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.

Dam Perch - September 2003

Dam Perch 

September 2003

This was going to be an interesting trip for most of us from the outset. We were going to fish a local private dam (with permission of the owner!) for a fish that many of us had never caught on fly before. Golden Perch were the expected target, and the fish were supposed to be a reasonable size.

Sunday the 21st of September was the date set down for the outing and the expected 20 CCFR members were keenly getting their flies and gear ready for this one.

We met at 06:45 on the Sunday morning and proceeded to our destination. A few rules were laid down as to where we could and couldn’t fish etc and we had our lines in the water by about 07:30. Chris Bannerman was the first to hookup and in no time, lose the fish, but it was early so plenty of time to make amends! 

Well it didn’t take long for the next hookup and a nice Golden Perch was gently brought from the water for a photo.

Justin Duggan was the one to get first runs on the board with a nice fish. This lifted the excitement level considerably as the rest of us moved around the dam. It didn’t take long for fish to be caught and Chris Bannerman seemed to be getting one after the other, much to his delight!

There were too many fish being caught to keep count. Bob Williams hooked up on a nice fish that looked different to the others being caught and on closer inspection turned out to be a Silver Perch. We weren’t expecting them to be in this dam so this was an added bonus!

Chris Bannerman landed a thumper of a Silver as did Hamish Read. These fish were a good 2kg plus and fight a lot harder than the their Golden cousins.

Most fish were caught on smaller flies such as woolly buggers, tadpoles, small vampires etc and what I found interesting was that the retrieve rate needed to be much faster than I had expected for golden perch… It took me most of the morning to actually get a bend in my Strudwick 7 weight and land a fish, but who cares, I got there in the end and I was a happy fella!

All in all I think just about everyone got at least one golden perch (by my counting there were 7 that didn’t land one, but will be dead keen to have another go at them.) Bob Williams, Matt Zahra, Hamish Read, Chris Bannerman and Warren (Wozza) Yuile caught over 4 each. A good effort.

A very successful outing. It is probably the first outing we have had that saw plenty of fish, unbelievably good weather and the most CCFR members in attendance.

Thanks to the owners of the property for giving us access, it was really appreciated.

Broken Bay Salmon

Broken Bay Salmon

August 2003

A cool breezy morning greeted us at the boat ramp at Patonga where 12 Fly Rodders and six boats were readied for the morning’s fishing.

The southerly swell was making it difficult to venture beyond the heads so most of us opted to head upstream to Cowan Creek. With the wind in our faces and cutting straight through our jackets, we tried to make the trip as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, I could hear John’s teeth chattering over the motor as we idled up the creek seeking fishy looking areas.

After checking in with Dave, Ross and Browny only to find very little activity, we decided to moor at the mouth of the creek and try burleying up some action. Apart from the fact that there wasn’t much else going on, it gave us the chance to sit in the sun and warm up. For 30 minutes we burleyed, and during that time we saw not one fish. No bait fish, nothing. 

Obviously the fish were still warm in their beds (like we should have been).

Enough of this. Where were the fish? Not here, obviously. Who’s idea was this anyway? I figured we try our luck out at the mouth of Broken Bay. What’s the worst that could happen? Spend the rest of the morning throwing up? And where was Big Bob?

Another flying run downstream. At least this time the wind was at our backs. Weaving through the flotilla of boats at Flint and Steel we saw little activity to raise our hopes. We headed on past Pittwater to see just how big the swell was running. From the waves crashing at Barranjoey, it was big. And speaking of big, here was Bob. He and John Humphries had tried Pittwater, with about as much success as the rest of us had upstream.

After a short discussion, we decided to pool our burley resources and moor just inside the breaking waves at Barranjoey. Here we burleyed up, and using bread flies, tried for some rocky favourites such as drummer and luderick. The wind was playing havoc with our back casts. Even double hauling was doing little to help. But we managed to get our flies in near the rocks on the odd occasion.

We had a few hits on the flies, but only one solid hook-up. A small trevally was hungry enough to take my bread fly and before John had time to grab the net I swung it into the boat.

Hamish and Matt soon cruised past to see how we were going. They had little success either and after taking a look around the point, headed off in search of more likely places. It wasn’t long after that our burley ran out, and with it so did our patience with the wind. Once again the motor kicked into life and we made the quick journey back to the ramp.

Not the most productive of trips, but what better way to spend the morning. Actually, I can think of a few. And they all involve a warm bed and sleep.

Off The Rocks - July 2003

Off The Rocks

July 2003

I managed to wake up early Sunday morning , even though the night before was spent tying as many pig flies as possible. I had my mandatory 2 cups of tea , raced around organising rods reels fly lines as usual, never enough time the day before, just leave it to the last minute that way I'm bound to forget something.

While I manage to account for everything I left myself a little short of time for our meeting at Elizabeth Bay shops, no thanks to Dave’s directions (Dave’s Note… the directions were without fault… the navigation…. Well….!), very dubious indeed, right spot wrong street 6.30 am no chance, fortunately I wasn't the only late arrival.

We piled into a few cars and headed to our chosen spot. What seemed to be a perfect winters day only seemed to get better as we rose over the hill and laid eyes on a spectacular ocean. Schools of Salmon busting the surface. Birds working the schools of bait fish while the sun had already poked its head up over the horizon, our rock ledge looked great with enough swell and white water pushing in to give the fish plenty of cover and keep us all interested. Things were looking good.

There was a sharp edge to the winter chill but the walk down certainly put pay to any thought of being cold. I'm sure everyone had warmed up by the time we hit the platform. We pulled the rods out and mixed up the berley, then threw substantial amounts of berley into the selected washes. Bread flies were tied onto 20lb fluorocarbon tippets on 8-10 weight rods. This was standard equipment for getting down and dirty with drummer, or pigs as they are affectionately known. Always the chance encounter with some real studs and even 10 weight rods and 25lb fluorocarbon can make you feel a little inadequate.

We spread ourselves out over the platform, some went north, some went south and a few of us in the middle. We had nine starters, which was probably just enough.

It took a while for the berley to do the job but the bites started coming our way. After the first hour quite a few of us has managed some good bites, then Dave and Bob churned in soon after with a kilo plus pig each. Not long after Bob managed another pig that was pushing close to 2kg. I was getting some good bites then hooked a real stud that snapped 25lb fluorocarbon like it was cotton.

While this was happening Wilbur managed a nice pig and Brett nailed a really good blackfish. Photos taken and another fish into the rock pool. I tied a straight 40lb leader on as I had a gut feeling there were some good fish in my wash and fortunately I was right and a few minutes later a good pig around 2.5kg was doing its best to get me back under the ledge with him. The 40lb leader did the trick a bit of a gamble I have to admit but luckily everything held together and we managed to land him.

Wilbur managed another good pig on the north end while John Cunningham landed a rock cale, his first I think. As the day wore on the fish were getting harder to entice. Dave got 2 cales and a yakka but John Humphries, Jerryn and Matty weren’t having much success. Jerryn came up and fished my wash for a while and hooked 3 pigs in a row. Unfortunately the hooks pulled on all fish, but he did really well. Jerryn has got a lot of patience for a young bloke and he’s not too bad with the fly rod. Don’t know where he gets that from, must have got it from his mother, hey Hamish?

I think Matty had his Chris Bannerman mask on because he never looked like catching a pig all day. Still he’s got the runs on the board, bad luck mate.

As the morning progressed the tide was getting lower, cover was more exposed and the fish harder to entice so we called it a day around lunch time.

We cleaned the fish and packed up ready for the steep climb out, it was a hard slog up the hill, but we all managed it back to the cars. Looking back at the morning we had I felt it was a really successful day - great weather, plenty of fish, great mates, what more could you want? I’ve said it before, you’ve just gotta get out there and have a go! Who knows what is going to happen. At the end of the day I think we ended up landing six pigs, three rock cale, one blackfish, one yakka and two wirrah cods. Not bad at all. I’d say lets do it again soon.

Berley Trail - June 2003

Breley Trail Fly

June 2003

An early, cold winter start greeted me as I put the boat onto the towbar and headed off to the boat ramp at Terrigal Haven. Meeting time: 6.15am, Outing: Berley Trail Fishing, Starters: 4 Boats, 9 members and a heap of berley!

Everyone was ready to go, with boats in the water and loaded up by just before 7am. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, but the swell that had been non-existent the previous few days was on the way up and was already pushing two to three feet.

We headed out around the Haven, past the Skillion and it didn't take long for Bob, Hamish and Matt to spot a huge school of salmon working in close to the rocks between North Avoca and the Skillion. Now I know we were supposed to be berley trail fishing, but a school of salmon working the baitfish in easy casting distance, well, you just don't turn your nose up at that sort of opportunity. So I picked up the eight weight, I rigged it up already to go just in case whilst I was waiting for everyone else at the ramp, gave it a good cast and within seconds of my first strip I was on! Whoo Hoo…. This feels like a good fish I said to Chris, and it was. It lept clear of the water and it was a ripper of a fish to start the day with. 

Chris kept casting whilst I played this fish out and in no time we had a double hookup. Both of us playing good sized salmon back to the boat. A couple of photos and Chris returned his to the water, mine was kept for Chris to try his first salmon.

Back to business and again within a couple of casts I was on. I looked around and between the three boats fishing the salmon, five of us were hooked up, including John Humphries with his first ever Aussie Salmon on fly.

The wind was picking up and blowing from the WSW and making it a bit bumpy as you drifted wide. We continued fishing and I landed another salmon before the swell got the better of me and I started my very own berley trail made up of the breakfast I had before I left home. It was great leaning over the side of the boat whilst my fellow anglers yelled in support. Things like…."Hey Dave, do the fish answer back?" and "Dave, you looking for fish mate"….. Thanks for your help fellas. 

Anyway after wiping my mouth I was straight back into it and within a few casts had yet another salmon crawl all over my fly. This was an unbelievable session and the fish were all of good size. They were so willing that they were hitting the fly while it just sat there sinking. I ended the day with 4 good salmon, Chris got one, Big Bob landed four also and we all missed numerous hits and dropped a few fish.

Wozza and Ross persevered with their berley exploits (after all that is what we were supposed to be doing!) and managed two cowanyoung and a couple of misses. A good morning all up, even getting sick didn't turn me off too much!

Carp-O-Rama - May 2003

Carp-O-Rama

May 2003

Another Carp-o-rama was upon us, and the rain we had copped over the past weeks had a few people nervous about the conditions at Liddell. There wasn't too much to worry about as Singleton and Liddell had received very little of the downpours we experienced on the coast. So the usual Friday and Saturday run around had us organized with about 10 folks ready to do battle with the old swamp trout.

We agreed to meet at 06:00 at the MacDonalds at Singleton so we could have some breakfast and show the folks that have never been to Liddell the way to the recreation area. As is usually the case the final group of fishos rolled in at about 6:30 and we sat down for a quick bite to eat, we would have had tea and coffee except they had run out! Uh oh this was not a good start. Even worse the wind was starting to howl from the South West. It was cold but the sun was starting to shine through.

We headed up the New England and took the turn into Liddell recreation area where we met up with Brett Aley. The wind was getting very gusty and there were some clouds starting to come into view. The lake was well down on the last time we were here with most of the boat ramp high and dry and just a thin strip of concrete down to the water.

I reversed the car down the ramp and slid the hornet into the water. Brett moved the boat away from the ramp to allow the others to launch. Problem with that was that I now had to walk to the boat which was about 3 metres from the shore. Not a big deal until I stepped into some mud that was about a foot deep, and was soaked up to my knees. Wait…. The day gets better!

We all headed off looking for some protection from the wind. Brett and I found a bay that looked to be out of the wind and proceeded to walk the banks to sight fish. Bugger me, more mud and the type that sticks to your boots and just gets thicker and thicker……. Back to plan B and into the boat. We used the electric to move slowly down the shoreline looking for fish. The wind had picked up and now to add salt to the wounds the clouds had started rolling in. It became almost impossible to see the fish and more often than not they'd be spooked before we got to see them.

We struggled on for about 30 minutes and noted an abundance of freshwater eels of about 4 - 5 feet in length, they wouldn't touch our flies though. We decided to go and see what the other guys were up to and found them setting up ready to berley with bread. We all anchored in a row and the berley trail was started.

Chris Bannerman wasted no time and landed and small swampie for a photo and a quick release. It was pretty quiet even with the berley so another move was attempted. We tried blind casting to the fish around the weedbeds nearer the boat ramp, but the wind was just too strong and had us drifting across the beds before you could even get a cast out. Bob, Chris, Brownie, Gordon and Matt, decided to berley up again in the protection of the power station and that produced a few more fish and a first fish on fly for John Cunningham.

Justin, Brett and I tried our luck again at sight fishing, but again the elements beat us. The rain started to fall, lightly at first, so Justin and I decided enough torture and headed back to the ramp. On the way back to the ramp my outboard decided it had done enough and just stopped dead. A bit of drifting and a few attempts to get it started and we were back at the ramp. Justin pulled his boat out and the heavens opened. Everyone headed back to the ramp and started packing up.

Not our best ever day at Liddell and the weather was less than helpful, but the fact that some of the guys got fish and in one case their first ever makes is still worthwhile. We'll be back again….. maybe in summer?

Dora Creek

Dora Creek - Bream

April 2003

This trip was supposed to be a Newcastle Harbour Pelagics outing, but due to the 4 -5 ft swell and the lack of fish around we went for plan B. As none of us had fished Dora Creek before we decided that we would see what it had to offer on the bream front.

We met at the Dora Creek boat ramp at about 7am and most of the guys headed up the creek towards the F3 bridge to fish the snags. I waited around for one of our members who was supposed to be coming and just fished near the ramp so I could see them arrive. At 8am I decided to go up stream.

As I headed upstream I passed Ross Anderson who reported no fish at that point. I soon met up with Wozza and Ivan just before the road bridge and they also reported zero fish or hits. The place just looked very very fishy and the tide was good, but nothing to report from that section of the river.

We all headed back towards the Dora Creek township and fished the strip down to the rail bridge. Chris Martin reported a nice 30+ cm fish and jimmy Hyatt had caught a small tailor. Things were looking up. I fished that strip pretty hard without a take. A few hits but no hookups. 

By now the wind was starting to get up and I moved under the bridge and back towards the ramp. My electric motor started to play up so I had to stop and fix one of the battery terminals. Once I got it going I headed down towards the moored boats near the ramp to find Ivan and Wozza fishing around the boats and wharves. Wozza had landed 3 bream around the one boat and Ivan was casting frantically to catch up.

Alas he didn't and neither did I. It was a quiet day on the fish front.

Big Bob had fished the Creek the night before and landed 14 fish. Just goes to show that when they are on they are on!