Technique And Product Focus: Trout Fired Up Around Snowy Mountains

Written by Matt Caldwell. With the cold weather, yet clear water conditions recently I have been enjoying some quality trout fishing.  Both Lake Jindabyne and Lake Eucumbene are fishing really well with good results coming from most parts of both of the lakes edges, this is the time to start walking and looking for the big browns cruising the edges in search of food. Both lakes have lost a significant amount of water and the fish are in close and moving around gorging on yabbies’ that are forced out of their holes due to the receding water.

There has been plenty of good early season polaroiding opportunities available and this will continue over the coming weeks. Lure Casting is a very effective way to catch a trout, at the moment the lures that have had the most success being the Daiwa Double Clutch 60sp and Daiwa Wise Minnow in Caramel sauce and crab liver colors as these are perfect yabbie patterns also the Australian owned Bullet Lures in the 3cm and 5cm models are catching good amounts of fish with the Bumble Bee pattern a stand out.

My chosen combo for spinning the lake was the Silver Creek AGS 710 (1.4 – 5.4 kg) spin rod, and the very impressive Silver Creek 2004 spin reel teamed up with 6lb J Braid. This is a very good looking combo; however, its work ethic supersedes its chiselled good looks. This rod has more than enough power to punch a lure into the wind, as well as boasting the muscle to steer a thrashing trout to shore.

When looking for a cruising trout with a hard-body, most guides advise you to cast two or three meters ahead and two or three meters beyond its line of travel. This gives you room to pull the lure into the sight of the trout without the splash spooking the fish in the first place. This technique is time proven and works well.

I’ve been casting slightly away from sighted fish and then watching what really working the lure does. As expected, most of the time the extra pulse in the lure grabs the trout’s attention and they swim over – sometimes from a fair way off –
This is the guts of this technique. When you can’t Polaroid fish, such as when it’s windy, overcast, simply “twich” the lure and confidently assume that nearby trout will investigate.