Canberra Fishing Report | October 2023
Snowy Mountains
Rivers
The season opener has kicked off and the rivers in the mountains have produced fantastic numbers of fish. Windy conditions made it a little challenging on occasion but those that persisted still caught plenty. Rivers are lower at this time than recent seasons but the fish numbers are still great.
Bailey with a beautiful Euc rainbow.
Emily with one of many opening weekend rainbows
Cameron with a solid river fish
Best catches have been with beadhead nymphs and glo bugs or Euro nymphing. Twenty plus fish in a session has been standard with spawning and post spawn rainbows still in large numbers on the Eucumbene river. Fish are widespread through the whole Eucumbene catchment and angler numbers have been reasonable.
Anthony Mortimer with just a couple of fish from some big numbe sessions on the Eucumbene.
With the warmer conditions over recent weeks there have been fish eating off the top already with the Thredbo river seemingly better for dry flies. Browns seem to be more active off the top and fish sipping emergers have given a few anglers some exciting fishing. As with the Eucumbene there are plenty of fish to chase and fish are widespread.
Back country streams have also started off well. While most of these rivers are traditionally small fish streams the numbers to be caught more than make up for it. Having said that the best fish from one group was around the 4lb mark so not all are little ones.
The standard dry with a nymph dropper will become more and more effective as the season progresses and aquatic or terrestrial insects become more and more prevalent.
Currently best nymphs have been Globugs, Beadhead Pheasant Tails and Perdigons.
Best dries have been Klinkhammers, Adam’s Parachute and Bum Fluff Stimulators.
No reports from the Eastern streams yet though they would be well worth a look before summer.
Mountain Lakes
While the big news is the opening of the streams, Lake Eucumbene has been fishing very well in it’s own right. Good numbers of midge in some of the grassy bays has brought fish in close and there have been some great evening rises. Conditions have been varied with the calmer, still days producing more activity as a rule when fishing off the shore. Loch style fishing has been excellent with lots of great reports and some big number catches.
Mick with a couple of loch style browns on Eucumbene
There has also been some good polaroiding when conditions have allowed.
Phil with a late afternoon 65cm brown
Matto with the results of some polaroiding
There are building numbers of midge along with stick caddis a few snails and even some fish that have been eating the odd beetle. Fish have also been seen jumping for dragonflies. The warmer conditions may have brought the Spring fishing forward by a few weeks.
Wilko with some more polaroided Euc browns.
All areas of the lake have been very good from the Providence Flats through to Angler’s Reach, Yens Bay, Seven Gates, Frying Pan, Rushy Plains, Middlingbank, Cobrabald and Braemar. Take your pick based on prevailing wind and accommodation preference.
Lure anglers spinning the bank have produced some very nice browns with small minnows taking most of the fish.
Rapalas, Pressos, Double Clutch, Bullet lures and 3-5 gram mini Dax have been very good.
Local Waterways
The local urban lakes have been producing a few yellowbelly both on bait, small plastics, vibes and small spinnerbaits. The Southern shore of the Yacht club, Weston Park and Yarralumla area is well worth a throw.
Googong dam should be getting better over the next few weeks. Reports have been a little scant over this last month period though some anglers who were specifically chasing redfin picked up some yellowbelly instead.
Can’t complain about that!
