AT the first touch of water it came to life, the marabou tail on the purple Woolly Bugger fly moved as though it was a living thing. It sunk down out of sight, the large bead head dragging it down until all that could be seen was the intermediate line angled down at around 45 degrees.
The retrieve was a steady pull of around 300mm finished off with a couple of twitches then a pause and another retrieve.
The big old girl was fooled by the action of the Woolly Bugger and followed it up to the surface away from the sanctuary of the log she had lay hidden under. Finally, when she looked as though her back would break the water and her belly would rub on the gravel, she sucked the fly down no more than a metre from the bank.
She desperately tried to regain her position within the timber from where she had been enticed from, but steady side pressure from the 8-weight fly rod steered her away from the snag into free water. Momentarily it felt more like holding a straining pig dog on a chain than fighting a fish … then it made lunge after lunge to try and gain its position back in the timber.
The familiar deep throbbing fight of the thick set fish took over and the 8-weight cushioned the weakening runs; in time the old girl tired and had her nose on the bank!
A quick measure showed her to be an honest 60cm or two foot in the old language. I released her after a quick picture and moved about 5m to the right and put the Woolly Bugger out again and let it slip out of sight into the depths, again on the retrieve it was tapped twice but failed to grab any hook, possibly nipping the flowing tail.
This fat golden perch was finally fooled into taking a purple Woolly Bugger.
It is the quality of these fish that is the major drawcard for so many anglers to Windamere Dam, situated about 180 kms from Sydney as the crow flies. Fly fishing for natives in Windamere dam is pursued only by a small minority of anglers, the far biggest majority of visiting anglers will be lure casters/trollers or jiggers working structure.
Silver perch too are taken at Windamere by gun fly anglers such as Peter Hanrahan.
A solid 60cm golden prior to release.
The next biggest percentage of anglers would be bait anglers who take probably the biggest range of species like golden perch, silver perch, Murray cod, catfish and the very occasional freshwater blackfish, and possibly a remnant trout or goldfish.
Fly anglers would make up less than 1 per cent of the visiting anglers and it this fact that makes Windamere Dam such a great spot for those using the long wand, fighting for bank space is rarely a problem.
We had arranged to meet at the ramp at 9.30 am for a leisurely start, I had arrived early and launched the boat and taken a quick exploratory run to see where the temperature changes were. Seeing that it was close to the agreed time I headed back to make sure I was a bit early but as I suspected Peter “Morsie” Morse and his stepson James Manners were already at the ramp ready to go.
With a forecast westerly wind for the day the tactic was to mooch around the easterly side of the dam looking for warm water traps that also had good depth along the banks as well as some structure.
Finding two of the three criteria I planned looking for, we stopped on our first bank and rigged up with Woolly Bugger type flies and started fishing the bank. After a few casts the plan was to walk on and repeat the process until fish were found.
I moved the boat further along so Morsie and James could fish their way to it but I could see Morsie and James were stationary on the bank amongst the trees, either on a fish or a snag. As it turned out, Morsie had taken the first fish for the day in the first few metres he fished.
Next stop and again we had a good bank and good structure but the temperature was a bit wanting, but I was still confident as it was a proven fish producing bank.
James’s fly was attacked close to a rock ledge and a large surface boil had his adrenalin flowing quite rapidly. Repeated casts failed to entice the fish to come back though…
Although the structure along there was superb, we had no more joy. Another move for a big doughnut, then another move to a good bank infested with blackberries and assorted scrub. Again the silence was broken as James vented his joy as a nice golden slid up to the edge following his fly and then refused it and slid back into the depths.
Morsie had been high siding James when the fish first followed the fly and now he had a grandstand view of the fish and angler below. Another cast and another follow, a change of fly, another cast another follow… Finally, after three fly changes and half a dozen follows, the golden finally sucked in the fly and a battle to keep the fish out of the drowned blackberries began.
After a tense couple of minutes the fish lay beaten at the water’s edge and as James was about to reach down and comfort lift the fish out for a quick picture, the fly which had doggedly stuck in the fish’s mouth for the entire fight now decided to come adrift and shoot back over James’s shoulder as the fished charged back into the depths. Fish 1, James nil.
The boys decided to blackberry bash their way along the bank while I took the boat down to clear ground. I noticed that they eventually gave up trying to bash their way through the blackberries and walked up high giving that particular bank a miss.
They arrived at the boat both sporting blackberry scratches to their legs with the blood already congealing in the warm wind; had it been a still hot day it would have been a flyfest in the boat.
It was then I had the biggest regret of the day. Morsie had brought enough lunch for us all but I declined and got out my devon and sauce sandwich. I then watched as delicacies spilled from his tucker bag and James and Peter built some mouth-watering wraps full of all sorts of goodies. Lesson learnt!
The wind had picked up to a moderate gale and as we nosed the boat into the whitecaps it was evident that it was going to be pretty uncomfortable pushing further up into the main basin. Pulling over at the furthest point reached we fished for no return.
Heading back towards the river arm it was as though all the planets had aligned…
One of my favourite banks had it all, the warm water was back eddying into the bay, the temperature was one of the highest readings of the day, depth and structure were excellent and the prevailing north westerly wind was smashing the waves into the bank with enough force that there was a four to five metre area of dirty water moving back out from the bank.
Morsie and James started working the bank, I was transfixed watching their effortless deliveries, regardless of wind direction or the terrain behind or in front.
I slowly worked a beadhead Woolly Bugger close to the boat and a log close by.
Now to some, the appeal of fly fishing is the art of casting and delivering a fly to their chosen target. Tight loops and perfect deliveries, back casts, roll casts, steeple casts and so on. To me, fly fishing is a glorified way of hand lining as the reel mostly only plays the part of holding the line, unless of course a decent fish is hooked it takes enough line to put you “ back on the reel “ or even on your backing! To me the “tug“ is the drug and it was the big tug that brought me back to the here and now … instinctively I locked the fly line to the cork with my index and middle finger and lifted the rod to set the hook.
The rod tip was still pointing at the water but the 8-weight was bent to the butt on what was obviously a good fish. For a fleeting moment I thought I may have hooked an out of season Murray cod as it tried to bulldoze its way back in to the log. Then the all familiar characteristics of a good “yella” fighting down deep could be felt. Everything held together and a football sized golden of 58 cm was landed. A quick pic and away she swam.
Ken Smith looking pretty pleased about catching another nice Windamere “yella”. Image: Peter Morse
Morsie was next to let out a “yeeeees!“ as his rod bent double on a good fish. After a solid fight Pete landed his second fish for the day, a nice 52cm model. Going by the smile on his face he was quite happy. Catching a fish is one thing, knowing how to hold and present that fish to the camera as well as showing the gear you are using is another skill entirely. Pete and James are experts at it, myself I am still learning!
As the shadows were starting to lengthen I was really hoping for James to get to hold his first Windy golden. Morsie was now fishing behind James giving him first crack at “new“ water. James had fished through a section when Morsie again let out a “yeeeeeees!“… “agh”…. a fish had taken his purple fly, given a good tug but failed to hook up.
Pete told James to come back and fish to where he had just had the take. A few more casts and a change of fly and James was hooked solid to another Windy golden. I think it was sheer relief to the whole three of us when James got a thumb grip on the fish and comfort lifted it for another quick picture before a speedy release.
After several frustrating follows and missed strikes, James Manners came up trumps with this nice fish.
Three fish in about 30 minutes and within a 50 metre stretch had us all pretty stoked; I think my joy was more in seeing both my fishing mates catch fish, although catching a fish as well was just icing on the cake!
We called it a day and agreed for a return match next month as the first month of spring is nearly over and the fishing in Windamere is starting to heat up. October will be something to look forward to with warm days and rising water temperatures and forage fish, shrimps and yabbies becoming more active.
Anyone keen to give Windy a fair dinkum go on fly need not be too concerned with spending big dollars on the top of the range gear to begin with! A trip to your local fishing store could see you set up for as little as $200, a basic rod and reel with at least a 7-weight line, a few beadhead Woolly Bugger flies as well as some Zonkers. Stick to purple, green, olive and black to begin with, throw in some Mrs Simpsons and black fur flies and you’re in with a real chance.
Where to start in the dam? The no boating zone at the main wall can be as good as it gets from the bank with the added bonus of no boat traffic, but don’t fish off the main wall or associated structures as that is illegal!
Hope to see you there!
