Broken Bay - September 2007

Broken Bay

Date: September 2007

Conditions didn't look good as we all met at the boat ramp at Lintern Street. The sun was shining, there was only a slight breeze and the seas weren't too lumpy. As I said, not good . . . . no storm clouds, no howling gales, no 2 metre seas. Did we have the right day? With four boats assembled we headed out into Broken Bay. Dave and Max made a beeline for Pittwater, Stickerman and Roger took a look around Lion Island, and Ken (with decky Steve Tizzard) had disappeared by the time we had arrived. Rob and I stuck to our original plan and struck north, watching the sea and sounder as we wound our way along the cliffs toward Maitland bommy, looking for any signs of fish schools or baitfish. A few laps around the bommy with a teaser had produced similar results to our efforts so far - nothing, and a phone call from Dave and Stcikerman indicated that they were in the same boat (not literally of course). Time for Plan 'B'. Reports from previous days of salmon around Terrigal was tempting enough for us to continue north. And luckily we didn't have to go far. About a kilometre north of the bommy was a decent school of fish feeding on the surface, with Ken and Steve amongst them. Both rods were well and truly bent. We motored in closer, cut the engine and cast out. A few strips and a bump. Another cast and I was on. Rob wasn't far behind. The fish were big enough to keep us busy for several minutes as we wore them down, but they were eventually subdued and we bought them into the boat. A quick call to Dave and Stickerman and they were on their way. Then it was back into them. We spent the next two hours on the school boating ten fish, with a few lost due to pulled hooks and over zealous pressure on the tippet. The fish were all a good size of around the 50cm mark and were solid fighters. Ken and Steve boated around 14 fish, with both Dave's and Stickerman's boat landing several more fish. For Rob and Max it was their fist salmon on fly and their grins were evidence of this. By the end of the morning there were six lure chuckers' boats together with our four, so the fish became progressively harder to catch and much more easily spooked, with the whole school disappearing often. In the end it wasn't the fishermen who put and end to the school but a pod of dolphins who ripped through the feeding salmon, jumping clear of the water and slapping their tales on the surface to stun the fish. Quite an amazing spectacle. By now it was approaching noon so we all headed back to the ramp for our usual BBQ. In all we managed almost 30 fish with 3 of us landing 7 fish a piece. Let's hope we see more of these days this summer.

Hawkesbury River - July 2007

Broken Bay - Hawkesbury River

Date: July 2007

It was a cold and breezy 8:30am Winter's day start at Patonga boat ramp. We ended up, after sickness and maybe's, with 5 boats. For those members who were too crook to attend, you have our sympathy - you picked a good day to stay in bed. Dan and Pete were the first in the water and immediately headed seaward, while Jimmy (in his waders) helped the rest of us launch our boats. No sooner had I parked my car than Pete phoned to tell me that Dan's boat had broken down near Lion Island and they needed a tow. Stick and Rodger decided to head out and make sure they were okay and I followed to tow them back in while Max Gear joined Bob and headed off upstream to fish the rail bridge. Once we'd towed Dan back, Pete joined my boat while Dan stayed on dry ground and fished the beach with Rob Harwood who had turned up while we were away. Pete and I decided we'd try for Estuary Perch so like most of the others headed up river, followed by Stickerman and Rodger. Only Col Breese varied, opting to try Pittwater instead. And this payed off, hooking two salmon and landing one about 5lb. Out of the rest of us only Bob and Max caught fish, 2 bream to 36cm and a tailor (a new species for Max). One o'clock saw us all back at the ramp for the traditional barbeque lunch. By 2pm the WSW breeze had dropped, the temperature had risen 10° and the sees had backed off a bit. Once again trying contiions made things challenging but "that's fishin'".

Lake Liddell - May 2007

Lake Liddell

Date: May 2007

The outing started with the traditional breakfast meeting at Singleton McDonalds. Everyone arrived on time for a change – even Bob was on time! The morning was cool and breezy but with plenty of blue sky, it looked promising. When we arrived at Liddell we were greeted with low water levels and an unusable boat ramp. Bob volunteered to look for somewhere nearby to launch the boats while the rest of us fished from the bank. The fishing from the bank was tough going with lots of mud and the wind ripple was making polaroiding fish difficult. After about an hour with no luck, a call came in from Bob that he had found another spot to launch the boats. Some of the boys decided to persevere with fishing the banks, while the rest headed off to launch the boats and explore other parts of the lake. Over the next couple of hours a reasonable number of carp were hooked and landed with the boat anglers having the most success. Everyone met back at the ramp to swap fishing stories and enjoy the BBQ prepared by Ken and Brownie. All in all, it wasn’t our best trip to Liddell but an enjoyable outing considering the difficult conditions!

The Entrance at Night - April 2006

The Entrance at Night

Date: April 2006

Unusual waether conditions plagued us on this trip - it was clear with only a light breeze! Not your run-of-the-mill conditions going by past outings. Never the less, a total of six boats, 12 fly fishers and 1 dog took to the water at The Entrance to see if we could repeat previous years' successes. John Robertson was my deckie for the trip and was looking forward to breaking a bit of a recent drought on fly. We anchored between Dan and the bridge in one of my favourite positions and proceeded to rig-up. John was obviously hoping for something big as his tipet was 20lb. I opted for something a bit lighter - 6lb tippet on a 7wt, with a chatreuse clouser at point. In the mean time Dan had connected with a patch of tailor and was having a ball trying to land them on his light weight trout leader. He had a fish a cast for a while there, and a mixture of tailor and flathead. We were soon out and I lost my first fly to a tailor on the second cast. Hmmm, maybe I had better make the tippet a bit heavier. John wasn't having any luck however and he soon decided to try a lighter tippet. As the afternoon wore on we managed a healthy number of flathead and tailor. Most of the flatties were undersize and went back, the odd oversize one being kept for the dinner pot. Across the channel we could see Dave and Paul were having similar success with constant bent rods. By dusk the tide had peaked and things started to go quiet. A westerly breeze had picked up and we moved to the eastern side of the bridge to try our luck there. Dan and Browny moved to the north side of the bridge to get out of the wind while Daniel and Terry moored not far from us to try their luck. As the evening progressed we had a trickle of flathead keep us amused. John had gotten into his stride now and was pulling in fish regularly. He was a happy camper. Terry was also feeling pretty pleased with himself having landed two fish, his first fish on fly ever! By 7.30 a few of the guys were calling it a night and headed back to the ramp. John and I persevered, shifting a few times to see if we could find a thick patch of fish, but only succeeding in a few more flathead, a pike and a huge octopus. John knew he had something decent on, but it was making the rod rise and fall like a yoyo. At first we thought it might have been Dave's stingray from last year, but once it surfaced we found it to be an octopus about half a metre long! You wont catch me wading there any more! Meanwhile Dave and Paul had moved back near us and picked up quite a few pike up to almost a metre long. With 9.30 approaching, very little tidal movement and the action going quiet we decided to head back to the ramp, following Dave and Paul. Dan and Browny soon followed, bringing a few nice fish with them. Another successful trip to The Entrance even though on average the fish were smaller. However this may be due to the time of the year as we usually fish earlier. And well done to Terry who now has his first fish on fly.

CFA Interclub - April 2006

New South Wales Council of Freshwater Anglers Fly Fishing Interclub

Date: April 2006

The NSWCFA Fly Fishing Interclub Meet, an annual event, was again held this year at Wallerawang near Lithgow, from Friday to Sunday, 28 to 30 April 2006. Fifty four representatives of fly fishing clubs travelled from the Illawarra, Sydney, Orange, Bathurst, the Central Coast, the Hunter, and the North Coast to take part. Central Coast Fly Rodders were represented by John Humphries, the event co-ordinator, Steve Tizard, Ken Colmer, Paul Jones and Bob Beamish. We hoped to continue our club’s successes at previous meets: in 2002 Bill Sonnenberg caught the largest trout and, last year, Steve successfully took out the fly tying event. The venue was again Rob and Linda Cluff’s Black and Gold Country Cabins at Wallerawang, a quiet coal mining village near Lake Wallace (Wallerawang Dam), on the upper Cox’s River, which supplies water to the Wallerawang Power Station. As well as Lake Wallace, other trout fishing options were nearby Thompson’s Creek Dam and Lake Lyell, and for those willing to travel further, the Fish River and Oberon Dam. Unfortunately, continuation of drought conditions, as in past years, made for tough fishing. With the exception of Lake Wallace, which was close to full, the other dams were around 30 percent capacity and still falling. Although, surprisingly, the Fish River was flowing well in the lower reaches around Tarana. Whilst fishing conditions may have been challenging, weather conditions were perfect for the event: light winds, mild nights and warm autumn sunshine encouraged most of us to fish the lakes or streams and take part in the casting events. And despite the drought conditions and tough fishing, as in previous years, the event again attracted a good turn-out. The enthusiasm and dedication of event co-ordinator, John Humphries, Rob and Linda Cluff’s hospitality, and the generosity of prize sponsors continues to keep most of us coming back year-after-year. This year, the principal sponsor was Ross Salvato, of the World of Tackle. Prizes included: fly fishing rods; fly lines, instructional courses, books and DVDs; fly tying kits; accommodation and NZ car hire. Registration was from midday Friday, with most participant arriving by the time Mat Ryan, of DPI Fisheries, gave a short evening presentation on fishing conditions, and the activities of Fisheries in enforcing the freshwater fishing laws. According to Mat, Lake Wallace was fishing well for the locals (using lures and bait). But, in view of our lack of previous success with fly on that fishery, Steve, Ken, Paul and I, along with most other meet participants, chose instead to fish Saturday at Thompson’s Creek Dam, where the largest fish of the previous year’s meet had been captured. Perfect fly fishing conditions – slightly overcast, with a light breeze riffling the lake surface – did not translate into fish, with most fly fishers unable to get connected. But after hooking, and then pulling the fly out, of a very large rainbow during the late morning, I was finally able to hook, land, measure and then released a 46 cm rainbow about two hours later. This trout proved to be the largest fish landed during the day -- those who fished the Fish River around Tarana enjoyed delightful stream fishing, but only encountered small rainbows. And, to the surprise of most, my trout took out trophies for both largest trout and largest rainbow at the presentation dinner later that evening. As in previous years, the dinner was a great social event and, due to the generosity of sponsors, almost everyone was able to receive a prize. Money from raffles and silent auctions raised valuable funds that NSWCFA is then able to spend to regenerate freshwater fish habitats and improve the quality of fishing for the benefit of all anglers. Casting events were held Sunday morning and, going into the events, Central Coast was well in contention to take out the champion club trophy. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm for fly casting was not matched by our skill level or the final results, and we were well outclassed by the expert casters from the Lakeside Fly Fishing Club, who regularly compete in competition casting events at a high level. The meet concluded with a barbecue lunch and final presentation. It’s a great fly fishing event. I’m sure most participants will be back again, next year.

Paterson River - March 2006

Paterson River

Date: March 2006

The Paterson River can be a mixed bag for bass fishing. Some trips can produce quite well, others so so good. This trip proved to be the latter, we think in part due to the condition of the river, which was poor. With a lack of rain, the river was quite mucky and the reaches below the township whilst deep, had a lot of weed. The only person to have success was Bob, who fished well above the town of Paterson. The rest of us had no luck, even those who resorted to less than respectable means. But they shall remain nameless.

Sydney Harbour - February 2006

Sydney Harbour

Date: February 2006

This month's outing was in Sydney Harbour. Members met at Kariong at 5.30am and after hearing from Bob that he was running late (suprise suprise), headed down the F3 through the North Shore to Roseville where we launched in the upper reaches of Middle Harbour. We all headed down the harbour, Rob Harwood and myself stopping at Bantry Bay to take a look before continuing on. Down near the Spit Bridge Rob spotted some surface action so we stopped to investigate. The action was sporadic but soon our attention was taken by a large fish cruising on the surface about 50 feet from us. At first we thought it was a shark, but the lack of dorsal fin gave it away as a small cobia about 1-1.5m long. We cast some large baitfish patterns at it, eliciting a half-hearted response and chased it down towards the bridge before it disappeared. We continued on, investigating the other bays before heading out towards the heads. A quick call to Bob and Hamsih indicated they had found some slimy mackerel outside and were heading up to Long Reef with Leon who had already caught a frigate. We cruised around in the 3m swell for a while before finding the patch of slimies. The water looked brown they were so thick, but hooking one proved tricky. Finally I managed one on a gummy minnow, but they soon went down and we saw no more of them before we decided to head back inside. From here were crossed over to the Naval Base and fished around there before moving around Middle Head to fish with a bit of berley. Some penguins indicated the presence of baitfish but there were no larger species with them. By late morning Rob and I headed back up to Bantry Bay and tried berleying there for a half an hour without success then headed back to the ramp with the rest of the group to have lunch. Most of the guys reported slim pickings with Dave and Jim hooking some tailor early on, but it was Bob, Hamish and Leon who did the best with some small kings and other pelagics between North Head and Long Reef.