G’day fishos. Blue-green algae – did anyone see any on Lake Hume recently?
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I know there must have been some out there, because we were being told so.
But I’ve spoken to lots of people who have been swimming, skiing and fishing out there in recent weeks that didn’t see any.
WaterNSW has now lifted its red alert warning for blue-green algae at Lake Hume.
There must have obviously been areas where it had been spotted – and the authorities obviously have a duty of care to let the public know all about it – but the whole thing has been a bit of a mystery to most people.
We’ve had plenty of inquiries at the Compleat Angler from people from all over the place who were planning visits to our area and were worried that they wouldn’t be able to keep fish they caught, wouldn’t be able to swim, etc. etc. after seeing or hearing about algae on the news. I’m sure we’ve only fended off a few inquiries compared to all the major tourist parks and the tourist info centre.
I certainly don’t want to make light of the situation. I’m no expert, but algae is normally pretty visible. If I can’t see it where I pull up, I’ll be happy to swim/fish there and eat any fish I do catch from the lake.
AT A GLANCE
Dartmouth (70 per cent) – has been OK for those down rigging or drifting baits down deep. That 10 to 15 metre mark is still the go-to zone for both methods.
Actually had one customer tell us he’d done OK drifting mudeye as well as gudgeon around the Eustace area last week at 11 metres, using a heavy split shot to get down. Yabbies are still on the chew too.
Mitta River – is apparently going to run between 3800 and 5000 meg for this month, depending on weather conditions.
That’s still a fair chunk of water, but there have been some ripper trout being caught nonetheless.
Drifting baits, flicking lures and casting a fly about are all methods that are pulling a few nice fish.
There’s also been a few cod showing up as well, both for lure and bait fishos.
Streams – in general have been hard work during the hot weather.
But with recent rain and cooler conditions, things should improve over the next week or two.
Mulwala – has been pretty good by the sounds of it.
Mark Larsson reckons so anyway! He landed a 63cm then a 98cm cod on a McGrath Surface Walker early last Monday morning.
We’ve been hearing of a few other decent fish being both trolled or spun on hard bodies and spinnerbaits too, so it’s well worth a look there.
Pretty much the same on most other local streams and rivers if you’re chasing a cod or two. Things have been going great as long as you don’t hit the water during a sudden rise or fall.
Glen Smith, son Jamo and his mate Tom fished just below Albury one arvo this week.
Tom actually landed one about 65cm that had three golf balls in its gut – they must be hungry.
Lake Hume (31 per cent) – has been quiet on the yellowbelly front, but the odd cod is coming out of the upper reaches of the lake and into the bottom end of the Mitta and Murray arms.
The reddies are pretty reasonable at the moment, with a few decent ones among the normal run of little blokes.
Yabbies are the favoured bait unless you can get your hands on some live shrimp or small reddies.
Blowering (30%) – has been slow, although I did see a photo of one decent cod that came out of there, caught on bait from the bank early in the week.
The reddies are still pretty scarce though.
Eucumbene (26.3 per cent) – has been reasonably tough, although I see one fisho picked up eight browns one day this week using a downrigger at 10 metres trolling a Tassie behind.
Jindabyne (82 per cent) – is pretty much the same as Eucumbene, with just about everything that’s being caught coming in from depth.
Tantangara (46 per cent) – is falling and, unfortunately, the fishing’s slowed down a fair bit.
Talbingo – produced a few decent reddies at the Sue City end last week, mainly on yabbies.
Khancoban – fished OK for Col Mangan last week. Col picked up a few nice rainbows from the lake.
As a bonus, he’ll get himself a few lures as they were all tagged fish and the reward for the info is a free lure.