Illawarra Flyfishers Club
10th - 20th December 2002
Frying Pan, Lake Eucumbene
December at Eucumbene, great fishing...bzzzzz! Wrong. Normally it is, but this year for some reason it wasn't. The weather was OK and the lake dropping back slowly. Bevan Goodall joined me for the first few days of the trip. We did have a few good polaroiding days on the lake but managed to see a couple of rare fish. The evenings weren't much better although Bevan did manage to catch a nice rainbow of about 2 1/2 lbs on a woolly bugger. I didn't fare any better only catching one very small fish over three nights.
[ Ted Bundy with a nice brown taken on a foam beetle ]
After Bevan had gone home I did manage to catch up with my fishing buddies at The Pan but only having limited success. A day trip with Ted Bundy wasn't too bad, fishing to spooky rainbows without any success though Ted caught a very nice brown of about 4 lbs on a foam beetle as we watched it cruise along the bank. Next day luck was on my side as I also caught a brown of about 3 1/2 lbs on a similar pattern and also missed one as I pricked it. If you are going to tie foam beetles, or any fly for trout you are better off using wide gape hooks as I have found you have a better hook up rate. I have found this especially so on hopper patterns. Anyway the fishing never really improved though the guys who spent a lot of time after dark were catching the odd good fish.
My friend Stan Pyle, who a lot of club members who fish The Pan would know, caught a lovely brown of 5 1/2 lbs on a mudeye pattern over towards Deeban bay. During one particular evening the fish started rising and they were everywhere. Beetles at first just before dark were blowing close in shore with a soft but steady breeze. I managed one small brown of about 1 1/2 lbs and managed to get broken off by another. The beetles were that thick you couldn't tell what was your fly. As it got darker large flying ants were also mixing with the beetles and it was just impossible to catch anything as the water was so thick with goodies for the trout. The next few nights you would hardly see a rise as the fish must have been full of food. Only a couple of small rainbows were caught in the next few evenings.
|
[ Stan Pyle with a 5.5lb brown caught on a mudeye pattern ] |
Since then I have heard that the Xmas/New
Year period hasn't improved. Funny thing trout fishing. For the guys
that are going on the club outing January, don't get too hyped up about
the hopper fishing as there weren't too many small ones around when I
was there. Maybe the drought, or something. Anyway I'll keep going
back, I love it!
I've attached a photo of Stan Pyle, Ted Bundy and the trout I grassed
on a beetle pattern.
Shane Rosengrave