Organised myself a long weekend, so headed down with the fam and a mate to a little place called Anglers Reach on Eucumbene Dam. Left Sydney 4am and after picking up keys and stopping for breakfast in the nations capital got to AR a bit after 10. My mate had got down the night before, so he was just getting in from a dawn fish. He'd picked up a nice sized rainbow and thrown back a littleun with a wand, so things looked promising.
Got unpacked, and while the mrs looked after our little girl, me and my mate ducked out to see if we could build on his start. Too windy for the yak so went round to the little bay he'd found and started throwing some lures around as the wind had built up too much for fly. Trying to cast any distance into the wind was difficult but we perservered. After about an hour of nothing but trees and snags I managed to throw the worst cast of the weekend. It was heading straight for this tree about 5 meters in front of me, but I managed to catch it so it fell right at the base of it. Lure was a slow sinker, so it sat there for about 5 secs while I wound on all the slack line. When I finally came tight with the lure, it was tighter than expected and for a split second I thought another snag, but then it v-lined for another bank of trees. A short battle ensued as I had the drag pretty tight, and my mate up to his calves in mud managed to net my first brown trout. Went 56cm and est. about 2.5kg Very happy indeed.
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Was one of my flukiest days fishing actually. Didn't lose a lure all day, and there must have been at least 20 casts that hooked up trees. And even the one I had to break off, floated back to the edge.
Got back about 8pm and we cooked up the first trout that went down a treat. Next morning we went down for a dawn fish but nothing about. Very windy again. Spent the afternoon exploring with the fam. Checked out some caves, and some very fishy streams and small dams. I managed to leave my reel's handle back at the house, but at least my mate got to throw a few casts. Got nothing, but the wind was starting to get annoying. We all had a bit of a bait fish that arvo but the wind got even stronger, then a southerly hit and the temp dropped about 10 degrees so we packed it in. Cooked up the brown I caught. Very nice.
Next morning was cold but calm, so I took my kayak for a spin while my mate went for a fly fish. This gave me a good chance to test out my new rod holder set-up. Had a tassie devil and an SX48 out back. I managed to troll up a nice little rainbow which showed me the rod holders are going to need a bit more work. The principle and layout is spot one, but the u-bolts attaching them to the poly pipe, allow them to spin round slightly when under load. Didn't get anything else, but it was a really pleasant paddle, especially with the breeze at my back for a change. My mate lucked out again. Then we all went for a baitfish in the arvo before we had to head back. This time it was the mrs' turn to get one, and she pulled in a nice sized brown.
All were impressed.
Until my little one grabbed the fireline that was flapping around and got her first fireline burn.
Hug from dad and her favourite toy and it was all good again.
Got home about 11pm knackered, but a nice weekend away even with the bloody wind.
Steve.
