G’day everyone
Well , I’m finally on my way back to Brisbane after a busy couple of weeks working in Sydney ….. fortunately it gave me the opportunity to make a quick dash down to Providence Portal in the Snowy mountains for some fly fishing prior to the close of the season.
Now I wouldn’t consider myself as a flyfishermans butt hole , but I do enjoy it & I just love this part of the world in winter (snake free) - Having realised that it had been close to 3 years since my last fly fishing trip & my time was to be limited to one and a half days on the water - I was keen!
Arriving at around mid night & a planned early start …my brother and I did the logical thing & hit the port in front of a nice warming fire…….. eventually getting to bed at around 2.30am - why does this happen on a fishing trip.
Attachment 58818Saturday morning was a cool 5 deg - far short of the typical sub zero temp that I’ve previously contended with though a constant drizzle was always going to make it uncomfortable . With my brother deciding a sleep in was called for , I made my way down to the river on my own. Attachment 58819 With no real game plan I decided to avoid the crowded waters of Providence flats upstream & make my way down stream towards the lake (somewhere in the far off distance) - Even at 6.30am I was surprised at just how many anglers were out …… counting around 8 cars to the north & 4 to the south - so prime runs were going to be a premium. Eventually after walking for around 45 mins I got to a nice run & bend in the river that looked the goods.With a fish breaking the surface every now & then I started to fish a typical tungsten bead hair & copper nymph - with a trailing glow bug …… and boy was I rusty spending a few moments picking out tangled leaders . Fortunately I managed to get a few casts in and once I worked out the flow , drift & got my mending technique in order …….. I was on ! Now I can tell you that a trout of any size goes hard in fast running water while attached to a 4 wt outfit …… & at probably just under a kilo but undersized hen rainbow (50cm min) I was ecstatic to land my first of the trip - Attachment 58820 Sorry about the photo ( with the rain – I left my good camera in the car) - The very next cast I dropped another fish but hooked up again with the next and at probably just over a kg another beautifully marked rainbow was landed ….. but still short of legal trophy status length - on release I thought I would try an underwater shot with the go pro camera. Attachment 58821
Unfortunately for me …… my activity was witnessed by 3 fellas walking down stream but on the opposite bank where they did what you just don’t see with the seasoned fly fisherman - they plonked themselves opposite and started lure casting which basically buggered up my location …….. I did manage to hook another fish which won its freedom when my knot failed ( tell tail piggy tail) ….. I guess I wasn’t used to tying knots in 2lb tippets . Anyhow these guys didn’t take the hint & with my cast angle intersected with 3 spin outfits going every which way I decided to keep walking down stream .
I was really enjoying my walk ….. having a chat with other fly fishoes on the way then continuing down stream to give them their space ……… I ended up several miles down stream before fishing another nice head of a pool …….. I missed a decent brown with some poor mending technique . I was thoroughly enjoying my walk but after a couple more tangles I decided to follow one of the 4WD tracks back to where my car was parkedAttachment 58822 This location was under water when I first came here in 2004………. Anhow 80 mins later I get back to the car , totally buggered , wet , blistered feet and in need of a beer! ……..Oooops it was nearly 4pm ( so much for the quick fish that I told my brother I was going on) At least I got the directions where to cross the river & be able to drive right to where I got to …….. so that would the plan for the next day.
I gave the river crossing a quick try ….. no problem getting over - but it took several attempts to get back across with a good run up required to get up the rutted bank.
Prior to dark -Attachment 58823 we went for a quick drive up to Providence flats and with a couple of other tricky muddy creek crossing we headed back for a fire in the old camp kitchenAttachment 58824 ……. Boy the brothers & I have some fond memories hanging out here over the years
So with a few bevies going down & a neat fire – we planned our early morning river crossing and run down river to see if we can get to where the river enters lake Eucumbene - WEATHER DEPENDENT ...
Well …… the predicted rain depression arrived about 2am with a constant down pour and increasing winds - there goes the plans for Sunday morning ! …….. Hell that’s a long way to go for a days fishing - but gee I enjoyed it.
Cheers Chris
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Originally Posted by Steve B
a closet fly fisherman 
....... Fortunately I set myself up over a couple of seasons and just had to dig it all out 
