Three Days At Jindabyne

Down to Jindabyne last weekend with the child bride. Both deer and trout in my sights. Good mate Andrew W arranged the trip – mainly, to test out his amazing new jetski. Whatever you think of these things – and a lot of blokes don’t like them – his new one is one hell of a weapon. It’s been customized for fishing:

A friend of a friend had arranged access to a part of the Thredbo River I’ve never fished before. Just beautiful:

First evening's plan was to catch a trout or two, but the property owner is fed up with the skyrocketing numbers of deer on his place. He asked us to shoot any we could. So as well as the rods, Andrew took his rifle. Ten minutes later we had the first of four on the deck:

Nothing wasted! We recovered as much meat as possible. Next morning was totally focused on trout. We headed downriver so we could work our way back up, fishing some beautiful pools. Breakfast was wild blackberries, which tasted incredibly good:

The first pool, second cast, and I was on. Dave netted a keeper rainbow:

Back to town and I stopped by the bait shop for some worms. Whenever we’re staying somewhere for more than a night I always try to burley the local lake. Freshwater fish in a storage tend to patrol the perimeter. When they find a food source they feed and stay. But on big lakes, that process can take some time. Next morning, I set up the rod pod and put three baits out where I had burleyed up, in the dark. Note the park signage? That’s how high Lake Jindabyne is right now:

After an hour I hadn't had a single run. Unusual! Switched to spinning with a Tasmanian Devil:

Still nothing! Confused, I called my go-to trout expert in Sydney, Ken M. He said the water I was fishing (1-1.5 metres deep) would be okay for nightime, but too warm in the sun. I packed up and got prepped for an evening hunt. This huge hare was taken with a .204. I gave it to another of our party who is mad keen about eating wild game:

Andy went out on the jetski and caught a rainbow in the lake - which was twice the size of the one I caught in the river. Enough to fill all four of us at dinner:

Followed by ice-cream and wild blackberries for dessert, along with great company at the table. That made the end of a magical day. Enjoyed it so much that we’re heading back down around Easter. This time taking the little boat, for a major downrigging session. Will let you know how that goes and thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow

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