{{+1}}Lake Eucumbene{{-1}}
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As well as receiving water from the Eucumbene river catchment and many small streams flowing into Lake Eucumbene it also receiver water from
Water flows into Lake Eucumbene from:
- Eucumbene River.
- Tantangara dam through the Providence Portal tunnel. Tantangara dam has its catchment principally from the East and North and includes the Murrumbidgee River and other rivers and creeks.
- During times of high inflows water flowing into Island Bend Pondage is diverted to Lake Eucumbene. At times of normal flows that water goes to Gehi Reservoir.
- General catchment inflows including numerous small streams.
Water leaves Lake Eucumbene via:
- Trans-mountain tunnels to Thredbo Pond dam where that water joins water from the Thredbo river to flow through Thredbo 1 and Thredbo 2 underground power stations which discharge into Talbingo Reservoir which is the largest of the water storage facilities in the scheme.
- At times of low water availability from Lake Jindabyne and Island Bend Pondage water from Lake Eucumbene is diverted to Gehi Reservoir by trans-mountain tunnel.
To many Lake Eucumbene is one of Australia's prime fishing lakes.
The lake however has many aspects and unfortunately it has taken quite a few lives over the years. It is a true alpine lake and it is not unusual for several seasons to play out in the one day or even over a few hours. Strong winds often prevail or blow up with little notice and with such long reaches, a surface area of 145 square kilometres and depths up to 107 meters, the surface of the lake can turn treacherously choppy with no notice at all. Think about your safety and your companions safety.
- Keep an eye on the weather and always know where your going to retreat to.
- Let others know where your going to be fishing and your timetable.
- Always wear a life jacket.
- Never wear thigh waders in the boat particularly if your fishing by yourself.
- Take plenty of spare warm clothes and wet weather gear.
- Mobile phone reception is limited so don't think that it will work all the time.
- Only fish Eucumbene in suitable craft. This is not a venue for little dinghies with low sides.
- Always be on the lookout for submerges rocks, trees and fences and in times of rising weather also keep an eye out for floating timber.
- Don't think for a moment that you know the lake. Water levels are changing all the time and consequently where obstructions were below your propeller yesterday they can be right in your path today.
How to get there
After travelling the 119 kilometres south from Canberra to Cooma continue on the Snowy Mountains highway just 4 south from Cooma before you arrive at the first turn off to Lake Eucumbene. If you continue on the Snowy Mountains Highway you will also come to turn off to Buckenderra and further turn to Eucumbene as you enter Berridale and then a final turn off to Braemer Bay and the Dam wall 15 kilometres short of the town of Jindabyne. If you coming from Thredbo take the turn to Adaminaby and for your your first contact with Eucumbene take the Old Adaminaby turnoff just 10 kilometres short of Adaminaby.
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Open season
Lake Eucumbene is open all year. Please note that the actual rivers in the region have a closed fishing period and they can only be fished from the start of the long weekend in October through to the end of April.
You should also check out licensing requirements and bag limits.
Services & facilities available
The area is renowned for its winter activities so as you can imaging there is plenty of accommodation options. Adaminaby, Cooma, Jindabyne and Berridale are the closest towns and each offers a range of services including accommodation, groceries and fuel. There are also a number of caravan and camping facilities on the foreshores of Lake Eucumbene each with their own boat launching facilities. The best of these are Buckenderra Resort and Anglers reach and whilst there is a launching area at Breamar Bay Caravan and Camping park it is pretty rough and almost unusable with all but the lightest of boats at times of receding water levels.
Target species
Lake Eucumbene is a brown trout and Rainbow trout fishery. Brown trout are recruited from natural spawning in the Eucumbene River ans several other smaller streams that run into Lake Eucumbene and whilst there is natural recruitment of Rainbows first from a strain of early spawning rainbows at about the same time as the browns there is a larger recruitment from later spawning rainbows from September into October. On top of that there are around 150,000 fingerlings released into the lake each year. Most of us that fish Eucumbene regularly would be at odds with NSW Fisheries in our claims that Lake Eucumbene is diminishing as a brown trout fishery and that Rainbows are becoming increasingly dominant. Fish sizes vary with some very large fish being caught but the average size for Rainbows is around 14' to 18" and for browns just a little larger.
Food chain
Lake Eucumbene has food chain which ticks all the right boxes. Yabbies are one of the main food sources all year round and a yabby imitation or a woolly bugger fished any time through the year is a pretty good starting point. Yabbies are most active as the water rises during November and early September after the snow melt and at any time that the water levels fluctuate up or down a significant amount. There are also small black loach which are around at about the same time as yabbies. Midge also take advantage of the rising water and by early December you can expect to find big chironomid hatches in the back of bays where the water has risen over vegetation. Whilst trout, particularly rainbows like midge I think that the carnivorous damsel nymphs love them more so fishing with a team of damsel or small olive flies at this time of year will generally yield plenty of fish. Next on the calendar of the trout's menu are the mudeyes which have made Eucumbene famous. Mudeye hatches in the bays with drowned timber reach their zenith during January and February and evening fishing is particularly successful. In most summers hopper imitations are a good alternative along the windswept shores and particularly if you can chase a couple onto the water to act as berley you can have a great time. Eucumbene is also blessed with mayfly and damsel nymphs and hatches and of course there is a range of other terrestrials on the trout's menu including ants and beetles both of which can be abundant from December right through to May.
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Techniques
Whilst I am sure there are plenty of fish cruising the margins they are more difficult to target in Lake Eucumbene than in Lake Jindabyne because of the bottom colouring. The only exception there is in rocky areas where cruising fish stand out like beacons as they cruise over rocky structure. In non rocky areas which is most of the lake typically the bottom is darker colours and you just can't see the fish. Whilst comparing Eucumbene to Jindabyne its also worth noting that wind lane fishing in Lake Jindabyne is a real fizzer but can be excellent in Lake Eucumbene. Bank and boat fishing are both popular and over recent years for fly fishers loch style fishing from boats has come to prominence.
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Hot spots
By in large my preference is to fish in the bays when there is drowned vegetation or weed beds and across rocky points and foreshores and 'sinks' at other times. As a large part of your catch is likely to be Rainbow trout its worth moving around until fish are found. Both before and after the spawning seasons there are also of course concentrations of fish in the upper reaches.
I have fished Lake Eucumbene more times than I can remember over the years and consequently have gathered quite a lot of information about how different areas fish. I have set that information out below based on the launching points I use for my boat.
Buckenderra
Braemar Bay
Buckenderra Holiday Village
Old Adaminaby
Anglers Reach
Western side of the Dam wall
Also if you have the skills and an appropriate 4 wheel drive preferably with low range there are many access points along the shores of the lake where you can launch a boat from the shore but care is recommended particularly in times of falling water.
MY DEFAULT TEAM OF FLIES FOR 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 both Lake Eucumbene and Lake 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 both lakes is 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 both Lake Eucumbene and Lake Jindabyne both 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 forma 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.
| Point | Middle dropper | Bob (top dropper) |
For more ideas have a look at:
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Last Updated: March 9, 2011
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Categories: Blog