G'day fishos, it's certainly been an eventful week around the area with both Lake Mulwala and Lake Hume falling under the blue green algae curse.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
If the damage caused by the fires and drought hasn't been enough to make angling difficult, we have now been beset by this problem.
Not all of either lake has been completely covered by the algae and - at the time of writing - neither has been closed off from the public.
However, warning signs have been posted in most accessible areas. Anglers should avoid contact with water and if they wish to keep their catch, they should clean and wash them at home.
The last time this problem arose it was only for a week or two before things got back to the norm, so here's hoping this will clear soon.
Having said that, some anglers have chanced their arm out in Lake Hume and in turn have nailed some decent redfin on small yabbies.
Most reports were from the Mitta Arm, with better sized fish up to 1.3kg.
Reports from the Murray arm aren't too good, with the water at Bowna being far too low to use the ramp.
And what water there is there is a bit on the nose.
Mul has, for its part, been much the same with a few decent reports of good fish taken on spinnerbaits and others taken on surface lures.
The river below Mulwala has been fishing pretty darn well, but you really need a boat to get away from the crowd.
Bait, particularly cheese and chicken often used together, has been working well.
For those who don't want to get their fingers dirty, spinnerbaits and smallish hard bodies (custom-crafted fish sticks) are pretty reliable.
The river from Hume to Mul is quite reasonable despite dropping over recent days.
Again, bait seems to provide more consistent results and again spinnerbaits are filling the lure fishos void.
The Kismet Classic was run last weekend, with 159 anglers trying their luck.
More than 200 cod were caught and subsequently released, along with four yellas.
Troy MacNamara topped the seniors list with a 93cm fish and Will Sikorski snared the juniors prize with a cod reaching 63cm.
The Bidgee is still OK for bait fishing from Wagga down to Narrandera.
The usual baits are working well but you have to be patient to score a decent fish.
The water is slowly starting to clear up that way, so the lure fishos will certainly come into their own soon.
Gun Lavington fisho Mick Zanardo and his able fishing buddy Kel had a good session on the Mitta River with lures. Spinning from the boat, they landed 10 fish between them. Mick scored an impressive rainbow amongst them.
Other anglers have faired reasonably well up there too, mainly with lures as well.
I ventured up the Snowy Creek for a short two-hour wading session recently.
However, I think that managed to hook more blackberries than fish.
I then snapped the line off a good fish as it tore down the stream past me.
This all left me with little to talk about, other than the fact I'm getting old.
Elsewhere, Rod from The Compleat Angler in Wagga mentioned that there's been some good fish in good numbers to all methods of fishing in the Tumut River.
This will improve when the water levels start to drop and the days get shorter.
Blowering Dam has been OK for trolling cod and a few on yabbies.
However, lure casting hasn't proven to be anywhere near as successful.
We'd love for you to tell us all about the catch that didn't get away and share your pictures with our readers. To have your catch featured in The Border Mail, send it in to 0475 947 279 or 0475 947 279.
