Season’s End – Central NSW

A fantastic start to the long weekend, you could hang your coat on that jaw!

A fantastic start to the long weekend, you could hang your coat on that jaw!

I always struggle to understand how the trout season can pass by so quickly. Memories of the October long weekend seem so vivid and yet here I was, facing my final days on the river.

Although I’ve enjoyed the many fish caught this season, my experience on the local rivers was often secondhand. After guiding clients most weekends, it was now time to have the streams to myself and feel the rush of a well-earned catch. I was hungry for some home-ground fishing.

A 30 second phone call was all it took for Lithgow local Ray Tang to join my final weekend pursuits. Each morning, after an obligatory visit to the bakery, we set off to explore some local streams.

And to our surprise, the late season fishing proved very successful. As frosty mornings changed into blue-sky days, we spotted and landed several chunky rainbows.

Like an airport farewell, we savoured each moment on the river, knowing it would be several months before we would be chasing these fish once again.

As a final crescendo for the season, we both managed to land a fish in the last moments of the long weekend. And so we hung our hats on another fishing season.

A rainbow brought to net on the final day of the season.

A rainbow brought to net on the final day of the season.

So what’s next? Sit around watching The Notebook and crying about the cold? Hell no!

Without skipping a beat, I picked up my client the following weekend and headed to Thompsons Creek Dam to inaugurate the winter fishing season.

Making our way up the dam wall, we were prepared for some volatile conditions, but when we reached the top, the wind nearly blew us back down. We pushed on and found a sheltered area to begin fishing for the day. The strong winds made the fishing tough, but Simon’s endurance through the fierce conditions was rewarded with some good trout moments.The first encounter, a very large rainbow, happily took a nymph right at our feet but managed to spit the fly. The second hook up came not long after. “This one is for sure!” I said as Simon played out an enthusiastic rainbow. But sadly, even that fish gave itself an early release. Third time lucky and a solid hook-up brought a very fat TCD rainbow to hand. We high fived as satisfaction flooded our veins; a hard earned fish is a good feeling!

In the past, I never looked forward to winter. It was just an inconvenient interruption to my fishing season. But these days I embrace the frosty mornings and double layered thermals and see it as an opportunity to try something different.

The sun sets on another season.

The sun sets on another season.