Because the 2019 trout river season due to open across our eastern states I have started a review of my various fly boxes that will come in to play. For me My “trout” river wet fly box is the most important fly box in the open season so that has been my first fly box reviewed. These are the changes I have made:

I started making soft plastics in gar fish colours about a year ago in response to identifying that a lot of the buffing of big barramundi that you hear at dusk and into the night is barra targeting garfish. I have now added gar fish inspired colouring to my articulated bugger range and have found that to be a great dawn and dusk time fishing colour combination.

Every cloud has a silver lining I am told. The silver lining for the horrendous weather and damage associated with cyclone Debbie is that Awonga dam has started to spill taking heaps of fish into the Boyne River. Over the next short while as the river flow settles down the barra fishing should be very exciting.

Awonga Dam continues to produce.

A record 429,000 Australian Bass have been stocked into dams across NSW throughout 2017. Australian Bass are a sought after sports fish with bait, fly and artificial lure.

One of the things I always promote is the importance of limiting the flies you carry in your fly boxes to just those flies that you are confident work for you, you understand when to use them and you know how to fish them.

This fly has turned out to be a fantastic point fly for bass in Lake Maroon. I have fished it for two years in a row in the Variety Club competition with a MKII olive or black woolly bugger on a dropper and achieved two podium finishes.

Latest climate outlook for the next few months from the BOM is not good. Main points are: – Drier than average likely, but may start to ease for some in early 2020. – Rainfall is likely to be below average across most of the country for November. – The likelihood of drier conditions in eastern […]

As a result of fishing in competitions I have got used to measuring fish that I catch rather than weighing them. It’s quick and simple and of course puts little extra stress on the fish so that is all good. The process of course does have its short comings in that you don’t know how much the fish weighted. Well that’s no longer the case because I have adopted a mathematical process called a ‘power low equation to allow me to calculate the weight of fish from just one or two measurements.

This Articulated Swimmer fly, when dressed in Qantas colours is like candy for Rock Cod.

Cania Dam has been on my bucket list now for a couple of years and consequently I have been undertaking quite a lot of research so that when I do get up there hopefully this year I have enough information to make a reasonable job of that fishing trip. This is what I have found so far.

Researchers and government officials were given an update on the National Carp Control Plan (NCCP) in Canberra in late July. The NCCP is looking at the release of the carp virus cyprinid herpesvirus-3, with $15 million funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC). At the Principal Investigator Workshop in Canberra National Coordinator of […]

Christmas Island – should be on all fly fishers bucket list to visit.

Fishers are reminded that the annual trout spawning season commences in the Snowy Mountains from 1 May 2014. Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Inland Senior Fisheries Manager, Cameron Westaway said: “The annual trout spawning season fishing rules apply to the Thredbo River and its tributaries and the Eucumbene River and its tributaries (upstream of the […]

Crown roads to some of your favorite fishing locations may well be under threat. photo photo photo Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner has announced the launch of a new online service to make consultation over the closure and sale of Crown roads easier. Mr Stoner said this was a big step forward for stakeholders, with users […]

NSW Department of Primary Industries Recreational Fisheries Manager, Craig Watson, said that 10,000 Estuary Perch fingerlings were released. “The fish were bred at Narooma Aquaculture and are being released with the assistance of local fishers,” Mr Watson said.
Estuary Perch are found along the eastern seaboard through NSW, into Victoria and South Australia and including Tasmania.

Generally at this time of year there is an expectation that the midge would be starting to move and that there would be plenty of fish feeding on them and mayflies nymphs in Jocks, Cobrerbald, Coppermine and Wainui bays. Well on my latest visit I saw no evidence of that so I had to go […]

The camping area will be better defined with timber bollards with a view to stopping vehicle access beyond the camping area to the north … I support this project.

FISH is the official newsletter of the Fisheries Research & Development Corporation and is now available online. FISH is published quarterly in March, June, September and December. To obtain a copy of FISH mazagine by mail, please fill in your details on the Subscription page. Download the FRDC FISH Magazine in PDF format.

We are very lucky around Gladstone in that we have a healthy population of Mangrove Jacks, Fingermark, Barred and Silver Grunter and Flathead in our local waters and all four of them are reseptive to both fly and lure presentations.

Just a few reminders here about the main closed seasons in NSW … better to be safe than sorry.

Hopefully this small blog post will keep you in touch with the dates for fishing seasons in NSW for popular species such as bass, trout and cod.

Bass Zero bag limit for bass and estuary perch starts 1 May and ends 31 August. Catch and release is allowed. The zero bag limit does not apply to fish in stocked freshwater impoundments, including Glenbawn Dam and Glennies Creek Dam in the Hunter Valley, Brogo Dam near Bega and Clarrie Hall and Toonumbar Dams […]

Bass Zero bag limit for bass and estuary perch starts 1 May and ends 31 August. Catch and release is allowed. The zero bag limit does not apply to fish in stocked freshwater impoundments, including Glenbawn Dam and Glennies Creek Dam in the Hunter Valley, Brogo Dam near Bega and Clarrie Hall and Toonumbar Dams […]

Bass Zero bag limit for bass and estuary perch starts 1 May and ends 31 August. Catch and release is allowed. The zero bag limit does not apply to fish in stocked freshwater impoundments, including Glenbawn Dam and Glennies Creek Dam in the Hunter Valley, Brogo Dam near Bega and Clarrie Hall and Toonumbar Dams […]

How you organise fly boxes is important as it can make a big difference to how much you enjoy your fishing outings. This question and answer explains my approach.

A total of 861 wild rainbow trout have been trapped this year at Gaden. Along with rainbow trout broodstock held on site, the rainbow trout allocation target for this year has now been reached and the permanent fish trap has been removed. A total of 152 litres of rainbow trout ova have been laid down, […]

‘This is the busy time of the year at the Hatchery, with egg picking commenced for this production cycle. 403,000 Atlantic salmon ova were laid down. After egg picking there were 275,000 eyed ova left, a 68% fertility success rate. The Hatchery currently holds 400 1 year+ Atlantic salmon, 155 2+, 90 3+, 60 4+ […]

Flies catch more fly-fishers than fish. One of the things I try to promote is the importance of limiting most if not all of your fly box to just those flies that you are confident work for you, you understand what they can be used to represent, and you know how to fish.

There are a lot of fishing options around Gladstone in Central Queensland and these are my current favourites.

A town with boom and bust cycles determined by big projects mainly in the mining industry on the one hand but on the other a very pretty town with access to a number of fabulous fisheries.

This is one of the flies that I have tied for an impending trip to N.Ireland to fish in the 2018 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships. My research shows that there can be Autumn hatches of caddis and occasionally olives and midge. Those sort of hatches often occur in relatively shallow water and often the fish […]

These reels are beasts and have an impressive capacity of backing. I have gone for 70lb braid for backing and so that the backing is not the weak point in my system and even then 300 meters of backing fits easily. The reel also has a drag that locks up and needs 13lb of direct force to give line and then it does it ever so smoothly … OMG..

Ever caught a fin-clipped trout in Eucumbene or Jindabyne? If you have, you can determine its age by the position of the clipped fin. Every year thousands of trout are fin-clipped by volunteers at Gaden Trout Hatchery so that the age group can be identified. Different fins are clipped to indicate the year.

North American red-eared slider turtles are spreading in the Sydney region, threatening native turtle populations by competing for food and nesting sites. They are considered one of the world’s worst invasive species of waterways, breeding rapidly and carrying exotic diseases. They can spread salmonella bacteria to people, pets and other animals. Unlike native turtles they […]

I tied up a few extra coral and white booby blobs today. I’m hooping that they will work as well in N.Ireland at the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships as they work on rainbows here in Australia. Head off on 24th August.

This summer’s fin clipping at Gaden Trout Hatchery, Jindabyne is scheduled to start on Tuesday the 13th January 2015. As usual there will be 37,500 rainbows to clip (which is 25% of the 150,000 to be stocked into Lake Eucumbene). Fisheries will provide lunch, morning and afternoon tea on the day(s) of clipping, so if […]

We don’t get many days in Central Queensland when we get a break from persistent winds but when they come around it’s nice to take advantage of then and target one of your favourite species on fly.

Some of the undersized kingfish seized by DPI fisheries officers during the operation. A recent compliance operation targeting fishers retaining prohibited size kingfish in the Sydney region, has resulted in the apprehension of a number of fishers and the seizure of many small fish, says DPI Supervising Fisheries Officer, Chris Clarke. “The operation was conducted […]

My sources tell me that 200,00 fry were stocked in May and the intention is to stock 1 million fry by Christmas. Mangrove Jack are also being raised at the hatchery and apparently, we can expect 200,00 fry being released as soon as possible and ongoing releases hopefully giving Lake Awoonga a daytime species to target.

In Jindabyne and Eucumbene that trend continued and whereas the midge/damsel fishing season which is generally a highlight of our November and December fishing was fantastic in 2011 it was almost non existent leading up to Christmas 2012.

The first snippet headed “Monaro” provides the first credible incite I have seen that alludes to why trout fishing in the lake has declined in the last 6 years. The second snippet headed “Pumped Hydro” adds to my concerns for the lake. Since the Snowy MKII upgrade was muted I have been expressing my concerns about redfin being introduced to our trout lakes.

Lake Maroon is one of South East Queensland’s best freshwater fly and surface fishing destinations It lays close to the base of the Great Dividing Range on Burnett Creek, a tributary of the Logan River. It is a relatively small impoundment with a surface area of 350 ha and an average depth of 9.6 meters. […]

Thanks about your email looking for information on Lake Maroon. I love Maroon and have had a couple of podium finishes there in Fly Fish Australia competitions. I am not aware of any guides that fish the Lake Maroon area so I cant help you there but I have set out a little information on my web site that may help with your expedition there.

In any of the three courses practice each skill until you have it down “pat” and then move on. All the flies tied in the course are proven flies for catching fish so you will finish up with flies that you will be able to use.

The old adage ” when the weather is good for fishing it’s bad for fishermen” definitely was conjured up to represent the way things happen down here in the Snowy Mountains. If your coming down for a fish don’t forget to bring plenty of layers of clothing and of course if your fishing from a boat make sure that everybody wear and knows how to use their PFD. The fishing however can be fantastic at this time of the year … my last 3 outing produced 37 very good fish.

Spent a bit of today topping up my #10 weight fly box with a batch of Large Mud Prawns. It is hard to believe just how many salt water species will take a well-presented prawn bait.

Murray Crayfish have been successfully relocated

As it turned out my beat on the Bundarra didn’t give up 1 fish in any of the 5 sessions. Despite that disaster because I managed fish in the next 3 sessions (Rocky Valley, Kiewa River then Rocky Valley again) I was running 12th on Saturday night with only one session to go and that was on the Mitta Mitta.

Fantastic event that was well organised and mostly equally well executed. My rotation for the competition was: DENNETT RIVER On day one my departure time for my Dennett session was 7am. Competitors were supposed to be dropped of at their beats with at least 1 hour of time available to set rods up and walk […]

This Spring, Australians are encouraged to become ‘citizen scientists’ and investigate how healthy their local waterways and wetlands are, simply by exploring and identifying what aquatic macroinvertebrates they contain. The type and number of waterbugs found in a waterway can tell us a lot about how healthy that waterway is.

Originally posted on January 9 on https://boynetannumhookup.com.au/news/ For the 2020 Boyne Tannum Hook Up as well as there being the GT Fly Fishing Category that was introduced in 2019 there will also be new separate fly fishing categories for both seniors and juniors for flathead, yellowfin bream, whiting, grunter, fingermark and barramundi. If you want […]

Managed a couple of nice Barr at Lake Awoonga on 21st Sep with this 109cm beast being the best for the night and a new Awoonga personal best for me. And the added bonus was that it was caught on a soft plastic I crafted myself.

On 5 March the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Amendment (Snowy Advisory Committee) Bill 2013 passed the NSW Legislative Assembly. It establishes a new Snowy Advisory Committee but dissolves the previous Snowy Scientific Committee which was first established by the previous Labor government in 2008. The committee advises on the timing and patterns of the annual release […]

NSW national parks are now no smoking areas. The smoking ban applies to almost all areas throughout NSW national parks and reserves, including picnic areas, camp-grounds, accommodations, beaches, lookouts, walking tracks, and on national park roads. The ban doesn’t apply to some commercial lease or licence areas, or to private residences located within a park. […]

Bass, Trout, Murray Cod, Eastern freshwater Cod & Murray Crayfish

Closed seasons for popular fresh water species in NSW for 2018.

Friday 17 JUNE 2022 The NSW Government is introducing new recreational fishing rules for Rock Lobster and Dusky Flathead in NSW, which will see the bag limit for lobsters increase. The new rules were developed with the Recreational Fishing NSW Advisory Council and follow a comprehensive community consultation process, which showed strong support for changes […]

NSW – Online map helps anglers access new fishing spots … so how good is this?

The NSW government has given planning approval for the multibillion-dollar Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project, prompting warnings the move will cause the extinction of a rare native fish species. Mark Lintermans, an associate professor at the University of Canberra, resigned as chairman of the NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee, saying the giant project would likely transfer […]

In 2015 Australia will be the host country for the 10th Oceania Fly Fishing Championships. I’ll be there representing Australia as a member of the green team. Go to the FFA web site for information on the Ociania’s and of course follow the event on the FFA Facebook page. If you have any gems of […]

Operation TEMPUS, a major enforcement operation on Corio Bay, begins today to ensure all commercial and recreational fishers are aware of Victoria’s fisheries regulations and are obeying bag limits and legal catch sizes.

Each time I go on a major fishing trip I modify my packing list. My latest trip was to Christmas Island in the Pacific. These are the revised lists for my High Sierra bag when it is used as my carry on bag and for the same bag when it becomes my fishing bag as well as my list for my check in luggage. I will modify these list as I head off to other destinations.

Fishing a stream and seeing a platypus how good is that … well it seems that unless our politicians stop passing the buck and get on with the job of protecting them from “opera house yabby traps” our kids and grand kids may never experience that. The NSWCFA has been asking questions for many months […]

Fishers are invited to attend a public forum on the Snowy Mountains Lakes trout fishery with Department of Primary Industries (DPI) managers and scientists in Cooma on 29 May 2014.

There are very few fish our there that wont eat a prawn or a shrimp. This Juvenile Queensland Grouper fell to my prawn fly. As usual the fish was released to fight another day. photo3

Here is an interesting email from Steve Samuels that I wanted to share with you. Redfin are prolific breeders and carnivores … if the right precautions are not in place, with no chance of mishap, their numbers will quickly out-compete trout for food and as soon as they get to any size they have the predisposition to eat trout fry and fingerlings.

Fisheries Victoria would like to hear your ideas! Join Fisheries Victoria for a public forum with VRFish to learn more about what they are doing to improve recreational fishing across the state. Go along and share your ideas or, if you cannot make it along on the night, email your ideas to [email protected] or post […]

Freeing the rivers The Upper House has passed legislation to legalise camping on Crown Land with river frontage and grazing licences from September 2021, complementing recreational activities already permitted on Crown Land like fishing. This is a big step forward in delivering the State Government’s Target One Million commitment, which will make it easier for […]

Pretty cool huh?!

Situated next to the beautiful Oreti River, at the crossroads to a further 35 crystal clear trout and salmon fishing rivers, streams and lakes. The southern regions of New Zealand are world renowned for trophy fish, pristine clear waters and access to private fishing spots. If you have not yet experienced the thrill of fishing here on the South Island, I can assure you it is an experience such that the wily fish will test your angling skills and the scenery will take your breath away! If saltwater fishing interests you, the southern ocean and world heritage site Fiordland National Park are only an hour away and offer thrilling adventure, crystal waters and stunning catches.

Well, that is just my personal opinion. Please find following a notice from Snowy Hydro on possible delays on Tantangara Road over the next month … I think this is the beginning of the end for our Snowy Mountain trout fisheries.   26.10.20 – Construction Notification – Site establishment at Tantangara – 28 Oct 2020 […]

Contrary to popular belief sandfly bites are not associated with laying eggs. They are in fact bites associated with feeding. The fact that almost immediately they start to itch and the itching increases is related to the fact that during the feeding process they urinate and the bites become infected.

This had to be done once a year and should be thought of as a cathartic process rather than a chore.

There was a lot of interest in this competition and a strong filed of competitors including 2 from Tasmania and 3 from Victoria as well as a number of Eucumbene specialists. The reason for the record number of registrations was no doubt the fact that the two sectors being fished were two of the 4 sectors to be fished in the 2012 National Fly Fishing Championships in November.

Snowy Hydro continues to work closely with the recreational fishing community to minimise issues associated with the possible transfer of redfin perch between reservoirs by the Snowy 2.0
pumped-hydro project.

On 27 October 2017 at 20:10, Tim wrote: Hi, I was watching a fly fishing show of the Willow Grub being used in NZ waters. Any idea of the success rate if used in the Snowies around Thredbo area? Regards, Tim     Reply: Chatto 28 October 2017 at 06:41 HI Tim, I can remember […]

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 […]

We should never be surprised when our fishing expectations are dashed because after all it’s called “fishing” not “catching”. What I am getting at here is that as the season on both lakes progressed it became increasingly patchy and whilst there were individual days with reasonable catches by in large the common thread on both lakes were very hard fishing.

MEDIA RELEASE – Monaro Acclimatisation Society Inc on 25 May 2020 Monaro Acclimatisation Society to work with NSW Fisheries for Snowy Hydro 2.0 Recreational Fishing Offset.

Every now and then it’s worth going through your fly boxes and resorting them. Not only does it give you a chance to re-establish some order in your fly boxes but it also helps identify where you need to tie a few and which ones you can discard.

I am cranky with myself for not taking up Spotters 2018 Fly Fish Australia teams sponsorship offer for the 2018 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships (N. Ireland). I didn’t take it up because I still had my original Spotters and my Spotters that were sponsored to me via Fly Fish Australia for the 2016 Commonwealth Fly […]

Based on my diary what I call spring for the Boyne River in Central Queensland arrived about 20th August last year and the year before. This tear I reckon that it arrived a week earlier. The criteria I bases that on is a dramatic change in the weather patterns and the behaviour of budding fruit […]

Well the river season has opened with a blast and there have been great reports in relation to most of our local rivers and lakes. For the rivers – I have spent quite lot of time fishing the Eucumbene River either side of Providence Portal. On the lakes it has been fantastic with plenty of double figure days. this year has been the best polaroiding season we have seen for years. The ‘doom sayers’ predicted that the flushing of the Snowy River with water from Lake Jindabyne would kill the fishing off for a few months. They were so wrong …

Well its been one of those seasons where it looked like it was going to be a better than average summer. In the local lakes Rainbows and Browns started off feeding fairly freely both around the edges and of course in the shallow bays with plenty of drowned vegetation producing plenty of midge and great fishing. In one December week I had 3 days where I boated 42, 51 and 36 rainbows all over 40cm. The rivers started strong also and plenty of both Rainbows and Browns took up residence in the normal hot spots.

Over the last 48 hours you may have seen quite a lot of activity on http://www.fishonfly.com.au. I just wanted to bring you up to date and let you know that www.troutflies.com.au has been WITHOUT CONSENT using our site as a source of fly information. This was brought to our attention when wording from several of […]

The bass season is now very close and I’ll be heading off on my first outing for the season which is an outing to Cania Dam later this month. . bass Don’t forget the old British Army adage “Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance” So here’s a few snippets of information that you […]

Thompsons Creek Dam near Lithgow in NSW is a water storage for the Mount Piper and Wallerawang power stations and offers some of the best lake-based fishing for trophy sized rainbow and brown trout in NSW. It is managed by DPI as a trophy fishery and access to this private property is granted for anglers […]

Be on the lookout for Tilapia, an introduced pest fish that is widespread throughout coastal Queensland and parts of northern NSW. The Murray Darling Basin and further coastal areas of NSW are at threat of Tilapia invasion. Once established in a waterway, Tilapia are almost impossible to eradicate so preventing their spread and early detection of new incursions is critical.

My bead head fly box has around 25 different nymphs and I have it set up so that the 6 flies that I have the most faith in and consequently use most often are all together as shown in this photo. Clearly supplies of a couple of these are down a bit so over the next week or so I’ll focus on tying the following from left to right in the photo shown.

500 rainbow larger-than-usual trout have been released in Oberon Dam in the hope the large fish will slow the population growth of redfin. Ray Tang from the Central Acclimatisation Society helped carry out an experiment in July. “Basically, it’s a pilot release. An experiment to try and combat the prolific redfin. It breeds so prolifically […]

Dear Supporters As you may be aware Snowy Hydro Limited has announced that it will soon begin geotechnical surveys of the landscape between Tantangara Dam and Talbingo Dam as an initial part of the feasibility study for the proposed “Pumped Hydro” concept. This will involve the use of heavy machinery on and around Tantangara Dam […]

On Monday this week I fished a deep snag in the Boyne River and made contact with a big barra that came out of the snag and took my fly. Unfortunately the 24lb fluorocarbon leader wasn’t up to the shock and as the fish took of in panic the fly and the leader parted … […]

This 2/0 9cm fly is a barra variant of my mud prawn that I am testing.

This article builds on concerns previously published on this website: April 2022 edition of the NSW Freshwater Fisher There is continuing concern that Snowy 2.0 is a $10 billion white elephant, despite the project being well underway. From a recreational fishing point of view, it will introduce noxious and pest fish into the headwaters of […]

Scientists at CSIRO have wrapped up almost a decade of testing to prove the bug kills only the so-called “rabbit of the river” clogging the Murray Darling Basin, The Weekly Times reports. Applications to introduce the virus in Australia are now being submitted while an unlikely alliance between ­industry and environmental groups, including the National Irrigators Council and Australian Conservation Foundation, support the measure.

It’s been a fantastic start to the polaroiding season on Jindy with us regularly spotting big browns either cruising or just sitting doggo watching the world go by … Evening fishing has also been very good in Jindabyne and I recommend you fish just a little up from the back of any of the drowned inlets … loch style sessions on Lake Eucumbene last week and both resulted in double figure numbers for both my boat partner and myself. The catch was about 6:1 browns as opposed to bows and some of the browns were corkers.