We left camp at 7:00am heading for a remote river that Phil fished before. I was very excited being my first true freshwater fishing adventure. I had been out with the Albury-Wodonga 4WD Club previously but the weather had cancelled all hope of fishing.
I was full of anticpation heading out past Mt Beauty turning on the road out to Big Hill Lookout. From there we followed a maze of roads some 20klm on 4WD tracks before arriving at Phil’s spot – to remain Phil’s secret fishing spot (sorry as promised).
General chit chat on the way their suggested their was sure to be trout – awesome! When we arrived at the river we all put rod and reel together and Greg lent me a spinner for the day.
Before setting off I checked with Greg about some fishing eticquate. What I remember is this. Keep quiet, the fish can hear you easily and one person fishes a water hole/course as leader, everyone then leap frogs the leader to have their turn. Seemed quite simple. Next how do I catch a trout. Both Phil and Greg were great in teaching me how to read the river and flick the lure into the right spot. Being a person who had only flicked lures into the ocean, the technique took some time to master but I got better as the day went on.
Phil opened the account early on with a small trout and not long after I caught my first small rainbow trout – cool. Greg followed on not long after with a better sized fish. All in all we ended up with 7 trout for the day and dropped around the same number. I ended up with two on my first fishing trip so I was extremely happy with the efforts.
One thing I did learn was how to walk the river. This proved more difficult than climbing Mt Bogong the day before. It felt uncoordinated climbing over wet slippery rocks and I took a bath a few times. I did catch on later that a walking stick certainly helps stack the odds in your favour.
Anyway I am now armed, dangerous and ready to tackle some trout in Tasmania. Thanks to Phil and Greg for their advice and guidance not to mention the chance to catch up with a couple of top blokes. Their skills flicking the lures around was to be e