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Matts December Trout Report


Matt

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6th December - TCD

TCD has dropped a little but was still at a level I like. Mick and I chose to fish the western shore this time around, we normally head over to the eastern shore and work the bank from the dam up to the quarry. But seeing as we havent been getting many fish over there we opted to try something different. Was an interesting day today, lots of fish were rising and cruising and we stumbled on a slick of dead insects and larvae. These looked as though they had been washed up over night and as the wind slowly picked up the wave action deposited this food sludge back into the lake, natural berley! Sure enough, Rainbows could be seen darting through it. It was a successful trip, all though we did not actually grass a single fish. Fish were lost, hits missed and follows had but it was good to know we had located the fish and it was only our ineptitude at staying connected! As the wind got stronger the fish dispersed and we called it a day.

7th December - TCD

Went back to TCD to take advantage of the locating trip yesterday. But the weather had changed, wind blew from a different direction and subsequently I did not see a single rise or cruising fish and it was the sort of day where you did not feel like you were going to catch a thing. But I did, I managed to grass a solid Rainbow of around 1kg from the ledge where the insect sludge was yesterday. Funny game this fishing, you don't land a thing when the Trout are around in numbers but when they aren't you do? Very fat hen Rainbow too. I had a couple of lone follows but that was it really.

TCD has not been kind to me for 2008, it has been a very hard year with more doughnuts than good days to be honest. Still, would be boring if it was easy hey :thumbup:

The Rainbow

post-52-1231279551_thumb.jpg

20th December - Pejar

Been a long long time since I visited Pejar, even before it dried up! Was more interested in having a look than fishing, it was restocked about 6 months ago and I am looking forward to it regaining some of its lost glory. Lakes at about 40% and it looked excellent, flooded grass etc. There were fish rising around the place and I threw a few casts around and managed a very small Rainbow, very promising for the future. I do hear they are putting more in shortly, but I would love to know what the main food source is since it dried??

26th December - Eucumbene

Christmas time and along with beer, turkey and cricket part of our traditional xmas is Trouting! Yens Bay was choice of spots and boy does the lake look good. At 25% it is flooding into the grass and thistles, I haven't seen the lake looking this good since about 2004 when it was at 70%. Trout were cruising hard against the bank in amongst the thistles, perfect Fly Fishing stuff but I started out with the spin gear working small shallow running minnows along the banks. After a hard few months with very few fish it was relieving to finally hit some fish, Rainbows were happy to smash the minnow but I was still suffering the dropseys. First fish spat the lure on the jump, second snapped the leader (I got it caught on a thistle just before and didnt check it, bangs head against wall muttering 'lazy d8ckhead' ovre and over) and the third just pulled out. But finally it came together and a 750g Rainbow found its way to the net. All the fish we were to catch over the xmas break were in the thise size, they were long and thin and really should have weighed more? But they hit hard and fought hard. Dad and I ended up with 4 fish grassed for the morning and more missed.

We headed back to Yens for an evening session, my brother James joining us. But it wasn't as active for some reason? James got a Rainbow on a live Mudeye and we witnessed an old friend who lived at the lake score one on a fly but we didn't see many at all. But the three of us decided to make it a long after dark session hoping the live Mudeyes would score a nice Brown. It didn't, but sitting out at the lake listening to the frogs, staring at the stars and having your Dad and Brother with you was just as rewarding. In fact, I suspect I will remember this more than any fish we would have caught.

27th December - Eucumbene

We had intended to go to Jindabyne, but reports were it was was fishing poorly so we headed back to Eucumbene. Had a short look at Cemetary Point but the wind was blowing quite hard making it hard so we headed back into Yens Bay and the small corner from yesterday. The Rainbows were on the go again, they were packed into the very end of the bay where a small soak/creek flowed in. I was determined to get one on Fly but it took a while to get my casting rythm, the thistles sure got a work out on my back cast! Dad was scoring fish on shallow running minnows and I was sore tempted to change but finally I got one on a home tied Fur Fly. Being used to playing the 'bows on spin gear it was a rude shock on the Fly Rod and the drowned thistles made it fun but I got him.

All up we kept 3 Rainbows and released a further 4, a good solid session and we left them rising in the corner. Succesful lures for the session were all shallow runners, Stiffy Minnows, Jackson Komachis and Strikepro SmeltA the pick of the bunch.

One on the Fly

post-52-1231281594_thumb.jpg

The corner at Yens, those trees way in the background is acually the high water mark for Eucumbene.

post-52-1231281701_thumb.jpg

Well, 2008 is over. The first half was a bonanza for the Trout but the second half very hard. Lets hope that the lakes and rivers continue to flow and rise :thumbup:

Cheers

Windy

Edited by Matt
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Another fantastic read Matt :thumbup: Anyone who puts in as much time and effort into chasing those elusive little buggers deserves better results :(

Best of luck in '09 mate. I know Dene will be interested to read your comments about Pejar, as he has fond memories of it in its 'glory days'. Keep your reports coming, Windy!

Cheers

Hodgey

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Thanks Hodgey :thumbup: Funny old year, the fishing was amazing for the first half, couldn't miss especially at Tantangara, Jindabyne and Lyell. I din't start the reports though until the second half when a form slump happened! I always think though that you learn more when the fishing is crap than you do when it's good so the long doughnut run and poor fishing, all though frustrating, was a very good learning experience.

I am really looking forward to Pejar in about a years time when the fish are a good size (maybe sooner?). With Lyell and TCD dropping again it will be good to have another option thats about the same distance away.

Cheers

Windy

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great report matt. my december fishing was about on par with yours although did better at TCD boxing day landing 2 nice rainbows around 2 pound and 1 brown close to 3 pounds on tassies. i'm just getting into fly casting and am looking forward to making some good progress this year.

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6th December - TCD

TCD has dropped a little but was still at a level I like. Mick and I chose to fish the western shore this time around, we normally head over to the eastern shore and work the bank from the dam up to the quarry. But seeing as we havent been getting many fish over there we opted to try something different. Was an interesting day today, lots of fish were rising and cruising and we stumbled on a slick of dead insects and larvae. These looked as though they had been washed up over night and as the wind slowly picked up the wave action deposited this food sludge back into the lake, natural berley! Sure enough, Rainbows could be seen darting through it. It was a successful trip, all though we did not actually grass a single fish. Fish were lost, hits missed and follows had but it was good to know we had located the fish and it was only our ineptitude at staying connected! As the wind got stronger the fish dispersed and we called it a day.

7th December - TCD

Went back to TCD to take advantage of the locating trip yesterday. But the weather had changed, wind blew from a different direction and subsequently I did not see a single rise or cruising fish and it was the sort of day where you did not feel like you were going to catch a thing. But I did, I managed to grass a solid Rainbow of around 1kg from the ledge where the insect sludge was yesterday. Funny game this fishing, you don't land a thing when the Trout are around in numbers but when they aren't you do? Very fat hen Rainbow too. I had a couple of lone follows but that was it really.

TCD has not been kind to me for 2008, it has been a very hard year with more doughnuts than good days to be honest. Still, would be boring if it was easy hey :thumbup:

The Rainbow

post-52-1231279551_thumb.jpg

20th December - Pejar

Been a long long time since I visited Pejar, even before it dried up! Was more interested in having a look than fishing, it was restocked about 6 months ago and I am looking forward to it regaining some of its lost glory. Lakes at about 40% and it looked excellent, flooded grass etc. There were fish rising around the place and I threw a few casts around and managed a very small Rainbow, very promising for the future. I do hear they are putting more in shortly, but I would love to know what the main food source is since it dried??

26th December - Eucumbene

Christmas time and along with beer, turkey and cricket part of our traditional xmas is Trouting! Yens Bay was choice of spots and boy does the lake look good. At 25% it is flooding into the grass and thistles, I haven't seen the lake looking this good since about 2004 when it was at 70%. Trout were cruising hard against the bank in amongst the thistles, perfect Fly Fishing stuff but I started out with the spin gear working small shallow running minnows along the banks. After a hard few months with very few fish it was relieving to finally hit some fish, Rainbows were happy to smash the minnow but I was still suffering the dropseys. First fish spat the lure on the jump, second snapped the leader (I got it caught on a thistle just before and didnt check it, bangs head against wall muttering 'lazy d8ckhead' ovre and over) and the third just pulled out. But finally it came together and a 750g Rainbow found its way to the net. All the fish we were to catch over the xmas break were in the thise size, they were long and thin and really should have weighed more? But they hit hard and fought hard. Dad and I ended up with 4 fish grassed for the morning and more missed.

We headed back to Yens for an evening session, my brother James joining us. But it wasn't as active for some reason? James got a Rainbow on a live Mudeye and we witnessed an old friend who lived at the lake score one on a fly but we didn't see many at all. But the three of us decided to make it a long after dark session hoping the live Mudeyes would score a nice Brown. It didn't, but sitting out at the lake listening to the frogs, staring at the stars and having your Dad and Brother with you was just as rewarding. In fact, I suspect I will remember this more than any fish we would have caught.

27th December - Eucumbene

We had intended to go to Jindabyne, but reports were it was was fishing poorly so we headed back to Eucumbene. Had a short look at Cemetary Point but the wind was blowing quite hard making it hard so we headed back into Yens Bay and the small corner from yesterday. The Rainbows were on the go again, they were packed into the very end of the bay where a small soak/creek flowed in. I was determined to get one on Fly but it took a while to get my casting rythm, the thistles sure got a work out on my back cast! Dad was scoring fish on shallow running minnows and I was sore tempted to change but finally I got one on a home tied Fur Fly. Being used to playing the 'bows on spin gear it was a rude shock on the Fly Rod and the drowned thistles made it fun but I got him.

All up we kept 3 Rainbows and released a further 4, a good solid session and we left them rising in the corner. Succesful lures for the session were all shallow runners, Stiffy Minnows, Jackson Komachis and Strikepro SmeltA the pick of the bunch.

One on the Fly

post-52-1231281594_thumb.jpg

The corner at Yens, those trees way in the background is acually the high water mark for Eucumbene.

post-52-1231281701_thumb.jpg

Well, 2008 is over. The first half was a bonanza for the Trout but the second half very hard. Lets hope that the lakes and rivers continue to flow and rise :thumbup:

Cheers

Windy

Hi Matt

great post, i was wondering where TCD is and also Pejar, i know of Eucombine, although never

fished there before (plan later in the year)

Thanks mate and tight lines

Steve

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Thanks guys :thumbup:

TCD (Thompsons Creek Dam) is near the small town of Wallerawang near Lithgow. Its a small Dam owned by Delta Corp. Lure and Fly only and is classed as a Trophy Trout Dam. About 2 hours from Sydney.

Pejar is Goulburns major Water Supply, its a short drive from Goulburn itself along the Crookwell Rd. Its about 2 hours from Sydney too. But it was bone dry a year or so ago and has only just been restocked.

Hope that helps :thumbup:

Matt

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