Oberon Trout - October 2003

Oberon Trout

October 2003

The Central Coast Fly Rodders' first trip to Oberon Dam was shaping up nicely. Rain had fallen out west, Steve Tizzard had generously donated his driving skills and Paul McGrath had kindly put us in touch with a friendly farmer who would let us cross his property to the Dam. By 9am four keen trout fishos (Steve Tizzard, Jimmy Hyatt, Rob Harwood and Chris Bannerman) were well on their way to testing Oberon Dam's trout.

A few hours of traveling saw us winding our way south from Lithgow towards Oberon. Rain storms in the distance lingered over the dam while we stopped and inspected a creek or two en route.

After checking into our cabin at the local caravan park we headed out past the dam wall and along some back roads to find our fishing spot. A quick visit to the land owner to let her know we had arrived and it was off through paddocks and over fences to the edge of Oberon Dam. It was still overcast, and occasionally threatened with some spots of rain, but otherwise a very picturesque location.

We'd soon rigged up and spread ourselves out along the bank. Steve and I headed up a small arm where the odd dun was flying around, and in the process spooked a decent sized trout. All we saw was a bow wave, and after casting for some time decided that it wasn't the only fish we had spooked.

Jimmy had moved out towards the dam but seemed to have as much success as Steve and I. Meanwhile Rob had headed off around the lake edge and had disappeared from view. We hoped he was having more luck.

As the afternoon wore on a large hatch began and we saw rises from trout around the small bays near us. We tried a variety of wet and dry flies without success until near dark Rob hit upon the right setup - a nymph below a dry. Soon he had his first fish, a small rainbow, followed by a larger brown. The rest of us rigged up quickly, but in the failing light we had trouble seeing the dries and no further fish were hooked. All in all the activity lasted about half an hour.

As soon as it got too dark to see the flies we decided it was time to head back for dinner and a cold beer. Dinner was taken at the local RSL club with a little red wine (a little too much for some), before heading back to the cabin for the night.

The next morning we rose early and decided to try some of the local rivers instead of the dam. Steve drove sedately to our location so as not to disturb my hang over, and we spent the morning wading a small section of the Fish River. The river was flowing well and was very pleasant to wade, but no fish were sighted. A chat to a local fly fisher told us that the water temperature was a bit on the cool side at this stage which led to less activity from the trout. Whether this was the case or not was debatable.

By late morning we had packed up our gear and headed back, stopping at Tarana for a drink break and Lake Lyell for a look, before winding our way back through Lithgow and along the Bells Line Road, arriving on the Central Coast by mid afternoon.

We all considered the weekend very successful even though we hadn't caught many trout, and agreed that a second evening at the dam would have proven more successful. Many thanks to Rob for sharing his knowledge, wisdom and red wine with us. It was very much appreciated.