Cooler water brings on aggressive spawning trout Steve Williamson steve@swtroutfishing.com.au
April is the month that we start to see a reduction in the surface temperature of the lake, which seems to spur a few trout onto an early spawning run and some trout will start trout moving into the Thredbo River. You can now really feel the mornings getting cooler and the water temperatures are dropping now. For the lure anglers, the Thredbo River will only improve as the month goes by and the best lures will be jointed minnows as the brown trout start to become really aggressive and territorial. Other lures like spinners are certainly a must in your lure box. It has been a long, hot and dry summer this year and with cooler nights comes better spinning on the lake as the water edges cool down. You may find the best spinning will be early and late in the day and fishing where there are steep dropoffs with plenty of rocks will be the best. Bays like Rushes, Hatchery and Creel all fish well. The best areas have been down at the South Arm or
Canberra Killer Tassie will be good. In shallow bays I like to use some of the small soft plastics like the Strike Tiger in spotted brew colour or vodka and orange. Even pink is a good colour to try. Flyfishing on the rivers and streams has been okay with the mountain streams still producing lots of small trout on dry flies and this is heaps of fun, especially if you are just getting into the art of flyfishing. Try a small Hopper pattern, Royal Wulff or Royal Humpy. A caddis moth fly is also not a bad option. The Thredbo River still has a little dry flyfishing to offer on some days but we will be swinging into the nymphing season very soon. As the month goes on and more early spawning brown trout move into the Thredbo River you might start trying a black nymph and if we get that heavy rain and a rise in the river, we might see a switch to glowbugs and nymphs. Flyfishing on the lake is still best at night. Try any of the streamer patterns such as Craig’s Night Time or a black Woolley Bugger. Olive green nymphs and shrimp patterns are also worth a try. The South Arm, Creel Bay and Hayshed Bay are all great.
Michelle Martin and Beth Dias from Broadbeach with a brown and a rainbow – just two of the trout caught downrigging on the lake at 45ft deep over February. near Banjo Patterson Park but as the month progresses Waste Point and the Snowy Arm will start to fire. When the water temperature gets to about 16°C we will start to swing into the use of pink and orange winged lures this month as the fish also move into spawning and aggression mode. For now green and gold Tassies like the Willys Special and maybe the
Overall fishing on the lake over recent months has continued to be very good and now that the lake water temperature is cooling down to the trout’s comfort zone, they are happier to move in close to the edges of the lake and this makes the fishing a little better for anglers who don’t have a boat. Autumn is a great time to go trout fishing. The trout are feeding up in readiness
for winter and are often easier to catch. I would expect that the great shore-based angling will continue right through the winter months like it did last year. Boat trolling in the shallow water will improve again this month now with the cooler water temperatures and early morning surface fishing can be quite productive. The best way to attack the fish is to start off the morning by surface trolling lures and maybe a lead core line at two colours out so the lure is about 3m deep. Later in the morning you can still target some of the browns by fishing close to the bottom in deeper water with the aid of downriggers. I find about 20ft of water is a good place to start. This is the time of the year that we sometimes start to move into pink or orange colours. It’s also well worth running the bigger minnow lures in brown trout or spotted dog. Some of the better trolling areas this month will be Sids Bay through to Rushes Bay. Also try Waste Point or Creel Bay for downrigging, as there may be a few early spawning brown trout about. They will mostly be deeper at 20 or so feet. AUTHOR’S OPINION Let’s ban treble hooks in NSW trout waters! Let’s also close the tributaries of trout spawning streams in NSW to all methods of fishing until 30 November each year! That was the recommendation put forward at the Snowy Lakes Trout Strategy Working Group (SLTSWG) meeting held at Gaden Trout Hatchery last December. While I was able to stop any new changes for the time being, over 18,000 anglers shared their thoughts on our Facebook page. The recommendations were to be put to the Recreational Fishing New South Wales Advisory Council in late March for the committee to discuss and to review. We should find out more about the outcome of that meeting shortly and may common sense prevail. So what happened at the SLTSWG meeting? A minority group at the meeting were trying to make changes while more than half of the SLTSWG committee were absent. Now, what I am talking about here is NOT about banning treble hooks or closing streams to fishing for longer periods – this is about correctly running a meeting that abides by the NSW Government regulations where it would not be possible to spring a controversial item into an agenda without first being placed into the agenda prior
to the meeting, so there could be some open discussion before the item was tabled at the general meeting! I am not interested in certain people’s private agendas; this is about letting the public also have their say as to what rules should and shouldn’t be changed so that anglers can enjoy the sport they love. Here’s a statement made by Senior Fisheries Manager Inland for NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Cameron Westaway in another fishing magazine last February; “We will continue to base our management decisions across all our freshwater fisheries on quality science and input from the angling community in the
the fishing community that don’t understand that anglers just want to have fun and go fishing. It is my personal opinion
how do you expect tackle shops to be able to sell the new products? Many years ago when the trade shows were in Penrith
APRIL ROUNDUP – THE BEST OF THE BEST! Best method..... Surface trolling early and then using lead core lines 30m out Best depth........ Trolling at 25ft deep or 35ft for the middle of the day Best lake lure... Tasmanian Devil number 111 or Y82 Best lake area.. Hayshed Bay and Waste Point. Best dry fly....... Parachute Adams or black cricket Best wet fly...... black weighted nymph Best river.......... Thredbo River above the Diggings that if we keep going down the pathway that the management of the NSW Snowy Mountains trout fishery is heading, we won’t have a trout fishing tourism industry in a few years’ time!
in Sydney, there was a public day when anglers could check out new products. They couldn’t purchase anything, but they were offered discount vouchers to use at their local tackle shops.
Cameron Webley has been doing some great stream flyfishing. Hopper patterns are working best. recognition that recreational angling is a great contributor to the social and economic health of regional NSW.” Well, Cameron, let’s hope that you stick to the statement above, because there are some people out there in
In other news, Steve Morgan questioned in last month’s Editor’s Desk why we don’t have public days at our Fishing Trades Association Tackle Show. If the general public can’t get to see what is new then
• If you want to know more about the latest in fishing conditions, just give me a call on (02) 6456 1551 or check out my website at www. swtroutfishing.com.au. Until next month, hope you catch the big one.
n Trout Hatchery e d a G
Gaden Trout Hatchery
Gaden Trout Hatchery See how premier sport fish are bred and raised! Open 10 am–4 pm daily.
Closed Anzac, Christmas, Boxing day.
Guided tours 10 am and 2 pm.
Self-guided tours on selected days. Small admission fee.
leaping fish * 4 species * aquaria, ponds, AV show * beautifulbreeding picnic–BBQ area * smoked trout sale * find out about for kids fishing workshops. *
12934
JINDABYNE
Gaden Rd (off Kosciuszko Rd) Jindabyne. 02 6451 3400 www.dpi.nsw.gov.au APRIL 2018
65