Lake Lyell Fires At Last

[PJ Garn]

Hi Guys and Gals

Been a while since my last post due to a lay off on the fishing front for a while but I got out on Anzac day with my good mate Kiwi Waynie to Lake Lyell... we left earlier than originally organised after a leave pass was issued ahead of time so we hit the road and lobbed at Lyell at around 1am.

The weather was inclement... but light drizzle couldn't dampen our enthusiasm!!! We were eagerly rigging our rods for a night session of bait fishing when a huge moth attracted by my Primus lamp flew in for a look... "He'll do!!!" I said and promptly hooked him behind the head and cast him into the receding waters of Lyell.

We then bedded down for the night(bedded not really the right choice of word), but manage to get a kip in the front bench seat of Waynie's Rodeo. With the windows wound down slightly to hear the impending rings from our bite alarms, Waynie was the first to fall off and proceeded to saw timber, eventually between chunks of Cadbury's I manage to get comfortable enough to apparently join the Kiwi in his timber mill!!!! A couple of times through the night beeps rang from our alarms and the Kiwi scrabbled from his vertical bed but alas not a decent run resulted and I fear that the wind had something to do with it!!!!

We woke late (around 6.30am) with the sun already up and doing its thing behind the blanket of cloud that hugged the landscape, with light drizzle still falling we tended our rods (to my amazement my winged buddy was still alive doing his thing alongside my bubble float.. I can't believe he didn't get taken!!!). The Kiwi decided to fish on bait style but I decide a Tassy casually cast into the Cox's arm might bring more success. After a lure loss due to a tangle of my "Black Magic - Premier Supple" (it's a great bait fishing line but I don't recommend it for tossing lures) I switch to a Brown Trout patterned Tassy and within an hour I bank two beauties the first going 46cm and the second even better at 48cm!!! Meanwhile the jealous Kiwi fished on and managed a SMALL but nice model on Powerbait!!!

46cm Beauty!!!

The Favoured Tassy

The second even better!!!

A happy Kiwi!!!

With the day wearing on, Kiwi Waynie decided that a lovely breakfast of bacon and egg rolls loving prepared on his camping stove was required to fuel us for the day... and after this gourmets delight we met up with two other fishos who arrived to try out their new 8 foot tinny.

Anyone for a Bacon & Egg Roll???

We set up our Yaks while our new associates Dave and Evan headed towards the main body of the dam... eventually we were off and with my rod tip happily bouncing to the dance of the Tassy Devil, I round a bend in the lake and witness our two new mates on the bank with a Blue Toyota Hilux in a rather nose down position!!! As I get nearer I see the problem and alight my craft to lend a hand. The story we were told is the bloke(driver) and (we think) his girlfriend had been 4WDing during the night and had managed to bog themselves in the silty mud left as a result of Lyell dropping... recent rain had made matters worse and the quagmire had held them captive since 3am (it was now about 9am)!!! Shortly afterwards Kiwi Waynie paddled up and lent a hand too. After much digging with the paddled from Dave and Evans boat, jumping on the tray back and bull bar eventually we got the beast freed!!! With hand shakes all round we waved the bloke off and bitched about the fact he didn't offer us a Bourbon and Coke each from his stash on the back seat!!! We all were amazed that other fishos trolling up and down all morning did nothing to offer this bloke a hand!!! ???

Back to our respective vessels we headed on trolling as we went... nothing!!! We trolled Farmers Creek... nothing... we tolled the main body.... nothing!!! So with arses' numbing we head for a nice beach to rest the rear and stretch the legs!!! Now I'm going to give all you aspiring Yakkers a quick lesson in the do's and don'ts of yakking.

Lesson 1. Don't attempt to alight a yak with only the nose touching the beach or other landing spot!!! Yaks are very unstable vessels at the best of times but in this position you are likely to get very wet!!!

Yes... I fall in!!! I'm soaked up to my chest... but even in this dampened state I'm determined to fish on. We baited up and within seconds I'm on!!! A small version takes my bait for a run... he is duly released with the hook left intact. (Gut hooked) Then just minutes later I have another run and my second from this location is taken, a better model of 33cm (just nice for the pan). Meanwhile, the Kiwi's day just gets worse... he had a nice run only to be snagged up on branches from submerged trees and ended breaking off, even though he attempted to land it by jumping in his yak and after several missed bites the same thing happened again... you could feel the heat from his frustrations and anger as I sat shivering on the bank!!!

With the sun now trying to poke it's head through, we decided to head for home under troll. On the corner of the lake where it turns at Farmers Creek I encounter a snag and by the time I retrieve my lure and catch up to Waynie I'm just in time to see him in battle with a better fish!!! He lands his virginal yak trout on the troll... a nice Rainbow of about 40cm!!!

A happier Kiwi!!!

We arrive back at home base with the "landed and eskied" score standing at 3 - 2 to PJ Garn. Dave and Evan were preparing a fire to cook their evening dinner, I see the opportunity to dry out a bit and head off to acquire them some fire wood. They duly offer us a sausage each which I accept whilst the Kiwi disappeared... he'd only sneakily set up his rods for another bait session... it then that things went crazy for him. Bite after bite came which resulted in him landing another two nice fish the beast a beauty of 45cm (really deep bodied and well conditioned). Meanwhile, my Tassy throwing was attracting no success so with the score now standing at 4 - 3 Kiwi Waynie I take up the spot next to my mate and tossed my bait into the main river bed next to his. With the sun now sinking fast behind the hills and blue sky showing, a beep at my alarm calls me to attention... my line picks up off the water as my hooked prey (a 40cm male) heads for the opposite bank for refuge... the Kiwi at my side picked up my adjoining rod to get the line out of harms way and immediately after I net my prize, I net the small Rainbow on top of mine!!! After a quick release of the smaller fish I head for the ute and start the tedious task of packing up and take a couple of shots of the spoils of our days labour!!!

Not a bad days work!!!

Powerbait container for size reference!!!

What a top day we had at Lyell. Final score 4 - 4 and both absolutely satisfied. We left on cloud nine and all there is to do now is spend Sunday tending our fires as we cold smoke our catches!!! ;)

Cheers

PJ Garn & Kiwi Waynie

[sydharbourfisho]

what a top day out boys, congrats on such great fish there.. bet they tasted great!

yum

[gretsch]

Man... check out the condition on those Rainbows!! They are beautiful.

Might have to make the trek up there for a weekend! Are you fishing from the shore exclusively?

[robeebee]

great report and fantastic pic's guys

well done

[Roffo]

Great stuff Lads,

Yes it certainly has fired up....

Great report and catch fellas.

Love to know how to get up the back though.

Cheers

Roffo

[reefa]

That is one great report and fishing session, good on you for helping the 4wder ,although a bourbon would have gone down well i bet.Enjoy those smoked fillets , I am truly jealous

[kiwi waynie]

Man... check out the condition on those Rainbows!! They are beautiful.

Might have to make the trek up there for a weekend! Are you fishing from the shore exclusively?

GEE!! Ceph,

You must have only skimed the post n looked at the pics GO BACK and read the funny part about Garn falling out of his yak. We did troll a bit in our yaks and i did get a nice fish "on the troll" but all in all trolling seems to be not that productive. But being mobile to go try other spots has it's advantages.

I tell ya Raiders and veiwers we had a ball, my good mate and i aint been for a fish in a while. and what a trip we had adversity 'sleeping in the ute. rain, cold, busted cooker, ute got a bad oil leak, old mate fell in the drink (hehe), lost some good fish, wasting fishin time rescuing wantabe 4wdrivers. But if it went smooth it would not as been as good, Plenty of laughs and well earnt fish.

Big thanks for the company Garn and lookin forwards to our next adventure.

Lata Raidas.

Waynie