 or 4 meters of water and there was no particular stand out Tassie, they all worked.



Jessie Mauger also had great success from his hobie getting amongst dozens of fish in his quick visit this past weekend, Jessie used a variety of lures, soft plastics and mudeyes which all produced fish, no stand out fish and plenty of throw backs but the action is great and that’s what it is all about.



Elke Stadler had a mixed visit using bait and bubble float fly casting, powerbait produced a few smallish Rainbows around the 400 gms mark but she did manage a 56 cm Brown casting a bubble float with a trailing Mrs Simpson which capped off her stay, this method of float casting a fly can be very productive indeed, especially at the change of light, circular bubble floats work best as the bow wave they create is not unrealistic at the right retrieve speed, the trick is to locate the fly about 3 or 4 meters behind the float and cast out as far as you can and then slowly retrieve the float, in calmer conditions the bubble float will create a small wave as it comes across the surface, fish in the area will be drawn to the bow wave and then see the fly coming behind, its definitely worth a try, especially when the fish are visibly feeding on the surface.



Vinny Ford had some great sessions fly fishing over the past week, especially during daylight hours, Vinny fished mainly home made nymphs size 14 and size 12, some on long shank hooks, most fish were in the 500 gms range and quite a few throw backs, Peter Giles of course managed his usual 2kg Brown on a couple of occasions and also managed a 2.8kg Brown on Sunday in the middle of the day caught on a buzzer, he spied the fish cruising the edges with another Brown about half the size and followed those fish until his cast could tempt them, Peter has had great success over the past couple of months deploying these tactics.



Frank Raymond had a great few days casting lures and soft plastics from his boat toward the banks to avoid being caught in weed, Frank managed several nice Browns and Rainbows and missed a very large Brown at the boat, Phil Harvey has had some success drifting mudeyes in 4 or 5 meters and Mick Huber also had success on his recent trip using the same method.



Adam Cathor and his mates had a successful weekend trip catching 15 or so fish trolling various parts of Braemar and around the Tolbar, all in all the fishing and conditions at Braemar have been good and we are hoping it will stay that way, there are some patches of soft mud and slippery banks appearing due to the Lake going down so be careful, remember to call into the Alpine Angler on your way through for updates and your fresh bait requirements, from all at Braemar, to Mick and his team and regular readers have a great Christmas and New Year, stay safe and good fishing.