FlyLife Australia & New Zealand — Winter 2017

FLYLIFE^17

left the track at the Snowy crossing,
and 50 metres upstream we had the
fishing – indeed the entire valley – all
to ourselves.
The upper Snowy catchment is an
alpine habitat unlike that on any other
continent – stunted eucalypts instead
of conifers, wombats and echidnas
instead of placentals – and the fact
that it’s steeped in iconic national
folklore just added to the thrill of
being there.
Wading across the riffles proved to
be easy, and with no scrub to impede
the back-cast the kids soon got into
the rhythm of upstream fishing. I got
them to tie on large dries (mainly #
Royal Wulffs) and we soon found that
any good cast was likely to elicit a
take from an eager half-pounder. Most
fish were brown trout, but the odd
rainbow provided welcome variety.
It didn’t take long for the kids to see
how excess flyline on a tail-out would
cause unnatural drift, and how drag
was unacceptable to most, but not all,
fish. They quickly learned to avoid
drag by high-sticking, laying line over
boulders, casting diagonally across
the riffles, even by performing crude

mends. And they literally counted the
benefits of good casts versus sloppy
ones.

CLUB LAKE
Next day we walked 4 km along the
Main Range Track, and enjoyed many
distractions. The last vestiges of snow
proved ideal for long bum-slides and
snowball fights. The mist sweeping up
from the northern slopes provided an
opportunity for Zoe to practise pho-
tography, and the ‘dangerous’ rocky
outcrops seemed custom-made for

enacting mock accidents to post on

Facebook.

At Carruthers Peak we left the track

and gingerly made our way downhill

to Club Lake. Despite perfect visibility

there was not a trout in sight, not even

a rise, and the kids quickly went into

sleuth mode. Would schools of galax-

ias swim so brazenly over the silt flats

if they shared the lake with a big pop-

ulation of predatory trout? Were there

any redds in the fine shingle at the

mouth of the inflowing creek? Which

of the waterfalls on the outflow might

provide a barrier to upstream migra-

tion from Club Creek?

We fished Club Creek itself on the

way back to the car park, but Zoe’s

heart wasn’t really in it: she had

an English assignment to finish and

wanted to discuss it with me back at

the lodge. I realised then, belatedly

perhaps, that Zoe and Connor were

no longer children.

OTHER LAKES

The next day was wet and windy, and

we all agreed that mountain biking

would be preferable to bushwalking

or fishing. Frances and I could have

hired bikes from Crackenback, and

used its shuttle service too, but we

figured that the Gladesville Gang

would be better off avoiding the

scheduled shuttle times. Accordingly

we drove them around to the begin-

ning of the Thredbo Valley Track, and

then waited for them some 15 km

downstream at the Lake Crackenback

Resort (renamed Crackenbackensack

by Connor, naturally).

After we regrouped, there was still

plenty of afternoon left, and we made

a last-minute decision to do a short

walk (barely 1 km) off the Kosciuszko

Road to Rainbow Lake at the head of

Diggers Creek. There were a few fish

rising when we arrived but a thunder-

storm forced us back to the car. Then,

suddenly, the storm was over, so we

drove a short distance back the way

we came to Sponars, another small

Posing for a Facebook post.

Fly fishing must always be taken seriously.

A nice little brown from the upper Snowy.