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It had been far too long since I visited Jindabyne; pretty sure the other KFA boys were in the same boat (Erm, kayak?). Patwah suggested a run down on Easter Friday but pulled out at the last minute, leaving Jason and his partner Michelle, Luke (Mr Fish Whisperer), myself and Craig Co. (Craig and Alf) to fend for ourselves. Craig, Alf and Luke camped overnight at Creel Bay while Jase, Michelle and I made our way down for a gentlemen’s hour session on the Friday.
The campers had no luck through the night and struggled to land anything the following day using kayak and boat trolling methods. The report was hardly exciting although Craig had dropped a fish early. Luke hadn’t had a touch and the word from the shore anglers I passed on route to our bank was hardly surprising (“Nope, not a touch” or “Only the one, slow going”).
In a fit of uncharacteristic dedication I left the kayak at home, was all set to give the Stealth Serpent its opening blatt but my hangover got the better of me. Instead I packed the Powerbait, rod holders, seat and some munchies and rigged up where I set up (Another uncharacteristic approach). After about 30 minutes I had netted my first Bow, nothing enormous by anyone’s standards but a healthy mid 40’s. Jason and Michelle arrived and set up Yabby traps along the opposite bank to collect some tasty freshwater crustaceans.
They joined me on the bank about 20 minutes after my second Bow (Identical to the first) and rigged up some Powerbait and settled in for a chat. Michelle’s rod went off before they had even cast the second baited rod in the water, she played it like a pro and another almost identical fish graced our presence. This was Michelle’s first Trout, a superbly conditioned Rainbow that was destined to have a mate. Like my second fish, it took a few hours before her other reel started screaming.
Once again she held her own (With some basic coaching from Jason) and netted another beauty. Here is where statistics come into play, two fish on Powerbait Lime Twist (1 @ 9am, 1 @ 11am) and two fish on Berkley Gulp ‘Chunky Cheese’ (1 @ 12:15pm, 1 @ 3pm). Seems the later the day wore on the more the cheese pleased, just half an hour after the last fish Jason was on to an unstoppable one.
Taking line and line I even watched him slightly muffle the spool to try and create additional drag, there was a pause in its run before it continued and it didn’t come to the surface. This bank is steep and Browns don’t seem that eager to rise from deeper water but the problem was it had buried Jason around some sort of structure (Rock, Tree, what have you). After a couple of minutes it was all over but the strangest thing was all tackle remained intact upon retrieval, including sinkers, leader and the tiny Mosquito hook.
This was hard to believe as the way the drags set, the presentation in the water and the previous hook sets all permitted a safe gut hooking. Many things may have happened, the fish could have brushed the line when it took it in its mouth and spooked early, or perhaps the hook was somehow embedded in the side of the mouth (Or roof even) rather than the floor.
Perhaps it was my fault, after all I had only just found a discarded Banana skin on the bank and tarnished Jason with its effects, muttering the words ‘I Tarnish you with the curse of the Banana skin’. Top mate I am and kind of feel guilty, all is fair in love and war (Dried animal droppings, dead birds, sand) but the dreaded Banana hurl was probably over the top (Sorry mate, couldn’t help myself). I had an appointment with the relatives for Easter Friday dinner so left soon after, from what I can gather the two lovebirds weren’t too far behind.
It was a great day on the water, a little slow, a little hot, a little windy and then far too glassed off. My quest for a full bag was denied by the time of year rather than my approach, still it was enough to satisfy my freshwater urges and convince me to drink less and kayak fish more (Live by the sword, die by the sword).
