THERE’S a saying about 20ft being a magic depth for freshwater fishing. Whether it’s for trout or natives you can’t go far wrong running a lure or fishing a fly around this mark. Whether you run a lure that dives to 20ft or fish lead line, paravane or downrig, it can be a very productive level.
Fishing sinking fly lines can at times too be the most effective way of catching fish in deeper water.
Flat line trolling is probably the most employed technique of boat bound trout anglers and while still effective at times it can result in unproductive days when fish are holding in lower levels.
Getting down to it
Evan Walker was recently happily surprised when his Rapala lure, which was running behind his downrigger set at 16ft and worked close to standing timber, had the line pulled from the ‘rigger clip. A solid battle ensued before a beautiful Lake Lyell bass measuring 40cm to the fork was brought to the boat for a quick happy snap before being released.
The sounder was showing plenty of fish in Lake Lyell’s main basin. With the lake at 100 per cent capacity I was left wondering if these schooling fish were bass succumbing to their primeval urge to run down stream to brackish water to reproduce.
This happened with Lake Wallace, which is situated above Lake Lyell. When it flowed over, bass and trout flowed over the wall in large numbers to create a spectacular tail race fishery.
Stockings on a regular basis have now ensured there are a number of bass in the lake of various sizes.
A nice bass taken while downrigging at Lake Lyell.
Lake trout
While the bass want to head downstream to breed, trout in the lake are heading in the opposite direction to also follow their urge to breed. We have been targeting the schooling fish in the upper end of the lake with good results and while I have been hoping for some bass bycatch, it hasn’t happened.
A day spent there recently with my three year old grandson was nothing short of fantastic with fish eager to take small plastics cast amongst the sunken timber.
While the majority of fish were released, we did keep three for a feed and the smile on the young bloke’s face was priceless.
Youngster Josh Wotton with three nice keeper rainbows.
My next trip down with my parents was pretty much replicated the trip before with eager rainbows painted with bright red and crimson slashes and brightly coloured gill plates falling to the plastics.
Mum, being a keen bait fisher, caught a good rainbow on her first cast with a bunch of worms.
While many trout fall to putty baits in the lake, the folks being of the old school are yet to embrace the artificial trout nugget baits.
On a previous trip, Mum and Dad brought two wood grubs along with worms for bait. The two wood grubs accounted for two bass in two casts!
Visiting anglers to Lake Lyell are well catered for at Lake Lyell Recreational Park with excellent boat ramps, jetty, water front camp sites, powered camp sites and excellent amenities
Lake Wallace above Lake Lyell does produce some trophy size trout along with the odd bass but restrictions on power boats and the tendency of the shallow lake to harbour a lot of weed sees less angler activity than Lyell or nearby Thompson’s Creek Dam.
If you visit Thompson’s Creek Dam, be sure to take the winter woollies! Pic: Joshua Hutchins
Thompson’s Creek Dam is known as one of the best trout waters in mainland Australia and many trophy size trout are taken (and mostly released) from this small dam.
Designated as trophy water, the dam can only be fished with artificial lures and flies.
Double figure fish are taken at Thompson’s Creek every year and it certainly deserves its highly rated reputation as one of the best trout waters in Australia.
Joshua Hutchins knows Thompson Creek intimately and as such, guides many clients to their personal PBs on trout.
Joshua has proven such a successful guide his booking sheet is nearly always full but if you’re keen to catch a big trout you could try and book him at: aussieflyfisher@gmail.com
Oberon Dam, once regarded as the jewel in the crown of trout fishing dams in the Central Tablelands, is again returning some reasonable fish but still has a long way to go if ever it is to regain its title, which seems impossible while ever the highly invasive redfin are present.
Redfin, while good eating, have basically destroyed Oberon, Ben Chifley and Carcoar Dams; initially they fish well but when numbers of these fish increase and runting occurs, fishing these dams becomes pretty mundane.
There are some nice fish to be caught at Thompson’s Creek Dam for those prepared to put in the time. Pic: Joshua Hutchins
So for my money, if you’re keen on a trout fish up this way, roll your swag out at Lake Lyell and use it as a base to also fish Lake Wallace and Thompson’s Creek Dam or just stick to Lyell and enjoy the, at times, abundant trout fishing and occasional bass action.
