Hello from 9,061 miles away

[bombora]

Thought it was time to say hiya. I'm typing away in a little old apartment beside a beach in Sydney, Australia. Despite there being sensational saltwater fishing at my doorstep, everything from ultra light flats fishing to marlin and mahi mahi, I've become obsessed over the last several months with trout!!! Weird. So I 've turned my back on the surf _ after picking up tips on tiny jigs at Jigcraft; I used to think 1/8th jigs were small! _ and twice driven the two and a half hours to the mountain rangers which flank Sydney. Elevation is the only reason trout can survive here, the coastal flat country is too hot.
Thought I'd put up some photos from the two short trips I did.
The first trip was to two tiny rivers which wind through cattle properties.
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Two rainbows from the first pool. I got mine on three pound fireline and 1/20th black jig and John, a gun flyfisho, got his on a 3 weight and no16 dry fly.
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My photographer mate Al, a top big fish fella (he got a 300 pound plus southern bluefin tuna earlier this year!!!!!) put down his camera, grabbed a rod and cast a 1/16th black thread body jig for this little rainbow. The rainbows in these two rivers are a mix of wild and stocked as fry or fingerlings. They are all fin perfect and handsome.
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My first every brown! It's a beautifully marked and handsome little fish, well at least I think so!!. It took a 1/16th brown threadbody jig. All the browns in these two rivers are wild, stockings stopped in 1982.
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The other river on this trip also holds heaps of what we call redfin perch or sometimes English perch. Another spin/fly double hook up saw me fool a perch on a 1/20th olive bug eye jig at the end of the pool while John hooked his slim brown on a Parachute Adams at the head of the pool. Who says spin and fly can't work together!
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We got 24 perch out of one little pool, from hand sized to this fella. They were hungry.

 

[LedHed]

Welcome bombora. Excellent post and fantastic fishing. Pleasure to hear from down under on what you guys use and catch. That perch looks like a fight and your trout are real beauties.

Is there a lot of jig fishing around Sydney?

 

[bombora]

Hiya Ledhed, thanks! Yep jig fishing is huge in and around Sydney, but it's all, and I mean all, plastics. They are all obsessed with jig headed soft plastics. Seriously, jig making is very, very, very, rare. But I just love, like I reckon all do here on this great site, making my own lures.
Better finish my introduction pics!
The second trip's river is very different, runs through thick wild Aussie bush, beside tall gumtrees and between high stone gorges in some places. Went solo this time. Hard yakka just trying to move up beside the river but worth it. The rainbows and browns in this river are bigger, thick set and athletic fish. I managed five rainbows between 14 and 18 inches and they went like the clappers.
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One of the bigger pools. Different to the salt spray and surf I'm used to.
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This chunky 17 inch fish rooster tailed the line as it ran before jumping, then reversed the run and jumped again. Ye Ha! Our rainbows have a California steelhead heritage, brought over via New Zealand in 1894.
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Lots of skinny stuff between the pools.
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Did I say they were fat.
Anyway G'day to all, I can be a jig nerd to my heart's content here I reckon!

 

[LedHed]

Outstanding photos bb. Hope to see some of your creations...
Thnx again.

 

[bombora]

Oops forgot, this is Jigcraft, better put up the simple jigs which worked in these two trips!!
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The olive bug eye is arctic fox tailed and 1/20th. This jig took two dozen perch and still looks good I think. The two thread bodied round heads are 1/16th rabbit tails and the perch coloured, gold eyed darter head is 1/32nd rabbit tail. The rainbows on the wild river liked this jig, which by a miracle survived the snags.
Better go for now but it's cool to come out of the shadows, now I can comment on the amazing jigs which members make and show!

 

[toadfrog]

Welcome my friend . Some of the best work in lure making I've seen is from your part of the world . Lot of crank bait makers of excellent expertise down there . Matter of fact I'm on one of the sites there . I always wanted to visit . Probably won't get to but I'm clinging to the hope .

 

[Jig Man]

Hello from West Texas bombara. Outstanding post and beautiful fish and pictures of the rivers you guys are fishing. Cool jigs too. Welcome to Jigcraft looking forward to a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong distance deal. Isn't the internet great. Lots of fish in the salt will eat those things too, but you probably already know that!!!

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Welcome and a great post.From fish to the jigs tyed.Beautifull place you fish there.I would love to see some of your saltwater adventures.

 

[Radtexan]

Welcome aboard !!!!!!!!!!!

Great post and pics..Looks like some beautiful High country down under.Never thought of Australia having that kind of elevation.

 

[JSC]

Welcome
Great Fishin with UR own Jigs ... Look Good ... and I do like those stream shots.

 

[oldfox]

Welcome from Maine!

 

[StumpHunter]

Welcome to JigCraft from South Carolina.
It's great to see your hand tied jigs and the fish you have caught. Nice looking waters you are fishing. With the long rides you are making to trout fish it is great to see that the trout are good size. A few fat ones in your pics.
Look forward to seeing more of your catch and fishing reports.

 

[AtticaFish]

Glad you decided to 'come out of the shadows' and did so with an excellent post!!! Beautiful rivers and fish. The red fin perch looks very similar to the yellow perch that live in our deep water lakes - just red highlights instead of yellow. Cool to see them in small streams like that. Are they good eating or are they all catch and release?

The jigs look outstanding too. I like the shape of the bug-eyed one... what are the eyes made of?

Welcome to the flock.

 

[Hawnjigs]

G'day & Aloha!
Nice pics & commentary - Thanks! Questions:
1. "they went like the clappers" ?
2. elevation of the trout streams? runoff or spring sourced?
3. Saw a docu that mentioned Oz has 10 of the worlds deadliest snakes - are they a problem for anglers?
Your trout country is beautiful - so dif from the dusty eucalyptus dryland I see on screen and paper. Are you fishing public or private waters?

 

[Fatman]

Welcome aboard from Vermont!!!!! Now I like all trout but a Brown in all it's colors is one beautiful fish!!!!!! That's some real pretty country!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[GRANDPA BOB]

Hi Bombara,

Welcome from Ohio, Nice Trout, The scenery looks great, and so do your jigs. Hey Bombara how far are from Bangalow?
We have a few guys down their we Talk to.
Grandpa Bob

 

[Shoemoo]

Strange to see such a familiar fish in such an exotic place. Most everyone here is mad for trout. Wish North American perch grew to that size with more regularity.

Welcome aboard!

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

Welcome,I love the pics and the ties. I've been a fan of some of Australia's wildlife.I raised bearded dragon's and blue tongue skinks years ago until the tying bug took over.

 

[bombora]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. By the way the 9,061 miles comes from googling distance between Sydney and Saint Louis Missouri.
Junglejim this one's for you:
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He was about four feet long from nose to tail tip. Brilliant swimmer. This was on the wild river trip. Check how clear the water is behind him. There were also various brightly coloured parrots around, rock wallabies (chunky thickly furred high country mini kangaroos) on the steep riversides, grey 'roos coming down to drink at dusk, and saw just one snake: a red belly black about four and a half feet long.
Hey Hawnjigs, yep snakes make Oz river fishing interesting. The three rivers I tramped are especially notorious. All three have red bellied blacks, tiger snakes, and brown snakes. They are all deadly. The brown snakes might have the least interesting name, but they grow to about eight feet and love the water and can get super aggro. Tigers are fat, short snakes. Red bellied blacks are also long snakes, and very good looking reptiles. Waders aren't just to keep water out. And I'm very very good at running away. Which brings up "Went like the clappers" = very bloody fast!
Sydney is sub tropical/temperate, but drive west away from the coast and very soon you hit our "Great Dividing Range" which basically runs down the entire Oz east coast. Those rivers were at about 3000 feet, so they have a much cooler climate than the coast and water which doesn't get too warm for trout. The rivers are rain-fed from higher ground. West of these ranges is where the classic outback starts. The rivers were a mix of public and private, but if you keep your feet in the water, and the river is wade-able, you can fish any river by law. Plenty of public trout and native fish water.
By the way Stumphunter, the two and a half or three hours in the car isn't much here, like a lot of the US I reckon! Both big places. After all, it takes 10 hours or more to drive from Sydney to the border of the next state north, and about the same to hit the border with the next state south. And west. I live as far away from the trout as you can, cause I'm on the coast. Plenty of blokes in suburbs further in only have a 90 minute to two hour drive.
Might put up a couple more pics if that's cool, on another reply, as I got timed out and lost a reply. D'oh. Thanks for the welcome guys.

 

[bombora]

Hey Atticafish and those who liked the perch
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My mate Al's got a new plaything, an underwater housing. In my state, New South Wales, they have just been declared noxious ferals (they are for sure closely related to your perch) and must be killed. "OK officer, if I have to" (They taste very good, a lot of locals prefer em to trout). They can apparently carry a virus which harms some of our native freshwater fish. Grow to about 2 pounds in small rivers, three or four pounds in lakes.
Another pool on the wild river, where it opens up for a few hundred yards.
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Saw no one all day. I love seeing where you blokes fish too.
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You can still see the evidence of the record floods which finally broke our 12 year long, brutal drought, two years ago. The wild river was thirty feet higher than you see it here! There are plenty of places in inland southern Australia where a generation of kids have no idea that trout fishing, any fishing, ever existed. Their rivers ran dry. It was that bad. Entire lakes, well, vanished. It's utterly amazing how the land and the rivers have come back in such a short time.
The wild river was a bit luckier, but only a bit. Probably why I've now fallen in love with stream fishing. It's hard to do when your'e casting at pebbles.