After an early start on Wed morning & the hearty bacon & roll & lunch pickup at Adaminaby I headed off to Denisons for a squizz. The usual crowds are up the top end, which I avoided, but also a significant number of cars at the bridge & right down at the rapids closest to the lake.
The howling downstream wind was horrendous, & giving me so much grief trying to cast that I crossed a muddy river which apparently had risen overnight by about 8-9″ due to torrential overnight rain. I fished the bridge pool & was super-excited to hook a 5lb hen within 5mins of the session. Unfortunately I dropped it at the bank when my globug got hooked, & the fish rolled off. Although slightly annoyed at myself I was not overly worried as I thought this is going to be a hot session after hooking a great fish first up. Despite fish moving through the pool I could only hook momentarily before dropping them. This pretty much continued all day. In frustration I thought I would have a squizz at Secret Creek. Mark & Roy told me to try the upper section so I scootered along until I started spooking big spawners. Long leaders & gusty wind is not a good combo & I spent more time sorting out tangled flies. Unfortunately it was not other fishos that get dropping in front of me, but bloody fat gutted pelicans!! There were at least half a dozen sitting in the water, & as you came around a bend they would slowly take off & skim about 2m off the water & fly upstream. I did this for about 300m & every time I thought I would get to clear water, another bloody pelican would be there. Gave up & dropped downstream closer to the lake to see if any action there.
Reports were that Sat & Sun were gang-busters, but Mon & Tues nothing! The rain had def triggered a run, but fishing patchy with either none or 15-20 depending on which sweet spot you happened to be. Interestingly most fish caught on nymphs.
Thurs I decided to have an early start, as the river would be full of fresh fish, & the previous day most of the fish were actually caught just after daybreak, & then went quite for most of the day! Given that a couple of the guys from the lodge had done ok down towards the lake I thought I might go & join them. Yes, on daybreak it was definitely happening. I looked downstream & most guys were hooking up! The river had dropped a bit & was a bit clearer too.
I ran into one of the guys from the lodge & said I was having no luck, but found out that everyone was really loading up on splitshot to get down in the fast moving water. He gave me some splitshot & within 5mins I was on. I went a bit hard on this fish as it was at the top of some rapids, but also so I would not have to push through the gauntlet of another half dozen or so other fishos. In hind-sight I should have just let it run as one of the guys downstream said it was easily 5lb!
There was one sweet spot that I saw a guy pull out 15 fish from, with guys either side only catching the occasional fish. I moved upstream & noticed a couple of large fish “porpoising” in one spot & decided to give them a go. Within 10mins I was hooked up. This fish just swam upstream when I hooked it. I just love when you snag the bottom, & then the bottom swims off! After going too hard on the previous fish, I am definitely going easy on this one. It has me steadily following it up & down this pool & it is either foul-hooked or a huge fish. After about another 10mins I get a glimpse of a log with fins!! Maybe not the magic double figure but 8-9lbs easily. It has snavelled the hot glue globug. I am still applying steady pressure only & the bloody hook pulls. I sit down still shaking I wonder what went wrong 🙁
One of the guys from the lodge walks downstream & joins me. Turns out he is an electrical engineer & does a lot of contracting work in the Qld UG mines, so we get on very well & have a lot in common. Pretty much rest of the day we take turns to land fish until around lunchtime when the fishing has shut down & a lot of the anglers have bugged out to relocate. Still feeling crook with the man-flu, especially in the disgusting wind the day before, I decide to head back to the lodge for some lunch a rest & regroup before the afternoon session.
After lunch I went back to find even less guys at the bottom stretch so decide to see if my spot is free. There is one or two guys below & he started catching fish & within about 15mins there were a dozen or more guys in that stretch of water… I stay where I am. I land a few more fish & end the day with again hooking something that does not realise it is hooked & continues to swim upstream. I apply a bit of pressure & the leader parts half way – must have had a bloody casting knot or some other line damage. Again BIG BIG fish but did not get to see it. The guy from the lodge joins me & drops another big fish for no apparent reason, was hooked up for at least 10mins & just applying steady pressure. All fish seem to be on globugs today.
A great day none-the-less & fish until dark & get back in time for 6pm dinner – not sure why so many are camping! Maybe not as many fish, but think the average size is definitely up to previous spawn runs.
Friday I got up at 5am but the rain was beating against my window & the wind was howling again & I felt too crook to go fishing so wimped out & went back to bed. I reckon Friday could have also been a good day, as there would have definitely been more fish running, but I was happy with my Thurs session & needed to be ok to drive home safely.
After fishing with some shop hot-glue gun eggs, & also knowing that one of my friends has been experimenting with the same, I think this is going to be my new “secret weapon” spawn fly…
All fish were returned to the water after a quick photo 🙂