Doing It Tough At Thompson Creek

[Guest]

Dan and I made the trek up to Thommos today and the mercury was reading zero in the car thermometer when we arrived at 6 am.

The weather was great with overcast conditions and a light to moderate Sou Easter blowing.

We thought we were in for a ripper day but as it turned out we did it extremely tough with only 3 fish landed and a good fish lost by Dan that bit him off.

All fish were caught on the silver and red celta.

I took a few action shots of Dan playing a nice rainbow and this is how they came out.

These are the other two fish we caught.

All in all a pretty hard day out and we fished for over 9 hrs

Beats working though

Thanks for a top day out again Dan and we did indeed catch our intended quarry so all was not lost

Cheers Stewy

[Hodgey]

9 hours for three fish is pretty tough going fellas .... but it is better than zero!

The fish look to be in very good condition. Old fishos I know were catching trout on Celtas many years ago, and I daresay our grandkids will too. A great little spinner.

Did you 'wield the wand' at all today Stewy, or is it the wrong time of year for that?

Hodgey

[Guest]

9 hours for three fish is pretty tough going fellas .... but it is better than zero!

The fish look to be in very good condition. Old fishos I know were catching trout on Celtas many years ago, and I daresay our grandkids will too. A great little spinner.

Did you 'wield the wand' at all today Stewy, or is it the wrong time of year for that?

Hodgey

We did take our fly rods and Dan has just purchased a new outfit and he had a bit of a practice as well and did alright.

You can see Dans new 4 piece 6wt flyrod on his backpack in the previous pictures.

The wind was in our face today and the fish were not rising at all so I didnt even unpack my 6wt.

We had woolley buggers and mrs simpson flies but they didnt get a run,maybe next time.

Cheers Stewy

[jimnicdusty]

hi Swordfisherman

Well done on the three fish .

I was at thommos last monday hooked two and dropped them both so zero

fish for my six hours. it was hard going,i think thommos starts to get hard to fish

for the next few months because the trout are starting to spawn. I seen three big

schools of fish witch to me means its breeding time. I think larger trout imitation

lures will be the best for a chance at a few fish. The trout should be geting territorial

so they will attack lures through aggression not hunger. thats from my experience at thommos.

jim

[Guest]

hi Swordfisherman

Well done on the three fish .

I was at thommos last monday hooked two and dropped them both so zero

fish for my six hours. it was hard going,i think thommos starts to get hard to fish

for the next few months because the trout are starting to spawn. I seen three big

schools of fish witch to me means its breeding time. I think larger trout imitation

lures will be the best for a chance at a few fish. The trout should be geting territorial

so they will attack lures through aggression not hunger. thats from my experience at thommos.

jim

We tried rapalas in both rainbow and brown trout pattern in the 5 and 7 cm size and no joy.

We threw every lure know to man at them and still only managed 3 fish.

I think the wind was the major factor and I prefer it from the west and that seems to turn the trout on

Easterly winds seem to put the fish down for some reason.

Cheers Stewy

[Davemmm]

Wheres Thompson creek?

[Jewhunter]

Well done on getting a few fish fellas.

Even though it was tough going you still managed a few. I've had a couple of 0 or 1 fish days there.

It can be tough going. Like anywhere it takes a while to get a handle on the conditions & that's not easy when you're a couple of hours away.

You were a little spoilt on your 1st trip there Stewy! It looks quite a bit different from when we there. Mind you, that was a while ago now.

Top effort on a tough day.

Cheers,

Grant.

[fishguts]

yeah good stuff stewy in that crappy cold wind...but ya just gotta love fresh rainbow.

..enjoy!..

..cheers!..stevo!..

[Matt]

Tough with 3 fish? Gawd Stuey, you guys who have just started Trouting have hit a good time! 3 Fish in a day is above average normally, especially for Thommos which is classed as one of the harder lakes!

My average Trout per session across all waters (Snowies, Lithgow Lakes, Blue Mountains, NZ and Tassie) is 1.5, which is similar to other serious Trouters. Only 1 lake has a higher average and its a small Alpine Dam that holds millions of small fish.

Case in point, me and a mate hit Thommos on Sunday just gone. 7 hours for 0 fish and every other angler I spoke to out there reported the same. Conditions were abysmal which didn't help but if I take a look at my diary I can see numerous doughnuts from TCD and trips where 3 or more fish were landed were relatively rare.

The amazing fishing at Lyell and TCD that have been reported on is not normal, take advantage of it while you can because those lakes around Lithgow will no doubt return to their temporamental selves soon enough.

Cheers

Windy

[Jewhunter]

Mate I can tell you that Stewy has been trouting for many years & is bloody good at it.

On his 1st trip to Thommos with me we got 7 from 11 bites, including a cracking 64cm brown for Stewy.

He almost always finds the fish, & has an intimate knowledge of the ways of a trout.

Cheers,

Grant.

[Matt]

Mate I can tell you that Stewy has been trouting for many years & is bloody good at it.

On his 1st trip to Thommos with me we got 7 from 11 bites, including a cracking 64cm brown for Stewy.

He almost always finds the fish, & has an intimate knowledge of the ways of a trout.

Cheers,

Grant.

Yes, I remember in 2006. And I wasn't having a go at Stuey in particular. what I am saying is that the fishing is very good at the moment but it is not the norm. I have been fishing for Trout my entire life (being a Snowies boy) and specialise in them more than any other fish and I know how the fishing is normally. Three fish in a session is above average for a shore based fisho.

Cheers

Windy

Edited May 23, 2008 by Matt

[Guest]

Mate I can tell you that Stewy has been trouting for many years & is bloody good at it.

On his 1st trip to Thommos with me we got 7 from 11 bites, including a cracking 64cm brown for Stewy.

He almost always finds the fish, & has an intimate knowledge of the ways of a trout.

Cheers,

Grant.

I dont know about intimate but I do know how to read the weather and water in most spots and I still reckon 3 fish of that size from Thommos is below par .

I know there are better fish in Thommos and Dan and I have been experimenting with a few things and I reckon we will crack the big fish in the lake really soon on a regular basis.

Cheers Stewy

Btw Matt ,I have been catching trout all my life as well and I am still learning heaps about them with the new technologies we have now,especially soft plastics

[outdoordan]

Mate,

1 fish or 10. I still think its worth it spending a day trudging the banks of Thompsons creek. Its a beautiful place and one i dare say i'll return to soon.

I think us as fortunate to catch those fish, the trout were shut down, but we were lucky enough to be granted a brief window of opportunity which we capitalised on. As all hits bar the first one we taken within an hour of each other. Not to say we didn't fish bloody hard for them!

We have all had better days, and caught larger trout. But i am pleased with both our efforts and rewards. It is the unpredictability, challenges and potential which make Thompsons creek the Trophy impoundment it has become.

Cheers

Dan

[Roffo]

It take a couple of big tickers to hang around for 9 hours in those conditions, well done.

BTW have you guy's heard howthe catch and release comp ended up at Lyall on the weekend ??

Cheers

Roffo