Mitch and the team at Gaden have provided their latest report. Disappointing rainbow run this year … even more sad news is that Mitch looks to be moving on. He has been major player in upgrading the hatchery and will be missed.
Xenii tells me a chair was left at the Christmas bbq. The owner can get it back from Xenii
the constitution was amended via a Special General Meeting conducted in conjunction with a normal meeting. Changes were principally related to our non-profit status, amending the facility to appoint temporary honorary membership for visitors and some minor clarifications. Has been fully processed through the ACT authorities
available here
https://canberra-anglers.asn.au/club_process/club_process.html
Apologies for the December issue being late, I was a bit ‘otherwise engaged’ – will tell you about the Sri Lanka cyclone over a beer. Anyway, this means it’ll be a bit of a Christmas edition given there won’t be one in January.
It was great to see one of our new juniors (Aru, coached by the ever generous Peter) get his first Australian fish – well deserved photo of the month/cover shot. Here’s hoping for many more and adding to his species list. Scaling on the photo suggests 55 cm.
Reports here from near and far along with a big list of interesting snippets found by ‘cub reporter’ Greg S.
With Christmas and New Year approaching take care when travelling and we’ll see you in 2026.
Next Meeting
11 Feb 2026 – our first meeting for 2026 – normal time of 7:30PM at Raiders/Weston club.
Next Activities
18 Jan 2026 – Carp outing led by Claude. More details here.
28 Jan – Fly tying via Zoom 7:30 – carp fly led by James
Below are the recipes and some links for viewing, these are for the fly tying that was led by Lachy.
Pheasant Tailed Nymph
Unweighted version
Hook: Hanak H 230 or H 280 or sturdy wet fly hook sz 12 (but can go down to sz 20). Tiemco TMC 100SP-BL also works well
Weight: lead wire optional or use unweighted as a dropper with a weighted nymph or split shot
Thread: brown or rusty coloured thread in 70 Denier. I prefer Brown Semperfli nano silk in 50D
Tail, Abdomen, Wingcase and Legs: Natural Pheasant Tail fibres
Thorax: Peacock herl
Rib: Copper wire in size 0.2mm or UTC Brassy size
Video link – can be used as a guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXG_0bcrWBE
Blue Collared Pheasant Tail Nymph (aka The Blue Ninja)
Hook: Dohiku HDJ in size 14, 16 and 18 or your preferred jig nymph hook
Bead: Copper coloured tungsten bead. Normally go 3.5mm on sz 14, 3.0mm on sz 16 and so on. But it also works well sizing up the bead on a smaller hook eg 3.5mm bead on sz 16 hook, 3.0mm bead on sz 18 and so on.
Tail: Coq de Leon (CDL) preferably in Ginger Speckle, but any CDL will do
Rib: Copper wire in size 0.2mm or UTC Brassy size
Collar: Uni mylar 1/32” in Holo lt Blue, alternatives Semperfli Holographic Tinsel 1/32” in Kingfisher colour, or Wapsi/UTC Holo Tinsel medium in blue
Resin: Solarez UV bone dry thin or your preferred thin, clear UV resin
Video link – mine uses slightly different materials and works well in our region but this is a useful guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHu1eTdqeR0&t=104s
Keyword wetfly nymphfly
Ryan is leading and tells me he still has some space in the house. Contact him, or leave a comment here and we can link you up.
Feel free to make your own accommodation arrangements and join in for the fishing.
Remember, this will likely determine the Saltwater Trophy for this season.
Email system restored – thank goodness. Our shift means that emails from @canberra-anglers.asn.au will get through to Hotmail, yahoo and some other systems.
Just a gentle reminder, while we’ve had quite a rush of new members since the casting, plus some suggestion from long ago members enthused by our 80th birthday, there are a few of our ‘regulars’ not paid. That’s ok, situations change etc, but membership is essential for attendance at our outdoor events for insurance reasons.
We’ve had a number of club events which are reported on here – some excellent results early in the season, unfortunately we seem to be getting in hot weather early, please consider the conditions if you are fishing in the streams.
Thanks as always to Greg S for his tips – some very interesting items here this month.
Also thanks to our busy Secretary who has prompted me to include a few items that will be useful, especially for our newly joined members. She and I are trying to think how make our ever growing knowledge base to be more accessible to all – some attempts have been made and discussed later in this edition. I’ve also tweaked our “How to use our Blog” page to reflect the knowledgebase construct.
The lodge has booked us in for Fri 13 to Sun 15 Feb.
For your forward planning at this time. I’ll advise cost and full details closer to the date.