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Annual Thredbo River Flyfishing Trip, 2nd to 5th June


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Hi fellow raiders,

PK and I left Sydney in overcast conditions on Thursday 2nd June and when we got to Jindabyne at mid-day it was still overcast but colder. We met up with Patrick ,my flyfishing guru, and Richard(his mate). A quick unpacking of the vehicle followed and soon we were heading towards the Thredbo River. It was Richard's first trip to our Fly Fishing adventure so he was there to soak up the atmosphere and the ambience. PK was the photography enthusiast.

Pat and I were the mad keen fishos, though I was only in my 2nd year of flyfishing A quick refresher tuition by Pat and I was soon casting reasonably.

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Pat soon hooks up and calls me over and hands me the rod, "Have a go, you mug." he laughs.

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The fish takes me down river and I have trouble with the strong current and the slippery stones and boulders. I keep the rod tip up as per instructions from the guru who follows me down stream.

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Oh no, I spy the submerged branches in the river, the fish saw it too and it dashes straight for the submerged tree........Ping, Bummer :1badmood:

Fish 1 Kit 0

That's how Day 1 ended.

Day 2 was a great day for bush walking. We walked and cast and walked and cast for zero results.

Day 3 I woke up determined to get the better of the trout and after a hearty brekkie the 4 of us set off again to the Thredbo river. I spied some browns in some nice runs,and Pat advises me to stay and fish the spot as there was hardly any obstacles in that part of the river.

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Pat goes further around the bend in the river. Soon PK and Richard are bored as they watch me flick and cast the fly rod but I am unable to elicit any response. I change lures, I change position, I take a break and start casting again, but I think the fish are just not interested. PK and Richard yell out that they were going for a walk down stream and I waved them off.

I continue in yen like concentration, I cast the line about 5 feet ahead of the trout and let the current take the wooly bugger and the glow bug past its mouth, I watch it go past the fish and I lift the rod and re cast 5 ft upstream, down current the lures come and I watch the lure go near the mouth, the fish turns ever slightly and mouths the wooly bugger, I strike and I am on. Yeah Baby I'm on, I'm on. Bugger the net is on the bank 30 feet away and my team have scooted off. I go downstream with the fish and I palm the reel gently, this fish has good weight and I stumble along the river bed following it downstream. I looked out for branches and submerged trees, there were none in this part of the river. 15 mins later, the fish tires and I lead it towards the bank where a little slip of the river has formed and with the left hand holding the fly rod I slip the right hand under the Brown's belly and flick it up onto the sandbank. Wow wow wow, I say to myself. I pull out the tape measure and it goes 53.5cm.I am ecstatic.

Just then the whole gang turns up and Pat holds his fish up and I look down at my puny fish on the sandbank. His Brown is a massive 73cm! It must go to fishland gym daily and shoots up with roids. My 53.5cm brown looks like a baby.

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We pose for the pics, I am still over the moon with my catch, as it beat my PB last year by 0.5cm. It was Pat's PB as well. We head back to the lodge to celebrate.

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Day 4, Pat says to me that he spied even bigger ones where he caught his 73cm whopper, and he tells me that he will take me there and let me have a go. I rush over to the secret spot and in the excitement I need to pee( actually the need to pee was because it was a bloody cold day but it sound more interesting when I say it was due to the excitement) Whilst I am peeing, Pat says to me is it OK if he has a cast or two whilst waiting. 2nd cast and the bummer is on, he has hooked the fish. I put "everything back into place" in a rather rushed manner and run over to grab the rod which Pat obliging hands over. This fish is unstoppable! It takes me downriver and Pat is following and holding me up by grabbing the back of my waders. The river gets deeper and it's now up to my chest. I pass the rod over to Pat who by this time is standing up on the river bank. Pat reels line back as he walks along the bank, down stream with the fish. I get out of the river and grab the net and head as fast as I can downstream to net the catch.The first attempt fails and I then go further downstream and jump into the river. I see the Brown heading towards me and I get a clean swipe. Its in the net.

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This Brown is BIG. We get the tape measure out and it is a whopping 77cm and 4.9kg!!!.

Regards Kit/PK/Pat/Richard

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Hey cruisecraft, do the Eucumbene and Thredbo rivers closed season mean you can't fish there at all or does the bag limit just change? I was under the impression you weren't allowed to fish the rivers during this season but your report and a few others I've read suggests otherwise. Could someone clear this up because I'm thinking about going down in a few weeks to fish the lake and am wondering whether the river will be open or not?

Cheers

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Holy crap am I jealous! Those are some of the finest Browns I have seen come from the Thredbo in ages, what a great report :thumbup:

My fathers neighbour in Cooma spends a lot of time fishing the Thredbo and he too has been scoring some amazing fish including lots of Brookies.

Cheers

Windy

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Holy crap am I jealous! Those are some of the finest Browns I have seen come from the Thredbo in ages, what a great report :thumbup:

My fathers neighbour in Cooma spends a lot of time fishing the Thredbo and he too has been scoring some amazing fish including lots of Brookies.

Cheers

Windy

Hi Matt

Pat's been fishing the Thredbo annually for the last 11 years, and the 2 fish were his PBs(73 and 77) and hence he decided to keep the fish. He said this year's fishing has been the best with recent rains enticing heaps of big trout up the river.

Thank you to the others for your kind words and encouragement. Here's one more picture of Pat's trophy fish.

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regards Kit

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Holy crap am I jealous! Those are some of the finest Browns I have seen come from the Thredbo in ages, what a great report :thumbup:

My fathers neighbour in Cooma spends a lot of time fishing the Thredbo and he too has been scoring some amazing fish including lots of Brookies.

Cheers

Windy

BROOKIES - NOW YOU GOT MY STRICT ATTENTION!

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