The third and last of the free pre-season fly fishing classes presented by the Canberra Anglers Association and held at Kungla Lakes, near Nimmitabel last weekend, was a delightful opportunity for anglers to test their new-found fly casting skills. The two privately owned lakes are spring fed with clear, cold water year round and stocked with brown and rainbow trout, making them perfect for beginners to learn what fly fishing is all about. About 36 anglers took part and everybody had a great day in perfect spring sunshine. The fish were reasonably obliging, with many short takes by the rainbows and missed gulps by the browns keeping anglers on their toes. A number of fish were hooked and lost because of inexperience but enough browns and rainbows were landed to assure anglers that the fish really are catchable on fly. Sinking line and small flies were the answer and the largest fish was a 2.2kg brown caught on a small Woolly Bugger. The rainbows were about 800gm. The casting skills of the new anglers was rated by teachers as good to excellent and they can now look forward to the opening of the trout season and the opportunity to fish the more difficult streams as well as lakes.
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Mountain lakes
Jindabyne at 80 per cent of capacity, Eucumbene at 57 per cent and Tantangara at 33 per cent are in splendid condition and fishing well.
There have been numerous reports of small rainbows in the 28-32cm range, with a larger group around 40-45cm and browns up to 65cm.
Trollers have taken the best fish on yellowish Tasmanian Devils and a variety of small hard bodied minnows from Halco, Predatek and StrikePro. One group did exceptionally well with browns and rainbows using Rapala Spotted Dogs trolled on flatline early in the day then on lead core line later.
Bait fishers fared best with Power Bait, scrub worms and wood grubs for the rainbows and scrub worms and wood grubs for the browns.
Fly fishers landed some nice fish on buzzers, dark nymphs and small Woolly Buggers. Rainbows fell to fast retrieves on floating line but the warier browns were caught using a slow retrieve with long pauses, on sinking or sink tip line.
Best locations included East Jindabyne, Kalkite and Hatchery Bay at Jindabyne and Rushy Plains Bay, Coppermine Bay and Braemar at Eucumbene. A State round of the Fly Fish Australia championships was held at Buckenderra and preliminary reports indicate a large number of browns and rainbows were caught and released.
Season opening
All trout streams in the ACT and NSW will open to fishing on Saturday 3 December and prospects look good. Streams are flowing well and there is still plenty of snow on the mountains to provide continuing flows as the season progresses. Lower altitude areas such as Guthega and Kiandra already are largely clear of snow but there is still a couple of metres on the Main Range.
Good numbers of fish were spotted in several streams during a quick pre-season inspection last week. There were especially good numbers of smallish rainbows and some lunker browns in the Tumut and Murrumbidgee Rivers. Some late-spawning rainbows were seen upstream in the Thredbo and Eucumbene Rivers and anglers hopefully will leave them alone to complete their breeding ritual.
Anglers can make sure they have a good opening by checking that their fishing licence is up to date, that their gear is in usable working order and that their waders don't leak.
Lakes worthwhile
Redfin are spawning at the moment but a few are active, taking lures and bait in Burley Griffin and Tuggeranong.
Golden perch are becoming more active in Burley Griffin, Ginninderra and Burrinjuck as the water warms. Yabbies and scrubs worms have been the best baits.
Coast quiet
Fishing has been quiet at the coast although a few bream and flathead have been taken on the turn of the tide when the warmer water flows into the estuaries.
Offshore there have been plenty of mako sharks, including one 2.2 metre specimen that Robert Hunter caught on the 12 mile Reef at Bermagui after it spent some time chewing on his mate's boat propeller, motor and berley bucket. It was kept for the table and when cleaned was found to have two flathead and a leather jacket in its stomach.
