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Hey Geoff, great report and lovely country. Flycaster is at the Eucumbene this week and is having a great time. He arrived on Monday and picked up a lovely 3.5 pound brown on the first day. So if you and Royce are heading down, you'll have a ball of a time. Best, Caddis

No worries Stewy, I'll get you onto some river fish.

Hi Raiders, Just a quick post today. Hit the dam with Flycaster in search of a trophy. We arrived at the dam around 8ish and made our way to the western end. I really need to practice my Spey casting, so I brought my Switch for this trip. There were a lot of fish around to my surprise, but were not interested in anything we had to offer. As I was fishing, I noticed a long dark object moving along the bottom. The object turned out to be an eel approx. 1.5 metres in length (sorry, the photos didnt really turn out). After lunch, the storm clouds moved in, so we moved to the front of the dam in case we needed to high tail it out of there (graphite and lighting is not a good combination). As the rain came down, I hooked this turbo-charged little rainbow. Shortly after, the storm was on top of us, so Flycaster and I made our way home. Regards Caddis

Great report Dean, I'll have to take you out to one of my secret spots. But you'll have to leave your spin gear at home. Regards Caddis

I'll fish with you anytime Royce. You're a fine angler and friend. Yours Sincerely, Caddis

Nice fish, and welcome to fishraider. Regards Caddis

Hi Raiders, The rivers and streams around the Blue Mountains are under constant pressure from fisherman, and my last couple of trips to the Coxs River produced donuts. So this time I decided to call my farmer friend to organize access to his private land. There has been a long debate over who actually owns the river and if fisherman have the right of passage. Some farmers will tell you they own the land on both sides of the river and therefore claim they own the river. However according to NSW Fisheries, “the public has a right to fish despite the private ownership of the bed of the river or creek”. Please feel free to share your comments??? Well I spoke to the farmer the night before and obtained his approval to access his property. I was accompanied by my friend John during this trip and picked him up at 7am for the long journey to the farm. After passing through half a dozen gates, we arrived at the river, parked the car and geared up. John was ready first and was onto a fish with his first cast. Unfortunately he dropped it. But it wasn’t long before we were onto the next fish. John and I split up, and I proceeded upstream to give him plenty of space. There is approximately 3-4 km of easy accessible river and the farmers have done a fantastic job clearing blackberry bush and willows along the river bed. Black spinner hatch. By the time lunch time rolled in, I had brought to hand nearly a dozen fish. I stopped counting after my 4th fish. John caught up to me and just before lunch, I hooked a big brown. When I first hooked him, I felt this dead weight like a branch was caught on the line, but this branch moved up stream. He came to the surface, and I caught a glimpse of the fish. He was at least 3 pounds, possibly more. The fish suddenly woke up and with one power run took off downstream. He was unstoppable and in just a few seconds, he was 30 meters downstream and the hooked pulled. At lunch, I eagerly explained to John that I lost count how many fish I had caught, while he told me he was yet to catch his first fish. Luckily for me, I was driving. After lunch, I let John fish upstream, while I worked back downstream. I hooked another good brown, but as I went to net the fish, it darted between my legs and the line caught on my boots. The fish made a power run and broke the line. I also lost a big rainbow as it leaped out of the water and throw the hook. But I did manage to catch a few more as well. The clouds moved in and the thought of being caught in the middle of nowhere in a thunder storm didn’t really appeal to me, so I made my way back to the car. When I met John back at the car, he told me he had caught a few fish including one brown of about 42cm. At the car, I wanted to try my luck at the pool where John hooked the first fish. As I worked the dry fly, I saw a rise in the pool ahead, and we both made our way to check it out. On John’s second cast, the indicator went down and he was on. And a great brown to finish the day. Regards Caddis

grear report Geoff and some good fish i'll hopefully be out next week and will post a report as well. i was out a few days ago, but left the camera at home. Regards Caddis

Great report Roberta and well done

Hi fishraiders, For those fly fishing enthusiast, on Thursday 9pm (repeated Saturday 9:30am, Wednesday 7am), "On the fly" is aired on Channel 31. Finally, a TV program focused on Fly fishing. http://www.c31.org.au/program/view/program/on-the-fly Regards Caddis

Hi Raiders, luderick -angler, I got your message and I'll e-mail my thoughts on the NS5. klainz, I use home made flies, not pretty to look at, but does the trick. Dark grey nymph with gold bead head. I've been giving the dam a good flogging over the past couple of weeks, and I've seen plenty of fish 6-8lbs. Fish are usually at your feet, there is no need to cast long distance. Best Caddis

Hi Raiders, I received my new NS5 last night and just had to take it for a test drive. After making a call to Flycaster we agreed to meet at Thompsons Creek Dam for a fish. The next morning I met Flycaster and Les at the car park at 8am and what looked to be a great day. When we arrived at the dam we noticed several large fish rising outside of casting range. Although conditions looked great, the fish just weren’t playing ball. By midday, not a touch and I had to think of something to save the day. I’ve been using very heavy tippet (9.5lbs) as I was smoked the day before by a large Bow. I decided to downgrade to 4.5lbs thinking the strike rate would improve and I would just have to back the drag right off and play a big fish. It wasn’t long before I was getting downs on the indicator with, what I suspect, small fish missing the hook. Out of nowhere, a large Bow circled my indicator and went down to take one of my nymphs. “Fish on” I yelled to Ross and the NS5 bent to its first fish. After a couple of intense minutes, the hook pulled and you could probably hear my disappointment back in Sydney. After losing that big boy, I didn’t think I would get another crack at a good fish, but to my amazement, a few drifts later, the indicator made another trip to the bottom and I was on again. The fish fought hard down deep with lots of headshakes. After seeing the fight from a distance, Flycaster knew I was onto a good fish and came to the rescue with his net. Each time we thought we had him, the big brown would dodge the net, but eventually we had him. The brown measured 64 cm and weighted 5.5 lbs. A great consolation for missing the big Bow and possible a new Fishraider record. Stewy, could you please verify? Regards Caddis

Hi Guys, Where did you pick up the fish? I had a call from a friend on Wednesday night. He took 3 clients to TCD and hooked 7-8 pound bow on the eastern bank, slow stripping black bead head nymph. The fish took his client to the backing twice before lossing at the net. I'll be hitting the dam a few times this week. Best Caddis

Great report guys and some lovely photos. I was at Thompson Creek Dam the other day and watched 2 guys land a few 6+ pound fish on spin gear. They lost one fish that would easily go to 8+ pounds. They do catch fish. Regards Caddis

Nymphs

Hi Raiders, I made a trip to Thompsons Creek dam today, to test drive my new switch rod. Conditions were cold and windy, and would have been really difficult with single handed casting. However, with spey casting, this was a lot easier. After flogging the dam the whole day, I managed to come up with this 44cm bow. She was released after a few snaps. Sorry for the short report. Best Caddis

Lovely report and photos Geoff. Best Caddis

3. Tungsten bead olive Thank god I don't tie flies for a living. Regards Caddis

2. Tungsten bead chocolate brown

Simple but effective fly i use for Coxs. 1. Tungsten bead dark hares mask in size 14

Hi Royce, I gave Angus a fly (to give to you) we used in NZ, which worked a treat. We caught all our fish on this pattern. Regards Caddis

Hi Royce, That is certainly a nice stretch of river. You are more than welcome to share your photos and experiences on the post. Regards Caddis

Great report Geoff. Matt and I were feeling very lonely with the lack of fly fishing reports here. I've been told that the Eucumbene around the Portal is now a lake. Can you confirm if this is true? If it is, I'm going to need some help finding new access points when I do my annual trip in June. Well done. Regards Caddis

Nanook, I don't think you give yourself enough credit. If it wasn't for you and a few others, I would be posting on Flylife. Regards Caddis

I really like that azure bead head hare and copper. I think that patten will do very well on the Coxs river. Sorry guys, i'd really like to contribute, but haven't had the time lately to tie. Regards Caddis