So, another NSW river fishing season has come to an end. I am absolutely certain the Queen would thoroughly approve of my decision to spend her official birthday flyfishing. I shall be sure to ask her next time we catch up for a cuppa! The first thing I did when I got into the office on Tuesday was to update my screen saver to a Lake Eucumbene reflection to make me want to go there more.

A couple of reports from around the rivers and creeks. The Thredbo River may have been the pick of the fishing during the final days. There were certainly some nice fish being posted. The Eucumbene River had its moments but numbers were definitely down significantly this year and a lot of the fish we caught were small fish that I’m pretty sure were residents. A lot of reports said Woolly Buggers and nymphs were catching fish and Glo-bugs were not as hot as usual. We certainly did a lot less Glo-ing. I spoke to a few people who were fishing the Monaro and everyone had caught good-sized browns. A lot of anglers went searching for fish on some of the local creeks around Adaminaby (reports from Alpine, Swamp, Gang Gang, Racecourse), and we saw a few trout in those we walked.

Lake Eucumbene and Lake Jindabyne have both produced some good fish in the last week; rainbows and browns. At Anglers Reach a small school of rainbows moved along the bank with a couple of nice fish amongst them; at Rushy (in the fog) we fished a hard few hour for an odd cruiser sighting and one momentary line-straightening. I am not a fan of lake fog.

Anyway, don’t forget the lakes – we get some amazing days in winter; glass days are excellent for polaroiding; windy days are great for searching the edges. My mission this winter is to do more lake indicator fishing.

Lake levels have all had a small kick up in the last week after the snow, and rain-on-snow. Eucumbene is at 20%, Jindabyne at 71%, and Tantangara at 19.6% – all lake edges are muddy and slippery so be careful – and don’t forget to bring a bag for the dirty boots.

Cheers, Steve