Saturday:
Most members left Melbourne around 6am and arrived at the Jindabyne cottage around 5pm. 6pm, Michael Piontek (NSW Fisheries Officer) had a well delivered chat about the Lake fishing, lures and changes of rules fishing in the river. Surprisingly the team found it informative and helpful. Top bloke, but we never saw him again during the week.
Sunday:
Saw an early start. The crew split up in to groups of 2 for trolling the lake, Bernie/Wayne, Niki/Stuart, Kevin/Gordon, Richard/Bruce, Tim and landbased fishos were Jeff/Andrew/David and Steve. Being the first day the boat fishos spread out across the lake. A few fish were caught, but most found fishing hard going. The brown trout were sticking to the bottom of the lake's river arms waiting for the right condition to run up the river to spawn. Gordon (aka FLASH) lost a rod holder over the side of the boat. Bernie, Wayne and Tim fished the top of the lake and caught fish. Bernie had the biggest fish of the day. Later that night Rhys finally arrive from Melbourne completing our crew. The crew regrouped, information from the Harris boys and Tim had the crew in good spirit for the next day.
Monday:
Early start, armed with info from the previous night, 2/3rd of the crew fished the Thredbo and Kalkite arm. FLASH, lost his rod & reel overboard somewhere along the Eucumbene river arm of Lake Jindabyne, he was not a happy camper :-( Richard (aka THE HOFF) decided to help out Niki (aka DUCKS) and Stuart (aka HOLLYWOOD) with a spare bomb, he motored past the back of their boat and tangled the line around the propeller, managing to cut all the lines except for one which he managed to retain and consequently caught a big fish on the said lure, the cheeky bugger.
Tuesday:
Another early start and back up the top end of the lake for most of the boat crew, including the landbased mob. Kevin's car had a talking with a kangaroo, the roo just hopped off, just like his temper (bloody roo). We ran into the local ranger, he was pretty good, notified all of the crew about getting a pass for entry in the Park by the end of the day. FLASH's 3rd bad luck came in the form of his inflatable life jacket deploying while he was putting it on...... which made him burst out laughing. He thought maybe he might be lucky getting his lost rod/reel, but no such luck after 4 hours of dredging the lake in the area where he lost it. Following on FLASH's bad luck, Bernie lost his boat seat cover. A few fish were caught from trolling whilst Jeff caught a big trout, fishing up the river and takes the lead with the heaviest fish.
Wednesday:
Again an early start, most were trolling the top end as fish were being caught there the past few days. Bernie, Wayne, Rhys and Tim decided to fish new water Lake Tantangarra, where most of them got their bag limit resulting with Tim catching a lovely big brown trout and stormed into the lead for the heaviest fish. Adrew (aka Mad Dog), Jeff, HOLLYWOOD and Niki decided to fish the Thredbo River. Jeff caught another good brown, Niki a small brown and HOLLYWOOD a nice rainbow, but unfortunately lost his leatherman along the way.
Thursday:
You guessed it, EARLY START, and a few of the crew changed fishing partners Bernie/Niki, Richard/Gordon, Kevin/Bruce. While Kevin reversed the boat Bruce decided to watch the water whilst standing in the path, a near miss! He stepped in the water to get on to Kevin's boat misjudged the depth and filled his boots with water, a trip back to the cottage to get dry gear..... round 2. Niki decided to hook her thumb with the treble from a lure, then freaked out when Bernie took off his glasses and reached for a pair of side cutters and asked her to look away.... SNIP!! ... and all was left was a small piece, unlike Niki's stomach. The KNIGHT HOLLYWOOD was summond as he was having a lay day, he was at the chicken and chip shop and says "What do I do with the chicken?".... At the surgery, HOLLYWOOD was questioned about his relation to Niki by the medical staff. After all the shenanigans a few fish were caught from the boat with Bruce picking up a good sized brown a tad lighter than Tim's. That evening Bernie, Wayne, Rhys and Tim decided to bait fish and had a ball catching rainbows.
Friday:
Steve, Tim, Andrew and Jeff headed home due to prior commitments. The last of the early start, Richard caught a nice brown but wasn't big enough to beat Tim's. David decided to go for a swim with the fish. A call out to FLASH, and a fire was started to warm him and dry his clothes. He was supplied with spare clothes and Richard provided him with gum boots from the car, coffee all around and a chinese laundry setup he was left to dry out. Richard and FLASH caught and release 6 small trout. Richard caught another good sized brown. Steak and eggs for lunch on the shore provided by chef Richard Ramsay, he did a great job and was very relaxing. Wayne ran out of fuel just before the ramp. Bernie fell asleep while trolling and drove into a tree which stopped him on his track. That night Niki organised a BBQ everyone was knackered, great company and food.
Saturday:
A slow start, a big beakfast was cooked by Bruce, boats were packed, cabins cleaned, 10am all departed and later that afternoon arrived safely home.
Last comments:
Pub meals where good, and frequented by the crew most nights. The fishing shops were sad to see HOLLYWOOD leave town. The weather whilst we were there was beautiful, but need rain to make the fish move. We all learnt a lot, and guidance from the experienced guys. We are all happy to return next year.
Ross, I think an increase on our insurance liability cover might be a good thing after a few edgy moments on this trip...... ;-)