There are times when, for no particular reason at all, I don’t go fishing. There are others when I really need to go fishing but the gods conspire for a different outcome. That’s where I am today. In the office, when I should be fishing. And tomorrow, heading to Forster when I should be fishing. I don’t bemoan this fact; it is what it is. We had a wonderful evening last night at the Canberra Theatre Centre listening to David Sedaris’ unique brand of comedic story telling; and if I had to choose a beautiful spot on the coast for a weekend it would either be Narooma or Forster. Both have a nice level of familiarity for historic reasons – Narooma was my base as a Fisheries Officer in the early 1990’s; Forster is the bush refuge of the aged-hippy outlaws. Meanwhile, another David spent his first day flyfishing, and applied himself relentlessly with enough success to grin his way through the photoshoot like a pro!

Not fishing enough can be a bit tricky when the urge to post a blog comes and I have to rely at least a bit on hearsay. The first thing I should say is that it’s been very hot. Trout do not like the heat. If they’re tricky, it may be nothing more than they’re feeling very lethargic – when it’s 20 degree plus for them, it’s just like you feel in 40 degrees. Starting with the Jindabyne side, my spies tell me that the lake continues to struggle to produce. No surprises, but at least there is a plan. DPI Fisheries is going to stock 10,000 advanced fish, along with the balance of the annual stocking of sprats. Hooroo for that.  The Thredbo has turned up a few fish but seems to be getting a bit more attention than usual with the lake not firing.

Back to Eucumbene and Buckenderra has been producing a steady stream of ones and twos catches of small to mid-size browns from both bank and boat, but with no significant evening rise and very few rainbows. The top of the lake has a few more fish, with a smattering of ¾ lb rainbows and 1 lb browns. With the lake dropping 1.5% in two weeks the Providence flats are rapidly becoming dry and flat. The Eucumbene River in all locations has continued to fish reasonably well on the right day, as has the Upper Murrumbidgee. Big dries (drool) have worked really well and there are enough hoppers around to make it a no-brainer that some fish will be tuned in to Wee Creek Hoppers.

But the pick of the week has to be Tantangara. I’m kneeling in front of my fishing shrine praying that it doesn’t empty too quickly before I can get there next week. I don’t know whether the portal is open but the slope of the line (1% down in a few days) suggests it is. I just want to get up into the top of the lake next week, having heard nothing but excellent reports. The Adaminaby Fishing Club had an outing there last week and reported a lot of fish caught (by all methods – not many, if any, released) and a fair evening rise. I’m going to have breakfast, lunch and dinner there one day next week and not come home until after dark. Before heading to the Eastern Pacific the next day.

For those of you into the small creeks, they have a lot of water for this time of year and are holding some really good fish that might normally have dropped back to the main rivers and lakes. Either that or they’d be sitting uncatchable in warm deep pools in a semi-comatose state.

Lake levels. Eucumbene down at 45.09% from a season high of 46.38%; Jindabyne down from 88.07% to 83.79%; and Tantangara down 43.86% and 42.89%. Weather:  Some nice rain forecast Tuesday/Wednesday next week, and a cool change.

Tight tippets all!

Steve (Snowy Lakes Fly Fishing Charters)