While at this time of the year most people's minds are wondering off to the racetrack and a chance of winning the big one, my mind is still set on fishing and getting as much of it done before my November trip to New Zealand. With that mindset, I've been lucky enough to manage two trips to the Goulburn in the last fortnight. Due to the recent rain we've had, the water level has been kept low, which has resulted in perfect water temperatures for insect hatches. This in turn has resulted in some great fishing.
My first trip to the Goulburn started off with a bang. A 2 pound rainbow within the first 20 minutes was pointing to a great day. Unfortunately things slowed down from there and I landed only one more juvenile brown for the afternoon. The evening brought a hatch and with it the fish started to show themselves. However, my attempts to fool any of them proved futile, this turned out to be one of the most frustrating sessions I've had in a while. Never mind... another trip was just around the corner...
The forecast for the Eildon region was cloudy with few showers, but on arrival I was greeted with clear skies and summer like conditions. The day started off slow, but I didn't expect much action until the evening. Eventually I hooked two pan size rainbows. These fell to a pheasant tail I tied myself, first fish on one of my own flies, milestone 1 achieved. They were caught on my new Redington CPX 5 wt, rod christened and milestone 2 achieved. While I was waiting for the sun to set and hatches to intensify I tied on a bead head woolly bugger with the intention of swinging it across the current. The first cast was met with a sharp tug and a feisty fight from a 1.5 pound rainbow. The second cast caused a massive bow wave to race across the pool, followed by a swirl and a tug at my fly. Two fish in two casts, things were really looking up now. The next half an hour was pure excitement, with every third cast resulting in a take or at least a follow or a swirl. Two more trout were landed and another 5 or so were given the long distance release. All in all it was a great trip and a great way to prep for the big one, only two weeks left.
