{{+1}}Seasons of Lake Jindabyne{{-1}}
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I have been keeping a data base record of my fishing outings now for around 15years. When you do a search say on November, December and January for Lake Jindabyne its interesting to see the similarities for that period of time over the years. There is obviously some skewing of the results because as you know , your favourite flies, change over time and of course you tend to fish your favourite flies. Still, even with that impact its interesting that the same trend of flies that catch fish at the same time each year recurs year after year. The other thing that is interesting is what the trout are up to at a given time each year. That's undoubtedly a reflection of the fishes metabolism and life cycle and of course what's on the trout's menu at that time of year.
Trout are very economical with their energy and their preference is to expend as little energy as possibly whilst maintaining their nourishment and comfort. To accommodate this trout either establish territories or beats in areas where there is a good supply of food and access to comfortable holding zones or move around in the search of concentrations of food and or comfort. You will need to understand some aspects of lake craft if you want to exploit their feeding habits.
The following brief summary captures the essence of what's happening in each season for Lake Jindabyne and what flies regularly caught fish for me as the seasons change.
Spring (August, September and October)
I have started with spring as that is my favourite fly fishing time of the year.
Trout have recently returned from spawning in many cases and in other cases particularly for the later spawning browns are just dropping back into the lake. The spawning season is a very demanding time for trout and it's during spring that they work hard foraging for whatever food is available to put condition back on. Sure you will find some slabby fish but by in large the fish recover quickly and there will be plenty of recently re-conditioned fish moving around the bays and foraging along the banks and in the shallows. It's also the time of the snow melt so generally the lake is on the rise flooding new ground and bringing a full range of food sources into play. You can of course concentrate in the areas where the Thredbo River in particular runs into the lake but from my experience that will put you in more contact with the slabier fish rather than the better re-conditioned fish. As trout put condition back on it doesn't take long for them to disperse from around the river mouths throughout the lake so I prefer to hunt for fish in some of my favourite year round locations.
Trout are of course looking for a high return for the time and effort they put into their recovery and will favour food sources that meet that need. Ironically the rising water works to their advantage in that changing water levels causes the yabby population which has a relativity narrow range of preferred habitat depths to move from their burrows as they become a bit too deep and to follow the rising water levels building new burrows as they go. Yabbies are a high protein yield food source for trout and generally move around under the cover of darkness but at this time of year the water can rise so quickly that they have to be active all day. A second advantage of rising water is that new ground is drowned and with the water temperature rising at the same time it's not long before the drowned vegetation starts to rot bringing on significant hatches of chironomids (a.k.a. midge and buzzers). As well as being a favoured food for trout chironomids are also the favoured food of damsels so if there are midge about you can bet you bottom dollar that damsels wont be far away. With that doubling of food sources the trout will also be close by. Not every year but on the years where the water levels rise progressively for periods of two or three weeks you will also get tadpole hatches in the protected bays and the back of soaks and that adds an extra dimension to the fishing. At the same time, although Lake Jindabyne is not considered a lake with big mudeye hatches we do get some reasonable mudeye hatches. To confirm this have a look at the lee side of trees and vegetation as you fish and if you start seeing fresh mudeye husks its worth tying on a mudeye imitation particularly if your fishing into the evening.
Often dreaded by fly fishers is the fact that Snowy Hydro are in the business of selling water and maintaining environmental flows to the Snowy River. I am not sure why this is such a concern because whilst falling water levels does bring a halt to the tadpoles and does reduce the midge hatches every cloud has a silver lining. In this case it's the fact that the falling water levels cause the yabbies to be on the move again as their burrows run the risk of being left high and dry.
At times of rising and falling water look for areas where there obvious yabby holes. There will be plenty of fish, particularly browns, nearby. If the water has been static for a couple of weeks or changed little the yabbies will have settled down also so look for bays with drowned vegetation and midge on the water and target the attendant concentrations of rainbows. The browns tend to feed a little deeper during these times but if you have access to a boat, and faster sink fly lines, then you can have some excellent loch style fishing outings targeting both browns and bows.
Summer (November, December and January)
In most years water temperatures climb up to around 20 degrees by mid December and that of course is less than ideal for trout. They still forage in the spring locations described above but generally the better fish feed less in the hotter part of the day concentrating progressively as you move through summer from the period one hour before and after sun sunset and sunrise and for the browns throughout the dark. .
The spring locations described above, as well as the shallower bays, are great areas to fish during these prime times but of course if your like me and prefer gentlemen's hours you can still find fish. The best fishing days during summer are by far the worst days weather wise for fly fishers. If you have your choice go fishing on the cloudy and windier days. Both of these weather factor work in your favour keeping surface temperatures down and of cause the wind swept surface conditions mix to a degree the surface epilimnon layer with the cooler thermocline. The other thing to look for is prime feeding areas which are close to deeper water. Trout still have to eat so they will move into shallower areas to forage for food but they do like to be able to retreat to the relative comfort of deeper water without having to swim too far.
Summer is the time for bugs and if your cognisant of that you will find fish feeding on terrestrials also. On the menu you will find beetles, ants and hoppers each providing their own unique feeding opportunities for trout. If it's a hot day with plenty of hoppers on the wing you could do a lot worse than fishing an active hopper bank with vegetation close to the water and the wind blowing into the water. If there is deep water close by all the better. Chase a few hoppers into the water and if there are fish close by you will be surprised how freely they can feed. The same sort of banks close to trees are favourite haunts for beetle feeders and the same applies there. You wont have much control over hatches of ants or termites but on any still days particularly before a threatening summer storm you are likely to find termites hatching somewhere around the lake. When the ants and termites are on the menu trout tend to gauge them selves feeding on the hatch at the exclusion of other food sources. Hatches however start quickly and finish just as quickly so if you come across one, match the hatch, and have fun whilst it lasts.
Jindabyne is not a big lake for mayfly hatches but you will find them from time to time. They are a little like the ant and termite hatches and start and finish generally quickly. Mayfly feeders are also quite specific about what they eat so it's worth identifying the particular form of mayfly and matching that as closely as possible for colour and size. If you don't have the right mayfly for the hatch consider fishing a brown nymph of the right size under your closest mayfly imitation to the hatch.
Autumn (February, March and April)
Closely follows spring as my favourite season of fishing on lake Jindabyne. Whilst its not the same motivators as spring there are some similarities in terms of the trout psyche. During spring trout are trying to put condition on to recover from the spawning season and winter whist as Autumn progresses trout are putting on as much condition as possible in anticipation of the rigours of spawning and the reduced availably of food over winter. The water temperature is also dropping and consequently feeding times and comfort zones are progressively extending.
Autumn also provides some of the most settled weather of the year in our alpine region. Evenings are cooler helping water temperatures to drop but we do have big highs coming over that provide day after day of "Indian summer weather'. Whilst there are wide distributions of trout throughout the lake you will also find that rainbows in particular school up in the deeper bays feeding on daphnia. A lot of fly fishers believe that trout are not targets at these times but with faster sinking lines and the right flies you will surprise yourself. Be prepared to fish deep and slow.
If your looking for concentration of big trout this is the time of year to fish. Big browns congregate in the bays below the rivers in anticipation of rain and the impending spawn run.
Winter (May, June and July)
Truly harsh months temperature wise and even if the day time temperatures seem reasonable you can bet your best fly rod that as soon as the sun drops behind the mountains that the temperature will drop ... sometime by as much as 10 -15 degrees in just one hour. If there is wind or rain the fluctuations can be even more horrific so make sure you have plenty of layers of clothing and and even then some extra clothes in reserve.
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Lake Jindabyne doesn't freeze over but at different times I have seen ice out from the back up to a meter. At this time of year the thermocline is often just a meter below the surface and can be several degrees warmer that the thin epilimnon surface layer. Fishing larger flies on an intermediate or sink tip line can often put you in the zone for fish that still have to feed during winter but are not obvious on the surface. During warmer days also consider fishing the back of shallow bays that may have been warmed by the sun.
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Last Updated: December 19, 2011
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