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One of my favourite times of the year is when the winter chill drops off, the snow melts and alpine lakes start to teem with additional Trout activity. The 2010 Snowy Mountains Trout Festival marked the third fest Jason and I had attended and the second for Paddy. Normally we only fish the opening weekend due to weekday work commitments and this was no exception, however the fishing was that good I was seriously thinking about blowing off work (Like a lab on a Raider).
After previous Trout Festivals left me doubting the need for cabin accommodation I decided to skimp the luxury, pack a swag and a few tarps and bunk down on the banks for the nights. The lure of those rude awakening 2am bite alarms was just to tempting to resist, plus the forecast (Before we left anyway) seemed to indicate a couple of pleasant days by the water. Squidders mate Ian (Referred to as ‘Hammo’) tagged along and chipped in with the supplies. It was his first time Trout Fishing from a kayak and possibly his first visit to Lake Jindabyne (Correct me if im wrong Hammo – ed).
Jase and I both had to work till mid Friday afternoon which meant Hammo had arrived much earlier and mulled around the Kalkite ramp area awaiting our arrival. Just as the light started to fade we trundled our vehicles down towards Kalkite and were greeted with an incredulous sight. There was a huge abundance of water, we had never seen it this full and it was definitely an eye opening experience. All the physical landmarks we were used to had disappeared, in their place sat unrecognisable bays and banks, some a lot closer to the ramp than I had predicted.
Unloading our yaks whilst marvelling at the new terrain we discussed an area to fish, gauged a path in the dwindling light and packed our kayaks full to the brim. The Pro Angler was excelling in the capacity department, both mine and Hammo’s had stacks of gear on board while Jasons little Quest looked comparatively dwarfed between the two newer model kayaks. Launching into a still night the lake was alive with some sort of insect hatch and we spooked dozens of large fish feeding on the film. Nobody was in a situation to troll with so much gear onboard and we knew if it was going to be that active on the way over it would surely fire all weekend (How right we were).
Spotting our old faithful bank was difficult but when we found it it was well and truly underwater. The small adjacent creek like arm was deep and showed signs of camping promise so we ventured down looking for a flat surface to build our temporary base. Like a sore thumb struck by a hammer a lovely flat area stood out prominently from the rest of the bank and also contained the remains of someone’s previous campfire. All the hard work was done for us already so creating a tarp born structure was relatively simple. A couple of tent posts later, some guy ropes, a tarp and a camp fire saw us settle down and prepare for the opening day of the festival.
Its hard waiting till midnight to get lines in the water, especially when you are all located the legal requirement of 10m away from your rods and starting to feel very sleepy. With eager beaver baits in the water the Powerbait lottery commenced with a beautiful 1.2kg cleaned Brown taking my presentation. It was quite a weird fight and I called it for a small fish, just minute little headshakes and a swim straight in. On reflection all I can offer is that perhaps it was hooked in a rather sensitive area, it was not gut hooked nor pinned in the mouth. I hardly complained, the Gulp brand of Powerbait claimed its first fish just after midnight (On the experimental colour ‘Chunky Chart’).
Falling asleep I half expected to wake up around 7am with no previous action occurring throughout the night. At around 2am Hammo’s bell started creating a ruckus so Jason and Ian got up to land the fish. Just when Hammo thought his first fish was ‘In the bag’ so to speak my bite alarm must have let off a few squeals. The fish had taken my ‘Chunky Chart’ again and had swum through Ian’s line, tangling heavily in the process. Apparently Hammo hand lined the fish in with much confusion. Just as the rigs were both cut and re rigging began Jasons furthest bite alarm went off (This is when I finally woke up).
“Any size?” I grunted from under my swag. “Yeah, you just caught a Rainbow and Squidder got a nice Brown” Hammo replied. It was at this time I was informed of what had happened and told my rod was unrigged out of the water. No better excuse to get up and check out the fish, the Rainbow was an average size of 40cm but the Brown looked over 2 kilos and had the jaws and girth of a dog. Knowing our alarms were set for 4:30am and with rest time running out we bunkered down again with little disturbance, that is until I was rudely awoken by a repetitive splashing sound.
At first I thought it was a Kangaroo, on the third splash my bite alarm loaded up. I don’t think I have ever jumped out of a swag so quickly to tend a rod. The line looked like it had crossed Ian’s again but when it started retrieving in a straight fashion I readied the net and focused on the water. For some reason it stopped and I had no purchase to bargain with, the fish had bricked me. With all the new water in the lake some snaggy ground had been covered and the rather sharp and crab apple looking type metre height bushes will still ripe enough to seriously entangle any wayward line.
Jason rose to survey the scene and suggested wading out; it didn’t really look that deep in the dark. After venturing out over my knees I retreated back to my kayak and got pushed toward the line barrier. At first all I saw was a branch, followed by a large strand of weed. I tried repositioning myself only to realise the branch was the Trout and the weed was the snag. At a little over 40cm below the water I dipped the net under the fish only to find it would constantly roll out due to the small tether. I spent a good 20 minutes attempting to free the fish before my alarm went off next to my snag and in turn the leader knot parted way.
I knew that fish was stuck solid so decided to warm up next to the fire, get ready for the mornings trolling session and revisit the scene of the crime when the light had improved. Hammo was a little perplexed as to what I was actually doing in the kayak but understood my frustration. I could tell he was very eager to troll at first light so just after 5am we set off in varying but occupying directions whilst Jason tried his luck with soft plastics in the bays. It was a new category for Jason to enter, and he had down extremely well on plastics at Jindy before. Unfortunately with so much water the previous whereabouts of the laden Yabby beds remained virtually unknown.
There had been some good reports from fellow FangACT members on working Tassie Devil colours and these guys really know their stuff. If you read my article in Yak Fisher about catching Trout from a kayak you would know I prefer to use Braid and minnows. I decided I need to change tact after a dreary trolling result last festival so opted to run Berkley Vanish straight through with a Tassie on one rod and brain and a jointed Rapala on the other. Results weren’t instantaneous but the fluoro line and the Tassie did the damage in the morning, the jointed only copped a small sniff.
Sometimes the jointed lures just don’t seem to work, rises were unseen and most fish came from a point in about 4m of water. I put it down to the colour of the ‘Disco Dancer’ and its spotted dog style pattern, that and its repetitive swinging action. After the action died off a little I spied Paddy on the opposite side of the bank. A couple of texts between us indicated no action for the big man so he paddled over to join the camping crew. Hammo said he had a couple of hits but no joy and Jason had reverted back to the other category he had entered in, bait from the bank.
I showed Paddy my tangled fish near the campsite and borrowed his longer net to try and scoop it out again. Same result was achieved, a rolling fish and an empty net. Jason came and had a look and decided he would rig up a Jackal TN60 on 10lb leader and either jag the weed or the fish. After a few attempts he jagged the weed and the Jackal joined the fish, both busted off and stuck fast. Squidder mumbled something about taking a dip but I didn’t think he was serious. I have swum for a Jackal before and even considered doing it for this fish, there was no way I was taking a dip in Lake Jindabyne.
Paddy started egging him on, the fire was relit and braid scissors were tested on similar shrubs above the water line. The video rolled, the camera started clicking and Jason took a dip in his undies. Treading water he freed the Jackal and tied it off to a water bottle to float clear and then struggled for a decent breath. It was a little daunting for us as we were all excited of the prospects of him emerging triumphant with the fish but at the same time with every breath we grew worried. So worried in fact that I told Jase to just come in and get warm and Paddy stopped filming. Unbeknown to us, Jason was about to walk out of the water holding the Rainbow Trout and the bloody strand of weed!
Big effort, big result and another step closer to my bag limit. Paddy left soon after and Hammo went for a troll as the weather rolled in. I had to have a rest while Jason guarded his rods with vengeance; he wasn’t going to miss a thing. The fish had gone off the chew and it started threatening to rain. Hammo returned holding up a Trout with a big smile on his face, much to the delight of Jason and I. We both had hoped his first Trout would be off the yak rather than the bank and congratulated him on his result. A couple of minutes later I decided to check out Hammo’s fish assuming it was a Rainbow and found a lovely plump Brook Trout.
“Hey Jase, It’s a Brooky!” I yelled off into the distance, while not extremely rare it’s a 1 in 50 fish that can take years to appear on your line. All we had left was to catch an Atlantic to complete the big four, a Brown, Rainbow, Brook and a Salmon (Something we always try and achieve). Paddy sent us a text from back at the cabin, issuing us a BOM severe weather alert. 90km wind gusts and torrential rain was forecast for mid afternoon and overnight into tomorrow. One look out onto the lake showed us it was time to leave, the lake was white capping and the rain started almost on cue.
Picking our gap we headed for the safety of the cars under the watchful eye of Marine Rescue NSW. They must have been doing their final patrol of the day and looking out for boats on the water. They came within a hundred metres, gave us a wave, saw we were heading for the ramp, surveyed our lifejackets from afar (Both type 1 and 2 between us) and gave us a friendly departing wave. It was a great feeling knowing someone other than ourselves was concerned about our safety, extremely reassuring the y could see we were well on our way to returning to the ramp (Whilst holding our own).
It was a bit of an effort but we made it safe and sound. Packing up the site and the car seemed easy after that pedal/paddle, knowing we had fish to weigh in and also enough time to find somewhere else out of the wind. Up at the weigh in station Jason’s Brown went around 1.8kg whilst my smaller Brown weighed 1.2kg. The Rainbows were average high 600gm specimens but enough to put us into the secret weight categories. Turns out Jason caught the second biggest Brown for the whole day (Over all weigh stations) and the biggest for his nominated area. For the second year running he received the prized beer glasses for the biggest Brown weighed in and also FangACT team Brown for day one.
Heading into town we decided to rab a kebab and shoot the breeze (Pun intended) about where to base ourselves for the afternoon/evening. Stinky Bay near the dam wall was kind of sheltered and the banks looked great. After visiting the area for little over two hours none of us received a touch so we opted to head back to the Kalkite ramp and find some shelter near the Eucumbene River arm. Light began to fade and we were buggered and in need of a good nights rest. I managed a decent Rainbow on ‘Chunky Cheese’ and Jason almost stepped on a Plovers nest (Luckily it proved to be abandoned due to the rising water).
We headed back to our cars and rearranged our gear to provide shelter for the night. Nobody thought about putting rods out overnight as the rain pelted down and the wind just flung through the nearby gorge. I wasn’t cold and slept quite well in the back of my Forester, so much so that I snoozed through my 5am alarm only to wake around 6:30am. With the sun well and truly up and the weather still dreadful I put a rod out straight away, had some breakfast and then went to deploy the other. With all the noise of the wind and the rain (I had donned wet weather gear) I didn’t notice my bite alarm had been flung off and my rod was loaded up to the first fish of the day (In under 5 minutes).
The fish just didn’t want to come in, putting up a great fight on my spaghetti rod. Again the fluoro line was paying off; I could feel it rubbing around underwater debris. A stunning Brown was dragged up the bank (Net just out of reach) and deemed ‘Lucky’. To start the second day with a Brown was great as these are the type of Trout you find yourself caught short on at Troutfest, due to the massive numbers of patrolling Rainbows snaffling up baits first. Hammo emerged and headed for home shortly after, there was no way he could safely troll in the current weather. Jason slept in an hour more, finding me tussling with another Trout of decent size that had me around a tree (It didn’t end well).
With four rods in the water we quickly picked up a few Rainbows and an Atlantic Salmon (Big four complete, awesome). We traversed a few bays and found another promosing looking bank, ended up being pretty slow fishing unfortunately. My scrub worm was taken by a fat little Bow and by that stage we had both had enough. With a total possession limit of 10 Trout each over the weekend and an esky chokers with fish we called it a day. Back at the weigh in station our Rainbows faired better than the previous day, my smallest length fish was the heaviest (By almost 80gm’s). It also secured team Rainbow for day two and statistics wise I was the only team member wo weigh in a Brown in a Rainbow on consecutive opening days (Thanks to ‘Lucky’).
Trout Fest really saps your strength, you become weak and agitated. You fish long hours and put in 110% just to get a favourable result. It’s also the reason you return the following year, once again giving it your all and fishing with mates who are doing the same. To be honest im just trying to eclipse my own past results and end up fishing against myself. 2008 was a corker event, 2009 a bit of a personal flop and 2010 had been the best one yet, for me anyway. I know the others had a great time and look forward to seeing how we went in team category. The best thing of all is knowing I may get to fish the whole event next year, not just the opening weekend.
