End of Season Fly Fishing in Kosciuszko | Explore with Tom's

As the trout fishing season is nearing its end on the June long weekend, and with the temperature dropping as winter closes in, it’s the perfect time to get out for a final trip or two before the season closes and experience some late season fishing. The 2021/22 trout fishing season has been one to remember. There’s been plenty of healthy, good quality fish around, whether you’re fishing the Tumut River or up in the high country.

Filmed and edited by Dean Johnson

Recently Pat went for a trip up into the Snowy Mountains for some late season fishing in different types of water. As the temperature drops over the late autumn and winter months, trout move up from the lakes to spawn and fight for territory. This is why there tends to be a sizable amount of fish moving around at this time of year.

Despite the spawn run frenzy, there are still opportunities late in the season when there's a warm day to head up into the mountains and catch fish on drys and droppers. Both methods have proven to be productive in what has been a highly productive season.

One of the most productive rivers in the Australian spawn run is the Eucumbene River and its tributaries. The Eucumbene River flows down to Lake Eucumbene from Kiandra up in the high country (approximately 1400m). The techniques commonly used in the spawn run are by no means the so-called ‘purest’ way to fly-fish. You could be casting heavy flies, split shots and strike indicators at any one time. Despite being challenging to fish, the results speak for themselves.

The name of the game is to get your flies as deep as possible at all costs. Spawning fish (especially males) are territorial and fight other fish for river real estate. This means they hug the bottom of the river or lake and won’t rise in the water column to feed. This is why your flies need to be down deep and in their face, ready for a trout to eat. Regarding fly selection, the go-to for spawn run would have to be a glo-bug or egg pattern and a heavy nymph to weigh everything down. Trout will eat a glo-bug for territory over other fish laying eggs further upstream and if one of those eggs happens to be yours, hang on!

If you’re looking for a change of scenery at this time of year or missing that sweet small stream action, then maybe heading out on a warm day into the mountains to seek out stunning wild fish might be for you. If you plan to fish a dry fly, definitely hang a nymph underneath or switch to a light double nymph rig as the water is still dropping in temperature, forcing the trout to the bottom. In saying that, the occasional fish have been surfacing for a dry.

With the trout fishing season closing in a few weeks, it's time to get out and make the most of this fantastic season we’ve had!