GVFFC

Fishing report

I won't go into great detail here as we are time poor but I will write a quick synopsis of what is going on purely for selfish reasons i.e. in an attempt to stop the incessant phone calls asking for a fishing report! You know who you are. You should get a job in Karachi working for Telstra!

• Goulburn is fishing well. Cold, clear water and slightly higher levels are making for terrific edge water sight fishing

• Hoppers are going as well as they have all season but they are not big. Fishing them has brought good results thought

• Willow grubbing continues to account for most of the better fish. Experiment with colours and shapes until you crack the code for the day

• Evening rises are mostly disappointing for the shore bound angler but from the boat they have been good. That is because we cover many miles and know all the nooks and crannies. However if I were fishing the banks I would head to a nearby smaller river for the last of the day's fishing

• We got no rain this past week despite a terrible Saturday in Melbourne. The rivers are all clear and they have not been fished much at all with most people staying away. Hooray.

• Some philistines are fishing nymphs while the backwater fish rise all day to grubs. Without condoning this sort of heresy I will say that it is working. Small copper johns and b/h flashback pheasant tails with black or gold beads in 16 are best

• The smaller rivers are all doing very well. This is an unusually cool summer and the rivers are all at good levels not even taking into consideration that it is mid February

• willow grubs and hoppers doing very well on the smaller rivers. Fishing attractors through any likely looking water is also producing.

• evening rises on the small rivers have been good-excellent most nights. Just as on the Goulburn some of the colder nights have been best for the dun hatch

• biggest fish this week was 4lb on a grub. Werner reports fish to 3lb up his way

Hope this helps you to make your plans over the coming week. We have never been so busy with March bookings starting to really fly in and people looking to rebook NZ. Not to mention the film crew that have Geoff out all day, every day as they scout locations for the shooting of a pilot for Sony/NBC. It is a madhouse.

For those keen on NZ 2013 all I can say is please get in quick. This will be the busiest year yet for us with many groups that dropped off over the past two years suggesting they will be returning next summer. If you are at all interested please go to and register your interest with us. Those that went this summer or in previous years get first option so if this is you, get on there now and get back to us ASAP. If you already know all about our trips you can simply express an interest here.

That's it for now. I had better get back to the madness. They got some great fish last week in NZ. Once the trips end on March 3 I will put up some more pics.

BTW first and only price drop on the 1 weight SAGE/Ross outfit. Go here for more info.

Cheers
Antony

Goulburn Valley Fly Fishing Centre

Ph: 1800 458 111 or (03) 5773 2513
Web: www.gvffc.com
Email: info@theflyshop.com.au

A few more pics from last week filtering through

Great afternoon on the water

Just a very quick one as I have an early start tomorrow. This afternoon I got to float with former GVFFC guide James Galloway and his younger cousin who is only just starting out in fly fishing. Cuz has had a great introduction with fish on attractors in the hills yesterday, then Rubicon fish this morning followed by the willow grubber in the pic above.

Then to top it off I was given the chance to fish to a fish that I have seen caught twice and hooked and dropped many times this season. The most amazing thing is that this fish was dropped by Rob only three days ago. This fish generally refuses green grubs and takes the yellows and this is what happened when Rob and I floated the Goulburn this past week. On that occasion a 4-5 minute fight played out before the tippet broke. Heartbreaking for both guide and angler although Rob took the loss better than most.

Today the fish refused the yellow on the first cast and then took a cut down green on the second one. After another battle it was brought to the net and guess what? The yellow grub from 3 days ago was nestled no more than a centimetre from today's green one! See the pics.

This is the same fish as can be seen in this former blog post and is a classic illustration of how catch and release works.

Great afternoon on the water and I can only hope for many more during the rest of the season.

Nite.
Antony.

Ten minute report

I have but little time to spare and so this report will be in the style of Six Minute Sopranos

• the goulburn has been at 4000 MLD for a long time now and the fish are well and truly settled into their positions

• superb backwater fishing with trout eating grubs and beetles from the surface and snails and backswimmers underwater

• fishing the most likely spots blind with dries has brought us lots of success even on days when the fish are not actively rising

• some awesome willow grub fishing in parts both from the bank and boats

• weak pale olive dun hatch going all day long. Only visible to the most observant and most noticeable from the raft as you are only 2 feet above the water all day

• hopper fishing has started and is going well on all rivers. Smaller rivers in particular

• fish to 4lb caught and released in recent days

• lots of people in the area but not many fishing. We saw less than 3 people each while drift boating yesterday. It has been this way all summer.

• look to the smaller rivers for the best of the evening rise. If on the Goulburn try the Breakaway despite the often windy conditions. Duns and caddis with good spinner falls as well

• Overall excellent conditions with success determined by the skill of the angler. Listen to our advice if you stop by as we are guiding on it every day and have done so for 17 years now. As such we are on first name basis with many of the fish from the Pondage down to Alexandra.

Hope this helps. Brief and to the point to minimise time but also has the benefit of keeping me out of trouble because when I waffle I rant and there is little I hold back on!

Great to see the river running at consistent levels so far this season. I have yet to see a year where the river has been kept at the one level for as long as this. Great for the fish.

It's wonderful to have the lake full once more. Having all this cold clear water really is a nice change and takes us back to the years before the drought interrupted things.

Get out if you can although watch out for flag waving occas as they are rampant! If you do happen to get into a discussion about OSTRALIA with one of these flag waving chumps and wish to see some bemused faces, ask them about how Federation came about or for their insights into the Billy Hughes Conscription debacle or for an overview on the Whitlam Dismissal.

Their answers - federation is a square in Melbourne, conscription is a prescription for constipation medication and as for the Whitlam dismissal that was more than likely a case of caught Marsh bowled Lillee!

No comments necessary. I am a mean bastard and I know it. But that is only because the alternative isn't nearly as much fun.

Cheers
Antony

Goulburn Valley Fly Fishing Centre

Ph: 1800 458 111 or (03) 5773 2513
Web: www.gvffc.com
Email: info@theflyshop.com.au

NZ Week 2

A big thanks to Nella for sending me some higher res images to play with. Give me @ least 16 million colours and more than the usual 660x500 pixels and I am as happy as a pig in poo. Even these images that started out at 1200 pixels wide look so much better than last weeks ones.

Don't forget to lodge an expression of interest for NZ 2013 @ our website if these trips take your fancy. We are a small business that is in the process of plateauing out rather than growing exponentially. As such we are likely to do less weeks in the future as opposed to more. As a result we advise you to lodge an expression of interest even if the chances of attending are small so that you are at least in the mix.

Our trips are for all ages and all skill levels. Either bring a friend/group or book on your own and leave it to us to find you a suitable fishing partner. This year we had more father and son teams than ever before with 5 weeks containing a father son combination. Unfortunately there were no father/daughter groups in 2012! :-(

All the best to you all. Enjoy the pics. The drought has made things tougher than in other years but you just to have to know where to look.

Cheers
Antony

Goulburn Valley Fly Fishing Centre

Ph: 1800 458 111 or (03) 5773 2513
Web: www.gvffc.com
Email: info@theflyshop.com.au