Christmas Trouting

[Matt]

This year has seen me chasing Trout more and more and of course my annual Christmas visit to my parents in Cooma would see another shot at Mr Speckles.

We only managed 2 morning sessions as Beer and Food took up most of the few days I had in Cooma but Christmas is a relaxing time and its not done to squeeze fishing into every last moment!

Morning One:

Lake Eucumbene Middlingbank Arm (well actually, its the Buckenderra Arm) was our destination this morning but we arrived a little late at 6:30am and were initially dismayed at the amount of cars we could see parked around the place! But the very end of the bay were Middlingbank Creek flows in was devoid of anglers so we setup base camp here. I always prefer to fish the very corners of bays near creeks as Trout love to get up into the shallow stuff picking off food and I find it odd that anglers rush past this area? The first hour was very calm and the Trout were up on the surface feeding on Midges, some solid Trout were seen but they ignored our lures until a slight breeze ruffled the surface (Fly time methinks!)

We had a few (we being my Dad and my brother James) bumps and hits on lures before James solidly hooked up to our first fish for the trip, a nice 1kg Rainbow that ate a Rapala Minnow Spin. Dad followed up with a smaller 500g Rainbow on the same lure, a good start but the rest of the day past slowly without much happening until the last 30mins when James again landed a 1kg Rainbow, this time on a Berkley Frenzy.

Day One saw 3 Rainbows landed.

Morning Two:

We were a good hour or so earlier and this time I was armed with a Fly Rod (decided to bite the bullet and bought a setup). But the wind was up earlier as well and my casting with the Fly was ordinary to say the least. It was up to James and Dad to keep the score ticking over and it was the bait rods that did the damage today with 4 solid Rainbows on Mudeyes and 1 on Powerbait. James and Dad also scored a Rainbow each on Berkley Frenzys, which has turned out to be a great little spinning lure. We missed as many fish again with consistent hits on lures all day and the occasional Mudeye taken but missing the hooks Not that it mattered much! The day was overcast and I suspect that we would have kept on scoring Trout throughout the day but I had to drive back to Sydney and there was also food beckoning so we called it quits with the score at 7 for the day, all Rainbows about the 1kg mark. No bigguns but all solid fish that on the light spinning tackle put up great fights.

Here are some photos:

1st is of my brother James with the 1st mornings Frenzy eater.

2nd is James again with the second mornings 1st Rainbow

3rd is James and myself with a pair of similar sized fish.

Cheers

Windy

[Byron]

Great report Matt!!

You really have a soft spot for Mr Speckles don't you?

I expect this family catch up would be one of your highlights of the year. I myself would cherish the idea of spending a few days wetting a line with Dad and brother.....shame neither seem that interested in fishing, though Dad has expressed enthusiasm at having a go in the new Poly!

Cheers,

Byron

[Ken A]

Well done Matt some nice looking fish there.

[Narralakes]

Good report Matt and very nice fish. Good looking fish the trout, only went after them once but yet to catch one. Would like to give them a go with the wand.

[ankles]

well done there matt some nice trout