Fly anglers have made massive catches of outsized brown trout in Lake Eucumbene as the annual pre-spawning migration gets under way. The fish have responded to a little rain in the catchment and are moving at night under the cover of darkness to what will be their eventual spawning grounds.
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The Eucumbene River is still too low for fish to travel very far from the mouth, and few fish were caught there, but the strong outflows from Providence Portal attracted huge numbers of fish and catches were quite spectacular. A large crowd of anglers were in attendance and they patiently waited throughout the day for a vacant spot from which they could fish. As soon as somebody hooked a fish and moved downstream to play it, another angler took their place and used the opportunity to reach the fish. It was all quite orderly and civilised, according to our reporters Nathan Walker and Chris Skillin. And everybody enjoyed the spectacular fishing.
Nathan and Chris waited until the crowds diminished after dark and fished right through the night using large wets including Fuzzy Wuzzy and Woolly Buggers on weight forward floating line with a polyleader to help in getting down deep enough to reach the fish.
They were rewarded with 10 fish for Chris and 20 for Nathan. The smallest of the fish was 2.3kg and the largest 3.2kg. One fish was kept for the table and the rest returned to the water to continue their pre-spawning journey. The largest fish reported by another angler weighed 5.5kg.
Nathan is a seasoned fly fisher and teacher and has had experience fishing the pre-spawning run in previous years but Chris was a novice fly fisher and this was his first opportunity to catch a trout on fly. He did spectacularly well and soon learned how to handle the big fish and that should serve to encourage other fly novices to try their luck.
Local tackle shops can provide advice on the gear required and the techniques involved.
The run of fish at the Portal should continue for some weeks as long as the outflow is maintained but fish will be reluctant to enter the Eucumbene River until there is more rain and the level increases sufficiently for fish to bypass existing barriers.
Local lakes
Large redfin in Lake Ginninderra dominated fishing reports this week.
The fish were up to 40cm in length and were concentrated in deep water in front of the spillway. One angler took numerous fish on fly and others were caught on lures and scrub worms. Redfin are excellent to eat and many were kept for the table.
Some nice golden perch also were caught on bait and lure, in both Ginninderra and Lake Burley Griffin. Three good-sized Murray cod were caught in two days on spinnerbaits, fished along the wall of Lake Tuggeranong.
Coast crowded
Estuaries, rocks, beaches and offshore locations were crowded with anglers during the Anzac weekend and fishing generally was productive.
Beaches were good for salmon and smallish tailor although some large tailor were caught along the Moruya Breakwater at night.
Some nice bream came from the Moruya River on green prawns and chunks of striped tuna.
Lake Tuross was crowded with boats and shore-based anglers and, although there were plenty of flathead, many were too small to keep.
Anglers are reminded that the minimum legal length for dusky flathead is 36cm, with only one over 70cm. The bag limit is 10 fish per day.
The schools of kingfish in Wagonga Inlet continued to provide a lot of fun for bait and lure anglers, especially those with light tackle who accidentally hooked one of the larger fish. Most of the fish are small rats which cannot be kept but occasional fish to 1 metre in length have been seen and hooked.