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Snowy Mountains fly fishing


cc118

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Hi Raiders,

I just got back from 4 wonderful days in the Eucumbene with my family. Apparently, the weather in the region had been terrible over the past few weeks, with strong winds and rain. Lucky for us, the weather held up and we got mostly good conditions during our stay. My wife was the photographer during the trip, so all credit to her for the photos.

We arrived at Providence Portal on Saturday afternoon and found the wind was up but at least it was sunny.

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I was told by our host Lynn, that there were a number of sightings of a monster brown lurking in the area. I later spoke to another angler confirming the sightings.

The next morning, with the prospect of catching a prehistoric trout, I was up at 6am and the wind had died down. I made my way to the river to find it was running very hard, making it impossible to cross. This was probably the most disappointing part of the trip, as most of the best fishing is found downstream. I had to settle fishing in front of the park and upstream. I fished half the day and caught 1 fish (brown, 30cm) and dropped another about the same size. After lunch, we took the kids to a thermal pool at Yarrangobilly. I’ve been to thermal pools in Canada which were steamy hot, this one was cold. Well, the kids seemed to enjoy it.

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Later that day, we stopped into Anglers Reach to have a look around and cast a few lines.

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Here is my wife having a go.

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I repeated the exercise on day 2, catching 2 fish, both browns (33cm and 28cm) in the river. When I got home I took the kids to Cooma to stock up on snacks.

On the 3rd day, we decided to take the kids lake fishing. I have for a long time wanted to put my eldest daughter onto a trout. We headed up to Seven Gates to try our luck power baiting (I personally have never caught a fishing using the stuff, but have heard people catch plenty using the stuff).

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I set up a couple of lines, and had the girls watch the rods while I tried my luck flicking a fly in some of the newly flooded banks. After a while, my eldest wanted me to teach her to cast, so I rigged up a Tassie and we took turns casting. She picked it up quickly and was soon casting 10 feet.

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Even my little one got into the action.

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We had spotted a trout cruising in front of us and tried casting to him, but he showed no interest. The water temperature was warm (about 22 degrees), which is possibly why the trout were not on the chew. We decided to take the kids on a short hike before packing up and trying our chance at the river.

By the time we got to our spot, it was about 6pm and we only had a couple of hours of fishing. I could see a few fish rising, and after a couple of drifts, something had a go at the dry but missed the hook. Soon after, the dry went under and something had taken the nymph dropper. I passed the rod to my eldest and she pulled up this feisty little rainbow (33cm).

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Not sure if I could call this her first trout? But she did a good job bringing it in on my fly rod. The wind had picked up and I could see fish rising on the other side of the bank, just outside the casting distance of my eldest. I took the rod off her and cast it right up into the bank and almost immediately, I was on. My wife took my youngest and had her pull in the fish. She was so excited she forgot how to use the reel. But with my wife’s help she pulled in this lovely little rainbow, measuring 27cm.

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After that, we called it a day and made our way home.

The next day, we regrettably packed up and made our way back to Sydney.

Edited by Caddis
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Sounds like a terrific few days spent with the family at a magic spot!! Glad the weather was kinder to you than the previous fishos!! Shame that monster brown didn't make an appearance - I was salivating, hoping that you'd caught it!!! :1yikes:

I've never fished Providence ...... come to that, I've only really fished Jindabyne a few times with a girlfriend who is a gun fly fiisho! I just tag along to make her look an even better caster than she already is! :074:

That is great, getting the girls to give it a go (all of them!) I bet they never forget 'their first fish'!

Well done on all the fish you DID get!! I'd call that a profitable outing!! :thumbup:

Great pics too. Look forward to reading your next outing, with the girls assisting!

Cheers

Roberta

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Hey Chris,

Great report.

That is just the best showing kids the pleasure of fishing and the excitement when it comes to-gether.

I loved the picture of the little one with the dummy.

You did well with the weather. They have had heaps of rain in the area and some of the rivers are still high to fish productively.

Thanks for the insight,

Geoff

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Thanks Geoff,

The little one is 3 and she just will not part with the dummy.

Conditions are not the best for the serious fly fisher i.e. rivers running hard and warm waters, but at least there is a lot of little fish to entertain the kids.

Regards Chris

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What an excellent report Chris and it's great to the see little ones getting in the action. I am teaching my nephews to fish and one of them is a natural.

You sure did get lucky with the weather, I went up to do some Fly Fishing but it bucketed rain. I was born in Cooma and cannot remember rain like it, the town got cut in half when Cooma Creek burst its banks.

The rain though has really helped the lakes, this time of year is normally the start of the draw down on the lakes but they are still coming up, fishing should improve with some stable weather.

Cheers

Windy

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Thanks Matt, Thanks luderick -angler,

We were very luckly that the weather held up.

Watching the kids getting into it really makes fishing fun. I think I was more excited to see them bring in a fish then they were.

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