A Tough few days on Lake Jindabyne.

[GordoRetired]

As those of you that have read my previous posts about trout fishing in Jindabyne will know trolling Tassie devil lures on lake Jindabyne is a very productive way to fish, or at least that was what I thought until this week! ! !

Friday morning, up early and on the road from Sydney heading south at 6.15am. Traffic was good and had a great run down to Jindabyne, stopping in at Macas for breakfast and at the Alpine Angler for some intel on what the fish were up to in Jindy.
Rolled into Jindabyne around 12.00 and popped into SMS and Lakeside Lures and Tackle for further updates on conditions. So far all sounded very positive.

Launched the boat around 2.30 and started trolling lures shortly after. OK, where are the fish? 2 ½ hours later and I have not had a touch. By now I had changed lures more times that I care to remember, changed locations on the lake, changed lure depths, speed of trolling, length of drop back… Nothing seemed to work…

Finally at 5.30, sun had just gone down but still some light, I was in Sid’s Bay and off went one of my 2 rods. Picked it up and could feel that I was connected to a solid fish. About 30 seconds after picking up the first rod off went the second… I mean really, after 3 hours of nothing I suddenly have a double hook up…  I left the second rod in the holder and worked the first fish to the boat, out with the net and in comes a nice 43cm Brown. Picked up the second rod and fortunately the other fish was still connected, so a few minutes later into the net goes a lovey Rainbow.

Now I feeling a little more confident that the fish are here…. So much for that thought. I trolled well into dark and not another touch, however for my first session of the trip I was quite happy to have 2 fish on ice.

Saturday.

Up early and on the lake at 6.00am, before sun up. Yet again I tried all sorts, all to no avail. Finally around 9.0am I got my first hit and boated a respectable 35cm Brown.

Kept at it till around 10.30 and after nothing else decided to call it for the morning.

3.00pm had me launching the boat again, around an hour later I hooked a small Brown, small as in under 30cm so threw him back to fight another day. Then followed 2 ½ hours of slowly cruising around the lake waiting for another bite…. Nothing. So that was it for Saturday, 2 fish with one being a keeper.

Sunday

Again up early and drove to the lake in the RAIN! ! ! ! On the lake at 6.00am, this time I was joined by Ollie, a Jindabyne local who I would describe as a gun trout fisherman. We decided to work the area around the front of the Clay Pits and the 2 islands so off we went. Fortunately the rain stopped. Around 7.15 we got the first strike on a lead line being trolled off planer boards. Ollie got the fish to 15 foot behind the boat where we could see that it was a good size and bang, it spat the hook…. Grrr

15 minutes later I hooked up on the downrigger and boated a small Brown, threw him back, then at 8.10 hooked another Brown just under 35cm so on the ice it went. A short while later Ollie picked up a nice Rainbow so we put him on ice.

So the morning session for Sunday had not been too bad, 4 strikes and caught 3.

Then it was off to the Jindabyne Fishing club weigh in. Turns out that fishing mudeyes was the way to go with biggest Brown and biggest bag both going to a shore based bait fisherman.

Once again I got lucky at the weigh in with my Brown winning secret weight so got $50 towards my fuel and a nice Jindabyne Fishing Club polo. 😊

Sunday afternoon launched again around 3.00pm and stayed out till a bit after 6.00 for only 1 fish…

However Arthur, a member of this forum, had arrived in Jindabyne and had better luck them me, he caught a couple of nice fish.

Monday

I launched around 6.00 again… Headed over to East Jindabyne. Then followed the fastest hook up that I have experienced. I was running flatlines to start so cast out the first rod, put it in the rod holder, picked up the second rod and as I cast that out the first one got hit. That lure could not have been in the water for much more that 30 seconds. Boated a nice 35 Rainbow.

Around 7.30 got another Rainbow and a bit later lost one after a very short fight.

Pulled the boat out and heading into town to catch up with Arthur for a lunch of pie and chips, fisherman’s health food, with a mug of coffee. Great catching up, we swapped fishing tales, compared areas where we had been fishing and  talked about what was and was not working.

Having another member there and being able to talk on the phone during the day about what was happening was great and added an extra dimension to the trip.

Mid afternoon launched again. And spend another 3+ hours cruising the lake for only 1 fish..

Tuesday

Heading to the ramp at 5.45am and the temperature had gone way down, the car was telling me that it was -1, then it went down to -2… Nearly went head over heals climbing into the boast as when I stood on the mud guard it was covered in frost and as slippery as hell… Second problem was when I went to open the live bait well, it’s where I throw my bung to save losing it, and the damn thing was frozen shut. Fortunately I carry a spare on the boat so got that one out.  

Finally got the boat in and headed off wearing ski jacket and ski gloves. Not the most comfortable outfit for fishing..

The cold bought with it a lot of mist across the lake. It even managed to shroud the town in fog with looked quite spectacular from the lake.

Another quiet morning with only 1 small Rainbow.

Caught up with Arthur for lunch again, burger and chips today with a big mug of coffee. Accompanied by lots of fishing and even some golfing conversation.

Then after an afternoon nap in the car it was back on the water for the final session of the trip.

Sounding like a broken record here but it was another quiet session. Although I did catch a nice 35cm Brown on my Skeleton lure. Was rather happy about this as the lure was a plain white Tassie which I drew a pattern on, so to actually catch a fish with my own ‘designer’ lure was most satisfying.

Another thing I tried on this trip was using a pair of ‘assist’ hooks rather than a single. To be fair it is hard to say which worked best as I caught fish on both set ups, but Brian from Lakeside Lures and Tackle does reckon that it you get ‘territorial’ hits rather than ‘I want to eat that strikes’ the swinging hooks will hook the fish around the gill area. For me the jury is still out on that one all of my hook ups on both rigs were in the mouth.  I would add that the way the hooks swing behind the lure does look rather enticing as well.

So that was that. I spent around 33 hours on the water over 4 ½ days for a total of 12 fish, 8 keepers… The reason I titled this post ‘A Tough few days on Lake Jindabyne’ was how this trip compares to others. During the Trout Festival last year Ollie and I had one session where we boated 9 fish in around 1 ½ hours. On my trip in March I had a session where I boated 7 fish in 1 hour.  The last trip every fish I caught was well above legal, 4 from this trip, although legal, were to small to be worth keeping. Biggest fish this trip was around 43cm caught on the first day, yet on previous trips I have boated numerous up around 45cm and bigger.

Not that I am complaining, I had a great 4 ½ days fishing on a beautiful lake and catching up with a fellow Fishraider.

Hope you enjoyed the report.

Cheers

Gordo

Edited May 9, 2019 by GordoRetired
Typo

[Scratchie]

Great post Gordo and at least you scored a few fish! 4 days fishing in what I assume are cold conditions is commitment. You should venture up this way for the meet up we have chasing snapper! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[GordoRetired]

36 minutes ago, Scratchie said:

Great post Gordo and at least you scored a few fish! 4 days fishing in what I assume are cold conditions is commitment. You should venture up this way for the meet up we have chasing snapper! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

It was certainly cold.. Would be a lot better up at Port. 🙂
Might have to think about a trip up.

[frankS]

Quiet an adventure, I love fishing the area and catching good fish is a bonus, although the numbers were not to your usual standards your report was as exciting as it gets, almost like being there myself . Thanks for a great read and keep it coming.

Frank

[masterfisho7]

Great report Gordo sounds like one top trip

[61 crusher]

Great report & photos again of your Jyndabine escapades Gordo. Sounds like you had a good few days in some trying conditions, the ski gear definitely makes fishing a bit more cumbersome but so cosy at the same time, at least trout don’t fight aggressively but can be tough to get into the net at times, re your assist hooks I’ve found using “gamakatsu single lure hook” in size 1 on a split ring (sometimes two opposing each other) with 1 or no bead gives a solid hook up & if getting hits but no hookups adding up to 2 beads between lure & split ring making a big difference, they’re an inline hook, thanks again for sharing your Jyndabine trip

[GordoRetired]

Just now, masterfisho7 said:

Great report Gordo sounds like one top trip

Any trip fishing is a good trip, even if the fish did not get the memo telling them to bite 🙂

[GordoRetired]

1 minute ago, 61 crusher said:

Great report & photos again of your Jyndabine escapades Gordo. Sounds like you had a good few days in some trying conditions, the ski gear definitely makes fishing a bit more cumbersome but so cosy at the same time, at least trout don’t fight aggressively but can be tough to get into the net at times, re your assist hooks I’ve found using “gamakatsu single lure hook” in size 1 on a split ring (sometimes two opposing each other) with 1 or no bead gives a solid hook up & if getting hits but no hookups adding up to 2 beads between lure & split ring making a big difference, they’re an inline hook, thanks again for sharing your Jyndabine trip

I have been using gamakatsu single lure hook in size 1 on every trip so far. But talking to Brian he suggested that I try the assist hooks as he reckoned that the trout were in spawning mode so suggested that a lot of the hits were likely to be territorial, rather that I want to eat motivated. So I ran one of each set up this trip. Both caught fish.

Hook set up on Tassies seems to be a huge topic with some preferring 2 singles back to back, some just a single, some a treble all with a bead onto line and even some who just tie their line to the wire in the Tassie straight out of the box..
Ollie, who I mention in the report, always uses trebles with a bead onto his trace and he catches heaps of fish.

One thing I have done with my rig is to have a snap swivel on the end of the 8lb main line. Then I have 6lb traces around a meter long with the hook and bead on one end and a very small swivel on the other. To change lure all I then do is unhook the swivel from the snap swivel, pull the Tassie straight off the trace, the swivel is small enough to go through a Tassie, then using a thin piece of bent wire I thread on the replacement lure and snap it back onto the main line. Job done. The main benefit is that you are not trying to tie strong knots while bouncing around in a boat with cold fingers. Oh, and the lure change is far quicker that having to tie a new knot. 🙂

 

[61 crusher]

12 minutes ago, GordoRetired said:

I have been using gamakatsu single lure hook in size 1 on every trip so far. But talking to Brian he suggested that I try the assist hooks as he reckoned that the trout were in spawning mode so suggested that a lot of the hits were likely to be territorial, rather that I want to eat motivated. So I ran one of each set up this trip. Both caught fish.

Hook set up on Tassies seems to be a huge topic with some preferring 2 singles back to back, some just a single, some a treble all with a bead onto line and even some who just tie their line to the wire in the Tassie straight out of the box..
Ollie, who I mention in the report, always uses trebles with a bead onto his trace and he catches heaps of fish.

One thing I have done with my rig is to have a snap swivel on the end of the 8lb main line. Then I have 6lb traces around a meter long with the hook and bead on one end and a very small swivel on the other. To change lure all I then do is unhook the swivel from the snap swivel, pull the Tassie straight off the trace, the swivel is small enough to go through a Tassie, then using a thin piece of bent wire I thread on the replacement lure and snap it back onto the main line. Job done. The main benefit is that you are not trying to tie strong knots while bouncing around in a boat with cold fingers. Oh, and the lure change is far quicker that having to tie a new knot. 🙂

 

That’s a great tip on lure change over nothing worse than having to re tie a knot on the water in cold conditions, the only thing I might do different is add an extra meter to the trace so as not to spook the fish but as we know it makes netting fish trickier especially solo, thanks for the tip

[adkel53]

Nice report Gordon. I can vouch for all that you said!

It was great to be able to chat to you on the water and compare notes and to have a couple of those healthy lunches together back in town.

I managed 5 keeper trout out of 8 fish landed over three afternoons and two mornings on the water. Best was a nice 53 cm brown taken on leadline very early on that windy Monday morning.

After catching two nice rainbows within an hour of beginning my first session on Sunday afternoon my hopes were high. Alas, they were the only fish I caught in the afternoons, the others being caught in the mornings and all on leadlines with dark coloured Tassies attached. I did lose a good fish while flat-lining on Monday  when it tangled in the second line I had out. It sure was tough going.

On Tuesday morning a met a local who lives on a farm that runs down to the lake at Kalkite where I had launched. He fishes 2-3 times each week up there and hadn't caught a fish in four  hours of trolling that morning. That made me appreciate the two browns I got that morning a whole lot more!

I generally use two Gamakatsu single lure hooks rigged back to back using a split ring and a small solid ring to tie the leader onto. I put a pink or lumo green bead directly behing the Tassie. I start with a 2 metre long leader and retie the hooks after changing lures. When the leader gets down to about 1 metre I replace it. 

To go with the lack of fish I lost two downrigger bombs simultaneously on the same tree on Monday afternoon. Ouch!!

See you up there again sometime. I love my trips to Jindabyne. Fish are a bonus!

[saltrix]

Nice report and soundslike you enjoyed the trip and the scenery.

[Yowie]

Good work Gordo, better then no fish at all. That's the luck of fishing, better on the water than not at all.

[GordoRetired]

2 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Good work Gordo, better then no fish at all. That's the luck of fishing, better on the water than not at all.

At least I caught at least 1 fish every session so really should not complain. As for better on the water, absolutely 🙂 

6 minutes ago, saltrix said:

Nice report and soundslike you enjoyed the trip and the scenery.

Jindabyne can be a spectacular lake. Love my trips down there and cant wait for the next one. 🙂

[Rebel]

Great days and a great report.

[dunc333]

love the report gordo .30 years ago we use to fish the bundy rum cup with the locals .and when the lure fails, we would put a bush worm with a cigarerte foil as a float and it used to work a treat ,wish i was fishing the jindy again ,memories cheers dunc333

 

[rippinlips]

Hi,

Back in the day we would tie a fly of choice to the tassie devil hook which was often hit.

Also used mini cowbell set ups at the front...spinner blades on a wire to attract fish. Not sure if any of this is being used these days.. 

Cheers,

brent

 

[rippinlips]

1 hour ago, dunc333 said:

love the report gordo .30 years ago we use to fish the bundy rum cup with the locals .and when the lure fails, we would put a bush worm with a cigarerte foil as a float and it used to work a treat ,wish i was fishing the jindy again ,memories cheers dunc333

 

I won ( my team) the bundy cup one year!!! May have shared water back then....use to,go up to island bend and collect those worms...killer bait. My old man still has the electronic trigger rod holders we use to use....

[GordoRetired]

3 minutes ago, rippinlips said:

Hi,

Back in the day we would tie a fly of choice to the tassie devil hook which was often hit.

Also used mini cowbell set ups at the front...spinner blades on a wire to attract fish. Not sure if any of this is being used these days.. 

Cheers,

brent

 

I have seen rigs with a fly off the back of a Tassie, however not tried it myself.
Some people use flashers in front of their lures. I tried using an old silver lure at the end of my main line with the Tassie on a trace further back. Did not get a hit.

[rippinlips]

3 minutes ago, GordoRetired said:

I have seen rigs with a fly off the back of a Tassie, however not tried it myself.
Some people use flashers in front of their lures. I tried using an old silver lure at the end of my main line with the Tassie on a trace further back. Did not get a hit.

Ok,

with 4 on board we would run 8 lines. Generally our lead lines or downriggers lines when they came along more often had flashers as they were deeper. But these were a tad larger than a Celtic blade. Two flat lines off boat then the rest off planer boards. Pretty much tassie Devils with flouro beads and mono straight through as no braid then!! Shit I am old!! RApalas painted to spotted dog worked well at certain times of year. I can't remember what we use to troll that we used a plastic keel in front to stop line spin. Have to ask old man.....

[YZ250]

Hi Gordo,

Nice report and in actual fact that's pretty good fishing comparted to what many up there had over Easter and towards the end of April.  I was out on the lake for 4 hours resulting in just the one 38cm rainbow on Saturday 27th and someone I met at the boat ramp reckoned it was the only fish he had seen caught that week.

Its not like they weren't there either - we picked up HUNDREDS of them on the sounder out between the islands near the claypits.  They spanned the full depth of the water column but wouldn't touch a bloody thing we threw at them.

Looking forwards to getting back out there in June /July when hopefully they start coming back from spawning and are hungry.

 

 

[kingie chaser]

On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 10:51 AM, GordoRetired said:

 So that was that. I spent around 33 hours on the water over 4 ½ days for a total of 12 fish, 8 keepers… 

Mate I enjoyed the read & all I can say is its only for the brave 😉

The results rarely reflect the dedication!

 

As from your previous posts & my replies I know all about trying to catch a nice trout on lake Jindy although in the middle of winter & from the shore not from a boat so the chill factor can be way worse with a stiff breeze & a cold fronts.

Still a great result & with an amazing back drop 👌

 

 

[GordoRetired]

7 hours ago, YZ250 said:

Its not like they weren't there either - we picked up HUNDREDS of them on the sounder out between the islands near the claypits.  They spanned the full depth of the water column but wouldn't touch a bloody thing we threw at them.

Looking forwards to getting back out there in June /July when hopefully they start coming back from spawning and are hungry.

I marked quite a few on the sounder, but like you it seemed like nothing I did could get them on the chew.... and believe me when I say I tried. No lure had more than 30 minutes out unless it had a hit, then it got some extra time, different depths, different distances behind the boat, different hook set ups., varied speed...It was a tough slog 🙂 
I was contemplating a June trip but it is getting very cold so if I do come down it will be with the family and a car full of ski gear for a few days on the slopes.    

Hope you get a few next time down. 🙂