Lake Jindabyne Trout Fishing Report For 25 September 2012

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Lake Jindabyne
Trout Fishing Report.
For 25th SEPTEMBER 2012

By Steve Williamson. –
Lake Jindabyne Trout Fishing Adventures.
0408 024436                      Shop -02 64561551

NEWS 
Firstly a report from Eric Burns from Jindabyne on his fishing session last Saturday – take it away Eric!
Trolled at first light over at East Jindy and had half a dozen strikes in the first hour.  Caught 3 rainbows,  noticed two foul hooked in the side of the head, think they were knocking the lures.   I trolled minnows.
Went Polaroiding from about 8.30am.   The number of fish I saw was ridiculous, there were browns everywhere you looked and some good fish amongst them.  I polaroided three spots and saw fish straight away in every location. Seeing them was the easy part, I could not get them to eat anything.   Tried half a dozen different patterns without even getting a look, they were spooky as.
Eric you are spot on to what was happening last week for trollers and fly anglers polaroiding the lake.
Let me explain-
On one particular tour last week we lost 5 fish due to foul hookups. The trout were side swiping the lures using the sensory lateral line on their body to ‘check’ out the ‘intruder’. Quite normal at certain times and very frustrating indeed. Happens when there is often a change in the weather coming through especially at spawning times. Secret and the only thing you can do in these cases is to set your drag a little lighter and very gently play out the fish. Use the very best hooks, VMC Vanadium or Gamakatsu single lure hooks.
As far as the polaroiding, the lake has been dropping extremely fast due to the 2 metre vertical drop in level for environmental flows down the Snowy River. What this has done is left a lot of yabby’s high and dry and as they wake up from their winter hibernation, they are heading for the water and guess who’s waiting for them?
Yes they are very spooky (and full of yabbys) try as hard as you like, I would much rather eat a yummy yabby than your artificial fly.
Don’t worry, with the environmental release now complete and 2 metres of snow yet to melt from the mountains, the lake level will soon start to rise again and things will get back to normal.
Good news last week was our 7 lb Atlantic salmon and another anglers 9 lb salmon.
Yesterday great stories of big 3lb and 4 lb browns (full of yabbys) caught on scrub worms.
The fishing is great and some big catches off the shoreline, but bring your gum boots or waders as the edges are quite muddy and slippery as my bum will tell you!
RIVERS ONCE AGAIN OPEN FOR FISHING FROM THIS SATURDAY 29th September.
So what will be happening on the Thredbo river?
Well checking the river out this morning, I certainly saw plenty of trout and by all weather reports next Friday will be a maximum of 20 degrees C and Saturday will be half of that at 10 degrees C maximum with a few showers, so that tells me that there is certainly a cold change due but will a few showers be enough to stir up the late spawning trout? Well you will have to be on the water to find out the answer to that question.

LAKE LEVEL and TEMPERATURE
The lake level is at 80% and has fallen a couple of metres due to last week’s water release down the Snowy River. The temperature today was 7 degrees C.
Best methods to catch a trout.
Best method – Bait off the shore on calm days, lure early and late or on windy days.
Best lake lure –Rainbow trout pattern Rapalas and Tasmanian Devil in green and gold (Willys Special).
Best lake area – Hatchery Bay is still fishing well but anywhere is OK.
Best fly method lake – Yabby Patterns and Williamson’s Goldfish.
Best River Fly Fishing–  Rivers Closed to fishing until the 29th September. Nymphs and Glowbugs.
Best River Lures – Rivers closed to fishing until the 29th September. Rapalas, Salmo Minnows and Dorados.

Let’s have a look at what the fishing is going to be like over the next few weeks.

Trolling.
Few hints in the start of this report but with the water level stabilizing and even rising a little over the next month we will see a change to surface trolling lures early and late in the day as the water warms a little.
If trolling, start the day with a surface line out and at least 50 metres drop back, the more the better on still sunny days. Stay close to the shore and target rocky points and other snags like the many trees in the water at the moment.
Try lead line at 2 to 3 colours. (20 to 30 metres of line out) later in the day or on still days.
Best colour Tassies have been green and gold (Willy’s Special) yellowing type Tassies at the moment, maybe Y82, Holographic or Brown Bomber as well. The new Tassie colours have arrived in my shop and we are expecting a few of these to become very popular. Rapalas like the Brook Trout pattern of Perch pattern have still been very successful.
We have a new range of the Salmo lures now also in stock and these are going quite well also.
We are also getting a little positive feedback on the Dorado minnows that are new to our range.
Little bit of downrigging at 20 feet on the bright sunny days. Use longer dropbacks for best results.

Lake Bait Fishing 
(Primarily most rivers and streams in the Snowy Mountains Region are fly and lure only, We recommend that you first check with the Department of Industry and Investment NSW (NSW Fishing rules) as to which rivers in the area you can legally bait fish in. IF IN DOUBT DON’T BAIT FISH in the RIVERS!)
Shore based bait fishing continues to be good with local Scrubbies, bardi grubs and artificial baits the best.
The Claypits, Hatchery Bay, Town Centre near front of Banjo Patterson Park and The Snowy Arm are better spots.

Lake Spinning
No change in the lure spinning. Same lures are still working but like the trolling most lures will work ok if you’re in the right place for an aggressive trout. Blades in gold have been doing well at the moment. Try a Strike Pro Cyber Vibe 50 or a TT Switchblade Sunset Gold.
The Tasmanian Devil Holographic, Pink, orange, Y82 and Y48 have all been good and so is the Holographic.
Minnow lures like floating Rapalas, (especially jointed Rapalas), Stumpjumpers and other minnow style lure in either natural rainbow trout and brown trout patterns or gold colours to represent the Jindabyne goldfish that the trout love to chase and eat.
Don’t stay in one place too long and only put in a couple of casts in each area.
Shallow areas try Gillies Feathertails and Tailwalkers which are new products worth a look.
Some new lures to try in the dark are the new glow Blue Fox Vibrax spinners. Charge them up with a torch or camera flash and watching them spin through the water is incredible, trout are very inquisitive and often hit the lure hard.
Call into my shop and I will show you some of the better soft plastics that we are having great success on over the last week. The ‘Spotted Brew’ Strike Tiger has especially been good over the last week.

River Spinning.
Rivers closed until the 29th September. As reported earlier, I would expect that Saturday will be a busy day on the water so the early angler will catch the fish. The fish will be close to the bottom so diving minnow lures will be best and you might also see some fish caught on metal blades. I have a feeling that the ‘Pinki’ or orange Rapalas will be worth a throw. Drift rigging with nymphs and glowbugs in the faster runs will also be effective. Don’t forget the soft plastics and the Strike Tiger range in pink and orange might just work well first up.

Fly Fishing Lake
Polaroiding as reported has been slow although your blind if you don’t see heaps of trout in close.
Look for the fish before casting and you can either try a small nymph and an indicator and fish very slow or if the fish is a little more active a faster stripped black  or olive Woolley Bugger, a Craig’s Night time or a Williamson’s Goldfish will be worth using.
The shallow bays on the lake are worth a try but you have to be very quite and not too many casts in one spot so as not to spook the trout.

Fly fishing Rivers and Streams
Rivers closed until the 29th September. I still have the feeling that nymphs and glowbugs will be the best way to start the weekend.
I can’t really see much dry fly action on the streams yet so nymph under an indicator will be best.
There is still heaps of snow up high in the mountains and of course the water is very cold so you might be best to leave the higher streams till later next month.

For visitors to the Snowy’s we have a full range of fishing tackle for hire at my shop and fishing tours are now available.

Have you any photos that you can e-mail me?
I can use the information to add into my own reports and your photo might not only end up in my report but might also go into a draw for the best fish of the month which will win you a $50 Tassie Devil Tackle Pack.



For more information on the latest fishing conditions, please call into –
STEVE WILLIAMSON’S TACKLE SHOP
             Shop 1 Snowline Centre, Kosciuszko Road Jindabyne 2627
Fishing Charters – Bait and Tackle Supplies- Marine Supplies

P.M.B. 5 Jindabyne NSW 2627             E-mail  swtrout@airlan.com.au     www.swtroutfishing.com.au  Shop – (02) 64 561551