New South Wales Fishing Report 28/7//10
Albury

Report Supplied By Masons Compleat Angler

G'DAY fishos.

I had the pleasure of seeing a 3.86kg Brown Trout during the week.

This fish was gutted and would have been about 91/2lb (4.3kg) whole weight.

It was in beautiful condition and was caught using a diving-type lure, brand unknown.

I normally don't like to judge or knock the ability of our Compleat Angler customers but honestly, this had to be the unluckiest fish in Victoria on Saturday arvo.
Well-known pet food connoisseur "Reno" was the "gun" fisho who landed this beauty and is the first to admit that this trout had about as much luck as Mel Gibson did choosing his last partner.

Apparently the lure had only just hit the water when it was engulfed by the big one that didn't get away and after a bit of a struggle and a whole lot of panic it was finally landed.

I would imagine it would have been pretty easy to pick which boat the boys were fishing from as there would have been a couple of rounds of high fives and lots of squealing like 12-year-old school girls.

Apparently Reno nick-named the fish "Paul Briggs", it took a big dive but at least the fight lasted more than 29 seconds.

We've heard of a couple of similar size fish during the past week or two but there's still a lot of hours being put in for very little.

It's interesting that Reno's fish took a diver, most of the big trout we've heard about have been caught on divers of one sort or another.

If I were heading out I'd be looking at using a McGrath or Merlin type of lure with maybe a Nilmaster 8cm out the other side to cover a couple of depths.

Of course the advantage of using divers is also improving the odds of picking up a yellowbelly or redfin.

I've been running a new motor in during the past week or so and even though I haven't had a rod in the boat I've taken the fishfinder out for interest sake.

The amount of fish schooled up in the open water between the Lake Hume Resort and out in front of the Hume Weir wall, out in the middle of nowhere, is incredible.
Depth in that area was generally 18-22 metres which is a lot more than you would generally have a go at but it would be well worth dropping a Vibe, Bibless Minnow or Jagger down to see if you could raise a scale or two.

We've fished those sorts of depths at Blowering before and done well.

You'd think they'd have to be either redfin or yellas and if we get a couple more still days like we've been getting it would be perfect for a drift or two.

There's still a couple of reports of decent catches in Mulwala.

Not everyone's getting into them but there's been some nice fish coming in on Hardboy's apparently.

Dart was pretty quiet last weekend for the Albury-Wodonga Sportfishing Club boys.

Only a couple of trout caught but interestingly a few mackas were angled from the bank around camp.

We've had a couple of half reasonable stories from Khancoban with one group doing OK on lures, the other picking up a couple on scrubbies under a bubble. Both had one fish about 2kg and three smaller ones.

Eucumbene is still the pick of the high country lakes.

Bait around the edges and trolling leadline with small minnow type lures seems to be the go.

Blowering could also be worth a try. There's a couple of cod coming in off the bank and a few small reddies.

You might need your long johns wherever you go.


Snowy Mountains, Canberra & Surrounds

Report Supplied By Compleat Angler Canberra

Care To Share Your Catch With A Bird-Brained Thief?

Last week we reported how safe rock fishing was because of the calm seas and delightful weather along the coast. Well we meant that it was safe for the angler, but not necessarily the catch, as one fisher found out last weekend.

He had put in some solid hours on the rocks near Nuggan, catching some nice salmon, Tailor and drummer on pillies and cunje. The captures were placed in a convenient rock pool to keep them alive and fresh until they were headed for the dinner table. At the end of the session he went to recover his catch and found the pool empty. The reason? A large, very full-bellied sea eagle sitting on a crag nearby, no doubt enjoying the pleasure of a free feed consisting of one salmon, two Tailor and a fat drummer.

He had helped himself to the fish while the angler had his back turned and was even waiting for more tasty morsels to scoff. That was enough for the angler. He went home and left the bird to it. No doubt the big chook will be waiting for another unsuspecting angler to turn up next weekend.

Elsewhere on the rocks there were reports of big leatherjackets feeding uncharacteristically close in, some outsized Tailor under schools of slimy mackerel, bonito on high speed lures and some very good catches of drummer and Rock Blackfish in heavily-berleyed locations.

Good Snapper and Morwong Bags Offshore

Reef anglers found good numbers of Snapper and jackass and rubberlip morwong offshore last weekend, with squid and bonito the best baits.
Sand Flathead were hard to find and only a few Tiger Flathead showed on the insides of the reefs.

Deepwater anglers fishing on the edge of the Continental Shelf off Bunga Headland in 320-360 metres of water with heavy braid and squid baits landed some nice gemfish and trevalla. Gemfish are very tasty when eaten fresh and trevalla, or blue eye as they are more commonly known, are one of the best eating fish in the ocean.

Tuna Way Out To Sea

The good news is that the bluefin tuna have shown again, on the moon just as one of our longliner mates predicted. The tough news though is that they are a long way offshore --- 40 nautical miles off Bermagui at the moment. Only one longliner, a boat from Moolooloba with a bluefin licence, is working them at present.

Salmon Catches Dominate

Beach anglers report plenty of salmon around, with a few Tailor, bream and whiting mixed in with them.

The salmon are biting best on small silver or blue lures around 25gm, so light tackle is needed to get sufficient casting distance.

Local Lakes

Fishing has been quiet in the urban lakes but one father-and-son team trolled some nice redfin in Burley Griffin. Using spoons and Strike Pro minnows on a slow troll in shallow water they landed some nice fish, with six around the 50cm mark.

Levels Rising In Mountains

Rain and snowmelt have brought levels up in the mountain lakes, and that, together with some of the Brown Trout returning from spawning, has meant good fishing.
In Jindabyne one group was happy with three rainbows, four browns and a Brook Trout on trolled lures. They had no luck with Tasmanian Devils so switched to larger cod and perch lures and had eight fish to 2.1kg in a short session.

In Eucumbene Cemetery Point and Seven Gates were the top spots, with rainbows to around 1 kg and occasional browns on Power Bait and bardi grubs. Best fishing was just after dark.