Gusty day, Thredbo Diggings

Conditions

Very gusty day. Still some patches of snow on Main Range. Part cloud. Wind with gusts blowing in periods of sunshine. Cloud, sun, cloud. 15-20 degrees, warm in the sun.

Reached the Thredbo Diggings campground around 1:30 p.m. Walked downstream along the valley track. Found a good spot to cut in and enter the river where some boulders made rapids at a tighter bend.

A few dumps of a snow earlier in the week around Thredbo and Jindabyne. The river was flowing fairly high and fast. Clean, clear water. Quite cold.

Insect Activity And Other Life

No hatches. A few bugs in the bushes and trees. A monarch butterfly flapped past me. Some tiny moths were buzzing the water surface.

Saw a yellow-belly black snack sunning itself in a marshy hollow beside the river. Gave it some distance, left it to enjoy the afternoon.

A pair of ducks swam up to me while I was tying on a Royal Wulff. They inspected my line.

Fish Behaviour

Didn’t see any rises or fish holding. Saw a couple of splashes near the shaded bank on a wide bend. Might have been a fish. A small moth was skimming the surface pretty close by.

Approach

Worked upstream for about 300 meters. Had a few rigging issues and minor calamities requiring a few stops. Was on the water for about 2 hours.

Attempted a dry dropper with a Royal Wulff and Pheasant Tail Nymph, thinking that any fish might be holding up lower down in quieter pockets, given the fast water and lack of insect life on the surface.

Lost the dry and nymph on the dropper, probably to a wind knot. Very gusty wind and quite difficult to get an accurate cast, or a nice looking loop on my casts.

Targeted some slower spots behind some large rocks, also some slower water against the outside bank of the river.

Lost a second Royal Wulff as a dry only. Could blame the wind but likely due to bad knots on my part.

Finally tied on an Elk Hair Caddis, one I tied myself this time, and shortened the leader to try and manage better casts in the wind. Held up well, but could have done with some floatant. Noticed all the dries got soaked pretty quickly in the fast water. Something to remember for next time; apply floatant and tie on fresh dry flies when needed.

Results

Didn’t catch any fish. Didnt have any takes. Didnt see any fish. Lost 3 flies - 2 Royal Wulffs size 12, 1 Pheasant Tail Nymph size 14.

Reflections

On balance it was great to be on the water, in nature, immersed in the environment. Making lots of mistakes but I feel I’m learning a lot every time out on the river. Hoping to get down this way again before Christmas. Maybe even try my luck closer to Canberra a few weekends - Gudgenby, Naas, Cotter.