Old Man Creek x 3 & Mundowy rocks 20th 21st 23rd November



Small Cod taken late Saturday afternoon.



Headed out to the creek with Kanck on Saturday arvo for a quick session, went straight up to the weir and was disappointed with the water clarity, it had cleared a little but not enough. Punched over a thousand cast in and around the weir with a only a small cod and two lost lures to show for it. The most interesting point was that I picked up the cod as soon as the shadows came across the water. It was stinking hot and a tough session, but we thought it might settle a bit more over night and be clear enough for lures in the morning.

Water coming over the wall...
Has been a rarity of recent years.
 Now its becoming a regular thing.

Headed back out at 5:30am with Kanck and was fishing at the weir by 6:00am. Kanck hooked up to something in the fast water but alas, the hooks didn’t set. After an hour or so with no result we decided to head over the Mundowy rocks for a look. We thought the river would be a little dirty but it couldn’t hurt to give it a go. We both tied on spinnerbaits Kanck had a small profiled natural coloured one and I had a fairly large purple and green one. I had a terrible start and managed to snag up 5 or 6 times which was not helping my frustration levels. When I finally got to make some effective casts my spinnerbait was demolished with a very savage strike. I called this fish for 70cm+ but it turned out to be a very fit and angry 51cm trout cod. These things hit like freight trains and it was a nice change to what was turning out to be a very tough session. It's certainly starting to heat up not that summer is here. That was enough for us and we fished our way back to the car with no result and headed home.

Bloody Camera on the wrong setting!

Tuesday afternoon I headed back out to the creek because it looked like some storms were starting to roll in and the water level had dropped quite significantly. I thought things were looking promising, within 20 casts I managed to pull a very small 18cm trout cod from the fast water at the weir. The water was only coming over the main release part of the weir wall and it was creating some great looking water. Although it looked great, no fish seemed to like it. I managed to find a couple of nice lures on my way back to the car, but overall is was a disspointing session.

51cm of Trout Cod

My thoughts are that the Goldens may have either finished spawning or made their way further up river when the water was flowing over the wier. The water had dropped significantly this week and once the banks dry out a bit I think I will resort back to my normal approach, rather that focusing on the wier area.

Old Man Creek...IT’S BACK!!!! 13-11-2010 & 14-11-2010

Small Golden Perch

Headed out to the Creek on Saturday afternoon for a quick session, the rumour going around town was that it had really cleared up over the week and started to produce some nice fish. Upon my arrival I had to remind myself that I was at Old Man Creek and not Pitt St in Sydney, people were fishing everywhere. I headed straight up to the weir and was disappointed to find about 8 other people fishing it. I started with a spinnerbait first up and after an hour with no bites I changed to a Custom Crafted Teeny Extractor in yellow & black. Within an hour of making the change I hooked up on a little Golden Perch. I had finally broken my 6 month Golden Perch drought. I managed to pick up another small Golden and a small Trout Cod for the afternoon. While I was there I saw maybe 10-15 Golden Perch that the other fishermen caught. This was enough to motivate me to have an early start on Sunday and come back out.

Small Trout Cod

Picked up Kancky at 7am on Sunday morning and anticipation was high, I was feeling really confident. Got to the weir and had it all to ourselves, I tied on a Custom Crafted Teeny Extractor in a Murray Cod pattern and set myself up on the rock wall to cast into the back current that the fast water was creating. Kancky opted for a yellow & black 50ml AC invader. Within 10 casts my lure was annihilated by a 50cm Golden Perch. It put up a great fight in the fast water and I only just managed to land him.



50cm Golden Perch



The hooks pulled as he was in the shallow water where he only needed one kick of his tail to get away and if it wasn’t for Kancky’s cat like reflexes and nimbleness, he would have made it back to safety. A very funny moment! A few quick snaps of my new personal best Golden Perch and he was back on his was way.

Kanck playing a 50cm Golden Perch

Three casts later and I was on again, this time a 36cm Golden had decided he liked the look of my Teeny Extractor. He liked it so much that he took the whole lure down his gob. I was beginning to think that this was going to be a cracker of a morning. Ten minutes later and Kancky was on, another 50cm Golden on his yellow and black AC, we couldn’t believe how good this session was going. Kancky then lost his AC to a hungry snag and as he was tying a new lure on my Teeny Extractor was smashed again, this time a little cod had taken the lure and put some lovely battle scars on it.

Kanck's 50cm Golden Perch

A couple of other blokes turned up and to our surprise one of them actually started to fish within one meter of us and was casting over the top of our lines, the rude little bastard! There is an etiquette among fisherman, and granted this fella had never fished in freshwater before, but generally in my opinion if I can hit you with a cast then I am too close and first in best dressed! I think that’s pretty fair!

Small Murray Cod

The rain finally rolled in at about 10.30am and by this stage I’d had about 5 hits and 2 hook ups but couldn’t manage to land one due to some bad luck and poor management. After a good soaking from the rain we decided to call it a day and hit the road, very satisfied with the morning’s session.

It's a Shark

Weather

1016

22*C

Overcast, rain with slight wind

Results

3 Golden Perch

1 Murray Cod

Bundingerry Canal/Creek & Old Man Creek - 9-11-11

Heard a report during the week that a couple of blokes had picked up 13 odd fish in a few hours out at the canal during the week. I hadn't been out to see the aftermath of the floods yet so I saw it as a good oportunity to check it all out.

Playing the little cod.

Got to the canal at about 2.30pm and it didn't look to bad, plenty of water being released out of Berembed and it was creating some nice slow water and back currents up one side of the canal. Threw a bright green mudguts spinnerbait around, about 20 casts later I managed to pick up a small Murray Cod. I thought that was going to be the start of a good day! I was wrong! Moved further along the canal for another hour or so, but no more inquiries.

He sure liked that spinnerbait!

Decided to head back out to the main road and check out the canal/creek further downstream. Water was a lot dirtier down here and there were literally thousands of Mosquitos. Spent 30mins here and after being attacked by Mozzies, decided to head back into Old Man Creek in the hope that the 'Local' water would produce the goods!

Got to the creek only to be a little dissapointed at its hieght. But from all reports the dirty water and high levels were not stopping the fish from taking lures, so hopes were still high! Went straight up to the weir and pumped a few hundred casts in and around the rock walls and trees, no inquiries! Fished back to the car, constantly talking of how hard the creek is to read when its at high water level.

An interesting day, with stormy weather predicted for the majority of this week it could be quite a while before the creek settles back down into its normal summer flow. But I am predicting some brilliant fishing when things do settle down!

Weather

• BOM unknown
• 27*c
• Gusty wind
• Unknown water temp

Results

• Small Murray Cod

Blowering Dam.... Again! 31-10-2010

After seeing so many Golden Perch on my guided trip last week, I couldn't help but head back up to Blowering again. I had a technique that I wanted to try out to see if I could tempt these shut down fish into striking. My plan was to walk the rocky bank on the Talbingo side of Log Bridge Ck to see if I could spot a few Goldens in the shallows. I wanted to cast out some suspending minnows and see if an ultra slow, stop-start retrieve would see the undoing of a few fish. I thought that if I could get a follow from a Golden then I could stop the lure and subtly twitch it in front of its face to illicit a strike.
The day started with rain all the way up to the dam, so things were looking glim. I parked the car at a nice grassy bay and rigged up a very small spinnerbait to start the day. There was a fair bit of distance to cover to get to the bank I wanted to fish so I thought a spinnerbait would be a good prospecting lure for the walk. The rain finally stopped just after the fishing started and it turned into a very pleasent morning. Spotted a few very timid carp on the way over but no Goldens. I finally tied on a suspending minnow and started flicking it around. Kanck ended up getting a Golden to have swipe at a plastic and soon after I had a Golden follow my lure in, a played the lure in front of his face and he looked genuinly interested, until I made a totally uncoordinated and spastic movement and scared him off... shit! Needless to say I let off a few loud expletives after that incident. Within the next ten or so casts I had a good Golden come and have a massive swipe at my lure while it was stationary in the water about 10' out from the bank, but alas the hooks didn't bite back and I was left cursing on the bank.... once again. Fish 2 - Scott 0.
Fished on for another hour or two after that but didn't see any more fish, looking back I should have went further along that bank towards Log Bridge Ck. But we had decided earlier that it was to steep to comfortably traverse. Even so, next time I'll head up that way and tough it out! Although there were no Goldens landed I was pretty happy with the morning. Blowering is a very hard dam to crack and fishing for the Goldens in there requires a totally different approach to what would be considered 'normal' ways to target Godlens. I knew the day was going to be tough but I thought I would have been able to fool one or two, and came very close to doing it, just a few minor errors and bit of luck let me down, I will learn from what happened! With a lack of consistent warm weather, a considerably larger body of water to heat up and a consistant inflow of cold water the fish are still very shut down, with some consitant (4-10 days) warm weather, I would expect a lot more success!
Fished the Tumut river for an hour on the way home. It was pretty full! Had a few hook ups, but didn't manage to land any. Kanck picked up a couple on a yellowing 7g Tassie Devil.The river started rising as we were fishing so we took off!
Sorry no photos! I need to buy a cheap camera!

Weather

• 1016
• 14-22*C
• Slight to no wind
• Unkown water temp

Blowering with Riverina Sport Fishing

I received a late call on Friday night to see if I was interested in heading up to Blowering with Dave Carter and Jamin Forbes from Riverina Sport Fishing. Apparently a few people had pulled out of the trip so when Matt Rava gave me the call I jumped at the chance. I had heard a lot about these two guides and I must say, right from the start they impressed me with their professional approach to their business. Blowering is a place where I have always struggled to have success and the other guys that came on the trip had previously only had limited success at this place as well.

Lunch time at Blowering

Jamin and Dave each own identical 5.8m Actioncraft boats with 150hp Honda's on the back and 80lb electrics on the front. Beautifully set up, 5 people can fish from these platforms without a worry in the world.

Started the day down on the wall casting a spinner bait on my rod, and two Jackall on Matt & Dave Rava's rods. Dave drove the boat with his hand held remote for the electric and it was incredible to see how skilled he was in working the electric. Over the course of the day the boat was always positioned perfectly, there was never a time when the three of us who were fishing couldn't make an effective cast! This is what made the day so enjoyable for me. We were able to constantly fish without a worry in the world.

After spotting a few fish along the wall but not hooking one, Dave Made the decision to head around to a bank near Log Bridge Creek. Along this bank we spotted over 50 Golden Perch in the shallows and had quite a few follow our lures, but no takes. After being taunted by the Goldens on this bank we headed further into Log Bridge Creek and found a little waterfall coming into a bay, as we got closer to the bay we started to see a few fish, once we were in there we could see more fish that you could poke a stick at. A heap (estimated 60-80) Goldens had schooled up in the bay, and 75% of them were huge, well aver the 10lb mark, Dave estimated that a couple would have surpassed the magical 20lb mark. But again these Goldens had other things on their mind, I managed to hit one in the head with a spinner bait and that was as close as we came to hooking one.

The 50cm Murray Cod

One thing that was a nice treat throughout the day was the ability to fish the whole dam, the 150hp enabled us to cover so much water without losing any fishing time. Just before lunch I managed to boat a little 50cm cod up near Blowering Creek

The afternoon session was a funny one, the wind picked a a little and it was very difficult to spot the fish with a ripple on the water. Then in came the rain..... big fat rain and I quickly found out that the waterproof lining on my waterproof jacket had perished and I got rather wet! Luckily there was another jacket in the boat. We still managed to get 5 or 6 bites but just couldn't convert!

Overall I had a a very good day, there were a few things that really appealed to me.

First of all having everything done for me was a real treat, no tying knots, no making lunch, no decision making and no packing everything the night before. This was great, all I had to do was fish, fish and fish.... perfect. 

It was a real confidence booster to have a guide tell you that your doing things right, I think fishing is all about confidence and in future I will fish with much more confidence in different techniques that previously I had questioned a little. 

It was great to be able to cast all day. I don't own a boat so normally I am at the mercy of the boat owner, which means I will generally do what they want, most of the time this equals trolling. I love casting and it was a lot of fun to do that all day, and having a bloke who can drive an electric as well as Dave could was such a bonus. 

Well worth the money for such a good day, I would recommend this to anyone who is half keen on fishing, obviously there will be some people that see it as a waste of money but the knowledge and confidence I gained from this experience certainly justifies the money spent!

Burrinjuck Dam 11/10/2010 - 12/10/2010

 Burrinjuck Dam 11/10/2010 - 12/10/2010

A nice Golden Perch

Got a text message from my brother in law on Sunday morning to see if I was keen for a quick trip up to Burrinjuck Dam for the Monday and Tuesday. I was keen alright, but I know my  bounderies, and I wasn't about to risk life and limb by asking to go on another fishing trip only 2 nights after I had returned from a 3 night trip. So I had to decline, which was a big mistake! Andrew my brother in-law landed 10 Golden Perch for the trip and a couple of reddies for good measure. The Biggest of the Goldens was a 6.45 pounder.

6.45lb Golden Perch

 On the first days evening he caught 3 on a green Jackall and 4 on green Custom Crafted Fishstiks all tight up against rockwalls and on the Tuesday he got 3 on the green Jackall again, this time in some of the grassy shallows scaterred around the dam. I guess the Goldens were chasing the warm water whcih would explain why they were caught near rockwalls and in the shallows. A very good result for such a short trip... I just wish I had of been there!



Beautiful Weather



Weather

• Unknown barometric pressure
• Sunny with little cloud
• Slight - No wind
• Water Temp 16.9*C

Results

• 10 Golden Perch
• 2 Redfin

Eucumbene Dam 5/10/2010 - 8/10/2010

Eucumbene Fishing Trip

October 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th 2010 

Day 1

Sunrise on the Dam

Finally after waiting for months our Eucumbene trip had arrived. Previously I have had great success at this place so to say I was excited would have been an understatement. I headed off Tuesday morning at about 7am, with a plan of having a stop and spinning the Eucumbene river at Kiandra and Providence Portal. Now that the rivers are open again I thought it would a nice start to the trip.

Water was clear in the Eucumbene River and I probably spent 30mins there, but a lot of this was watching a fly fishing guide help a client onto a fish.... what a job. No success for me, but then again I didn't try very hard.
Arrived at Providence to find a huge amount of cars spread out across the plain, probably about 30 cars, but its a big plain and there is plenty of room to fish. Before I started fishing I was having a chat to a couple of Canadians who live in Melbourne. They had been fishing the rivers in the area all week with great success. I fished and chatted with these guys for quite a while, they were casting Rapala's into the most turbulent water, I was surprised that the lure even swan correctly in the current. But my eyes were really opened when one of them pulled out a 4 pound brown. Very nice looking fish. I was really happy that I saw that, because normally I would focus my efforts on the starts and ends of rapids, however in future I will fish the 'run' a little as well. There was about twice as much water coming out of the portal compared to this time last year.
I met up with Pete, Preso, Guru and Stan at Adaminiby and after a couple of beers we headed off to find our Accommodation. A couple of hours later and we were unpacking our stuff at our cabin and getting ready for a quick fish. Because Kanck was bringing up my Hobie later that night, I jumped in Pete's boat with him and Preso (Quintrex 385, 25 Yamaha). I ended up with two fish for that afternoon, but was disappointed that Pete or Preso didn't get any, probably a couple of reasons for this, the 25 Yamaha probably pushes the boat a bit to fast for a good trolling speed, and Pete and Preso both had a pretty heavy leader tied on and a very large snap swivel.
While on the boat with the two old fellas I realised that this fishing trip was probably going to be a little more relaxed than my usual fishing adventures. I normally fish non-stop from sun up to sun down and by the end of each day I am wrecked! So a more relaxed approach would be taken  for this trip.
Baitfished that night after Kanck turned up and landed two fish on powerbait. Not a bad start!

A nice 50cm Rainbow Trout

Weather

• 22*C
• Unknown Barometric Pressure
• Sunny  - Very little cloud
• Slight wind
• Water Temp - 11*C

Results

• A couple of Rainbow Trout

Day 2

  

Morning on the second day



Up early to discover the dam had 'glassed off' and we couldn't get down and into the Hobie's quick enough. I was using a 'Canberra Killer' Tassie on one rod and a Diawa Shiner (Rainbow Trout) on the other, within minutes I had picked up fish on both and the day had started well. An interesting point to make was that I picked up a lot of fish in the same area as I did at Easter time, the difference was therer were a lot of smaller ones and most were in poorer condition... I put this down to the fish being post-spawn and were still feeding heavily to put on condition. The morning session was a great trolling session, and I think I ended up with about 8 fish and dropped a couple as well... I was satisfied to say the least. A point worth noting was at one stage I was spinning from the bank into some deep rocky water for a good 30mins and got nothing, I then jumped in the yak and trolled through the exact zone I was casting to and picked up a fish with a lure that was of a very similar colour to the one I was casting.

Once I returned to the boat ramp I was very tired, I had just had an 8 hour session in the Hobie and was ready for some lunch, a shower and an afternoon siesta. Kancky, Guru and Stan had all managed to pick up fish. Pete and Preso were still on struggle street. After some discussion over lunch I thought I would help out Pete and Preso, so I tied on a 6lb fluorocarbon leader and gave them a couple of lures that had worked for me! I think fishing trips where everyone catches fish are a lot more enjoyable than those when a few struggle. With this in mind I was very happy to help out!

 After my siesta I went down to the water and played around with some baitfishing on the bank and a little Hobie action. I also met a man who had been coming here for 35 odd years and it was very interesting to listen to some of his stories of how the dam fished and looked in the past. That might be me one day, ha ha!

With a massive storm front coming across in the distance we started to worry a little,  but the fish went mad, Kanck landed 11 fish that afternoon all on powerbait. I am certain that the approaching storm had something to do with this!

Pete managed to get onto a couple of fish with his new rig but Preso was still on a doughnut.

This was a good day but when I was lying in bed that night I was totally buggered so I made a very conscious decision to take it easy the following day. This decision was made easier by the thunderstorm that had finally rolled in and it was doing its best to blow the cabin over!



The fog of the first morning



Weather

• 22*C
• Unknown Barometric pressure
• No wind, until the afternoon
• Water temp 11*C

Results

• Quite a few Rainbow Trout

Day 3

 Another early start on day 3 greeted us with blue skies and a gusty wind.... baitfishing and a few beers it was! We managed to catch trout all morning on powerbait and worms. Preso finally got a few fish and Pete got a few more as well. Bait fishing seemed to be much more productive than lures and I assume that this is because we were fishing post-spawn and the trout would have been gorging themselves to help get some weight back on after their spawn run!

After lunch we headed over to another bay in Pete's boat with intentions of doing a bit of lure casting and baitfishing. I cast some stiffy minnows and a pegron spoon around for a little while for no result so I resorted to baitfishing and picked up a couple more fish, and lost a few as well.

On the way back we stopped for a baitfish at a nice rocky point with a few trees around, I spotted a nice brown in a shallow bay just down from the bait rods and threw a few lures and a soft plastic to it, with no success.



Pete's boat in the distance



It was dark when we returned to the boat ramp so we cleaned the fish and headed back to the cabin for dinner.

I thoroughly enjoyed this day, although I don't enjoy baitfishing nearly as much as I enjoy fishing with lures, it was great to sit back and have a few chats with the fellas that went, and quite a few beers as well.

Great days fishing!

Weather

• 18*C
• Unknown Barometric Pressure
• Very windy/Gusty
• Water Temp Unknown

Results

• Quite a few Rainbow Trout

Day 4

We were greeted with great weather on Friday morning and the plan was to have a quick troll for a couple of hours and then pack up.

A fog covering the lake.

I had a 'Canberra Killer' Tassie and  Diawa Shiner 'Yellow Spot' on my rods and ended up getting 3 rainbows on the Daiwa Shiner for the morning, I also lost 3 or 4 at the boat and had a good 15 or so hits. As I was taking the lure off I realised that one of the hooks on the rear treble was straight, I'll put my lost fish down to that! After about 2 hours of trolling around I decided to call it a day and headed back to the cabin to pack up. It had been a great couple of days, although very different to how I normally approach my fishing trips, it was just as enjoyable. I was very happy that all who attended were able to catch some fish and go home with a smile on their faces. The standout style of fishing was by far baitfishing and the best bait being powerbait, it didn't really matter if you used the powerbait and floated it off the bottom on its own or if you used it on the same hook as a worm as an attractant. Either way the stuff is very effective. Standout lure for me and probably everyone else was the 'Canberra Killer' Tassie Devil. I was also impressed with the Diawa Shiner. Last time (Easter) the Rapala F3's were a standout but not anywhere near as effective this time! The fish were also a lot poorer, condition wise, this trip and there were a lot of smaller "30cm" fish.
Overall I would say that this was a successful trip and a very enjoyable one at that! I didn't get onto a Brown while I was there, in fact knowone did, but our tactics weren't suited to them. Powerbait is a known Rainbow bait with Browns only rarely take it and I believe that the Rainbows were so prolific in the area we fished that they didn't give us a chance to get onto a Brown because they were onto the baits to early. In the next 3 months I am going to do a couple of overnight trips back up that way, one to providence to fish the river their and one to Jindabyne to fish the mouths of the Thredbo and Snowy Rivers I think by targeting these areas from shore with lures I will put myself in good stead to tangle with a nice Brown.

Weather

• 16*C (Early frost)
• Unknown Barometric Pressure
• Very Slight wind
• Water Temp 11*C

Results

•  Quite a few more Rainbows - 96 for the trip.