Matt

Might be a bit of a fizzer this weekend, the weather report looks great if you enjoy being soaking wet! Will let you know how I go. Lets try and plan a few trips before the season closes, I need to get back into Trouting after a couple of lean years. Windy

Saw some reports about an early run, although there wasn't a lot of rain in the mountains themselves. The monaro copped a hammering but not up top. Might have a look at the Thredbo as well. Its my first session for the year, need to put away my Flathead Hat and find my Trout Hat

Heard a rumour that those Browns were being hammered by some cowboys. Jealous your heading up to Tumut, I am going to take a look at the Eucumbene this weekend to see if there are any Browns moving up yet. Heard its been very tough again. Windy

Essentially yes, its somewhat hard to get the hang of at first but to get that jig darting around on the 2nd, 3rd jigs etc you do need to get that slack line up a bit. It's very similar to working a surface lure for Whiting, where you are winding and manipulating the rod tip to get that walking the dog motion. Its more extreme though and it is very effective for Squid, tell you what though, your arm hurts like hell after a few hours of doing it! There are quite a few more You Tube clips with that same young guy in it about Squidding, mainly in the Port Hacking. Worth having a look at. Windy

Unfortunately it's not restricted to anglers who don't know what their doing or are inexperienced/ignorant. The number of times during Bream tournaments I have seen other competitors cut in front of others on a drift or run is rather disconcerting. Even had one tell myself and the boater I was with to F$%^ Off when we queried why he cut us off. Even had an incident during a comp at Lake Windermere many years back when a very well known fishing identity thought it was his right to pull in front of us when we were trolling and commenced trolling himself. Some times its best to just shrug and move on, getting angry may have consequences that are all out of proportion for the incident and the last thing anyone would want here is to read about it in the Newspaper the next day. Windy

There are some quality Bonefish off Waikiki, I haven't chased them myself there and only discovered it after I returned from my last trip to Hawaii. Might be worth investigating it. Apart from that, there are some Bass Lakes that can be reached if you hire a car and I have heard rumours of Trout in the streams on the highest peaks (believe it or not!). Can't help much more than that, I tend to get a Charter and head off shore so haven't really got into the shore based scene. Hope that gets you on the right track. Windy

Heya Reese, apologies for the late reply! Was busy fishing. The Tuross system is open, Coila Lake isnt though (not surprising). Fishing was a bit of a mixed bag, Flathead were tough to find but when we did we got some crackers (81cm was the best). There was a few people crabbing, most of the pots seemed to be up the system a bit but I am not sure how there were doing. Apparently there have been quite a few Jewfish caught recently but we didn't find one. Just the whet your appetite for your trip, here is one of the Flatties we got, my Dad with the 81cm Flatties: Cheers Windy

It should be open, don't think it has closed for a while and there has been plenty of rain. I am going down Wednesday for a week to chase Flatties, will update you when I get there. Cheers Windy

Apparently they make excellent Sushi, not having tried it myself though its hard to verify. I have shallow fried some skinned fillets before and they were pretty good. Cheers Windy

There are Trout in the river, mainly Browns. But you have to work up from the Hume highway and its very skinny water. Haven't fished down from the bridge though, although I have heard that the big pool at the bridge holds Redfin. Cheers Windy

Love NZ, wish I could spend more time there. Great report. Cheers Windy

Can't really comment on the rivers in that region as I haven't fished them extensivelly. The lakes though I have spent a lot of time on and they all have their pro's and cons. If I had a beginner with me I would focus on taking them to either Lyell or TCD, Lyell is an easier place to fish but can be cryptic at times and the Trout switch off. I am also not sure if they are still stocking it with good numbers of Trout, Bass seem to have taken over the stocking routines? (anyone?). I spend most of my time now at the Farmers Creek arm or the big bay on the Lithgow side of the Damn Wall. Plenty of room to walk and fish. TCD can be a daunting lake, its not big but it has a reputation as being tough. I haven't ever found it to tough though to find Trout and they are normally XOS in size just be prepared to walk a bit to find them. The best tip I can give for TCD is concentrate on the windblown shores (and there will be one, its a windy spot!) so if your Fly Casting is average it might be best to stick to spinning. Had some fantastic fishing on windblown shores casting parallel, one occasion there was massive slicks of mixed bugs being blowing up against the bank and there was Rainbows zipping in and through it gorging themselves. I would give Wallace a miss, it holds good Trout but they are few and far between and I haven't fished Oberon is ages. Hope that helps a bit! Windy

Top little video, gotta love being in the Mountians this time of year. Starting to warm up yet there is still a sprinkling of snow and some colourful Trout to bring it all together. Great work! Windy

Nice Luddies, Tuross is one spot I get more than a few Luddies on plastic and fly. Seem quite willing there to hit the artificials. Cheers Windy

With the Trout season looming on the horizon I decided to head up to the Snowies and joing Dad in a bit of a wander along some of the rivers to see if any fish were running. Of course, some casts would be had into the Lakes to get the bugs out of the system and maybe get a fish or two for the smoker. On the Saturday we headed up to the Thredbo River and had a wander downstream from the road bridge. A few Rainbows were holding position or moving up to spawn but not great numbers. To find out a bit more we headed up to The Diggings further up the system, but it was a bit devoid of life. On the way back down we stopped into Wollondibby Inlet to spend an hour throwing lures and flies around. It was middle of the day and we weren't expecting much (apart from me donating some flies to thistles, bit out of practise!) but Dad made the short session worth while banking a nice 1kg Brown that hammered his Vibrax. After leaving Jindabyne we drove around to the Eucumbene starting at Kiandra but the Euc was a little high and milky so didn't spot much. Denisons was the same, so it was hard to guage if there was Rainbows running or not. Gang Gang creek had some Rainbows holding station near the road but Lucas Creek had nothing in it. To finish off the day we stopped in at Yens Bay to fish the evening. We had heard from Mick at Alpine Angler that there was fish rising on dark and I was keen to see if this was true. A SW wind was making life tough though and no fish showed until the last 15 minutes of light when the wind dropped and sure enough, Trout started rising, to what I have no idea as nothing was visible. I tried nearly everything in Fly arsenal and Dad persisted with lures but we were defeated. Very frustrating! Next morning instead of our initial plan of taking a look at some of the other rivers we ended up driving back to Jindabyne and Wollondibby Inlet to spend a few hours doing something we hadn't done in almost 15 years, soak worms! Another young chap fished near us and he scored a prime Brown of 3.2kg on a Worm, magnificient fish that had him shaking for the next 30 minutes! Dad got an OK Rainbow on a worm and managed a procession of sub 20cm Rainbows on fast stripped Copper Johns. A nice way to spend the morning. So my gut feeling is that the Rainbows have aready spawned and are back in the lakes. I didn't see enough in the Thredbo to say otherwise. Hopefully some will be around on opening day! Cheers Windy

Yep, they will be open. That looks like the Thredbo River, certainly be worth a few casts to see if any Rainbows are up there on their spawn run. Just on the Jindabyne aspect, we fished Wollondibby Inlet (where Curiosity Rocks are) on the weekend. Dad and I got a few fish, but we assisted a young guy land a 3.2kg Brown. He had also accounted for a number of Brook Trout the previous day. Wollondibby is a good place to start spinning, it is easy access and despite the pressure it cops always produces good fish. Cheers Windy

Just got back from my pre-opening exploratory trip to the Snowies. Took a walk along some of the rivers to see what was going on. There was a few Rainbows running the Thredbo, but not many. Saw nothing in the Eucumbene, but it was a bit milky from melt so not surprising. Gang Gang had a few 'bows near the road. Lucas creek was empty. Did some fishing in Jindabne and Eucumbene lakes, will pop a report up but it was mixed results. Still a fair bit of snow up top too. My gut feeling though is the Rainbows have already run and spawned. Cheers Windy

I can't remember the last time the Denisons flats were under water, I think it might have been 2004/05 before the big drought. Looking good though for it to happen, lake is at 51% and still rising. I am hoping for a massive midge and mudeye season over the summer, all this new ground being covered should see some fantastic fishing. I agree about having a fish, maybe a session or two at TCD, Lyell or one of the rivers. With this rain the rivers around Goulburn fire up too, the Crookwell and Wollondilly don't get hit that hard but the Browns in them are normally fantastic quality. Matt

Interesting, will have to tie some up. Last season the only fish I got on opening were on the smallest of small glo-bugs totally unweighted. Back to the tying bench! Winfy

I think it might be a cracker of a season in both the rivers and lakes, Eucumbene coming up beautifully and the rivers have some good flow. Haven't heard what the lakes and rivers around Lithgow and the Blue Mountains are faring but the Snowies look good. Windy

They are due a tonne of rain today/tomorrow I believe. Don't mind it too much if the Euc is up a bit, I think it improves a bit when there is some good melt coming down. Too much though and its stuffed. Most of that snow though is on the other side of the mountains and will impact on the Snowy and Thredbo rivers, last I saw there was very little snow left in the Euc catchment. The Three Mile snow depth marker isn't recording a lot. Windy

My tying bench looks like an explosion of glo-bugs! Can't wait for the start, heading up to Eucumbene on Friday to work out some bugs in the system, see if I can stretched by a Brown or two in the lake. Hoping the Rainbows run this year, last year was a disaster. Been hearing some good rumours though that the 'bows are back. Windy

Been a tough year or so up there, in fact one of the worst I can remember in long time. All the major lakes have been tough and there was a major scare in Eucumbene regarding the Rainbows as they had all disappeared. I have heard the the Eucumbene Browns are starting to move into spawning, might be a good time to target the river ends of all the major lakes. Those Jindy 'bows you got look in tip-top condition, well done. Windy

Camp at Pejar, the lake itself can provide a Trout or two (tough arse lake) and its a fairly central spot to hit all the Trout rivers in the region like the Wollondilly and Crookwell. Windy

Great stuff, haven't been Trouting at all this year yet which is highly unusual. Water looks a little dirty, was it flowing high? They have been getting a fair bit of rain up top. Windy