Jindabyne Trout trip

[GordoRetired]

After a couple of trips to Jindabyne fishing from the bank with minimal success I decided that it was time to drag the boat down and have a go trolling at the lake.... This turned out to be a great decision.

Before the trip I used a great article from Fishraider to learn how to service the bearings on the trailer, or more accurately put in a new set, in preparation for the 500 k tow down from Sydney. Also spent days preparing fishing gear including making up my own downrigger by casting a 4lb bomb out of some old roofing lead which I hung of an old Abu overhead reel loaded with 120lb mono, a short heavy boat rod and a release clip that I bought online.

Got up early on the Tuesday and left Sydney at 6.30am for the drive down. Had a good run and was in Jindabyne in time to get the boat in by 1.30 for an afternoon fish. As I drove into Jindabyne I stopped in at Snowy Mountain Sports and spoke to Richard, owner, and Liam, son of owner, who were great in providing some advice on where I might get onto a fish, so I headed to East Jindabyne and started trolling some Tassie Devil lures. Turned out that their advice was good and I found myself connected to a lovely 40cm Brown Trout. Not a bad start and my best Trout to date. The rest of the afternoon was quiet with no more fish but I was more than happy with just the one.

 

Day 2. Early start, out of bed by 5.30 and boat on the water by 6.15am. It was a fantastic day with hardly a breath of wind so the lake was glassy flat. I started by trolling the clay pits but nothing was cooperating so around 9.00 I headed to East Jindabyne again. Things then picked up, the first fish hooked was a nice 38cm Brown followed an hour later by a 37cm Brown, then the bite went off. I trolled around till around 4.00 and decided to call it a day. The weather had been so good with so little wind that even though I only got 2 it made it a wonderful day.

 

Day 3. Up and on the water by 6.15am again, 1/2 before sun up, this time with a Jindabyne local, Mick, who suggested that we start again at the Claypits. Within 20 minutes we had the first bite, a nice Brown 35cm, 1/2 later on again with another nice Brown at 32cm, then again an hour later a nice Rainbow at 32cm. After that Mick had to go to work so I dropped him off and kept going. By 9.30 that day I had another Brown at 38cm and another Rainbow at 36cm. For the first time ever I had bagged out on Trout.... One very happy fisherman.

 

Day 4. Friday the 18th of May a date that will be etched into my mind for many years.... It was another early start and on the water by 6.15 with no wind . Trolled away from the boat ramp and across the front of the Claypits in about 25 foot of water with 1 Tassie on a down rigger and 1 running on the surface. About 15 minutes later the rod with the Tassie on the surface bent over and line started flying off the reel, I grabbed the rod and the fight was on, I got line, then the fish took it back, but slowly I started getting him towards the boat. As I was on my own I leave the boat in gear to keep the other lure straight out the back and out of the way of the fish I am fighting. That worked fine until he was about 15 foot from the boat and just refused to come any closer so I knocked the engine out of gear and got him close. When I saw the fish I nearly wet myself, it was a HUGE Brown.. There I was rod in 1 hand and landing net in the other and this fish was kicking all over the place.. Eventually I managed to coax him into the net at which stage I let out a big Ye Ha and he was on the deck. I put him on the scales and he came in at around 4 1/2 lb and measured 60cm

I continued fishing and had the best day ever, landing another 7 fish, 1 Brown and 6 Rainbows including a pair where I landed one, dropped the lure back in and as I was about to clip the downrigger onto the line it went of with another fish on.

Day 5 and 6 were nothing special, weather was good but the fish were not so cooperative. having said that I still managed a 33cm Brown and small Rainbow on the Saturday and a 34cm Rainbow on the Sunday. Also it was cold, on the way to the boat ramp it was showing as -3 on the car and there was frost on everything...... It was so cold that I had trouble getting the boat off the trailer as the rollers were frozen up...Even the esky was frozen.

Day 7, the last day. Forecast was not too good, with Willyweather forecasting quite a bit of wind, however as it was the last day there I was at 6.15am putting the boat in again.... Just call me a sucker for punishment. I ended up all over the lake, East Jindy, up into the mouth of the Snowy River up towards the North of the lake. Generally exploring and trying to stay out of the wind. It was so cold that I was driving along wearing my Ski jacket and Ski gloves to try and keep warm.

Eventually I did get a strike. At first I thought I had snagged the bottom but then realised that the line was disappearing off fasted than the boat was going and it was kicking so had to be a fish. Turned out to be a really nice 43cm Rainbow. For those who have caught Trout before you'll know that the Rainbows fight harder than the Browns and this one put up more of a fight that the big Brown that I caught on the Friday.

That was the only fish that day, however it did round out the numbers nicely to make it 20 fish for the week and every one of them over the minimum size limit. 

So overall I would say that it was a successful week. Dragging the boat all the way from Sydney was well worthwhile and something that I will do again. I hear that there is a big Trout festival after the Ski season so I just might have to start preparing my gear for that one.

Now off to start cooking up that 43 Rainbow for tonight dinner. :-)

Does anyone know how to update my PB's below, I need to update those trout sizes..

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by GordoRetired
typo

[Basil D]

wow, mouth watering report 

[LuckyFil]

Great report Gordo and some cracker fish - especially for what seemed to be an exploratory trip!

Curious what depth you got most of your fish?

Cheers

Phil

[GordoRetired]

3 minutes ago, LuckyFil said:

Great report Gordo and some cracker fish - especially for what seemed to be an exploratory trip!

Curious what depth you got most of your fish?

Cheers

Phil

Good question, most came in between 20 and 35 foot of water. Also they seemed to hit just after going over a high point, made me think that they were sitting a bit deeper waiting for something to swim by.

[Berleyguts]

Great fishing and great report! Well done! I haven’t been trout fishing for ages! Might have to do something about that!

To update your PBs, go to your profile and edit “signature”... I think.

[GordoRetired]

28 minutes ago, Berleyguts said:

 

To update your PBs, go to your profile and edit “signature”... I think.

Thanks, I have updated now. :-)

 

[big Neil]

What a fantastic report and a perfect example of persistence paying off. Good onya Gordo and many thanks for the report. Cheers, bn

[masterfisho7]

Great report Gordo some top trout also love the photos .

[Mullatt]

That's awesome Gordo, probably like yourself, I have been fishing Jindy for ages (close on 50 years) and I know how hard a lot of days on the lake can be..........haven't been up recently but last time I think I got 2 or 3 one day trolling and then the next couple of days, never got a hit! But thats trout fishing and Jindabyne hey. I bet you were stoked at bagging out.......its that long ago that I last did that, that I've forgotten.

Well done mate and great report.

cheers

Mullatt

 

[GordoRetired]

1 hour ago, Mullatt said:

That's awesome Gordo, probably like yourself, I have been fishing Jindy for ages (close on 50 years) and I know how hard a lot of days on the lake can be..........haven't been up recently but last time I think I got 2 or 3 one day trolling and then the next couple of days, never got a hit! But thats trout fishing and Jindabyne hey. I bet you were stoked at bagging out.......its that long ago that I last did that, that I've forgotten.

Well done mate and great report.

cheers

Mullatt

 

It was pretty awesome to bag out and over 7 days on the water I managed to get at least 1 fish every day. Mind you some long days, on the water early and not out till around 5 so 11 hour days.

Now here is an interesting point, Richard in Snowy Mountain Sports swears by his fishing Almanac, the Almanac said that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were going to be Good days for fishing. Wednesday I got the 2 decent Browns, Thursday I bagged out on Browns & Rainbows, then Friday was the Big Brown and another 7 fish... So maybe the Almanac is worth looking at when planning a trip.

I needed a couple of bits at the local fishing shop and while I was there I bought myself a copy

. :-)

[Mullatt]

4 hours ago, GordoRetired said:

It was pretty awesome to bag out and over 7 days on the water I managed to get at least 1 fish every day. Mind you some long days, on the water early and not out till around 5 so 11 hour days.

Now here is an interesting point, Richard in Snowy Mountain Sports swears by his fishing Almanac, the Almanac said that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were going to be Good days for fishing. Wednesday I got the 2 decent Browns, Thursday I bagged out on Browns & Rainbows, then Friday was the Big Brown and another 7 fish... So maybe the Almanac is worth looking at when planning a trip.

 

I needed a couple of bits at the local fishing shop and while I was there I bought myself a copy

 

. :-)

Never taken much notice of that, but maybe it is worth looking at as you said. It cant hurt and for a few bucks, not much at stake is there.

[swano]

Good on you mate, great to see all the effort being rewarded . Top report.

[adkel53]

Great report Gordo. I met you at the ramp in the dark on the Wednesday morning. I stayed until Saturday, fishing early like you each day and again later in the day. Managed 14 trout in total. Best day was on the Friday when I got three rainbows all around 35 cm in the morning up at Kalkite. I returned there in the afternoon with my wife and her sister (who had never caught a fish of any description). She managed to bring a very fat 58cm rainbow to the boat (I estimated it at about 2.5 kg) and my wife boated a 48cm brown then a 35cm rainbow. An evening to remember. Didn't fish on Saturday.

 

[blaxland]

Inspirational!