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Large populations of dark olive Yabbies of the Cherax Genus have developed in both Lake Jindabyne and Lake Eucumbene. Many anglers suggest that the Yabby has been responsible for changing the feeding habits of trout in the lakes as the populations of Yabbies have increased. In fact in both Lake Jindabyne and Lake Eucumbene you seldom catch a trout with a full stomach when the contents doesn't include yabbies.

This winter Lake Jindabyne brown was a prime example of a fish feeding mostly on yabbies.
I was able to count 12 mostly juveniles of around 5 cm in length - just about as long as the woolly bugger the trout fell for.

Yabbies live around the margins of the lake with the preferred habitat being muddy banks and shallows. They live in holes that they borrow into the soft bank and bottom and move from hole to hole as the water levels change. They move out of their holes to relocate, to forage for food and to find mates. All of these activities make them vulnerable to trout. Juvenile Yabbies are available from February and trout targets yabbies of all sizes.

There are a lot of yabbies moving about Lake Jindabyne at the time of rising and falling water and any change in water levels by more that just a couple of percent over a period of just a few days represents significant changes in water levels over yabby habitat. In shallow bays yabby holes can be left high and dry as water levels decline and as water rises the extra depth can put yabby out of their comfort and food zones very quickly. In either case is time for the yabbies to on the move. Water levels in our lakes are seldom static and the continuing change water levels has the yabbies constantly relocating and that in turn has really put yabbies onto the trout's menu.

If you watch a yabby moving about it will present as shades of olive sometimes with blue highlights or almost black and a range of flies fished in those sorts of colours can be used to represent yabbies. More important than the actual selection of the fly is the form and function of the fly in combination with the retrieve. I find slow retrieves with the occasional pause and occasional faster strip serves me well but its worth experimenting.

At times of major changes in water levels yabbies will be active all day trying to keep pace with the changing water levels. Whilst this happens occasionally it's the dusk to dawn that yabbies prefer. So, unless there has been a major change in water level my suggestion is that if your going to target "yabby feeders" that whilst you can fish at any time the most productive time is from the hour before dusk and as far into the dark as you are comfortable. As the light of the day fades, on Lake Jindabyne and other waters with high yabby concentrations, more often than not you will find that if there is going to be any fish activity that's when it will occur. Sometimes you can see the fish but more often than not you just have to pick your location carefully and trust that the yabbies and hence the trout are there. Sure during the day trout will have made sorties in the same areas picking up the occasional yabby, nymph or snail and coming into our polaroiding or prospecting range, but on those occasions they have been conscious of their vulnerability and have stayed on guard ready to retreated to deeper water if anything aroused their suspicion. The other time that particularly rainbows feed around the shoreline is when the wind comes up. My guess is that the wind and the rougher water stir up food and at the same time the rougher water provides some visual protection. In the darker hours and when the wind is up my experience is that trout certainly drop their guard and even move into a relaxed feeding routine moving in and foraging in areas well within casting distance.

In any case even if you don't catch a fish, any fishing trip has to be more relaxing and much more fun than watching the Olympics, the football or even a re-run of Pride and Prejudice.

Leader set up

I like to attach a 2cm long Maxima Ultragreen monofilament loop to the end of each of my fly lines. I like that loop connected to the fly line to be about 2/3 the thickness of the tip of the fly line which works out at about 12.5kg for 6 weight lines. The butt section of my leader is made up of two two feet lengths of monofilament line. At the fly line end I use two feet (60cm) of 15lb monofilament followed by two feet (60cm) of 10lb monofilament line. This heavy butt section is tied to the fly line loop with a locked loop knot. I use this butt section set up for two reasons. First because the heavier line makes a better connection to the small loop at the end of my fly line than thin tippet material and secondly because the slightly heavier butt section definitely helps turn over the fly or flies. To that butt section I tie 2.1 meters of tippet material. I use a surgeons knot when joining sections of leader and tippet together. Tie the surgeons knot carefully and even if it’s between two tippet materials of different thickness or between mono and fluorocarbon it wont fail. I tie one dropper off the tippet about 4 to 5 foot (1.2 meters to 1.5 meters) from the tip so that I can fish two flies. The dropper is about 20cm long. I suggest you experiment with the leader set up a little and come up with a compromise that suites your casting ability and style and of course the weather conditions. As a general rule however I suggest that if you have to drop down to your flies being closer than say three feet (90cm) in dirty water or four feet (1.2 meters) in clearer water then you would be better dropping down to a one fly rig. I am a strong advocate of using a lefty's loop knot to tie flies on because it allows allows the fly to swing or swim freely and because it's very strong when tied carefully. I often pre-tie a couple of teams of flies and just wrap them around a sponge so that I can change a full team of flies over pretty quickly.

Visually my leader set up looks like this:

1. Fly line with 2 cm monofilament loop on end.
2. First butt section of 60 cm of 0.37 mm Maxima Ultra Green or fluorocarbon. This is connected to the fly line loop with either an open loop or an open loop closed with a locked blood knot.
3. Second butt section of 60 cm of 0.30 mm Maxima Ultra Green or fluorocarbon connected to the first butt section with a surgeons knot.
4. 2.1 meters of tippet connected to the end of the second butt section with a surgeons knot. .
5. The dropper is between 4 and 5 feet (102and 1.5 meters) from the tip and is 20 cm long.

Vary your leader set up to suit:

1. How you net fish. (i have a small loop to "open loop" (knotted for competitions) set up which will go through the top runner cleanly in either direction and allow me to lift fish well into reach of my net.)
2. How you change fly lines (my leader set up allows me to change lines quickly).
3. How you change leaders (my "open loop" [or knotted open loop connection for competitions] to loop set-up allows me to change leaders quickly).
4. How you keep in contact with flies.
5. Your casting style.

Rods and flies

I use a 6 weight outfit but most outfits from 5 to say 8 weight can be used in this type of fishing. Anything less than a #5 weight outfit is problematic at best. You can certainly play a fish once hooked on a lighter outfit but it may be difficult to cast the heavier and larger flies required particularly in a wind. Think about what the fish are seeing when you present your fly and set your terminal gear up accordingly. Choice of fly line depends on a number of factor but particularly water depth and fishing conditions. Most of the time I prefer an intermediate line for most of my "yabby feeder" fishing but floating and fast sinking lines also have their place. When fishing two flies it works best to fish the heaviest fly on the top dropper if your fishing a floating or intermediate line but the offset is that its harder to cast than when the heavy fly is is on the bottom dropper. With a sinking line I like the heavy fly on the point or for both flies to be unweighted. A great alternative with a fast sink line is a lightly weighted bugger on the dropper and floating yabby on the point. Olive brown and black flies all work well on yabbies but on balance I think black is best.

Woolly Bugger

Bibio bugger

Yabby

Floating yabby

Mini buggers on the dropper

Fishing conditions.

I have no hesitation in dropping down to one fly if it means that because of weather conditions I can spend more time fishing and less time dealing with tangles and casting knots or if I am spooking fish.

There are some big yabby feeders out there. Whilst prospecting along the southern bank of Taylors Bay with a bead head nymph on the point and a black unweighted woolly bugger on a dropper of my intermediate line I scored this nice fish. I had seen a fish swirl amongst some recently exposed timber just as the sun set and as I worked toward the timber I saw a second movement. I placed a long cast into the area and let the fly settle. One strip a pause, a second strip the line tightened and it was on for young and old. Conscious of the surrounding timber I kept pressure on the fish hoping to avoid the timber. Unfortunately that didn't happen and the fish swam behind a log. I moved along the bank and released the line a little and the fish swam the right way for me the wrong way for him. A bit of side pressure and a little more dogged struggle on both our parts brought the fish to the bank. Definitely better than Pride and Prejudice.

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