What's on - Lakeside Fly Fishing Club

Jurassic lake

One trip to Lago Strobel is the fly fishing experience of a life time but going twice must be close to visiting fly fishing heaven.

David Screen has visited Lago Strobel in Argentina twice in the last two years. But the fish still have to be caught and landed just like any where else and like any where else the special conditions of the fishery have to be managed.

In this particular part of the world cold and wind prevail to a very large extent, in a very rocky landscape. The lake has no outlet but is fed by a constant flow of water from the Barrancoso River that rises in the Andes Mountains.

Where does the water go, you might ask. Well the wind takes care of that and just blows the water away. One has to make sure when making a cast your line goes downwind otherwise you will get a very quick reminder to come to the Club’s casting days.

For those interested (envious) David’s caught and landed statistics from South America are:

2017 – 204 fish landed, 44 fish over 10lb
2018 – 207 fish landed, 106 fish over 10lb

The largest fish was 15.5lb caught in the river followed closely by six 15lb fish, including one caught on a dry fly.

David is Lakeside Fly Fishing Club’s presenter at the club meeting on Wednesday February 6th 2018 at 7:30pm. Come along to hear his tales of Jurassic Lake.

Another great year of fly fishing

Jurassic lake trout — David Screen at Jurassic Lake

Welcome to what looks like another great year of fly fishing.

Thank you to all of you who attended our Christmas party at the club. Although numbers were down on the year before, everyone I spoke to said they had a great night, with great food, and looked forward to this year’s. The club’s prize giving was exciting, with a few surprise winners. David Screen was again the winner of the major raffle prize, a Simms G3 Guides Vest.

On a different note, David, Uncle Jim and I had a great end to last year in Patagonia, catching a lot of very, very large rainbows. You’ll hear all about it at our meeting with our presentation, but we’ve included some pictures to whet everyone’s appetite.

I know it’s been very hot so far, but hopefully, rain will come and freshen up the streams in NSW and elsewhere. As I write, there’s an intense storm through the South Island of New Zealand where I’m heading with David on Friday for two weeks.

As always at this time of the year, with it being hot, be aware that there are a lot of snakes about (except in NZ!), so make sure you take bandages, an EPIRB, if you have one, and let people know where you’re going.

If you can, don’t fish alone. By the way, the club has an Epirb you can borrow if you need to take one on a trip.

First club meeting of 2017

Brown trout in the Snowy Mountains — Australia day chubby brown somewhere in the Snowy Mountains

Welcome to what I hope will be a great fly fishing year. I hope you all had a restful break, either fishing or tying flies, or just relaxing. I want to start by thanking everyone who attended our Christmas Dinner and party at the club in December.

What a great night it was and my special thanks to everyone who helped out, particularly Don and David, and Alan and Robert. A particular thanks to Juan Del Carmen for his generous major raffle prize, luckily won by David Screen. The meal was fabulous.

We have a busy year ahead, with the closing and opening of the season, the CFA event, and my first President’s Challenge, as President. On a personal front, I head off to New Zealand for 2 weeks’ fishing on 3 February, and am also looking forward to a week in Patagonia, fishing with David and Uncle Jim.

Speaking of Patagonia, over the Christmas break I visited the Patagonia shop in Kent Street. As well as having some fly fishing clothing downstairs, they also run a clothing repair service, to repair rips and tears to jackets, etc.

Whilst they prefer to repair Patagonia gear, they will repair other brands. So if your gear is looking a bit worse for wear, consider giving them a go. They sponsor Josh Hutchins, a good friend of the club.

See you at the February meeting.

John Vernon

President

Wednesday 1st February:

First club meeting of 2017 and a screening of Complete Casting with Lefty Kreh

Grandviews Bowling Club

821 Forest Road

Peakhurst

Goodbye 2016. Happy 2017!

For those who are planning a fishing trip over the break, please stay safe. Recent statistics place middle-aged men at the apex of accidents around water– although often associated with alcohol, so we’re probably a little bit safer.

However, take care, tell someone where you’re going, or better still, go with someone else. Also, don’t forget your EPIRB and snake bandages. My recent camping trip to the Snowy showed me how active the snakes are at this time of year.

Speaking of places to go, my camping trip also showed the general improvement in the waters around the Eucumbene, and in particular, the Yarrangobilly, where a lot of good fish were caught. Of course, the fishing pressure over the break may put paid to any good fishing, but the waters are up and flowing well.

We’ve had a great year, with great guest speakers to our meetings, and an increased turnout for which I’m grateful. Our move to Grandviews has really paid off, and I want to thank the management and staff of the club for allowing us to meet and use their facilities. They have gone out of their way to make us all welcome.

Again, have a great Christmas and New Year, and I’ll see you all at our meeting in February.

John Vernon

President