Wyong River - November 2017

Off The Rocks - Wyong River

November 2017

The decision was made to postpone the “off-the-rocks” outing due to unfavourable wind and swell, and consensus was reached on fishing the Wyong River, an estuary off the Tuggerah Lakes.  Despite initial disappointment, exploring new territory always interests me so I was at the ramp at 6.32 sharp to find Len, Matt, Richard H and Garry Kent all in the water ready to go.  A quick chat and they were off, Richard heading upstream and the others down.  I was assigned to Bob's boat, and as he was yet to make an appearance, I chatted to two bait fishermen who had lines in the water from the wharf.  It is usual for these conversations to start with some scepticism, with questions like, “what sort of fish do you expect to catch here?” or “you do know there’s no trout here, don’t you?” but this guy had something wavering between respect and a healthy dose of curiosity about flyfishing, and it was a pleasant enough chat.  He did however inform me that he’d been here for awhile and was plagued by only small fish.

Bob drove up, and despite looking a little tired from fishing all night, we were promptly in the water and fishing.  Well, I was fishing.  Bob wasn’t fishing.  Bob did catch the first fish.  I was targeting the edges of weed a few metres from the shore with a small tan and brown clouser while we drifted towards the lake.  Then Bob caught another fish.  While Bob was releasing a fish, I felt a little pull on my line and raising my rod, weight.  Not a lot, but a fish all the same.  The little bream came in quick and I was on the board.  “You really want a photo of that fish?” Bob asked.  “Everyone gets a photo.” I replied.  It’s like my fishing diary.  “It’s got to be pretty small to not get a photo,” I let him know, “maybe if the fly is bigger than the fish.”  I didn’t measure it, but the bream swam away to fight another day.  A few casts later and another one is on.  An even smaller bream.  Another photo and off he goes as well.  I hooked another that managed to avoid capture, and as any fisherman would tell you, he was bigger than the others.  More casting was fruitless, but a delightful way to start the morning.

As the bite died off we decided on a change of tactics.  Seeing a few mullet around Bob suggested we get a bread burley happening and see if we could fire up some fish.  Now prior to joining the club I wouldn’t really have considered fly fishing to involve burley.  Some would deem it cheating, and others feel it contrary to the ideology of the long wand.  To me, fly fishing is whatever you want it to be.  There are enough rules in life without spoiling fishing too.  If you don’t like it, don’t do it!  It gets a bend in the rod and is a nice, relaxing way to spend a Sunday morning if you ask me, not to mention more fun than practicing casting in the park.

So the finer points of bread burleying was explained, and there’s more to it than I thought.  Little splashes and swirls gave away the presence of fish, so I cast my clouser into the burley a few times without success.  I changed over to two bread flies, a size 6 floating deer hair and underneath a size 16 sinking bread fly I tied myself with egg yarn.  Bob also tied a bread fly on and we both flicked into the burley.  Before long my floating fly was bobbing down, and after a couple of missed strikes, I connected with a fish.  It came in quickly, but I didn’t recognise the long slender shape until I pulled it from the water.  A garfish! A species I hadn’t caught before, and one of the primary goals of club members is the challenge of catching new species of fish, so I was stoked.  Not quite equal to the excitement of finally landing my first trout, but enjoyable all the same.  Another garfish fell to the sinking fly instead of the floating, and yes, he got a photo too.  A harder fighting fish was boated, “Not a bad mullet” I declared, but Bob quickly corrected me, “That? That’s a pissy little mullet.”  Photo nonetheless.

Another change in tactics saw us tie on heavier flies to target flathead.  We drifted a few likely spots, but weed was all we managed to hook up.  My stomach informed me that it was nearly time to head back, so we headed back and returned to the original plan of casting along the banks for bream along the way.  The wind was starting to really pick up and I thought of how unpleasant fishing into it off the rocks would have been.  Good call, and a thoroughly pleasant morning. 

Back at the ramp the smell of the cooking meat was enticing, and the generally slow fishing was one of the main topics at the traditional barbecue to finish the outing.  Richard H had some success, catching three bream and an estuary perch.    

Thanks to Chris for organising the outing and to Steve B for cooking the barbecue, and also to Bob for having me in his boat. 

Lake Lyell - October 13 - 15

Lake Lyell Trout

October 13 - 15 2017

by David Witham 

 

Nicely Pinned

 This was going to be a bit of a first for the club as it had been a long time since we stayed at Lyell and given it a good shake. A bit of planning had gone into the weekend and then a bit of an emergency in the Browne family looked like it may have derailed the weekend. Anyway, without all the details we managed to sort something out that allowed the Browne boys to fish and see their mother in Orange hospital so all boxes were ticked. 

We had booked a cabin for this trip to see what they were like and to avoid us carrying half the house on a camping trip....... still think we went close to half the house anyway, but it was good to experience the cabin albeit we were separated a bit from the rest of the guys. That said we were grateful when the rain set in and the conditions got a tad chilly on Saturday.  

Brownie and I left home about lunchtime on Friday with the trusty hornet in tow. We were pretty keen to fish Lyell from the boat as all previous sessions had been shore based and some of the really good looking water was impossible to access. We were to meet Shayne at the cabin mid to late afternoon.

We had a good run up and got to the cabins about 3 and started setting things up. Shayne had been delayed by work so Brownie and I had a bite to eat and headed into Lithgow to get some firewood etc for that evening. By the time Shayne arrived we had the cabin and the boat ready to go so we headed out for a last arvo session. 

I used the sounder to try and locate fish amongst the timber off the rocky points to no avail. The weed was really thick along the edges which made it hard to get a decent cast in, so we moved across to a more open bay with better defined weed edges. 

The sun was starting to set and the wind had dropped of and we started to see fish working the weedbanks. Now I was unable to fly fish as I had dislocated my shoulder the day before we left so I had to throw the devil stick while the Browne boys threw the long wand. Brownie was first to hook up but lost the fish mid fight, which I am sure the guys back at the camp ground would have heard. There was a lot of surface activity and Shayne changed to a parachute adams but wasn't rewarded. The only fish for the session was a redfin on the devil stick..... yes redfin in the lake and it was about 25 cm so my guess is they are breeding.

Back to the cabin for a feed and off to bed with plans to hit the water early and head up the creek. 

Up pre-sparrows and it was raining a freezing. A quick cup of tea and down to the ramp to launch. Got to love being so close to the water and the ramp! We headed up the creek a fair way and started fishing the edges of the weedbeds in amongst the timber.  Quiet, despite the awesome looking territory. 

We kept moving along and Shayne took control of the devil stick for a while and managed a nice brown..... This was good to see as we knew we were in the right area. Brownie then managed to get a nice brown on a Craig's Nighttime which made our morning. Shayne then hooked up again with a smaller brown and then, as if a switch had been flicked it went dead. Just as well I thought to myself cos I could no longer feel my fingers!

Warning: may contain traces of lure

Brownie with a solid brown caught off the edges.

Back to the cabin for a well earned breakfast of bacon, Eggs and Chorizo sausage wraps and nice hot tea and coffee! We talked baout plans for the rest of the day and given the weather we decided we'd all go to Orange. So we packed up the boat and put the cover on and off we went to Orange. I dropped the boys at the hospital and I did the tackle shop crawl. Always interesting to see what they have in these places. We were back on the road to Lithgow about 2:30 and it was wierd...... We got to Bathhurst and Orange and the sun was out and the temp was a nice 22 degrees..... as we drove back it was like a big black cloud hung over Lithgow and no sooner had we passed the Wallerawang turn off, than the rain started again. Temp a balmy 13 degrees. At least we know that the Browne boys and I aren't the club weather jinx.

We hit the water after having a quick cuppa and tried the bay just down from the cabin as it was the least wind affected. We saw fish rising almost immediately and I was getting some good arches on the sounder. I hooked up on something with the jackall but pulled the hooks and we continued to drift the edges. As the sun started to fade (what sun?)... o.k. as it got darker I pulled a small bass, followed shortly by Brownie getting skunked again by a wily trout. SHayne then got the fish of the trip a ripper of a brown on one of his fur flies / donnies. A quick snap and as the flash went the fish jumped out of his hands and over the side of the boat..... Brownie and I were in stitches.... Shanye not so much. 

Crackin' brown on a fur fly

First Lyell Bass I have seen

Brownie's fightin rainbow

It was almost dark when Brownie connects again and this fish went ape. A couple of good runs and a bit of line taking..... Shayne and I of course asked Roy if this was an all day fish.... you know the one that takes forever to bring in. Anyway... eventually I net the fish and it's a lovely rainbow, which was the first for the trip - so that's one of every species in that dam. That was it for the fish as we decided to sleep in Sunday when we heard the wind and rain lol. A cracking trip though and I believe just about everyone managed something, which is a pretty good effort given past trout outings! Thanks to Stickerman for organising the trip and to Col, Jeff, Richard, Matt, Steve B, Mick and Richie from coming along.

Bass Outing August 2017

CCFR Club Bass Outing 

18-19^th August 2017, Lake St Clare, Singleton NSW

by Steve Bunney

Col with one of many for the trip.

 As with all our usual club outings the weather Gods didn’t look like they were in a good mood and boy they didn’t disappoint. The forecast was for howling winds and “brass monkey “temperatures. But the fluff chucker’s of the central coast are made of sterner stuff and a date is a date as they say.

Some of the keener members arrived early Friday afternoon, on what was probably the worst day for any type of fly fishing, with the weather bureau predicting 80k winds, and icy temperatures , not your typical weather for throwing a “Craig’s Nightime” or whatever the fly of choice may be.

I arrived mid Saturday at the chosen camp ground of “Greg’s Corner” to be greeted by Col, Ken, Max, Jeff, Murray ,Josh, Richie , Richard, Mick, Mac (not paddy wack lol)and Brownie.

As with all greetings, the first question from my lips was “so who’s been catching” and with outstretched hand, and beaming smile, Jeff pipes up with “Have a guess who had a double hook up with bass at 50cm and 40 cm, now for those that fish for bass on fly, getting two on the same cast is pretty good going but to get two stonkers in that size range is awesome going.

Two for the price of one - Jeff Medhurst with two great bass.

After setting up camp it was down to the water just on dark to see what was biting, on with a tandem rig of Craigs Nightimes and with the sun dipping over the hills it wasn’t long until I hear, to my right, the sound all fishermen love to hear “ I’m on” Richie Teague being the first of many that night to land a decent bass in the high 30,s quickly followed by myself with a new PB of 39cm, not massive but very, very fat, and extremely strong, after a long tussle in  the weeds was quickly unhooked and released to fight another day.

The weather Gods, must have had a change of heart tonight as the lake glassed out and every rise was visible as the caddis started to hatch, the only downside was the numb hands due to the low temperatures.

 

Bass fishing in winter can be a short lived experience as the window of opportunity is very small, half an hour after sunset and it’s all over for the night.

Flies used were, mainly Bushy horrors, CN’s, and Woolly buggers, on rods ranging from 4 to 7wt, with the chosen lines all being intermediates.

Sitting around the camp fire is always my favourite time of any trip, where grown men talk of tales of big fish caught and bigger fish lost, trust me this lot would shame Pinocchio, but with beer flowing and the camp fire warming our souls it’s become synonymous with what this great club has to offer, good old fun, great conversation and a feast that would befit any royalty.

The chat went long into the night and the laughs and chuckles could be heard from afar which is typical of the outings, when the fishing is hard going, the company more than makes up for it.

Sunday morning sees the camp rise early only to find that Mac, Richard and a few others have ventured out at first light to try and temp another few bass to the net, Richard and Mac bagged a brace for their efforts, and reports of Richard’s Silver perch more than made up for the early start.

The customary BBQ was fired up for Sunday breakfast, and it wasn’t long before hot bacon and egg rolls were being passed around ,always a welcome sight on any frosty morning, courtesy of Mac and Brownie.

Even though the weather wasn’t as favorable as we would have liked everyone present caught fish, which is always a bonus, most notable was Max breaking his bass duck with a 40cm specimen, great effort mate and well done.

We look forward to another date circled on the calendar when we can do it all again come rain, wind or shine.