Rising waters in moutain lakes equals good trout fishing

Rising waters in mountain lakes good news for trout fishing

19/12/2008 1:00:00 AM

Anglers have been watching with interest rising water levels in the mountain lakes following recent snowfalls and rain in the catchment.

Lake Jindabyne has come back up to 55 per cent of capacity and Eucumbene to 24 per cent and both are still rising as water flows in from the Thredbo and Eucumbene rivers.
Water rising over new ground floods food items such as beetles, worms, grubs, spiders and ants from the soil and this in turn attracts cruising trout into the shallows where they are more easily contacted by anglers.

Although much of the close-in feeding occurs at night some fish will venture into the shallows during the day, especially in overcast conditions, and they are fair game for lure, bait and fly fishers. As a consequence, some good sport can be expected over the next few weeks, especially for fly fishers, before levels start to fall again as water is drawn off for hydro-electric power production and downstream irrigation and domestic use.

The only downside to this is the large masses of weeds and algal growth that make it difficult to fish bait and lures in the shallows.

Fly fishers have an advantage because they can fish wet flies just below the surface or dries on the surface and thus avoid the constant snagging up that bait and lure fishers endure.
A good example of this occurred recently at Buckenderra on Lake Eucumbene where trout came into the shallows to feed on a hatch of white moths.

Lure and bait anglers were unable to fish effectively because of all the rubbish on the bottom but fly anglers were able to target the fish with great success.

This is a good reason to learn to fly fish if you haven't already done so.
Looking good off shore

Coastal fishing has picked up nicely and prospects for the coming Christmas holidays are looking good.

Pleasing numbers of flathead are returning to beaches following the cessation of professional trawling in the Bateman Bay Marine Park.

One young angler at Surfside Beach recently declared confidently that he would ''catch tea'' and returned 30 minutes later with two excellent flathead taken on pilchard.
Another angler fishing from the shore at Murramarang landed a big flathead, plus a snapper and an octopus, using striped tuna for bait.

Further north, off Durras, a boat angler landed a good bag of flathead, together with one big morwong and a nice double header of a snapper and a large trevally.
Most offshore boat anglers reported finding plenty of tiger flathead, with a few big sandies mixed in with them, in 45-50m of water.

Salmon are feeding

Mark Rose at the Ocean Hut at Bermagui also reports some large salmon feeding on the southern beaches. Many of the fish are in the 3-4kg range and are taking pilchards and other baits readily.

Kingfish slow to emerge

Kingfish are still slow in areas but are gradually showing some activity. The hot spot is still Mowarry Point at Eden, where fish in excess of 1m have been taken on jigs and live bait.
A few kings have already been taken at Montague Island and this area should be fishing well by Christmas. Small kings showing in Horseshoe Bay at Bermagui could provide sport when southerlies prevent boats from fishing out wide.

Tip of the week

The other good news for Christmas is that the warm water and fish up north are moving south. Off Jervis Bay recently the temperature was 19 degrees and angler catches included a 140kg marlin, yellowfin to 24kg, kingfish to 82cm, a lot of makos and plenty of tasty squid in close.
Dr Bryan Pratt is a Canberra-based ecologist