Pejar

[CarlRak]

Raiders,

I’ve got a friend who’s got a friend named Lee. And Lee loves fishing, so much so that he’s put a dam in at his property. And stocked the thing with trout fingerlings. But they’re not so big yet. And everyone loves catching big fish (or the idea of catching big fish).

Discussing big fish one night, Lee looks at me, all bleary-eyed and dreamy, and says “mate, I know where the trout are, big trout, 6lb trout”. Now I may have caught a fish or two but I’m yet to catch a trout, or a 6lb fish. Well, maybe a couple of salmon that would have gone close. But we don’t talk about salmon in pounds and we don’t talk about salmon like we talk about trout. Australian salmon, that is.

Suddenly I was talking trout, I was reading trout and in the depths of those cold June and July nights I was whispering little bits of trout-this and trout-that to a girlfriend who much preferred the pictures of the coral trout. She’d ask “is this what you want to catch?”. I’d shake my head, saying “one day”. She was confused. I was confused, but life’s confusing. A trout might fix it all, well, temporarily.

So one Saturday morning in July the alarm started beeping at 2.30am. I was off to Goulburn. To meet Lee, and go for a walk and hopefully catch a trout.

We drove to the back of the dam, it was dark, it was -6 degrees but as the sun poked over the hills the tackle prep got quicker and we got on our way. The thick grass was frosted over and the lake dead still. We started casting, creeping, casting. My guides iced up every retrieve. But we talked and meandered and pointed out little beds of semi-submerged weed and trees and little bays and kept casting and casting. And talking about lures and changing lures and creeping and casting and creeping.

We ended the day without a follow, a hit, or any sign of trout-like life. We’d been casting and creeping and sometimes eating for 10 hours. I drove home, smiled at the girlfriend, muttered “no trout” and proceeded to pass out.

…………

Then last week Lee calls. Some theory about blue moons and early starts and improved fishing. But Lee knows more than me, so I agree. Goulburn 3am, sharp. Alarm beeps, I grunt, heave myself out of bed. Girlfriend mumbles something about bringing home trout, I reply something about yes, brown trout, rainbow trout.

I’m in Goulburn at 3.05am. Lee’s waiting. He’s brought an uncle, who seems to be encouraging coffee from a flask. It’s -4 degrees. Things are looking positive.

Drive to the same place, add five layers of clothing, marvel at moon. Start walking. Other direction to last time. Then creeping, and casting and creeping. Same result. 2pm we’re back at the car, tired, sunburnt. No fish. Talking future strategy.

I got home later, had a shower and then walked to the fridge where I found a couple of smoked trout.

Girlfriend just smiled at me and asked if I was hungry.

Carl

[Hooked-Up]

Raiders,

I’ve got a friend who’s got a friend named Lee. And Lee loves fishing, so much so that he’s put a dam in at his property. And stocked the thing with trout fingerlings. But they’re not so big yet. And everyone loves catching big fish (or the idea of catching big fish).

Discussing big fish one night, Lee looks at me, all bleary-eyed and dreamy, and says “mate, I know where the trout are, big trout, 6lb trout”. Now I may have caught a fish or two but I’m yet to catch a trout, or a 6lb fish. Well, maybe a couple of salmon that would have gone close. But we don’t talk about salmon in pounds and we don’t talk about salmon like we talk about trout. Australian salmon, that is.

Suddenly I was talking trout, I was reading trout and in the depths of those cold June and July nights I was whispering little bits of trout-this and trout-that to a girlfriend who much preferred the pictures of the coral trout. She’d ask “is this what you want to catch?”. I’d shake my head, saying “one day”. She was confused. I was confused, but life’s confusing. A trout might fix it all, well, temporarily.

So one Saturday morning in July the alarm started beeping at 2.30am. I was off to Goulburn. To meet Lee, and go for a walk and hopefully catch a trout.

We drove to the back of the dam, it was dark, it was -6 degrees but as the sun poked over the hills the tackle prep got quicker and we got on our way. The thick grass was frosted over and the lake dead still. We started casting, creeping, casting. My guides iced up every retrieve. But we talked and meandered and pointed out little beds of semi-submerged weed and trees and little bays and kept casting and casting. And talking about lures and changing lures and creeping and casting and creeping.

We ended the day without a follow, a hit, or any sign of trout-like life. We’d been casting and creeping and sometimes eating for 10 hours. I drove home, smiled at the girlfriend, muttered “no trout” and proceeded to pass out.

…………

Then last week Lee calls. Some theory about blue moons and early starts and improved fishing. But Lee knows more than me, so I agree. Goulburn 3am, sharp. Alarm beeps, I grunt, heave myself out of bed. Girlfriend mumbles something about bringing home trout, I reply something about yes, brown trout, rainbow trout.

I’m in Goulburn at 3.05am. Lee’s waiting. He’s brought an uncle, who seems to be encouraging coffee from a flask. It’s -4 degrees. Things are looking positive.

Drive to the same place, add five layers of clothing, marvel at moon. Start walking. Other direction to last time. Then creeping, and casting and creeping. Same result. 2pm we’re back at the car, tired, sunburnt. No fish. Talking future strategy.

I got home later, had a shower and then walked to the fridge where I found a couple of smoked trout.

Girlfriend just smiled at me and asked if I was hungry.

Carl

great read mate the ol pejar aint what it used to be, hopefully shel come back to the prime trout dam she once was.

your missus made me laugh with the smoked trout in the fridge, such faith lol.

there has to be some good trout in there somewhere, surely.

[bombora]

Nibbles you write really well. Good stuff. And nice pics.

You know you can't give up now!

[brendong]

Great read mate.....keep working at it....I seem to recall something about pejar being really low then flooded and fish going over the wall maybe....might pay to go to the big tackle shop in town spend a couple of bucks and chat to the guys....they'll give you the drum, we did that some years back, got a few hits but now fish...at that time they were telling us rainbows were on the chew...applaud your efforts 3am at the dam in nuts in any one language...

[foolforjesus]

Hi Nibbles, myself & Hooked up fished Pejar for the first time around 6 months ago, after hearing on the grapevine that the fishing was starting to pickup.

We slogged it out much like yourself all day, and got nothing, didn't even see a fish move.

It may just be that the fish populations haven't recovered yet, however I have it on pretty good authority that it has been stocked every year for the past three years or so.

That should mean the fish are growing, but yeah, only fished it the once.

Maybe head back in another 6 months??? Hooked up, thoughts lol!

[Guest]

We went there last year around this time and landed one rainbow and it was the only hit all day.

All the weed and structure that used to be along the banks has gone and the fish may be out wider than a good cast can reach IMHO.

DID YOU SEE ANY FISH RISING OR MOVING AT ALL ? we didnt see any at all, all day.

Regards Stewy

[Matt]

The Trout are there, it was restocked recently again. But they sure are hard to catch and Pejar has jumped up to my number one 'bogey' lake (edging out Three Mile by a whisker).

I don't think the stocking is sufficient for the size of the lake or the pressure it gets. The last time I was there I saw a few fish hammering the smelt schools, didn't manage any but it was a good sign.

Keep your fingers crossed that Pejar may return to its former glory, I am certainly hoping so.

Windy

[CarlRak]

great read mate the ol pejar aint what it used to be, hopefully shel come back to the prime trout dam she once was.

your missus made me laugh with the smoked trout in the fridge, such faith lol.

there has to be some good trout in there somewhere, surely.

She makes me laugh too. Though I think a tray of Krispy Kreme would've been slightly funnier.

Nibbles you write really well. Good stuff. And nice pics.

You know you can't give up now!

Thanks mate. Agreed, definitely can't give up, but might have to try somewhere else before going back to Pejar.

Great read mate.....keep working at it....I seem to recall something about pejar being really low then flooded and fish going over the wall maybe....might pay to go to the big tackle shop in town spend a couple of bucks and chat to the guys....they'll give you the drum, we did that some years back, got a few hits but now fish...at that time they were telling us rainbows were on the chew...applaud your efforts 3am at the dam in nuts in any one language...

3am in Goulburn, 4am we started flicking. Regardless it was stupid cold. Lee is a regular at the big tackle shop and is on their weekly mailing list so we were going on the reports from there.....

Hi Nibbles, myself & Hooked up fished Pejar for the first time around 6 months ago, after hearing on the grapevine that the fishing was starting to pickup.

We slogged it out much like yourself all day, and got nothing, didn't even see a fish move.

It may just be that the fish populations haven't recovered yet, however I have it on pretty good authority that it has been stocked every year for the past three years or so.

That should mean the fish are growing, but yeah, only fished it the once.

Maybe head back in another 6 months??? Hooked up, thoughts lol!

It is a slog, it's tough stuff this dam fishing. Not physically, but there's not much to keep you focused (like a tide change, or current, etc) feel like it's a bit of a mental game to keep your lure in the water and keep focused on proper retrieves.

We went there last year around this time and landed one rainbow and it was the only hit all day.

All the weed and structure that used to be along the banks has gone and the fish may be out wider than a good cast can reach IMHO.

DID YOU SEE ANY FISH RISING OR MOVING AT ALL ? we didnt see any at all, all day.

Regards Stewy

No rising fish at all. Lee thinks he saw a swirl of water behind his lure on the second day. I think he was hallucinating.

The Trout are there, it was restocked recently again. But they sure are hard to catch and Pejar has jumped up to my number one 'bogey' lake (edging out Three Mile by a whisker).

I don't think the stocking is sufficient for the size of the lake or the pressure it gets. The last time I was there I saw a few fish hammering the smelt schools, didn't manage any but it was a good sign.

Keep your fingers crossed that Pejar may return to its former glory, I am certainly hoping so.

Windy

They are definitely there. I just don't know how to find them.

We were thinking of dragging a kayak down there next time and trolling some lures? Any other suggestions or tips on how to fish these dams?

Cheers

Carl

[Matt]

My theoretical approach would be too first run some deep divers or downriggers/leadlines along the path of the Wollondilly River channel. The fact that I have not seen to many shallow cruisers leads me to believe the Trout are holding deeper in Pejar. Find where the thermocline is and troll below this.

The other aspect would be to locate the Smelt schools, they are the prime food in Pejar and I bet if you find the schools you will find some attendant Trout. Run some plastics down through the schools or troll minnows around them.

Both tactics would need a good sounder on the 'Yak.

All theory though as I haven't been out on Pejar in 'Yak or boat, just shorebashing.

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Windy

Edited September 8, 2012 by Matt

[zook2001]

The Trout are there, it was restocked recently again. But they sure are hard to catch and Pejar has jumped up to my number one 'bogey' lake (edging out Three Mile by a whisker).

I don't think the stocking is sufficient for the size of the lake or the pressure it gets. The last time I was there I saw a few fish hammering the smelt schools, didn't manage any but it was a good sign.

Keep your fingers crossed that Pejar may return to its former glory, I am certainly hoping so.

Windy

Pejar is not going to be heavily stocked as Fisheries are attempting to develop it as a trophy fishery,I just don't see it happening myself,I've managed the occasional fish there but it a long way from Sydney to blank out.

[Matt]

It used to be a Trophy lake before the drought and I am sure it was more heavily stocked then. As a comparison, TCD is a trophy lake and is stocked heavily. The ingredients are there in Pejar for it to return to a trophy lake, I still think it needs heavier stocking though to establish a better base line population.

No point attempting to create a trophy lake if the return for anglers is so low it gets ignored for better waters, which seems to be the case at the moment.

On another note, I keep hearing rumours that the nearby Sooley Lake is going to be open to rec fishing, apparently it has a decent population of Trout too.

Cheers

Windy

[foolforjesus]

I think the difference with a place like TCD compared to Pejar as it stands, is the abundance of aquatic food, fly life & bait fish populations.

Thommo's has a huge amount of food for the fish to feed on, which is why I believe it can be hit and miss...The fish sometimes are just plain not hungry.

Pejar in comparison, from what I saw just doesn't have the quality of food chain like it must have used to.

TCD is stocked twice a year possibly with 3 inch fingerlings, yet they grow ultra quick, due to the food source.

I think the key with Pejar will simply be time.

[Matt]

Oh I agree that TCD has great food sources, but Pejar has a handy food source in massive Smelt schools and it used to be a good Mudeye lake too. Not sure about Yabby population though?

Seriously hoping it picks up in the future

Cheers

Windy

[Jew Stalker]

That is a huge effort for not much luck. Perhaps the waterways on the other side of the blue mountains will prove more fruitful... If not, it isn't as far as Goulburn and you can stop at my place half way up the mountain for a cafe style coffee (I make a killer cappuccino).

[CarlRak]

That is a huge effort for not much luck. Perhaps the waterways on the other side of the blue mountains will prove more fruitful... If not, it isn't as far as Goulburn and you can stop at my place half way up the mountain for a cafe style coffee (I make a killer cappuccino).

Sounds great, looking forward to it.

[CarlRak]

My theoretical approach would be too first run some deep divers or downriggers/leadlines along the path of the Wollondilly River channel. The fact that I have not seen to many shallow cruisers leads me to believe the Trout are holding deeper in Pejar. Find where the thermocline is and troll below this.

The other aspect would be to locate the Smelt schools, they are the prime food in Pejar and I bet if you find the schools you will find some attendant Trout. Run some plastics down through the schools or troll minnows around them.

Both tactics would need a good sounder on the 'Yak.

All theory though as I haven't been out on Pejar in 'Yak or boat, just shorebashing.

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Windy

Sorry for the slow reply, much appreciated, will try incorporate that if we take a 'yak next time.

[cheekiifisher]

thanks for a great read!!! I dragged my best friend out to that dam to try and catch a trout we spent hours there and hours moving around and around down the property track. Did not catch ah darn thing!!! Which means I am still yet to catch a trout

But i was born down that way and remember when as a kid dad would go out there fishing and come home with decent size trout!!! So hopefully it is onyl a matter of time before it is back to how it was many years ago