CA New South Wales Fishing Report
Country NSW
Report supplied by Rod's Custom Rods The Compleat Angler

Eucumbene Dam
Is proving very productive at the moment with good numbers of trout mainly Rainbows being taken flat trolling with Tassie Devils. Yellow wing versions appear to be the most effective.

Wyangla Dam
Good catches of Yellowbelly being taken at the moment. Casting and trolling lures has been more effective than bait fishing.

Burrinjuck
Fishing well at the moment, good Yellowbelly being taken if you can get through the Redfinfor which have also been of good size. The best baits are peeled Yabby tails or small Yabbies. Trolling is picking up a bit, particularly with Merlins.

Talbingo Dam
Has had a really good run, consistently producing 4 to 6 good trout a day per experienced angler. The best method appears to be trolling Tassie Devils at varying depths depending on the time of day. If you have a downrigger you will probably have more luck than trolling near the surface.

Blowering Dam
Very good catches of quality Redfin using small Yabbies or Icejigs. Trolling in about 10ft of water with Jackalls has accounted for good numbers of Yellowbelly.

Tumut Rriver
Finally fishing well. Dropped to around 4000mgl daily discharge making it easy to fish. Fly fishos doing well on black or brown nymphs. Expect to get some good trout over the next month or so.

Murrumbidgee River
Continues to satisfy most anglers with very good numbers of Yellowbelly. Cod are slowing down in numbers but the odd very big fish being taken. Trolling is now the most productive method with bait fishing starting to slow down.

Old Man Creek
Is a bit low with bait fishing proving to be the best method. A few Yellowbelly and the odd Cod are being caught on Bardi grubs.

Sydney
Report supplied by: Compleat Angler Sydney

Sydney Harbour
Silver Trevally have started to be seen in schools well inside the harbour n with many anglers landing some good catches on small baits such as Pipis and Pilchards fished with very little weight. Small soft plastic lures with plenty of tail movement are also very effective with these fish. Berley is the key to catching numbers of these fish as they will move away if there is not a constant smell in the water to keep them focused. It is very important to play these fish gently as there soft mouths will tear easily if treated too roughly, allowing the fish to escape.

Large Bream are being taken in greater than usual numbers at present with the hot spots being the Bantry Bay area and the Parramatta River. Small hard bodied lures such as the Lucky Craft Humpback Minnow and the Smith Towadi are excellent choices in shallow areas and around structure with Berkley Gulp 6” Sandworms being the popular choice in deeper water.

Tailor to over 2kg have been a commonplace capture for anglers fishing the wash areas close to shore in the early mornings. Whole Pilchards on ganged hooks have been very successful with small minnow lures such as the Rapala Magnum CD7 also working well when spun or trolled in close.

Keen anglers fishing large slab baits at night have been hooking some good Whaler Sharks just offshore from Manly. A constant berley trail is necessary to attract these fish but specimens up to 1.5 meters in length have made the effort worthwhile.

Broken Bay / Pittwater / North
Anglers fishing at Terrigal have reported good sport with large Tailor and Bonito being taken on small metal slugs and epoxy flies during the week. Boating anglers having been taking numbers of Snapper up to 6kg from the reefs close to Terrigal on fresh Squid baits with the evenings being the best time of day.

Scattered pods of Salmon have been taken in broken bay by anglers trolling small lures. Silver Trevally have been found schooling around Lion Island and Box Head during the day and have been taken from Ettalong, Ocean and Putty Beaches at night on Prawns and Pilchards. These fish are mostly under 1kg but fight well above their weight class.

Cowan Creek has begun producing some very good Bream again with the hordes of baby Snapper and Leatherjackets thinning a little bit. 2-3 inch soft plastics are the best producers here with lightly-scented models being preferred as the heavily scented models tend to attract unwanted pickers. Estuary Perch are also being found in the Cowan system with increasing regularity and are suckers for a deeply fished soft plastic with lots of tail action.

Botany Bay / Port Hacking / South
Botany Bay has been turning up some nice sized Bream and school Jewies for anglers fishing with bait at night along the deeper rocky foreshores. Salmon and Tailor have also been taken in the early mornings by those keen enough to face the chilly weather.

The rocks platforms around the Royal National Park are yielding rat sized Kingfish to anglers spinning with metal lures or Pilchards on ganged hook rigs. Good numbers of Salmon are also frequenting this area in the mornings and evenings with the rising tide being the best bet.

Canberra
Report supplied by The angler's Art (Phillip) & Pratt's Tackle Box (Greenway, Belconnen)

Great Cold Weather Fishing Continues In Mountain Lakes

The splendid trout fishing that developed with the onset of cooler weather in the mountain lakes several weeks ago is continuing, with excellent reports from Eucumbene, Jindabyne and Tantangara.

Trollers have reported good catches of browns and rainbows flatlining from first light until about 9a.m. then with lead core during the brighter part of the day when the fish go down to about 5 metres. Best lures have been Wonder spoons, Wonder Crocodile, my own Canberra Killer Tasmanian Devil, flatfish and especially the Ecogear SX40F Tournament Special minnow. One angler has taken some large fish polaroiding from the shorelines then casting the Ecogear lure to specific fish.

Bank anglers have done spectacularly well using Power Bait and scrub worms. Many have had considerable success using a two-hook rig with Power Bait on the end of a long trace and a scrub worm on a short dropper. A group fishing at Josie Crowe's on Eucumbene also did well using black crickets fished on the bottom.

Fly anglers have fared best with Hairwing Coachman and Humpy, with a nymph dropper, where the fish are actively rising, or with Woolly Worm, Woolly Bugger, Muddler Minnow and Mrs Simpson fishing blind or working the wind lanes. Early evening has seen some top catches using Taihape Tickler, Craigs Nightime and Hamills Killer.
The fish have been active right through the day and at night and there have been some spectacular catches. Many anglers have bagged out (five fish per day in Eucumbene and Jindabyne and ten fish per day in Tantangara) within a few hours. Some have bagged out several times, carefully releasing fish after they have been landed.
The muddy shoreline has been a problem at Eucumbene, where the water level is still dropping rapidly. The banks are relatively firm at Jindabyne and Tantangara, where levels have been steady for some time.

Trout Predation
Problems involving trout predation on native fish were highlighted again recently when an angler who caught a 25cm Rainbow Trout in the Goodradigbee River found a freshly-swallowed 7cm trout cod in its stomach. Trout cod are an endangered form of Murray Cod, once common in local rivers but now almost extinct, which are being restocked using hatchery-bred fingerlings.

Tuross Firing
Tuross has been the best of the coastal estuaries this week. Anglers working the oyster racks with hard-bodied lures have taken good bags of bream and bait fishers have found plenty of stud whiting. There are good numbers of blue swimmers near the mouth. The recent big seas have left a lot of new sand on the lake entrance and it is now possible to wade from one side to the other.

Broulee Success
At the southern end of Broulee beach and rocks a group did well with a mix of Red Morwong, trevally and salmon and one angler lost a big kingfish which took a prawn bait then charged into the rocks, cutting the line.

Tip Of The WeekTo counter the mud and the cold at Lake Eucumbene, wear lots of warm clothing and especially waders. For extra warmth and comfort try the small solid fuel pocket warmers available from local tackle shops. They are simple and safe to use and a great investment.