SNOWY MOUNTAINS TROUT FISHING

Listening to the radio in the car on the way to the lake this morning I heard the mountains had received bitterly cold temperatures over night, -11 to be exact. Even though it was about 9:30 when I was listening to this, it was still bloody cold! I was wanting to head back out to a large muddy flat to fish the soft plastic Hawgs today, and hopefully do some sight fishing.
As I walked down to the lake, the crunch of the frozen ground crackled under foot. I stopped to take some pictures of the array of frozen puddles, and lake shore. Some of the ice crystals that form in depressions, and puddles can be quite striking, and unusual. As I approached the first little bay, I unhooked the gold wobbler from the runner on the rod, and flicked out a cast. There was just one dark patch of bottom in an otherwise sandy bay, and as the lure passed over this patch, and came into sight, I noticed a large brown shape following closely behind. It followed it all the way back to my feet basically, then turned, and slowly swam off. A good sign I thought, and hopefully I'd have a closer encounter with one that size soon. Second cast, and as the lure came into sight again, another shape was following. It was a different fish, and much smaller. It followed the lure back on the next 2 consecutive casts, but wouldn't take it.
I soon moved on, only spending a couple of minutes at each spot flicking the lure along the edges hoping to find a cruising fish. I had a couple of follows from curious fish, but none willing to commit to hitting it. I soon was rounding a shallow bay, and was approaching a bank with a fairly deep drop off, a spot that I knew was good for sight casting at fish cruising the edge. For what ever reason I didn't change over to the Hawg, and still had the wobbler on. I was slowly walking along the bank, intently looking into the clear water trying to spot any fishy looking shapes. I soon spotted a fish sitting on the bottom, its shape easily distinguished from the light sandy lake floor. I immediately froze, unhooked the wobbler, and lobbed it out a few metres in front of the stationary fish. As the lure came within the fishes vacinity, it shot over, and closely followed the lure. I ran out of line, and had to lift the lure out of the water. Dam, I should have had the Hawg on. I quickly dropped the back pack off the shoulders, and changed over to the Hawg, all the time trying to keep one eye on the fish, and watch its movements. By the time I had the Hawg on, the fish had disappeared from view. I had a general idea in which direction the fish had gone, and lobbed out the plastic. As I watched the line slacken as the lure hit the bottom, I was anticipating a bite at any second. The plastic was only sitting on the bottom for about 2 seconds, when I saw the line begin to tighten, I slowly pulled back on the rod tip, felt some weight, and struck! Fish on! How good was that I thought, I love sighting fish, then casting to them, and have them take your offering, awesome! I could see the flanks of the fish twisting, and shaking under the water, its violent head shakes being transmitted down the rod to my hand. It pulled a bit of string out to deeper water, and disappeared momentarily, but it didn't take long to get some line back, and had it writhing around at my feet. I slid the net under the fish, and quickly secured it. Yes! It was a fairly skinny fish, but had that beautiful dark green back, and big head. There have been a few of these slabby fish turning up recently. A few quick pics, and back in the water it went.
I moved along the bank slowly after that, keen to see if I could spot anymore, and tempt them into taking the plastic. I had only walked about 30 metres, when I spotted another fish, this one slowly mooching along the edge. I lobbed out the Hawg about 3 metres in front of it. I watched it hit the bottom, and the fish approach. I gave it a little tweak, and the fish raced over, and grabbed the plastic. I struck, but too soon, as the Hawg was pulled out of its mouth, and glided about a metre through the water. I watched the fish intently, and twitched the lure again. The fish raced over again, opened its mouth, inhaled it, and I struck again. This time the hook found its mark, and the fish began to thrash energetically. Yes! Another successful sighting, and capture, loving this! I only had it on for about 5 seconds, and it promptly beached itself, and I raced down to the waters edge to pick it up. It was only a small fish, but beautifully marked. A couple of quick pics, and it shot off, back to the depths.
After I had walked the entire stretch where I could easily sight fish, I was coming up to a much shallower stretch, strewn with boulders, and old logs. I changed back to the wobbler, as the breeze was riffling the surface to an extent that I couldn't easily spot fish. For the next hour or so, I slowly made my way along the bank, and changed back, and forth between some hard bodies, and the metals. I couldn't even manage a follow, and was wondering if the bright sunny conditions had pushed the fish out to deeper water to await darker conditions later in the afternoon.
After some time I had come up to an expansive shallow muddy bay that had yielded some red hot action recently, albeit on an overcast, windy day, but I was keen to explore it more thoroughly with the Hawgs to see if I could entice a bite or two. I fished the bay for some time without even so much as a touch, and was becoming a little disheartened at the lack of activity. I could see a bank up ahead that looked very similar to the the deep bank I had fished earlier, and managed to land 2 sight cast fish. I legged it straight over with a heightened sense of anticipation of some action. There was a commonality with these two deep banks, and this was that they were both slightly sheltered from the breeze, and had a very calm, mirror smooth surface extending out about 5 metres from the bank. This acted like a window into the water, making it much easier to spot fish. I had walked for most of this stretch without spotting anything, when I was rounding a corner, and loosing the smooth window of water to breeze riffled water. I had just stopped for a second to scan the water more thoroughly, when I spotted a long dark shape on the bottom. I couldn't make out if it was a fish due to the ruffled surface. I kept looking, hoping to see some movement or anything to give away that it was definitely a fish. It looked to fish like not to have a cast, so I unhooked the Hawg, and lobbed it out, and in front of the possible fish. I watched the line slacken as it hit the bottom, and began to hop the plastic back towards the dark shape. As the Hawg came close to the shape, it suddenly shot over towards it. I watched the line closely, and saw it start to pull out. Yes, it was on it! I slowly lifted the rod tip, felt the weight, and struck! Fish on! hahaha yes! That was awesome! My 3rd sight cast fish for the day, epic! The fish shook its head violently, thrashing wildly under the water, trying to shake the plastic free. It then turned side on, and shot off down along the bank. I gave chase, and soon had retrieved most of my line. I could see it was another long fish, and another with a nice dark green back. I soon had it within netting range, and slid the net under its long lanky body, and secured it. As I lifted it out of the net, I was surprised at the length of the this specimen. If it was in good condition I reckon it would have been nudging 6-,7, maybe 8lbs! It was at least 65cms long, and unfortunately in very poor condition. I got a few quick pics of the anorexic fish, and had it back in the water.
As I had no success on the muddy flats earlier with the Hawg, I decided to leg it back, and try my luck with the wobbler. The flats are slowly draining out due to dropping lake levels, making navigating the edges a rather muddy affair, and several times I nearly became bogged haha I thought the effort of prospecting this expanse would be worth it, so I persisted. I had been fishing the wobbler for about 20 minutes, when I one retrieve the lure felt like it had hit a patch of weed. I pulled the rod tip back to release the lure from the weed, when the drag began to sing. Ohh ok, its a fish I thought. The next thing I know I'm fighting a feisty fish. It didn't take long to get it at my feet, but then it didn't want to come within netting range. It took a minute or two to finally net it, and I was scrambling out of the water. As I reached into the net, I again noticed it was another slabby fish. Wow, that's 3 slabbies for the day. Where are the big, fat, healthy ones i was thinking. I wasn't disappointed in this fish though, as it hadn't been the most action packed day, so any fish was a good one! A few quick pics, and the lanky fish was back in the water.
I still had a fair bit of time left, and kept prospecting the bay for quite some time. I couldn't even manage a follow in that time, and decided to head back to the rockier, slightly deeper areas, and finish up there for the day.
I fished up until the sun had dipped below the horizon, and again, not even managing a follow from a fish. I was nearing the last shallow bay before I would head away from the lake, and make tracks towards the car. This bay has some nice dark clay banks pitted with yabby holes, and is a prime area for fish to be looking for a feed. I threw the Hawg back on, and fished with that until the light faded to the point where watching the line was really hard. I then threw on the wobbler to finish up the days prospecting. I had moved over to the last stretch I was going to fish, and punched out a cast about 3 metres out from the edge. I was about half way through the retrieve, when whack! Holy crap, that hit hard, and my reflexes immediately jerked the rod tip back. In that split second between loosing contact with the lure from striking, and regaining the connection, the fish had returned, and smashed the lure hard! Ohh yes, this one really wanted it, I love when they are that aggressive. The water erupted then as the fish thrashed its head violently. It then put its head down, and absolutely tore line out into the bay. I could feel the weight, and power of a good fish, and my focus was immediately sharpened. My heart began to pump a little faster, as this was the fish I had been waiting all day to hook into. It took a minute of two, and I had it close to my location. I could see the tail of a good fish as it constantly put its head down trying to escape. This thing didn't want to get close to the shore, and for next 5 minutes or so I just followed it back, and forth, as it dogged it out mere metres from me. I had fought it for about 10 minutes total, and had backed out of the water in a effort to get it closer to the bank, and within netting range. I lifted the rod tip high, and walked in close to the beast. I had the net in the water, its head up, and was just about to slid it in, when zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz it put it head down, and shot off! It must have ripped out about 20 metres of line in about 5 seconds. The drag was screaming!! My heart immediately jumped into my mouth, and my hands were shaking slightly. I really wanted to land this one, and a spat or pulled hook now would have been devastating. I did see however it had the treble lodged firmly in the corner of its mouth, and I was hopeful it would stay stuck until I netted it. A few minutes later, and I had it back, but again, it stayed just out of netting range. After another minute or two, I had eventually had its head up, and plunged the net under it head, and success! I had it, yes!! I raced out of the water, and up the bank. As I lifted it out of the net, I could barely hold onto the beast. It was a cracker! I removed the hook, and put it back in the net, and in the water while I sorted out the camera. I retrieved it from the net, snapped off a few quick pics, and was back in the water reviving it. The water was bitterly cold, but I held onto it until it began to kick strongly, and shot out of my hands, back to darkening water. As the light was near gone, and I was more concerned with releasing the fish healthy, I didn't get a weight on it, but I reckon it would have been in the 6lb range, and super healthy, and strong. It put up an excellent fight, and I was stoked to have finally landed the fish I had been looking for all day. With that, I dried off the frozen hands, and made tracks back to the car.

TROLLING LAKE EUCUMBENE

 

Again the lake is starting to drop but it hasn’t stopped the fish smashing the lures all reports are coming from the bottom end of the lake in close and out wide Middleing Bank, Seven Gates, Rushes Bay, Braemer Bay.

Now the weather is cooler most trollers are fishing most off the day early late it doesn’t matter just rug up.

best lures are Tassie Devils, Blades, Minnows and some Stump Jumpers, King Cobras yellow wings

Overall it’s still fishing well and the days have been great.

 

 

TROLLING LAKE JINDABYNE

 

Like Eucumbene the lake is dropping but it hasn’t stopped the fish best lures have been Tassies, Blades, Minnows

Best areas are down towards the dam wall, East Jindy, Edwards Bay, Hatchery Bay , Kalkite.

Things are starting to look good around the lake with some good reports coming in most reports are coming in from the top end with the browns and down around Jindabyne good reports with rainbows around Hatchery bay, Edwards Bay and around the Islands.

This lake can be one off the best lakes to fish in winter and it’s looking pretty good at the moment.

 

BAIT FISHING IS STILL GOING GREAT

 

 

BAIT FISHING EUCUMBENE LAKE

The lake is dropping but the fishing is still at it’s best on bait

Bait fishing is still at it’s best with good reports coming from Middle bank, Buckenderra, Braemer Bay

Best bait is worms and power bait

Best times 10am till around 3.30pm good or bad days fishing is great

Reports have been fish are still moving around close and out in the deeper waters looking for worms in close and out deeper for the power bait.

Overall Middleing bank has been the spot to fish.

Just in the last few days Seven gates has been picking up with some good rainbows and browns all on power bait

 

 

BAIT FISHING JINDABYNE

Again the lake is dropping but the bait fishing is going well

Best areas are Kalkite, Poo Bay, Hatchery Bay, Waste point and around the Caravan park.

Best bait Power Bait and Worms

Not sure what’s going on with this lake in summer it was very hard to fish but now it’s fishing well maybe the cooler waters are doing the job but it’s great to see things are starting to happen  love this lake when it’s on.

If you are after some brookies and some good ones try around Curiosity rocks up in the arm fishing well!!