While the morning was calm and lovely, the wind soon picked up and made things more and more difficult. We had boated a couple of smaller flathead and a lovely 76cm model which was released to make some more flathead. But with the wind and obviously lower barometer reading the fish went off the bite. 

There was a mix of reports from the south coast with some finding some active fish, and others having next to no luck like myself. 

Murray cod season opens in just under 12 hours from the writing of this report. I hope all the anglers out there looking to target them are stocked up on gear and ready for the chase. 

Around the area there is a scattering of reports that are good and bad. Some heading to Burrinjuck are finding the yellow belly a bit tough, but the redfin are starting to show in greater numbers. 

The Tumut River has finally reached its peak irrigation levels. Essentially it is running a “Banker”. I got to see it myself two weekends ago and it still looks incredible and producing some fish. Don’t remove it from your list just yet. Fly fishing in the Tumut at this level can be tough but achievable with a reasonable technique. Lure fishing will be the go to for most though, a handy tip for a fast expansive river like the Tumut when it’s like this. Rather than fishing up stream, fish up and across. Aiming to bring the lure back to yourself before it begins an upstream retrieval.

Blowering Dam continued its good run and some good reports of yellow belly from shallow water with some early cod captures and redfin captures really picking up.

The mountain, lakes and streams have been abuzz with reports. Some not being so lucky but the dry fly addicts cannot go past the Thredbo River at this time of year. In the dams, due to this wind, some people got lucky, some just had to get off the water. Trollers flat lining to 20 feet were producing some nice trout.