Just returned from a mid September trip to Lake Jindabyne where Gordon McComb and myself tried a spot of polaroiding. We stayed at the “Cuff n Collar” Lodge at Kalkite which I might add is excellent value not to mention a good location for club members wishing to try their hand on Lake Jindabyne. The first day of arrival was a bit late to fish the eastern shore at Kalkite as the sun was on the opposite side heading for the western ranges and to have the sun behind in this type of flyfishing is an advantage so we headed around the western shore to Hatchery Bay. I had caught a large Brown here last year in conditions that could be described as a force 9 gale but this year there was perfect weather but not a sign of fish.
The next morning Gordon and I went to the spot just south of the village of Kalkite where there is a gate to an old homestead, this is the one you see as you arrive at the bottom of the hill coming into Kalkite. After passing through another gate we arrived at the small sandy bay where we parked and then walked south along the steep bank staying up high so as not to cast a shadow on the water for the sun was just starting to peak over the range behind us. The day was clear with not a breath of wind with the water like glass and with our polaroid glasses on it was Gordon who sighted the first fish along the clay bank, this was Gordons first go at polaroiding and he had sighted a couple of very large fish together, so large in fact we think they were Atlantic Salmon, by the time he got to cast to them they were off to the depths as it is quite steep here.
With the pulse quickened now we continued on and not long after sighted more and again the cast would send them away to the gloom of the deep. This continued for a while until I spotted two fish swimming together along a sandy beach section only about a metre from shore, in my excitement I miscast and rather than land the fly, (a Red and Black Matuka), further in front of them it landed to one side and to make matters worse my leader had suddenly turned into a tangled ball of knots halfway along it, but to my astonishment the closest fish turned to investigate the fly, following it as I twitched it along at mid depth only to turn away once it neared the surface, I quickly recovered the line, sorted out the tangle and cast again to the side of the two fish in formation as they were heading out of range. Once more the fish turned - what was it? An aggressive reaction or a very hungry fish, never mind, I gave some very short strips which he followed and then the take, a slow, almost matter of fact bite and for some reason I did not strike immediately, instinctively allowing the fish time to set the hook and then slowly lifting the rod. The fish then put on an acrobatic display to which I tried to recover line from on top of the sandy bank which had a steep drop of about a metre, standing on this edge it gave way and I slid down but maintained an upright stance, after a spirited fight I beached it and seeing it was a female rainbow, I decided to release it after measuring it at 48 cm. Upon placing it in the water it duly dropped a load of roe giving confirmation to what we had thought, these fish we sighted were usually in pairs if not threes, they were spawning along the shore where there were sandy rocky bottoms, this was corroborated by the sight of some fish turning over small rocks on the bottom either about to lay eggs or digging them up to eat. After this capture we cast to some more sighted fish but they soon became wary and headed off. In the afternoons we would try the western shore but not a sign of fish could be seen or on any of the following days.
We learnt later that the weather on the day of so many sightings was a high pressure system of 1030mb which is supposed to be a big factor also the next night there was a full moon. Now how much credence you put into these factors is open to debate but once the pressure dropped we didn’t see any more fish. The wind also increased with added cloud cover and with the wind onshore it made the water murky along the margins, the right conditions regrettably had seemed to have passed.
The tackle used was 6/7 weight rods and initially I tried an Intermediate sinking line which I had some bother casting, it was something different to casting a floating line to which I duly changed to with an intermediate braided sinking leader of nine feet with a tippet about three feet. The flies were either Mrs Simpson or the Red and Black Matuka which I might add was quite pronounced with wide gold thread for segmentation.
The conditions may not always prevail for a successful polaroiding experience but you can bank some factors in your favour by following the recommendations as laid out on the website and any other weather gen you can get a hold of, but always remember a bad days fishing is still better than a good day at work.
Regards
William Berry