It was panic stations recently for Al, when the coastal weather forecast looked ominous. Fear not.
These days I spend all my time offshore chasing big fish. While it is certainly a passion that runs deep in my veins it has also become a job that is all consuming and with it comes the pressure to produce. Now this may sound like I am complaining, but believe it or not catching big fish is a tough gig. So, recently, when the weather reported turned really nasty, I suddenly started looking for alternatives. I couldn’t not go fishing for a whole week!
Talk about up the proverbial creek without a paddle. However, it wasn’t as bad as it sounded because my good mate Tom had recently been discussing the idea of exploring some remote rivers he had found up in the hills just a few hours from Sydney. This is the beauty of the Great Dividing Range throughout the southeastern corner of the country. It’s wild and remote and all nearly all the streams are full of trout. I love my trout fishing. There are few better ways to catch them than sneaking up a mountain stream armed with a spin rod and, better still, half the adventure is just getting there.
A potentially fishless week had suddenly turned around into an adventure and a few days later we were bouncing down a dirt track surrounded by thick forest. It took longer than expected to reach the spot with a bit of wild 4WDing along the way but eventually we dropped down to the valley floor only to be greeted by beautiful mountain stream and a few rather startled wallabies. Long deep pools lined with overhanging foliage split up small sets of rapids made for seriously good trout real estate. In the old days we would have had to buy maps to find these spots, but today we have Google Earth. Suddenly finding these spots not just locally but literally anywhere in the world is right at your fingertips. With all the tracks opened up you can pretty much explore anywhere, so all you need to do is spend some time researching Google Earth and hit the dirt tracks.
The trick is that the harder the country, the better the fishing, because the less likely it is other anglers are going to go hard to get in there. Further to this, the trick is be prepared to walk in from the access point where the track crosses the river. Everywhere else we camp and fish the pools adjacent to the track but few will walk a kilometre or two up the river. Only the dedicated go the extra mile and in essence the further you explore the better the fishing.
So with this in mind we hastily set up camp and then charged off upstream battling our way through impenetrable thorny scrub. Next we had to practice our rock climbing around sheer cliffs before finally we left the footprints of others behind us, or so we thought. With the water looking awesome I was about to cast when I saw a footprint in the mud. It was disheartening to have come so far and still find signs of others having been there first. Not to be dismayed we pushed on and soon found some virgin country to start fishing. The water certainly looked awesome but try as we might covering every inch of the pool we still drew blanks. So much for the theory of going further to get more.
Refusing to admit defeat we tramped on venturing further up stream and eventually our efforts were rewarded. Reaching the top of a rather large, slowmoving pool I flicked my favourite gold Halco RMG across to the far corner and then worked it back through the main current where the water was deepest. It looked perfect, but so had the 20 other spots I had fished, so when the rod bucked to life in my hands, I actually got a shock. Luckily I woke up to myself and soon had a decent brown trout at my feet.
It wasn’t a monster, but catching a fish surrounded by forest-clad hills miles from anywhere is so much more than just fishing. As I unhooked the fish and slipped it back into the water I felt as though all the hard yards had suddenly been worthwhile. Then, to prove it was no fluke, Tom followed up with a rainbow just a short distance upstream. We ended up scoring a few fish. Success isn’t measured in numbers, instead its about the whole experience that makes this style of fishing so rewarding.
What is really worth mentioning is the fact that we were just a few hours from town. It could have been miles away from anywhere and everyone. That is what I love most about trout fishing the south east – it gets you closer to nature and takes you places where no one else goes.
So if you want to find your own little patch, study the maps and look for the least accessible spots furthest from main roads. Hitch up the camper-trailer or just throw in the swags and your light spin rod and go bush.
