▲TopMudgee Region Report – September 2007

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Spring is here!!!

Oil your reels, clean the boat, dig up some worms ‘cause spring is here! The weather is warming up, the fish are coming onto the bite at Windamere and the trout season opens this weekend. Remember the new fishing rules have come into affect. This time of year should have all fisherman enthusiastic and excited!

▲TopWindamere Dam

It was a glorious Spring Day on Sunday for Round 3 of the Fish N Trips Fishing Club and Challenge. The water at the dam was clear with visibility of a metre or so and no trace of algae, the wind was pretty good for most of the day only picking up around lunch time but not making the fishing too uncomfortable.

9.00 o’clock signaled the start of fishing time and competitors raced away to their favorite locations to get stuck in. Defending champions Lue Hotel were the first to measure in a fish caught by Cody that went 550mm. This signaled another tough competition for all other teams, however within minutes of the first capture the official measure in boat was tracked down by Scott and Davo from the Gulgong Fishing Club that had 2 fish ready for measure and release. The Federal hotel were then also into the action measuring in their first fish of the day.

It was then the Gulgong Fishing Club who really stepped up and dominated the mornings fishing catching 9 fish to Lue’s 2. The Court House Hotel stepped it up around lunchtime putting 2 on the measuring mat.

Biggest capture of the day came early afternoon when the Mad Pom from the Gulgong Fishing Club, who had been dropped off to bait fish at a likely looking location, signaled the weigh boat over the measure in his massive 625mm Yellowbelly. So committed to his fishing was the mad bugger that he went up to armpits in the 12 degree water in an effort to revive his big capture.

Now at this stage of the competition many would have written the Lue hotel team off. But Horse, the captain of the Lue Hotel Team, knew his boys were strong finishers who weren’t at their peak fishing ability until they were suitably fed and hydrated. With this in mind he had arranged a 60 chop strong BBQ that was accompanied by around 50 eskies. The plan paid off. After lunch his team went out and measured in 7 unanswered fish to take the competition lead.

The competition went right down to the wire with it all hanging on the final measuring at the boat ramp. In the final stages Gulgong weighed in 3 fish and Lue 1 which kept everybody guessing to the winning team.

It was then off to the Lue Hotel (The previous rounds winner), for a few post-match beverages and the ceremony. Such was the sportsmanship of the day, that the Lue pub was packed with competitors from both teams all sharing tales of the one’s that did and didn’t get away.

The Final Results were as follows: 4th Place – Federal Hotel - 1 Fish = 490mm (Toilet Seat Award) 3rd Place – Court Hose Hotel – 2 Fish = 830mm 2nd Place – Lue Hotel – 13 Fish = 6423mm 1st Place – Gulgong Fishing Club – 15 Fish – 7425mm

A couple of special mentions for the day should go to the Mad Pom with his 625mm Yellowbelly, Toney Pearce of the Lue Hotel with his 600mm Yellowbelly and Mick Papworth from the Gulgong Fishing Club with his 600mm Yellowbelly.

There were also some cod accidentally caught during the competition that did not count towards the team totals and were immediately released. In total their were 4 with 2 around the 55cm mark, 1 around the 60cm and one around the 75cm mark.

One minor victory on the day came for the Lue Hotel who finished 1 place better than the court House Hotel. There had been a private bet between the publicans of these 2 teams and I am sure Horse will be visiting Brett to pick up his $100.

Gulgong Fishing Club do really great work re-stocking our local waterways having spent over $3000 already this year on purchasing fingerlings. They pledged to put their prize money to good use with the purchasing of some more fingerlings, although there was a call from one lout in the back to re-stock the bar!

We had had a large interest from over 10 teams and it was disappointing to see only 4 turn up on the day. There were a few events going on in Mudgee that may have kept a few teams away, or maybe it’s just the Sunday morning start. We are planning the next event for somewhere between late October and Mid-November so start organizing your team now.

Thanks to all who competed.

Middle Cudgegong Trout Season Opening - The start of the NSW General Trout Streams fishing season is midnight Friday night. This will affect the Cudgegong River between the weir at Lawson Park and Windamere Dam wall as it will now be open to fishing. It has been closed to all fishing since the long weekend in June. Last season was a cracker for trout fishing in the Cudgee and hopefully this season will follow the successes from last season. Just a reminder of the rules governing trout fishing in the Cudgegong River: • The trout declared waters of the Cudgegong River include the entire river between Windamere Dam wall and Lawson Park weir and ALL tributaries that flow into this section of the river. • The Cudgegong River is a General Trout water and therefore lure, fly and bait fishing is allowed. • Bag limit per day for trout is 5 (can be comprised of a single species or combination) • Possession Limit is 10 • Size limit is 25cm • One rod is permitted with no more than 2 hooks attached • Handlines are not permitted

Burrendong Dam Many reports have been coming out of Burrendong Dam of really hot fishing from the Wellington side and a trip we took out there over the weekend only confirmed the reports. The only disappointing part of the weekend was that Peter Orr didn’t do anything really stupid/funny that I could write a story about. In fact the fishing was so good that even he caught some! We were lure fishing only, mainly trolling, but caught fish throughout the day with the bulk of the captures coming in the 2 hours after sun-up in the morning and the 2 ‘magic hours’ in the afternoon. The fish took mainly darker colored Jackall style lures with black and purple being the prime choices. We caught a mixed bag of fishing; yellowbelly up to 52cm, redfin, and even a cod (which is out of season and was immediately released). Concentrate on fishing around the structures for best result particularly the rock walls and rocky points.

Other The Gillham boys Harry and George accompanied their father Rob and Grandfater Malcom Roth on their first ever western water fishing trip. The boys fished really well with Harry catching a total of 11 fish and George 11.5. Mud Spin Lures – Young local angler and entrepreneur Nathan Innes has launched his range of Mud Spin Lures consisting of Traditional Spinners and Spinnerbaits. They are available exclusively through Mudgee Camping World and retail for reasonable prices Spinners-$5, Spinnerbaits-$12. They look the goods and I’ve already bought 20. Support Nathan for his hard work and drop in and get yourself a couple. They have already proven they can catch fish catching cod, yellowbelly and Ian Innes’s winning redfin in Bluey’s 2007 longest fish competition. Catties in Western waters - As part of the new fishing rules it is now prohibited to take Catfish both freshwater and eel-tailed from western flowing rivers and unlisted western dams. That means its prohibited to take catfish from any rivers from the Mudgee Region (with the exception of the Goulburn – it is Eastern flowing) and any further west. In fact the only waterways where it is legal to catch and keep a catfish from in our region is Windamere or Burrendong Dam. Yabby traps rules A rule that a lot of people also may not realize is that it is illegal to use yabby traps in the rivers around our region. We are in the declared platypus waters and therefore you cannot use yabby traps in rivers in this area. They are permitted to be used in lakes and private farm dams.