I LOVE EUCUMBENE - Barry Whelan

That’s the cry heard day and night from Vern Barby as he hooked  into another fish on our recent trip to Cobrobald Bay .  The advance party of Nygaard, Haines and Barby arrived on Boxing Day and immediately set about ripping lips and creating havoc  among  the Eucumbene rainbows, so much so, that two days later I received an urgent phone call from Robert, “ bring several boxes  of Kamasan B175 size 14, the fish are breaking all our fine wire  hooks ”, and he said “ would you believe Nygaard has not fished   with mudeyes, he is fishing fly !

 My response was “ we will probably have to eat them with salad to get rid of the bloody things !”   Jim Jackman and I arrived three days later, for me, after an  absence of several years and driving along “ Arnies  Autobahn“ still  in its pristine condition it was like “coming home”. The views of the lake, the twisted and tortuous snow gums and green hillsides made for a picture perfect setting. 

The lake was still rising over grass flats, the chironomids were in abundance and Vern Barby had the answer to catching the fish and in typical fashion shared his knowledge of the flies to use and how to fish them, mind you as the incumbent “fines master” there were some moments of indiscretion, like drowning Jim Jackman in his boat or falling backwards off his favourite rock while in hook up mode and after a few days he earned a new nickname “ arf-mt “ for all the half empty drinks he left everywhere including my bourbon. 

Earlier in the trip the weather was its usual self, windy, cold and the with tumbleweed  blowing onto the water it made fly fishing rather laborious. We were joined for a few days fishing by Geoff Newman and his brother in law Toddy a very nice gentleman who although not a fly fisher managed to bag a few fish courtesy of Nygaard’s animal collection.    As many of you would know the usual practice with boats and  trailers is to launch your boat and then tie it to the trailer, I was unable to park my boat trailer adjacent to the water so left it up higher on the steep bank resting on the jockey wheel and not chocked only to return from fishing at night and no trailer to be seen ! There were plenty of theories, someone stole it ?, Someone has taken the wrong trailer by accident and so forth. 

The next morning after searching the shoreline looking for some evidence of a boat trailer, master mariner and old salt Captain Canada rigged up a rope with a small anchor and we dragged the boat harbour eventually hooking up and retrieving the trailer. It appears the boat harbour is a favourite haunt of the local cattle herd and it seems they have dislodged the trailer allowing it to roll down into the deep water. ( I am already saving up for the fine !)  New Years Eve was celebrated around a large fire and catered for by our hosts Arnie and Josie in their inimitable style and by this time the fishing included daytime dry fly with grasshopper patterns which were in their swarms everywhere and so it was possible to fish dry fly all day and again in the evening using a dry fly pattern of the “ midge balls “ although other patterns like Stimulators in a variety of colours worked equally as well.  After Vern returned home Brian Sainty joined our group and  almost immediately the quality of the wines began to enhance the dinner table as did the level of intelligence and coherence of the party, there is much to be said for the benefits of good wine ! In my forty some years of fishing Lake Eucumbene there has been  some memorable occasions with exceptional fishing including bigger fish however I have never witnessed such an abundance of fly life on the water whether it be midges or grasshoppers.

The Fred Eva Lodge was the most comfortable accommodation you could ask for and for any member who has not availed themselves of staying at the Lodge I urge you to do so.

My companions were up to their usual convivial and social best behaviour and great fishing company so a most enjoyable trip. 

Photos of Fred Eva lodge