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Published: Dec 31, 2016
Revised Mar 07, 2021

This is a list of flies that I know all work well for both Lakes Tantangara, Eucumbene and Jindabyne.

For the sake of convenience I have set them out in my "go to" lock style teams and also some "matching the hatch" options and finally some alternative flies and where they could be substituted in my"go to" lock style teams depending on what's happening on the day.

For all the lock style teams if your only fishing two flies I would suggest that generally the middle dropper fly is the best fly to leave out as in most cases it is a smaller fly or an attractor fly.

If you only fishing one fly I suggest that the point fly is the best option.

In any case I am confident that proceeding in the way described below, putting blind luck aside, is the best way to increase your catch rate.

Also keep in mind that it's important that you get the size of your flies right ... this chart below will help you do that with woolly buggers and their variants.

MY DEFAULT TEAM OF FLIES FOR LAKES TANTANGARA, EUCUMBENE AND JINDABYNE

The colour of flies that fish well in each still water as a general rule appears to relate to the colour of the naturals that the trout feed on. In Lakes Tantangara, Eucumbene and Jindabyne the nymph population is mostly brown or olive in colour and consequently it would be unusual for me to not have one or more brown or olive flies in my team. The other dominant food source in alpine lakes are yabbies and they are generally a grey to black colour so it's also common for me to include a black fly in my team of three flies.

The other thing I have noted over time is that in Lakes Tantangara, Eucumbene and Jindabyne the browns and the rainbows tend to respond better to smaller flies, particularly smaller woolly buggers and consequently it's unusual for me to fish a woolly bugger bigger than medium in the above woolly bugger sizing chart.

Also I have noticed that if there is one terrestrial, that spend part of its life cycle in the water, that you can depend on for these two lakes its chironomids and consequently flies like the bibio and my alpine buzzers often find their way into my teams of flies.

The other truth for these two lakes is that often that the water carries a little of sediment and colour so teams of flies often benefit form a bit of colour (particularly orange or red) either in the middle dropper fly or alternatively as a hot spot on at least one of the flies in my teams.

I have one team of flies that captures all of these criteria and that team is my go-to team for both lakes.

MATCHING THE HATCH

To be successful as a fly fisher it's important that you are aware of what is going around you. It's not just the weather but the little nuisances that are happening all the time that indicate what is hatching, living and dying in and on the water, the knowledge of which, can be a game changer.

It would be a foolish fly fisher that didn't match the hatch as best he or she could both in terms of fly selection but also the type of presentation and retrieve and of course the depths being fished.

Yabbies

When Snowy Hydro lifts or drops water levels quickly yabbies are displaced from their holes and follow the water levels up or down looking for new places to build their holes. At this time they are extremely vulnerable and are targeted by hunting fish.

Medium silver TBH black sparkle bugger

Small brown woolly bugger

Small unweighted bibio bugger

CHIRONOMID AKA BUZZERS & MIDGE

Spending part of their life cycle in the water Chironomid are prolific in both Lake Eucumbene and to a lesser extent in Lake Jindabyne. The best hatches are in the months of November and December particularly when rising water in inundating areas where thistles have been drowned. At those time cricket score catches can be the norm rather than the exception. This team fishes well on either a floating line or a sink tip line and fished either static or slow.

Marabou bloodworm

Black alpine buzzer

Olive alpine buzzer

DAMSELS

From time to time you will see little blue or red damsels on the wing. Their main source of food is Chironomid pupa and when the chironomid are on you will often find damsel nymphs predating on the chironomid pupa either in the form of newly hatched blood worm or as emergers moving toward the surface. When that is happening you will find trout feeding on both the damsel nymphs and the chironomids.

Red TBH Damsel

Chatto's Eucumbene damsel

Small brown or olive damsel bugger

SMALL FLASHY SURFACE FEEDERS

Not strictly a hatch but from time to time particularly in Lake Eucumbene you will come across legal but small fish surface feeding on who knows what. Not so important to the recreational angler but for a competition angler these small measurers can make a big difference to the outcome of the session. This team works really well to get them on the hook. Being so small and given that you will in all probability be fishing with barbless hooks these fish are surprising hard to land.

Swimming nymph

Dial bach

Royal coachman - wet

FISHING STATIC

From time to time particularly when the lake glasses out you will find that a good alternative is to put a team of flies out there and just let them sit. This technique is best suited to a lighter than normal fluorocarbon leader with the point fly being the heaviest in the team and the spacing between the flies being as long as you will be able to use and land fish in the net without the top dropper going though the tip runner on the rod. With a #10 foot rod and and the fact that I am a little taller than average and a full 4 foot of length in my net I can handle a leader with 5 feet between my flies.

Brown pink hot head bugger

Swimming nymph

Bibio

MAYFLIES

Whilst we don't see very many full blown Mayfly hatches in either Lakes Tantangara, Eucumbene or Lake Jindabyne we do have spasmodic hatches of small numbers of mayfly. When that happens you can do a lot worse that swimming this team.

Swimming nymph

Possum emerger

Chatto's soft hackle mallard & claret

MUDEYES

Runs of mudeyes are more common in Lake Eucumbene but do also occur in Jindabyne. I can count on one hand the times that its been worth tying on multiple mudeye flies but non the less when mudeye shucks are showing up on tree trunks and rocks a good natural looking mudeye imitation included in your team often makes the difference.

Small brown woolly bugger

Chatto's mudeye

Murdoch

SPINNERS

We certainly do get spinner hatches, particularly black spinners at the dam wall end of Lake Eucumbene. When that happens trout typically feed on the spinners at the exclusion of all other offerings.

Black spinner

Red or orange spinner

FLIES TO SUBSTITUTE INTO TEAMS AND MY PREFERRED POSITION FOR THEM - When using these flies in a team of three flies they are best fished in the positions nominated below.

Small black/red MKII woolly bugger

Small olive/orange MKII woolly bugger

Small unweighted bibio bugger

Small gold TBH fiona

Chatto's soft hackle mallard & claret

Dunkeld

Glass bead head olive and red cormorant

Black & red cormorant

#10 Lake nymph

Small humungus - Black and gold AKA Shuggie

Small gunmetal TBH dark olive straggle fritz bugger

Small red BH black straggle fritz bugger

Medium gold or orange TBH brown damsel bugger

Medium gold or orange TBH McGoo

Small blackTBH bibio bugger

Small pink TBH brown woolly bugger

THESE ARE GREAT STAND ALONE FLIES AND CAN BE SUNSTITUTED IN ANY POSITION INA TEAM OR CAN BE FISHED BY THEMSELVES. - These flies fish well in any position in a team of flies or as a single fly fished on the point.

I have no hesitation recommending that you substitute flies from this group into teams of flies for any fly that you just don't have the confidence in on the day or making up teams using two or three of these flies.

Small brown woolly bugger small un-weighted olive woolly bugger Small un-weighted black woolly bugger Small un-weighted black sparkle bugger Small black and red hot head bugger Small un-weighted brown & pink hot head bugger Small un-weighted orange hot head olive damsel bugger Small to medium Gold TBH Shrek original tie {{end}} Last Updated: December 31, 2016 Author: StephenChatterton Categories: Members only, Skill Articles, Trout, Trout flies