Freshwater Fly Fishing Report by John Coles of John Coles Fly Fishing

John Coles Fly Fishing
Report May 2007-05-24

Central Tablelands
Only last week good rains fall across most of the state.
I was guiding around Oberon the day after it received up to 66mm and most of the streams were running very discoloured. The farmers certainly had smiles on their faces, as rain has been in short supply over the last few months. Oberon Dam is disappearing with no water above The Reef, this is the lowest I have ever seen it!
The dams around this area although low have produced some good solid fish through out the season and will continue to through the winter period. I will be running trips through out the winter for anyone who wants to increase their lake craft skills.

New England
I have been running trips to is this area. For most of the year they have had good rain.
On one trip in early March we arrived in driving rain to find that a 1.5m flood had gone down the stream the evening before. Even though the stream was high and dirty the fishing was excellent with rainbows up to 1kg mostly taken on Pheasant Tail Flashback Nymphs fished short under an indicator fly.
This area has spectacular scenery the property we stayed on even has its own huge waterfall.
I will be running trips next season so book early as I already have some bookings.

Blue Mountains
Closer to home I have access to some private stocked dams. These make an easy day trip or an overnight stay possible and I can run trips for 1-3 fly fishers. They are open all winter.

New Zealand
Last winter I ran escorted trips for clients to the North Island. The rivers around Turangi are open all winter. These trips are good for anglers who have not visited NZ before. We stay in Turangi and fish the wonderful Tongariro River. You can stroll from our accommodation to several famous pools. It’s a great week; I arrange everything, all you have to do is fish. You can download an information/booking sheet from my website. This is for a maximum of 3 fly fishers.
I can also organise similar trips later in the year to the South Island, I will be sending details later this year.

The Flexi- Stripper
I have as many of you would know been a promoter of the use of stripping baskets.
This is a great improvement designed in Europe.
I have used it on Sydney Harbour and in the South Island. It’s a fantastic casting aid, making line handling and shooting so easy. Plus you save wear and tear on your line and you are far more manoeuvrable. If you would like one you can download an order form from my web site.

Fly tying
Many clients have said they would like to learn to tie there own flies so this winter I will be running a couple of Full day fly tying course in August. If the demand is there I will run more. So if you would like to learn another area of this sport get your booking form in now, down loadable from the web site

Workshops
The winter is a great time to learn about fly fishing. If you have a friend who wants to get into it tell them to come along to one of my workshops. I have gift vouchers, so if you feel generous you can make a present to some one. If you are having trouble with your casting I have half day casting workshops, video assessment really helps you see what you are doing. (Course Dates if space allows)
I also run private lessons available on request.
Contact John on email: john@jcflyfishing.com.au
Tel 61 2 9907 0682
www.jcflyfishing.com.au

16 October 2006
I had a good trip to NZ to fish the Tongariro in mid September escorting a small group of anglers. September has been the prime month for the main spawning runs over the last few seasons. A small recreational flow the weekend before we arrived brought new fish into the river but we got little rain during the week. Conditions were sunny and bright apart from one overcast drizzly day. This did make the fishing hard, but we did catch some nice fish in the 1.3- 2 kg class. I will be running similar trips next season so let me know if you would like further information.
Closer to home I have just returned from a 3 day guiding trip on the Central Tablelands. Here again the farmers are back to praying for rain. The streams are already at summer levels. I did however find plenty of fish for my two clients.
Catching them was not always easy, eight fish came to the net from .5 -1.1kg.
For this time of year there are plenty of emerging insects such as caddis and midges. Most fish took a flash back nymph. A couple of fish rose to the dry. In the tight conditions with fallen timber it did not always go the anglers way. One angler lost 6 fish, one a brown that I polaroided in a deep pool. It would have gone around 2kg and hung the angler up on some weed at the bottom of the pool. The main dams in the area are all down as in previous seasons. I have had good reports of fish coming from Thompsons Creek. I believe all of them will fish well in the coming months, and I look forward to those warm evenings and those mudeye migrations. Last season I observed something that I have never noticed before. The morning after a great mudeye fishing action the reeds around the dam appeared to be covered in a frost. In actual fact it was an amazing system of spiders webs. The spiders had bailed up the emerging Dragon flies and were having a feast on them so for once the helicopter gunship of the insect world had met its match.
If you are interested in joining me on a guided fishing trip send mean email or give me a call I usually guide 1 or 2 anglers. Tumut has started the season very dry with little snow melt this year. The main river is of course high and fishing well but the smaller creeks are low. New England I have only one report that gives good water levels at the start of the season. This is a beautiful area to visit for a few days. Contact me if you would like me to organise a trip for you, I usually take 1 or 2 fly fishers.
I am also running my Fly Fishing workshops in Sydney for those new to the sport,
these can also be combined with a trip away for small groups of 3-4 persons
Tight lines,
John

John Coles Fly Fishing
email john@jcflyfishing.com.au
www.jcflyfishing.com.au
Ph 2 9907 0682
Mob 0417 283 327

John Coles Fly Fishing
Report May 2006
Just before Easter I spent the week fishing New Zealand’s Mackenzie Country around Twizel. We had a mixed bag of weather. The first day we fished the Upper Ahuriri and after a short shower the sun came out and we had rising fish. I spent quite sometime on a fish feeding nicely in a back eddy. Finally the fish took my fly only to have me take it away, bugger! A little later I got a beautiful brown on the first cast that went 2.2kg. Overnight the Mountains got a good cover of snow and the weather was mixed with rainsqualls and sunny periods. I had a ball fishing double nymphs and catching really fit browns and rainbows in fast flowing streams. When the rivers finally coloured up I had great sport with glow bugs and streamers. I caught a beautiful brown that went 3.2kg from the Maori Lake, I got it on the first cast after polaroiding it.
I finished up on a beautiful spring creek for the last day and caught and lost one or two very nice trout. The big brown that I lost right at the net is more than enough reason to return next year. Last week both North and South Island got some much needed rain and snow. During this winter I will be escorting small groups to fish the spawning runs on the North Island, this is really exciting fishing. I will also be taking groups to the South Island later next season.
As the season draws to a close on most of our local streams we appear to be heading back into the drought. I wish it was different but we have had little rain since early March. That aside I have had some good trips to the Central Tablelands. Last weekend I attended the CFA Inter Club at Wallerawang. There was good fish caught from the various dams around Lithgow. Bob Beamish won the trophy for the largest trout, a rainbow that measured 440 mm. I managed a couple of nice trout from one of the creeks, and won the best brown that measured 425mm. Even though the streams are low there appears to be a good head of fish in some creeks. Only a couple of weeks ago while guiding some visiting American anglers we encountered rising fish all day long.
This winter will see the Cox and Wollondilly Rivers in certain sections open all year. The reports from the lower Cox are not good with one of the main spawning streams dry.
However I have access to a remote part of the Wollondilly only accessible by 4WD or helicopter. Due to the fact that the water board is pumping water from the southern impoundments the river has a reasonable flow. As the weather gets colder and hopefully with some rain it could get a good run of fish. I can run trips for one or two anglers and there’s a nice comfortable cabin.
Although the local dams are low there is still plenty of water and fish, I took a very fit Rainbow of1kg last weekend and other anglers captured several similar sized fish. I really enjoy fishing the dams in winter they can often come into their own and will be organising some trips away. I will be ending the season at Tumut; the fishing is usually very good at this time of year on both the big river and the many smaller creeks. I have some places still left on some trips so contact me if you would like to join a small group or get your own group together.
I will also be running my learn tio Fly Fish workshops hjere in Sydney over the coming months, check the web site for details.
Tight lines,
John
Contact John on Tel: 02 9907 0682 Mob: 0417 283 327
Email: john@jcflyfishing.com.au
www.jcflyfishing.com.au

January 2006,

Happy New Year, I hope everyone has had a good Christmas break?
I guided a couple of groups around Oberon the week before Christmas. I also managed to get a days fishing in myself between groups. What a day it was, on a small stream the fish where feeding from dawn to dusk, I managed 17 browns all in the 1-1.5 kg size. Most fish took Royal Wulffs occasionally a small brown nymph beneath the dry. This is the type of fishing that they reckon only happened in the good old days. If this is a sign of what’s in store for the coming year then it’s looking very good. I took one party onto Lake Oberon, as the sun went down the fish came on, in one bay we encountered Midge Ball feeders and had a ball landing several 1.5kg rainbows. On another evening Georgie Clarke landed her first Oberon rainbow on a Chernobyl Ant, the fish went 1.6 kg.
I will be running some trips for small groups (2-4 persons) to Oberon in the coming months. Please contact me if you would like to join me on a trip.

I spent a few days celebrating Christmas at Tumut with my family and friends. This year the Council have cut down huge amounts of willows along the river close to town. While this sounds good it creates a faster river than ever before, which at this time of year goes like a train.
It was like fishing a different river to the last twenty seasons.
I usually only go out for the evening rise or at first light, on each session I was rewarded with several nice fish of 1 kg and better. I did see one or two better fish sitting in almost un-castable lies. I hooked a good fish but it ran me around a submerged tree and I lost it. Its very exciting fishing dries just as the sunsets with many rising fish.

After Boxing Day I joined a group further south in the high country fishing a beautiful alpine stream. Truly magnificent country; we had wild brumbies prancing down to watch us fish, before they galloped off across the meadow. We had four days of superb fishing. Many of the fish are small but they rise to a dry with gusto. I used a couple of tandem nymphs and landed several fish in the 35 cms size, great fun on a 3-weight rod. In the afternoons I landed many fish using a small simple hopper pattern.
We explored the river; one group wore themselves out hiking several kilometres down stream. I explored the water close to camp that most people ignored and found the fishing to be excellent. There’s nothing quite like camping out in these wild places, millions of stars to marvel at, alpine flowers everywhere, plus the odd fly.
We left early morning on New Years Eve after four wonderful days. I understand as the temperatures soared the Park was closed to all camping.

I will be running some trips to fish around the Tumut area so please contact me if you have a group or are interested in joining a small group (2-4) fly fishers. If you want to learn to fly fish I will be running my regular workshops here in Sydney.
Later in the year I will be running some trips to fish the spawning runs on NZ ‘s North Island this winter so please contact me if you are interested. I’m also looking at a trip to Patagonia, so if South America sounds like your kind of place give me a call.
Tight Lines,
John

November 2005

The rain god certainly unleashed a terrific storm when I was fishing at Oberon a couple of weeks ago. It was wonderful, lashings of rain and thunder the air tingled with electricity. What a difference a bit of rain makes, the people fishing with me could not get over how green it is up there. It's good to see farmers smiling at last and now they are making hay, some farm dams are spilling for the first time in 5 years.
The main dams have a long way to go but they are slowly rising covering new ground which usually signals good fishing. A word of caution after rains springs flowing into dams can turn the dam edge into quicksand, so take care.
Oberon Dam has been producing the odd fish, once the weather warms a little we should see some good Midge and Mudeye activity. I took a rainbow 45 cms on a Stick Caddis. Most of the creeks in the area were flowing really well, they have had a fairly hard time during the drought so fish may be few and far between. I've had several reports of reasonable 40+ cm fish taken from the Fish River and Native Dog Creek.
I spent the last weekend with Paul DA'rcy over from Perth for a few days fishing around Oberon. Paul landed several nice rainbows and browns from 1-1.5 kg all in great condition. He also lost a big fish in the main dam, he was hooked up for two minutes but the leader knot gave way, a great shame. I got a nice brown out of a stream, it was a really good conditioned fish and was quite a handfull on the 3 weight, it went 1.8kg . On a private dam we had some great sport with my Hirondelle Mudeye patterns. We had some crashing takes, my best fish was a rainbow of 2.1kg, unfortunately we had a flash problem so no photo. Flies used on the weekend; Mrs Simpson's, Mudeyes, Stick Caddis, Damsels, Flash Backed Nymphs.
If you do catch fish in the streams, please consider catch and release, if the fish have survived the last few years they are survivors. Fisheries will be restocking many of the streams in the area but it does take some time for them to turn into good size fish. At this time of year keep an eye out for snakes, I saw two over the weekend a Brown and a Tiger just sunning themselves and no problem.
The New England area didn't get the rain's that the Central Tablelands received, and my contacts up there tell me the fishing has been a little slow.
Similar reports for the Southern Highlands, they had 44 mm of rain in one day and a farmer tells me that he had to go back to his 2001 records to find a similar fall. Lets hope they get another deluge they really need it.
Further south around Tumut they had good rains all winter. I had several reports on opening weekend and the main river was still down. One angler took a beautiful brown that went 4.2 kg, a nice fish. I really like this area and I will be running some trips staying in a beautiful cabin with its own stretch of stream.
If you are interested in learning to Fly fish I run regular workshops here in Sydney. If you want to increase your Fly fishing skills I run Lake and Stream Craft Courses up at Oberon and Tumut. Or if you want I can organize a fishing trip for you and your friends to various locations. Check out my web site for more details. If you have a freshwater fishing report that you would like to share email me the details to john@jcflyfishing.com.au. You dont have to be too specific just general location river or creek, weather and water conditions and what he fish were doing, flies used etc.
Tight lines and screaming reels,
John

spring Sept 1, 2005

My curiosity got the better of me last week and I headed down to Pejar Dam near Crookwell to see how low it is. The dam has featured on quite a few TV news shows about the drought, and some reports had it as almost empty. I feel sorry for the folk of that area because they are really having a hard time with the drought. The dam is down to 10% so its low; from a fishing point of view it’s still a large area of water. The local farmer tells me the bait fishermen have been catching a few fish. You can learn a great deal about what's usually below the water, old roads, bridges, fences and areas where the builders bulldozed large areas creating massive drop offs. You can also see the old riverbed in some areas; these are all structures that fish frequent when the water returns. The evening I was there, we had a minor midge hatch and I saw a couple of good fish move out wide, but we didn’t have any hook ups. I think as the weather warms up in the coming months it should fish well especially when the Galaxia smelt appear.
I had a couple of reports from the Wollondilly, the river has been running high, and it’s a mystery where the fish are. Both anglers failed to find fish. I’ve got a feeling that the Rainbows have yet to run, so if we do get rain we can expect late spawners in our streams.
I also had a couple of reports on Thompson's Creek Dam near Lithgow; there haven’t been the usual signs of mass spawners in the shallows this year.
Those large cruising fish along the dam wall that tantalize so many anglers, I believe are fairly educated fish, they are hard to fool into taking a fly. I reckon your time is better spent searching the deeper water with more drop offs. One angler got a solid rainbow that went 1.3kg. As the weather warms we should see good dry fly action.
If you have not fished this winter, the cabin fever is almost over. The trout streams in NSW open on Saturday October 1, the Labour Day Long Weekend. I heard a weather reporter saying that we look like going strait into summer from winter. Don't get caught out early in the season, expect all four seasons in one day.
I have had good reports from most areas. The New England area has had good rains over winter and usually fishes well early in the season. The Snowy area streams, the Thredbo and Eucumbene usually fish well with snowmelt filling the streams. The Rainbows are running up the Thredbo this week, according to a Fisheries Officer, so there should be good quality fish in the river. The Oberon area has had some rains and some streams fair better than others. I will be heading down to Tumult where I will be running a stream craft course. We stay in a beautiful cabin about 30 kms out of town right on the edge of the Wilderness area, with two rivers within walking distance. Give me a call if you would like to join me on one of these trips. I run regular workshops here in Sydney teaching fly fishing, so if you would like to learn give me a call. I also run general guided trips away so let me put a trip together for you an your friends.
Tight lines and Screaming Reels,
John

FLY FISHING FRESHWATER
MID WINTER Aug 1, 2005

For many fly fishers it’s a stay at home time of year, replenishing the fly box for the new stream season later in the year. However if you are prepared to rug up for cold, wet and windy conditions, this time of year can deliver some terrific fishing in the Dams of the Central Tablelands.

I have been very lucky with almost spring like weather on several recent trips. You do need to have good all weather clothing; the new Gortex breathable waders and jackets keep you comfortable no matter what Mother Nature throws at you. Many people say to me“ but the dams are so low”, true they are down by many metres, however most of them are still huge bodies of water and the good news is that the fish are still there.

The rains of early July have put a bit of fresh into most of the dams, I’ve been concentrating on Lyell and Oberon, and both are fishing well. There are some nice solid Rainbows around the 1 kg mark. Dave Wilson took a beautiful Rainbow of 3.2 kg on his second cast of the day and my best fish so far was a fit female Brown that went 3.1 kg. At this time of year there’s very little surface activity, early in the morning fish can be found cruising close in. The water has been very clear and on those clear cloudless days it can be a great time to Polaroid around the dams. The key to this type of fishing is to walk slowly, pausing to scan the water looking for those slow moving fish around the margins trying to flush out nymphs and yabbies, its very exciting fishing. A tip is to make sure that your clothing blends in with your surroundings, stay still and spot the fish before it spots you. Most of these large fish are territorial and usually are on patrol on a set beat. With the full light of day the fish tend to retreat to deeper water.

Flies that are working are Mrs Simpson’s, Black and Brown Woolly Buggers, Minkies and Dog Nobblers. On a couple of occasions I have seen very large trout cleaning up gudgeon that are affected by blue green algae. The gudgeon were almost dead, struggling belly up on the surface in wind lanes; some very big fish were attacking them with gusto.

The recent good rains across the whole region should have triggered fish to head off on their spawning runs, heading off to those small stony creeks where they pair up and mate. The Wollondilly was in flood a couple of weeks ago and dirty; I had a report from Jamie Chalmers that he had managed a couple of fish. The Cox doesn’t appear to have had quite the same flood, so passage up stream may not be so easy. I had a report from Kurt Lehman who walked into the Jenolan area this week. Kurt reported few fish, the ones he did catch all had a worm infestation, but otherwise fit and around the 1 kg mark. He did comment that it wasn’t really worth the walk in, for the few fish around. Due to the scarcity of these rains it could mean that fish will spawn late this year, it’s quite likely that there could still be spawners in the streams when they open in October. If you do encounter fish paired up, they should be left alone since they are producing the future stock.

Lets hope in the coming weeks we get some good follow up rain, a key time is during the darks when the moon is at its smallest. When rains come at that time huge numbers of fish can run up these streams under the cover of darkness.
I think that one of the few benefits of this drought is that the natural recruitment of the Lake Burragorang trout will have been very low, which long term should guarantee an increase in the average size of these fish, over the last decade this has been falling.

I will be running some Lake craft weekends in the coming weeks, if you would like to learn about how to fish these dams give me a call or drop me an email and I will send you further details. If you have had a good day send me a fishing report.
Tight Lines and screaming reels,
John

click here for more information on John Coles Fly fishing schools.

contact John or Rob on (02) 9907 0682
or at john@jcflyfishing.com.au