VOLUME 32, ISSUE 11. June 2026

"The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, and the first of that which is coming; thus it is with time." Leonardo DaVinci

President's Report

Dear {Contact_First_Name},

Firstly, thank you to the six members who nominated to attend the Women’s Recreational Fishing League event in August. We were originally advised that three members were required to assist with the activity; regrettably as at writing this report, the number has been reduced to two. It was a difficult decision; however, the committee has decided that Pam Mort and Gavin van der Wagen will represent the club and I have no doubt that they will be great ambassadors.

The long weekend is looming, and we all know what that means ☹. But all is not lost, there is plenty to do during the ‘off season’. There is monthly casting practice and fly tying, TCD (where you will have plenty of opportunity to practice your casting), the annual tie-in, saltwater activities and much more. I don’t know about you but in the off season I love looking at topographic maps and ‘blue lining’ and planning future trips.

The other thing I am going to do is make up a checklist. This is born from my experience yesterday. After driving 2 ½ hours to Tarana I discovered that I had left my waders at home.

A couple of days ago you would have received an email regarding your membership renewal. If you are having any issues with navigating the system or are having financial issues that may stop you renewing please let me know and I can help.

Congratulations to Steve Peach for successfully completing his CCI accreditation and to our members who have taken the next step and are flyfishing competitively – Steve, Robert Louis, Jared Klein, and Glen Short. At the last competition, 4 out of the 16 competitors were from the Club – an outstanding achievement.

And news just to hand, Jared Klein and Steve Peach were ranked overall 2nd and 3rd (respectively) in the State championships.

We need to keep our social media accounts up to date. Earlier this year Alan Baldry volunteered to assist with this. I have been remiss in not reminding members to submit photos via the club’s website so that we have a stock of up-to-date images. In this day and age, having Facebook and Instagram pages with fresh content is critical, so if you have any photos of recent activities or trips, please submit them through the website (see below).

Hope you all have a great month.

Regards

David

I love the places that this sport takes me

Editor's Note

Jason with a New Zealand North Island Rainbow

Dear Flyrodders,

Plenty of trip reports in this issue covering the Ovens catchment area in Victoria, the Tumut River and the recent Wallerawang tuition weekend. Thanks to Rob Cummins, David Blackwell and David Webster for these reports.

When you add our regular contributors David Major, David Caddies and David Wilson, it is evident this publication is made possible by those named David.

For a touch of variety, I’d like to throw in the name Andrew Worotniuk. I first met Andrew on a club trip to Mitta Mitta and we have enjoyed many fishing sessions together since. Andrew had a short story published in the Winter edition of Fly Life magazine. Pleasingly, his contribution won the Short Casts Prize of a bottle of gin.

A great achievement Andrew – well done.

Cheers,

Jason

Trip Report: Trout buns in the Ovens

By Rob Cummins

With our trout rivers about to be closed for the season, a bunch of desperates - Dave Webster, Grant Flawith, Mal Caswell, Sam Collins (a mate of Grant’s) and me - headed off to the wilds of the Ovens catchment in Victoria in mid-May for a week of camping and troutin’. A similar trip planned last year fell apart when a certain “sovereign” idiot was still on the loose.

While Sydney was slammed with a week of miserable weather, we were blessed with 6 days of stunning conditions – sunny skies, no rain and zero wind! Some rain fell on day 7 when most of us were already on our way home.

Low, clear and cold!

The rivers and streams were all gin clear, low and very cold (ask me how I know!) so we felt that catching fish was going to be a challenge, but these rivers are all so gobsmackingly beautiful that just being on the water was reward in itself. Indeed, the water looked as though you were a chance with every cast!

Dave likes taking the easy route!

Being late in the season, we saw many eager pairs of large trout working their way upstream, often dancing together, with their minds clearly on sin and debauchery. They were certainly not interested in pre-coital degustation! It was a rare and special moment when Dave and I saw a pair of big trout clearly spawning on a well-defined redd – a small section of fine gravel that the jack had cleared of larger stones for his partner to lay her eggs.

Rob with a fat little rainbow

Despite the challenging conditions, we all managed to catch fish, with two to five each per day being typical (albeit with the occasional skunking). Because of the low and often tight water, we mostly fished 3-weights with a dry or dry-dropper, although Grant (naturally!) couldn’t help himself and also carried a nymphing rod on some days. On one day he netted 12 fish with half being on Euro.

Grant with a typical rainbow

Even though it was late in the season, it was wonderful to see many fish willingly take, or at least slash at a dry. In one beautiful small canyon, Dave had four separate fish attack his dry, with two hooked, though none actually stuck. On the other hand, his flies stuck very well in the overhanging tree after his unsuccessful strikes.

A huge eat on Dave’s dry

Most of our fish were wriggler rainbows of 10 to 18cm with the occasional “monster” fish of 25 to 30cm. Interestingly, most of the larger fish were browns.

A cracker brown for Grant

It was also noteworthy and very pleasing that none of us saw any cormorants, unlike all other trips over the last couple of years. We live in hope that with some decent winter rain, fish numbers will continue to improve.

Dave with a pretty little brown

We did, however, see an abundance of other animals, especially after dark when returning to the campsite. On one night we saw five deer, including a buck with massive antlers. Wombats, wallabies, roos, possums and foxes added to the sense that we really were in the boonies. And our misty mornings were welcomed by a birdsong orchestra with hundreds of players. It was truly very special.

Our nights mostly involved dinner at a local pub, then back to camp with chocolate and a brew or three around a massive fire, for which we thank Sam, our resident pyro-guru.

Trip Report: Tumut River

By David Blackwell

After a few late withdrawals, 5 club members participated in the Tumut trip this year. Participants were Chris Whittle, Michael Durkin, Justin Pik, Charles Arrand and myself, David Blackwell.

The Tumut River extends approximately 60 kilometres down from Blowering Dam down to its conjunction with the Murrumbidgee River. The best trout fishing areas commence at the Dam tailrace and extend over the 18 kilometres between Rivercrest and the dam wall.

During the summer, substantial flows are released from Blowering Dam and the river flows high and fast. During that time Tumut River flow rates are typically between 15,000 and 20,000 ML/d and the river is really only suitable for drift boat fishing. However, late in the season (April and May) the Dam turns off the tap. This changes everything.

Once the dam cuts off major water releases the flow drops to between 500 and 2,000 ML/d. This flow reduction dramatically changes the profile of the river and long sections of the river become accessible and suitable for fishing from the bank or wading up in the shallow glides.

We had some heavy rainfall on Monday and Tuesday. The river level remained low but the water coloured up very quickly. The sections below the confluence with the with the Goobarragandra River were not worth fishing. So we fished nymphs on the upper section at Jone’s Bridge. We got onto some small fish in patches, typically around 15 c.m. We speculated that these were this year’s stocked fish.

On Tuesday, despite continuing poor weather Chris and Michael did a drift boat day down from the dam wall to Tumut Township. They got a couple of decent Rainbows but were soaked through for most of the day.

Michael making the best of his drift boating

Justin came down on Wednesday and found clearer water. By Thursday the sun had come out and water conditions improved. Justin demonstrated his skills by landing about 6 decent Rainbows on Wednesday. He followed it up on Thursday morning getting 3 good Tumut Rainbows fishing a Euro Rig near the Junction Bridge. We blanked and just watched on with admiration.

Improved weather and clearer water at the Junction Bridge

A classic – A Tumut Rainbow caught on a pink bead nymph. Well done Justin.

Later in the week we worked out that there was a rise happening right on sunset. I was very short lived, typically about 20 minutes. We made the best of it and managed a few better fish using both a single dry fly rig with a small emerger and also fishing small shallow nymphs in the faster water.

Overall, it was a tough week, but the number of small fish was an encouraging sign for next season. I am coming back next year!

Trip Report: Wallerawang Tuition Weekend

By David Webster

On the 8th May a gathering of 18 or so Flyrodders converged at Black Gold Cabins for a tuition weekend. The group consisted of varying levels of experience from outright beginners to more experienced members.

That evening we gathered together and ran through some of the basics of gear, lines, flies, knots and all things fishing, with an overview of local conditions provided by Phil Burton.

Saturday turned into a stunning autumn day, with light winds and blue sky. Just perfect. The experienced members took the less experienced to a number of different locations around the area, including the Fish and Cox's Rivers, Thompson Creek Dam and Lake Wallace.

The unlucky duo of Tom (a beginner) and Greg Burrow drew the short straw and had me as their experienced angler.

I had spent some time with Tom earlier that morning giving him a few casting tips on grass, so we had time when we arrived at the river to go over some line management and mending, while Greg fished downstream.

A short time later I noticed a few fish starting to rise and got Tom into position. After a few near misses Tom had his first fish on fly in the net, job done! I think I was as happy as he was.

David Webster giving Tom a few tips on a lovely day in the Central West

New member Tom Burrow with his first fish on fly

Tom's rainbow

Saturday evening the group got together for dinner and drinks back at the Black Gold Cabins and swapped stories of the day’s adventures into the night.

A number of fish were caught by others in the group however, the weekend focus was all about helping less experienced members and the beginners, rather than purely catching fish. But as always, a few more fish would have been nice.

Sunday morning there was a lot of anticipation and a number of the group headed to Thompsons Creek dam, following reports of fish caught and also fish seen cruising the edges.

Unfortunately, Tommos 's being its typical fickle self, was the opposite of the previous day and the fish were nowhere to be seen.

I took Conny Warn a new member and in fact new to fly fishing, to the Fish River for some casting and some tips on river craft. Despite some initial frustrations, we got a fish in the net to round off the morning.

I think it is fair to say that it was another successful and fun weekend run by the club.

A big thank you to all for your company, especially those who gave up their time to take newer members out. Last but not least thank you to James Webber for your organisation and putting the weekend together.

Next Monthly Club Meeting

Our next Monthly Meeting will be held at our regular venue, The Freeway Hotel (15 Reserve Road, Artarmon) commencing at 7:00pm on Monday 15 June.

Pedro will be talking about fly fishing in Chile.

Members will arrive from around 6pm so feel free to come early and enjoy a drink and some dinner with friends.

So come along and enjoy another great night out with fellow members.

For those that cannot attend we will upload a video recording of the meeting to our YouTube channel, which members can access via the menu option below:

Casting Practice Report

By David Caddies

A big day at practice, with 25 members turning out. Quite a few new members and first-timers too, which is nice to see. That included several members absolutely new to casting. Their lives have been changed irrevocably – probably for the better!

George quickly got the ball rolling with explanations and very organised demonstrations of the 2 casts we had in mind for the day, being the roll cast and the aerialised reach mend.

The roll cast is regarded as difficult by most casters. Even when you are shown the technique it still takes a while to nail it but nail it you will if you persist. I think most casters do the roll cast a bit better than they think, for the reason that even a reasonably well-executed roll cast doesn’t look so pretty from the caster’s perspective. This is because you judge the loop by how it looks from straight behind it from your perspective as caster. If you commence the cast by rotating the rod tip forward (arcing – as in rainbow shaped) and finish the cast with rod pointing at or below horizontal, that’s when the loop looks like a big, rolling rainbow shaped nothing and lands in a heap on the water (good if that’s what you intended!). When practising on grass, judge your result by whether the line and leader straighten well on presentation. If you can do that, it was probably OK. Remember that roll-casting on grass is difficult and if you try it with more than 35-40’ of line out you are making things so difficult I’d recommend you not do it at all. Form and technique is the key, never force.

If you have just read the above paragraph and it is incomprehensibly technical or you may think only for the experts, I spent some time with two beginning casters on Sunday and started them on the roll cast as their first cast and their first casting instruction ever. It is no more difficult than any other ‘foundation’ cast – amply proven by one of the newbies who, having absolutely no experience with a fly rod and therefore no pre-existing default moves to overcome, ‘got it’ without any undue drama . It’s going to take reinforcement and practice but that member is now fishing-ready with that one cast.

There are some videos of how to do the roll cast on the Fly Fishers International website. Also, if you have a look at Brian Henderson’s website and find the section on his Single Hand Spey course, he shows you the roll cast in one of the introductory clips .

If you’ve read this far, I’ll be kind and spare you a run down of the reach mend, but you’ll encounter it if you undertake the Silver level in the FFI Casting Skills Development program at casting practice. The roll cast features in every level of the program in one form or another!

One of the nice parts about monthly club casting practice is to see members relaxed and making the most of time with the flyrod just dedicated to practice. Until you do a bit of that, it must seem difficult to commit to just casting where the alternative may be to simply go fishing. If life is busy, the decision gets easier, I suspect, if favour of the fishing option, not the practice option. We get all that and never intrude on anyone’s choice in that regard.

It’s also pretty warm and fuzzy to see members going out of their way to help others with their casting. Some members who would acknowledge that their own casting journey is way incomplete are motivated to ‘share the love’ (of all things flyfishing). Several regularly step up and do what they can to make others welcome and get on the right track. I also see the recipients of such help expressing their surprise and gratitude – especially newcomers to the club.

See you in the park

David

Club Monthly Casting Practice - Details and Event Schedule.

SFRC MONTHLY CASTING PRACTICE 9am Sunday 14 June 2026

Reminder: Leave your 9 – 10’ trout leader with the 5X tippet at home. Bring one which is 8’ – 8’6” and terminating in 8 or 10 lb tippet. This session will suit DT or WF floating lines, for the single-handers. Two-handers, bring what you got.

Start time is 9am:

HOWEVER: If you wish to have a go at being evaluated for any one or more of the casts in the Bronze Skills Development Program and you would like to come earlier than 9, send me a text message to that effect on 0434 671 085 and I’ll be there to set it up, from 8am. Coaching and demonstrations will be going on after 9, but with not much opportunity for individual evaluations. Early notice would be appreciated, but don’t let that stop you from a late practice on Saturday to see if you’re ready!

All members are welcome to join in the club’s usual monthly practice session. If you want to know everything about the club’s casting practice sessions, read the whole blurb in the Flyrodder magazine.

WHERE: Timbrell Park, Henley Marine Drive, Five Dock. Go to the western end of Henley Marine Drive, past the cricket pitches, baseball nets and just past LIvvi’s coffee kiosk and kids’ playground area. There is an open area opposite where Ingham Avenue intersects with Henley Marine Drive which we usually use. It is not part of the sports fields. If conditions there are not suitable on the day, we will be just opposite, across the canal, or anywhere within sight that I can find.

So come and give it a try, as there is so much to be gained by attending these sessions. And they are Free!!!

If you can’t make it this time and want some good practical instruction to guide you, check out this site: https://www.flyfishersinternational.org/Learn/Learning-Center-Resources/Fly-Casting/Casting-Instruction

I don’t know if that link works for you. Google FFI flyfishing and delve around. Most stuff is open to non-members.

2026 dates for fly casting practice

14 June I 12 July I 9 August I 13 September I 11 October

I 8 November I 13 December

Next Fly Tying Night

By Dave Wilson

YETI FROM THE SAME FUR PATCH

At the upcoming Fly-Tying night, we will be dubbing, zonkering, and hackling from the same fur patch. This Zonker / Matuka style pattern is ideal to pull in winter lakes and swing when the rivers are open. The original Tasmanian pattern named by Max Christenson as a Yeti which had a peacock herl body. Various coloured versions are available for sale on various sites. A Zonker or Bunny style fly is very similar.

The skills:

1. Where to place the jam hitch to minimise head crowding. (FFi1)

2. Applying lead wire weighting without giving yourself lead poisoning.

3. Applying the pinch wrap (FFi8)

4. Applying touch / noodle dubbing (FFi29)

5. Applying loop dubbing (FFi30)

6. Applying even ribbing to a Matuka style “wing” (FFi20/21)

7. Forming and applying a hair (crosscut) hackle in a “dubbing” loop (FFi30)

8. Applying a whip finish (FFi12)

Skills are pattern agnostic. Once a core skill is mastered, it can be applied to almost all other patterns - fresh or salt or brackish. Picking up skills haphazardly by tying random patterns takes a lifetime and usually cements bad habits into muscle memory. It is best to systematically focus on learning the essential skills despite the pattern, as we do on fly tying nights.

See you there ..

Want to tie your own flies?

You don’t have to tie to tie the Fly-of-the-Month! You are welcome to come and tie socially with your own materials. We are still able to offer advice and help with your own flies.

So come along to learn these skills at the next fly tying night on 22 June 2026 at 6:30 PM at the Freeway Hotel.

New Members

We extend a warm welcome to new members Bill Butler, Peter Mahoney, Bruce Mann, Anthony Mercer, Lyndel Stone and Kevin Woods.

We encourage new members to join in on the many activities that we run as this is a good way to meet other club members and also to improve your fly fishing skills and most importantly to have a great time.

Looking forward to meeting you at our Monthly Members Meetings and at events throughout the coming year.

Sydney Fly Rodders Facebook Pages

We run two SFRC pages, one is our public page and it posts events and activities of the club. It also shares posts from other pages like CAS, DPI on things relevant to the places and areas that we fish.

I post some fly tying every now and then and share links to events I find that might be of interest to followers. This page is a little like our Web page, it showcases the club to attract members and provides details of club events. At last count it has more than one thousand followers.

We added another page. This is reserved for members only and cannot be seen by anyone outside of the group. You will need to send a request to join. Any member can post on this page and it is a great opportunity for members to put up a post or two about anything fly fishing. I would like to encourage members to use this page to post fishing reports or photos of flies that you tied. Being connected to other members you can ask for some casting or gear advice, or organise a short trip when you suddenly have some spare time.

There are also hundreds of other groups; bream on fly, carp on fly, bass, trout....areas like alpine trout, Sydney Kayak Fishing....fly tying groups, buy sell swap fly gear pages and individuals like Aussie Flyfisher, Sydney Flyfishing to check out.

Phil Burton
philipburton@bigpond.com

Sydney Flyrodders Instagram Page

The Sydney Fly Rodders are now on Instagram. Many thanks to our Member Maddie Chew Lee, who offered to set us up and apply her significant experience with marketing and communications in particular within the social media space.

Please follow the site and add your comments, and lets grow this platform for the club. It will also attract new members to the club.

Below is a snapshot of the site. We aim to sync (in particular look and feel) the Instagram account with our Facebook account and also our new Website, which I talk more about in the preceding section.

Sydney Fly Rodders WhatsApp Group

We have an Exclusive Group on WhatsApp for our Members, which is a great way to communicate informally and to share ideas, seek advice and also to plan and seek interest for impromptu/planned fishing trips.

I can highly recommend this to members. We have arranged a number of trips now from a weekends bass fishing through to a casual and social Sunday morning or afternoons fishing at Narrabeen Lake or Hen & Chickens Bay etc. And there could even be a BBQ thrown in for a social get together afterwards. This will happen on most if not all occasions.

Should you wish to be included in this group, then please email me to request your inclusion, quoting your mobile number which is required to link you into the Group. You will need to download the WhatsApp first if you haven't already done so.

Please contact me for inclusion.

Jason Hemens

Editor, Flyrodder

jasondh1972@gmail.com

Piste Haus Ski Lodge - Jindabyne

The Fly Rodders have access to the Piste Haus Ski lodge in Jindabyne during the off season at an affordable rate:

Positioned in Jindabyne village walking distance to Banjo Patterson Pub and short drive to shops/restaurants/etc.
8 bedrooms, mix of doubles, twins, triples and bunks
Sleeps 14 all up and 10 comfortably
$75/room/night
SFRC get access from October to end May (off-season for skiing)
Large open plan and well-appointed shared kitchen, dining and relaxation area with log stove
Bring your own linen, towels, pillow, sleeping bag, blanket
Parking for up to 4 or 5 cars on site and others on the street

The syndicate that owns Piste Haus has been very generous in allowing the Sydney Flyrodders access to this excellent facility at such a low price. Therefore, we encourage members to feel free to make use of this offer (either in groups or as individuals – it does not have to be an official club trip), as long as we always remember to follow the house rules and leave the place clean and tidy.

If you are interested in booking please reach out to James Webber (treasurer@sydneyflyrodders.com.au

https://pistehaus.com.au