Matt

I am a little surprised this hasn't happened at Tathra before. One of the places in Australia where the continental shelf comes closest to the mainland and the amount of Sharks that come into that area is stunning. Spent most of my junior fishing life at Tathra and I remember the Sharks being caught by the Shark Fisho's off the wharf. Caught some big Bronze Whalers chasing Jewfish off the beach (well, hooked anyway!) and some massive Mako's would grab Sand Flathead as they come up when we drifted the offshore Flattie grounds. It's a tragedy that it happened. Tathra is a magic place and a great community. Windy

I know what you mean about spoiling Sydney Greynurse! Hard to get enthused to get out onto the Harbour with all its traffic! That might explain why i didn't encounter a Bream in Coila this year, all quality Flathead or Flounder. Previous years I have done really well on Bream with small floating minnows run just above the weed. Thats a damn shame if its true about the illegal poaching, its a cracker of Lake. Funny you mentioned that the fishing was poor up around Horse Island, I had the same. The further up the system I went the worse the fishing got. Barely touched a fish from about The Four Ways up? Loved your report too, was sitting here in the office thinking about the week down there and then saw your report. Damn I want to go back! Windy

I was there for the week prior to the one in your report. Stayed at the Lakeside Caravan Park with the boat moored in front of it all week. I love it down there, magic place. The place is crawling with either small Flathead or Big Flathead (60cm+) but the word is that a whole generation of Flatties is missing (45 - 55cm). We got a lot from illegal up to about 42cm and a few over 65cm but nothing in between, its been like this for about 3 years!. Coila next door though was crawling with Flatties all over 45cm, this is the lake you should get the 'yak onto, shallow, weedy and loaded with quality Flathead, Flounder and Bream. That comp mentioned by Codezz is the annual Tuross Flathead and Bream comp, a great laid back fun comp. Best was an 84cm Flattie and a 34cm Bream. Cheers Windy

If the Wollondilly is in flood, then it will be tough going. However, look for areas where the flooding water has spread out over the bank and the water flow is a little slower. Trout will be holding in these out of the flow areas and it can provide some stunning fishing at times. Not sure about using a Tassie though in a river, even the smaller models are really to heavy for our rivers which aren't very big at the best of times. Better off with small floating minnows, lightly rigged plastics or the classic Celta. The tassie will be OK (a little borderline in my opinion) in larger pools. If you really want to give the Tassies a run, drive an extra bit to Lyell or TCD. TCD fires when the weather is crap and there has been lots of rain. Windy

Awesome capture and one to be very proud of. Although it isn't proof of Global Warming. Spanish Mackerel and Spotted Mackerel original distribution had them ranging as far south as Sydney. Not something you would encounter a lot, but they showed up occasionally before Global Warming concerns. Tell you what, I would much rather a Spanyard than a King, find them much better eating! Windy

Wow! Thats a thumping Rainbow and topping the 10lb mark is a true trophy. Got me drooling thats for sure, well done. Windy

I am not sure if continual stocking will improve the fishing here or not. Since it refilled it has been stocked a few times yet so far I suspect the catch return has been low. I know it has for me!! Bass may help, in the very least they will provide a nice snack or two for the Trout and at best will turn Pejar into a mixed fishery (Lyell is slowly heading down this path, which is great). Windy

I didn't go up to the Snowies for the opening weekend this year. I heard rumours a few weeks back that the Rainbows went early this year, would have made opening weekend very tough I suspect. Windy

That one looks like a Brown to me savo, interestingly enough, that Rainbow looks like it came from a small, heavily stocked lake? very rounded tail? Cracking fish though, well done. Tef1on, not sure about that but I think you might be onto something. The Salmon in Jindy do seem to live on but their condition is normally awful. Very thin, not like the sea runners you see in Europe. Over the many years I have fished Jindy, the Salmon I have either caught or seen seem to fall into two categories: 35 - 40cm and very thin 1m+ stock release mainly from Gaden I can count on one hand the amount of times I have seen a Salmon in between those sizes. I have caught loads of the small ones and from the amount of them one would assume that a more solid fish would show up but it never has. I think they just go deep in the lake and stay there. Interestingly, when I worked at Gaden doing work experience many years ago there was a Salmon that ran the river and was trapped every year (they had a name for it, but I cant remember now). So they do try to spawn. Windy

I think the majority of what we have are Loch Leven, which came on the third shipment I believe. From memory, the second shipment was sea run Browns but they all died. Not sure what the first shipment were, which formed the very first harchery on the Plenty in Tassie. I guess they could have been the sea runners? Windy

Gotta love the Loch Leven Browns, amazing how the one strain has so many different colourations. In fact, I can't think of another fish that has so much variablity in colour. A few years back we were fishing Coppermine Bay at Eucy and we got three Browns in a row. The first was a beautiful buttercup coloured fish, archetypal Brown. Next was a pelagic fish, silver and streamlined and the last was the most amazing looking fish ever. It was almost green! I will pop up the photo's when i get home this arvo. Windy

The vomerine teeth would be the reliable part, if you think they are in a straight line then stick with it and call it for an Atlantic Oddly enough, TCD strikes me as a good lake to have Salmon in it, reminds me a bit of Bullen Merri, deep water and an abundant food supply. Only problem is the heat in Summer. Windy

I am going to throw a spanner in the works here, I dont think its an Atlantic. I think its a Brown, the big telling point is the tail, Atlantic Salmon have a very convex tail, much like a lot of saltwater pelagics whilst browns have the straighter tail as shown in the photo. I cant see the peduncle from the photo but the adipose looks like it has spots (at least from the photo) and the Maxillary isnt a reliable indicator in my book. That fish looks a lot like the very 'pelagic' Browns that we get in Eucumbene that love to swim mid water following the daphnia. But, hard to tell from a photo (sure can see the teeth) Thing is, there is no records of Atlantics being stocked into TCD anytime in the last couple of decades and associations cannot have them stocked in waterways as far as I am aware. Either way, its a cracker of a fish Cheers Windy

I know where your coming from Sarge, I went off bait for yonks and wouldn't use it for anything either. Spent years Tournament fishing for Bream and chasing everything with lures and more recently Fly. However thats kind of changed, now I find that just fishing regardless of technique is just as fulfilling as only using lures or Fly. Cheers Windy

We should indeed catch up for a session, I have been waiting for the real cold to hit before heading up to TCD. Always find it fishes better when the weather is at its worst. Sage 5wt sounds awesome, I have been looking for a 6 or 7 for my lake work, my 5 doesnt handle larger Woolly Buggers or any with a bead head very well. Which is a shame as my favourite searching Fly is a Black/Olive Bead Head MkII Woolly. Looking forward to opening weekend too, even though it is a while off! Windy

LOL, you forgot the tweed jacket! I reckon 75% of my Trout are on Fly now days, the 20% on lure and last 5% are bait. Sometimes, its very pleasant on a warm evening to float out a mudeye under a float, a cup of coffee in hand and just sit and relax. Some of the best evenings I have had are with my Dad just sitting on the shores of Eucumbene with the stars shining down and just talking while the mudeyes are out. There is also something very satisyfing about hearing a lightly set drag take off when a nice Rainbow grabs the mudeye. I try not to differentiate between the styles or rank them in any order. As a Trouto I see enough of the elitism from some quarters (thankfully dimishing). Each to their own, at the end of the day its all about the fishing. Cheers Windy

What an incredibly odd thing to say? No, it doesn't take anything from catching Trout and if anything they are easier to catch on lures than they are on bait. Especially Browns, very tough things to fool with bait a lot of the time. Why does using bait make you a lesser angler in so many peoples eyes?

I agree it will go a long way to solving the problem, but I have to admit I feel very uneasy about permits. It goes down the same road as that seen in Europe where nearly every piece of water is owned and requires permits. Whats to say that the other big Hydro companies like SMA and the ones in Tassie decide they would like to do the same thing? Imagine showing up to Eucumbene and requiring a permit! Extreme I know. Windy

It would be an absolute travesty if we lose access to this Dam due to our own actions, and its not just a small minority. The amount of time I have seen people on the wall, coming in the back way or found where people have been bait fishing is astonishing. Well done Luderick for bringing this up. We have to make the effort to obey the rules or we will lose NSWs best trophy Trout lake. With continued pushes to lock anglers out of all sorts of places we can ill afford to shoot ourselves in the foot by locking ourselves out. Windy

Yes, they did stock it many many years ago with some Trout. Didn't too well though, not surprising as it isn't ideal climate. Also stocked with Yellowbelly and the odd one shows up intermittently. Windy

To be honest, I don't really know about Oberon. I have heard rumours of good Trout (and some nice Redfin too apparently) and from what I can gather it has recovered better than Pejar. But I haven't hit it personally yet, been meaning to go and start exploring it a little bit and get some first hand information just haven't got around to it. Be good to see if it has recovered well, another Trout option close to Sydney (well, closer than my beloved Snowies anyway!) is always welcome. Cheers Windy

I know a lot of people who swear that 'couta are fantastic eating. I tried some once and like has been mentioned they were just to boney, the flesh was ok but to much work required. I quite like Blue Mowies, certainly better than Barracouta in my book! And boy they pull hard, used to get them on handlines years back when drifiting the reefs of southern NSW. My memories are of nasty deep cuts and pain for days, great fun! Cheers Windy

I don't think Pejar has recovered particularly well, it has been restocked a couple of times but like was mentioned earlier there are no weed beds and the smelt schools don't seem to be as thick as they once were. I have been hitting it on and off over the last two years for a grand total of 6 Rainbows (mainly on Woolly Buggers) all around the 500g mark. I have seen some lovely fish and witnessed a smelt school being hammered by a number of Trout well out of casting range but the return on effort has been aweful. Still hopeful though that it will return to its former glory. Better off looking at Lyell/TCD or even Oberon at the moment. The rivers in the Goulburn region do fish very well though and are worth checking out (when open). Windy

Just adding to Hodgeys tips,I have found for Whiting on the surface there needs to be a little bit of wind action occuring. Dead still conditions, although great for the angler watching the lure it just doesn't seem to be particularly good for the Whtiing. As soon as there is a little wave action from wind, the Whiting switch on. The best lures I have found for Whiting are the Ecogear PX-45 or 55, Megapen and for if the wind is a heavier, the Squidgie Popper. Also caught plenty on a variety of small plastics (such as Berkley 2" Shrimp, Berkley 6" Worms and even older Sliders) and also blades with the Ecogear VX-35 being a top Whiting lure. Cheers Windy

Heya Garry, the Powerbait range is the older range of Berkley Plastics that were released prior to the Gulp range. They are pretty much standard plastics. I wouldn't recommend putting them into the Gulp juice, I get the feeling they might 'melt' over time or release their colour/pigment into the juice. You can try it though and see what happens. I haven't tried the Bio-Dip, but I believe it is pretty much the same as the old colouring jars (was it Strike-It?) and they did improve strike rates in certain instances. Certainly worth trying out though. Hope that helps a bit Cheers Windy