Animal Welfare Reform – sign the NSW Parliament E-Petition I think only available to NSW Residents. This proposed legislation would have significant impact on angling.
Have your say on Warragamba Dam the planned raising of the dam wall has potential impact on upstream rivers
Successful application for rainbow trout redd mapping project the RFFTEC (the dudes who manage the trust fund that manage licence fees) has approved a project to explore mapping trout redds – you can’t manage things you don’t understand. This will feed into the research supporting the trout strategy.
Two items relating to the management of wild horses in KNP.
When drafting this I was going to start with “there’s precious little fishing going on at the moment” but right before publication time Claude, BJ, Al and Shaun provided some opening weekend copy – many thanks guys. The other major contribution came from Stefan – he of the traveling A-Van – reporting on his returning to a childhood haunt in Queensland. As ever, Stefan’s words are thoughtful and his photos enticing. In anticipation of a small issue, I prepared a segment taking a bit of a “Retrospective”. Thanks JM for this suggestion. It was a lot of fun looking back through the archives. Jaime is gracing the front page – Eucumbene late season 2020 but I’ll hold back the article itself till next issue.
Other items are a report on the flytying 22 Sep – welcoming back Evan via Zoom from Victoria, plus Claude helping me out with notes from the 8 Sep talk by Mickey “Finn” – some really useful hints on fishing the Tumut and other matters. Meanwhile there’s been lots happening on social media and members have been actively hunting items for inclusion here – many thanks folks.
The current lockdown has put paid to our traditional casting for the public days – a real shame to have been impacted in that manner after so many years. I understand the Committee are closely watching the rules and intending that it be a postponement rather than a cancellation – fingers crossed folks. The uncertainties and the proposed future rules have also cause postponement of our annual Lyle Knowles trophy – see the Committee Notes inside here.
I ran across two lure spinfishers on Lake G and they reported a 50cm yellowbelly for their efforts … I may need to break out my gear and get down there.
With my Membership Officer hat on – another reminder that fees are due – go to ‘join us’ to update your contact details via the webform or simply email me. Please note our new bank account numbers (these were changed last year), they are given in this newsletter. So far 28 members have signed up again (welcome home Greg W!) – means 19 from last year remain to renew, plus hopefully some new members – spread the word folks. Given the postponement of the casting days, new members may be thin on the ground for a while if we don’t do some word of mouth.
Evan Jardine, a former club member who has moved down to Victoria, led the fly tying session on Wednesday 22 Sep 21. The flash belly bunny can be used on a number of species and Evan has used it in different sizes for heaps of different fish from Yellas, reddies, flatties, bream, EP to bass.
Our AGM was conducted on 11 August. Lots of smiling faces with the awarding of trophies. We await advice on possible changes to how fish can be reported for trophy purposes … all a bit academic until our lockdown is relaxed.
With my Membership Officer hat on – reminder that fees are due – go to ‘join us’ to update your contact details via the webform or simply email me. Please note our new bank account numbers (these were changed last year), they are given in this newsletter. So far 24 members have signed up again – means 22 from last year remain to renew, plus hopefully some new members – spread the word folks.
Our traditional casting for the public days were to be on 12, 19 and 26 Sep – of course these dates were always dependent on progress in respect to the COVID lockdown. Given the uncertainty with both ACT and NSW regional lockdown, the Committee has made the hard decision to postpone the event.
Though we are in lockdown, readers are lucky enough to be able to read here about some fishing going on before the current lockdown was started. Others of us have had to live vicariously through videos on the Internet –a number of these have been provided by the Manic Tackle Project and notified on our News Blog … thank goodness for our bro’s “across the dutch”. Peter spotted the promotions and I’ll try to provide advice each time they come up via the News Blog and CAA’s Facebook page.
My dedicated helpers have come up with more funnies and interesting snippets from the web … keep it up guys.
I’ve been following The New Fly Fisher on YouTube for some time. They have a lot of short, sharp videos providing hints that assist not just novices. Here’s one on preparing a new flyline that I’ve not been aware of.
The EWMK wet fly originated in the metropolis of Bruce in Australia’s capital in the 2020s. The artificial fly is also known as Nathan’s Killer and was named after a famous local angler who is always happy to share images of his latest impressive catches ….and provide tips and hints on where to go fishing. The fly is distinguished by the black or dark brown rabbit fur tail, soft hackle collar and fluoro orange bead which makes the fly resemble a small baitfish or fry with its head on fire. The EWMK has proved to be a very effective fly for trout in Snowy region lakes and can also be used when searching for mud-marlin in the local ACT water ways. Many fly fishing purists may deride the use of the fluoro bead head and there are rumours that their use could be banned from international fishing competitions because it makes flies irresistible to fish!
Imitates
The EWMK fly is an attractor pattern most likely taken as a small baitfish or fry with their heads on fire.
Controversy
There is a lot of controversy on whether the fly pattern was ‘stolen’ from Tom Jarman. There is even more controversy on whether the tail should be marabou or rabbit fur….and should the rabbit fur be sourced from the armpit or belly region of the rabbit – best to ask your local fly tying materials supplier!
Materials:
Hook: 12 or 14 wet – straight or jig (or whatever you choose or can handle)
Thread: black UNI 8/0
Tail: Black/Dark Brown Rabbit fur(Zonker) (Marabou if you are non-traditional ) with crystal flash
Body: Black Seal fur or substitute…I use Poodle hair during COVID + copper wire
Thorax: Peacock dubbing or real peacock swords (will be quite fiddly)
The Murrumbidgee River’s wet season height has dropped by 30% since the 1990s
Kosciuszko National Park: Draft Amendment to the Plan of Management: Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct I’ve put in a personal submission and I know MAS has prepared one plus I envisage NSWCFA. The big concern is that angling is not discussed at all.
‘John Barilaro is privatising Kosciuszko National Park’ In public policy commentator John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations blog, Carolyn Pettigrew writes that John Barilaro’s Snowy Mountains Special Activation Zone Precinct effectively wrests the control of developments in Kosciuszko National Park from the Minister for the Environment into the hands of the Minister for Regional NSW, John Barilaro. The plan is to heavily develop Jindabyne and surrounding areas for tourism, with little thought for the environment.
‘Real truths’? John Newbery looks at C&R Writing in Fishing World, John Newbery looks at some of the issues about catch-and-release and how the ongoing arguments will lead to pressure on recreational fishing in the future.
