Crowds, Snakes And Trout

[Matt]

Ahhhh Easter, that illusion of some decent time off that makes you think you have time to go do something but before you know it your back sitting in your cubicle gazing jealously at other reports

The long line of traffic from Canberra to Cooma was getting close to that seen during Ski Season and had me mentally wondering where the hell to fish over the weekend?

A conference was held once I reached Cooma between Dad, my brother James, and I and we ticked Jindabyne and Eucumbene off the list as they would get the lions share off fisho's heading up (Mick at Alpine Angler later confirmed this likening Seven Gates to a Mining Town with a Saloon). Tantangara was first up then in a hope it would be less crowded.

Tantangara

We wrong about the crowds, camps setup as far as the eye could see. But we must have been blessed by a fishing Diety as one of my favourite spots where Kellys Plain Creek flows in, was devoid of anglers.

Normally we spin and fly fish but today we had brought along some Mudeyes to put out under floats to go with our normal approach. It's a relaxing way of fishing and when there are crowds your spinning and fly fishing options are limited. Live Mudeyes are also one of the deadliest ways of accounting for a few Trout.

James and Dad got to spinning while I broke out the Long Wand. Despite the evening being perfect there wasn't a lot of activity, sparodic rises and I didn't polaroid much so I swapped over to the spin gear and headed over to the Dam Wall and the deeper water. Before I got there James got a little Brown that took a liking to his lure and a solid Rainbow of about 800g took a liking to one of the Mudeyes.

The Dam wall proved a good move and I scored a top 1.2kg Rainbow that hammered my modified Stiffy Minnow right at my feet and took off at a rate of knots. But not much else was moving and even the boats trolling the Dam Wall area didn't seem to be doing much. I returned to where Dad and James were and got out the Fly Rod again for the evening.

About now the camps around us started to fire up for the nights drinking, not noisy but noticeable. The fishing was poor but it was a pleasant sort of evening. The sound of my double taper fly line hissing through the guides mingled with the muffled sounds of SnowFM from the camp across the bay. My brothers Cigarette butt glowing in the dark a hundred meters down from me and off on the point where Kellys Plain Bay turns in towards the Dam wall I could just make out the sounds of Dads lure hitting the water.

Despite the crowds it had turned out to be a relatively successful session.

Tour of the High Dams

When the big Lakes and famous rivers of the Snowies get crowded its time to head up to the high country and try the small Dams and Rivers that get less attention. Of course the fish are smaller but it's a magical part of the country. We took a short look at Three Mile Dam half knowing it would be crowded as its a very popular camping spot and sure enough it was. An hours casting around the Dam Wall was fruitless not unexpected mind you. Three Mile i my experience is a hard hard lake, the fish are very wary and as soon as the sun peeks its head above the trees its all over.

We moved onto Dry Dam, a top little Dam that supplies water to Cabramurra. The fish are small in here but numerous but its also the home to more than a few Snakes! Dad and James spun with ultra light gear while I tried in vain to tempt a couple of rising Trout with Foam Beetles, Humpies and Hopper patterns. The fishing was hard but James and Dad managed to tempt the odd Brown to hammer their Vibraxs. These were beautifully marked fish, about 35cm with some of the best marking I had seen. It seems fitting that the fish are marked this way, they match the crystal clear waters and beauty of the high country perfectly. The markings on the Snakes are also quite good, I found that out by nearly stepping on a small Black and James pointing out the Red Belly on a bigger one a short time later!

The Trout were very shy today and I couldn't tempt one on Dry or even on a Fur Fly put in front of them? Overall we managed 4 of the Browns all on lures before we moved on to our next destination, Tumut Pondage Reservoir.

Tumut Pond is a stunning Lake, you come down from Cabramurra on a steep descent and you stare right at an amazing curved Dam Wall and the black waters of this deep dam. Its surprisingly large, bigger than Lyell up here and its very deep dam. Also hard to fish without a boat, but the level is well down meaning there was more water to fish from the shore line. Dad worked on the famous Snowy Scheme and new more about the Dams and Lakes than most and he pointed out where a Bus had left the road during construction and rolled down the mountain killling plenty, you could see the rubble and gap in the trees! Fishing was hard here in the deep water, plastics would be the gun lure but I neglected to bring any so we ran whatever deep divers we could and some spoons and I was rewarded with a solid Brown that hammered a Storm Scatback. But that was it, no more fish and we opted to make the drive back to Cooma satisfied with the days fishing.

Apologies for the long popst

1.2kg of Tantangara Rainbow:

James and a Dry Dam Brown:

Back ya go, the Tumut Brown:

Cheers

Windy

The Black Hole of Tumut:

Edited March 26, 2008 by Matt

[Aero]

Great read Matt,

Almost makes me wanna chase trout ! Good work.

Chris

[Hooky.]

G'day Matt

Great report there.

BTW, Lyell has a few rainbows on offer.

I went there yesterday and picked up five in four hours of trolling, also dropped about the same amount.

They were really fiesty and jumped out and danced up to six times on occasions.

All fat, full of row and full of 3" gudgeons and all caught in the same area.

Edit: Pic added.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Hooky.

[dean]

Nice fish Matt, good report. Sounds like the fishing was tough over Easter.

Have you ever had success with the stiffy minnow in rivers, what's your favorite colour?

I've been trying some new lures out lately, always looking for something different.

Cheers,

Dean

[Roffo]

G'Day Matt,

Top report mate, I could just about picture where you were.

Sounds like another trip to Lyall is on the cards.

Well done.

Cheers

Roffo

[Matt]

Have you ever had success with the stiffy minnow in rivers, what's your favorite colour?

Cheers,

Dean

To be honest Dean, no I haven't used them in the rivers yet. They are a fairly shallow running minnow so would go OK I would suspect, especially in some of the larger pools. I only use one colour and thats the Gold/Black Back which I then modify to a Spotted Dog Pattern

Looking at Hookys trip to Lyell I reckon there could be a trip on the cards shortly. Been avoiding it lately as I find it gets a bit too hot for the Trout up there, but it should be good from here on in.

Cheers

Windy

[zook2001]

Some nice pics there Matt, I visited Tumut Ponds in January and the dam was totally full, moved onto Tooma and caught a few fish but those high dams can be quite warm in summer.

Couldn’t help but visit Lyell on Saturday after Hookys report and didn’t do much good except for a monster crayfish

Regards Chalrie