{{start}}

Fishing in the Snowy region is often tough at this time of the year but if you put the time in and fish well you will find fish

My suggestion for Tantangara is to concentrate your efforts loch style fly fishing the Tantangara hot spots.

For Eucumbene polaroiding the rocky and timbered shores and back waters is a good option and if loch style fly fishing is you go fish into structure and accept that a few lost flies on snags will be a small price to pay for a brown or two.

On my door step loch style and shore based prospecting in Lake Jindabyne has been tough and the bait fishers have been struggling too. Trolling has fared a little better and there are a few fish mainly rainbows being taken by trollers at around 8 meters. These fish are probably daphnia feeders. For fly fishers fortunately there are a few fish to target (with the aid of polaroid sun glasses) close to structure on shores. These browns are patrolling and actively feeding around shore structure and in my view these are the fish you should target.

I guess we are lucky to have some fly fishing options ... the consensus of reports that I am getting indicate that fishing in Tasmania and right up the eastern seaboard has been tough over recent times. I think that probably somewhat comes down to changing weather conditions. Terrestrial insects like hoppers and beetles as well insects that spend part of their life cycle in the water such as midge, mudeyes, mayflies and damsels could all be forgiven for being unsure of what season they are in. It seems these days that every time we have a run of a few warm days and insects start to appear nature chucks a wobbly and give us harsh weather that either turn off or kills the insects.

Water management in the Snowy region is one of the keys to the quality of local fishing. The lake water levels are not determined by Snowy Hydro but they do play an important role and I am confident that they do their job well within the parameters that are set for them.

Just to set the records straight here is some additional information taken from the Snowy Hydro web site that describes their role.

“Snowy Hydro Limited is a business providing a complex array of financial hedge and insurance products to participants in the National Electricity Market (NEM). We are the leading provider of peak, renewable electricity to the National Electricity Market and a fully integrated Australian energy business with an excellent track record in financial performance, engineering innovation, workplace culture and business practices.
Some important facts about Snowy Hydro are:
• Snowy Hydro does not own the water it releases in the course of electricity generation, the NSW Government does;
• Snowy Hydro does not own or control the release of water to the irrigators. Release is controlled by the NSW Government and by the Murray Darling Basin Commission;
• Snowy Hydro can not store water. The Company has to release a prescribed amount of water each year and this is determined by its Water Licence issued by the NSW Government;
• Snowy Hydro is not a State Owned Corporation, even though it is owned by the three Governments. Since corporatisation in 2002 it operates as a Corporations Act company. Its borrowings are not guaranteed by Governments and it has no access to additional equity other than from the Government owners;
• Snowy Hydro is less a generator of electricity and more a provider of price risk financial hedge contracts to the electricity industry.”

Currently it seems to me that it's the NSW, ACT and Victorian governments determine water flows based on hydro generation requirements, irrigation requirements and environmental flow requirements. If we could get them to give greater consideration the effect of water levels have on fishing and in turn the effect recreational fishing has on tourism in the Snowy region and the wider economic viability of local communities I find myself wondering how much better off our fisheries would be.

{{end}}