VOLUME 30, ISSUE 5. November 2023
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This photo was from our Annual Skills Tuition Weekend at Wallerawang. David Caddies demonstrating how to read and fish the water on the Fish River, whilst Craig Symonds and Roy Burton take note. |
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"Our tradition is that of the first man who sneaked away to the creek when the tribe did not really need fish". ~ by Roderick Haig-Brown, about modern fishing, A River Never Sleeps, 1946 ~ |
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Next Members Monthly Meeting
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Our next Members Monthly Meeting will be held at The Freeway Hotel in Artarmon, on the corner of Reserve Road and The Gore Hill Freeway. The meeting will kick off at 7:00pm on Monday, 6th November 2023.
Our guest speaker will be Neil Nelson, President of Illawarra Fly Fishers, and he will be presenting on his chosen topic of "Slovenia......Via Where? So come along and enjoy another great presentation.
Please view further down the Flyrodder for the details. |
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Next Members Monthly Fly Tying
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The Next Monthly Fly Tying Meeting will held on Monday, 19th February 2024 at our usual venue in the Green Room of the Henley Community Centre, kicking off at 7:00pm. (There will be no fly tying in November as Dave Wilson is up in The Gulf fishing and other people are also away).
See further details below under the Monthly Fly Tying segment. |
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Denis Hill with a gorgeous Mataura River brown from the February 2023 NZ Trip.
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Dear {Contact_First_Name},
The Club had a busy and successful October.
The Wallerawang CAS Gone Fishing Day
The Club participated in the Wallerawang CAS Gone Fishing Day. Several Fly Rodders were at the event held at Lake Wallace under the Club’s banner and we ran a “Try Fly Casting” clinic. David Major, George Nolevski, Craig Symonds, Kym Goldsworthy, friend of the Club Emilio Caggiano and myself helped interested members of the public to try out fly casting. We had a steady stream of interested members of the public try casting from 8.30am until around 3.30pm that day. A big thank you to those members for donating their time and expertise to the promotion for fly fishing.
We were able to run the casting clinic using 6 fly outfits provided to the Club under a grant from the NSW Recreational Fishing Trust. Last year the Club applied for a grant from the NSW Recreational Fishing Trust for $3,600 for the purchase of 6, 5 weight outfits each comprised of a rod, reel, fly line, backing and rod/reel carry case. The Grant application was approved, the club purchased the outfits from our sponsors, BWC Flies and we have now been reimbursed in full under the grant. These outfits not only allow the club to promote fly fishing at events such as the “Gone Fishing Day” but also allow potential new club members to try casting without a club member putting their beloved rod into the hands of a beginner. The outfits are a great addition to the Club’s infrastructure, thanks again to the NSW Recreational Fishing Trust.
The Club’s Skills Weekend in Wallerawang
In October we also had our Skills weekend up in Wallerawang. As many of you would remember from our publicity, this year the Skills weekend was held after the trout season opened so that we could demonstrate and have club members practice on moving water. Based on the feedback of our attendees the weekend was a great success. Phil Burton led the instruction for the Skills weekend helped and supported by David Caddies, David Webster, Steve Peach, Gavin van der Wagen and James Webber.
Phil kicked the weekend off with an introductory talk on Friday night covering the basics of the sport and stream craft. The next day David Caddies focused on his specialty of casting. Steve Peach introduced a number of interested members to the dark art of Euro nymphing. While Phil, David Webster, Gavin and James helped our beginners on the water with everything from “Rigging to Landing” fish and quite and few of our beginners landed fish. Indeed, one of our attendees had never cast a fly rod prior to attending the weekend and he not only learnt to cast but landed his first fish on fly on the Saturday. It was a great weekend and I heard from many of the attendees how much they learnt and how grateful they were for the club providing the Skills event.
So, on behalf of all the club members I want to thank Phil Burton, Steve Peach, David Webster, David Caddies, James Webber and Gavin van der Wagen for making the Skills weekend such a success. These gentlemen gave up their weekend and traveled up to Wallerawang, just to help our new club members get started on their fly fishing journey. It is the generosity of talented fisherman such as these that make the Fly Rodders such a great Club, you gentlemen are not just talented fly fishers, you are also genuinely lovely blokes.
Tight Lines,
President
Denis Hill
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Gavin with a Mitta Mitta brown on our April 2023 trip.
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This trout season has got off to a cracking start with the Gone Fishing Day and Skills Tuition Weekend successfully completed. Our President Denis Hill covers these in his report earlier.
There is a spot available for the trip to Big River in March 2024 due to a cancelation; see the write up below for the details.
Bookings are open for our December Meeting and Christmas Dinner to be held on Monday, 4th December 2023. Please see the write up later in this Flyrodder, but registration closes on the 17 November so we can finalise numbers with the venue for catering planning. That's just 2 weeks away.
We've had a number of new members join the SFR Club in recent times and we now stand at a healthy 216 members. We have a number of fishing trips and events coming up as we enter our busy period, and I certainly recommend new members attending some of our trips and events as apart from the social aspects and meeting fellow members, you'll have the opportunity to learn so much and therefore improve your skill level. If you would like to discuss any of these trips and find out more about them, then please feel free to make contact and chat about them.
So will look forward to catching up at these upcoming events. Gavin van der Wagen Editor. gavin@vit.com.au |
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Last Monthly Meeting and Guest Speaker Report |
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Our Committee Member and Events Manager, Jared Klein, provided a great presentation on his fly fishing exploits, in particular with trout and competition fishing.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to be present for this meeting, so we have no photographs to share in this edition. Plus a "gremlin" struck with the video of the presentation, which resulted in no sound being recorded. A double whammy!!!
Normally; You can view this meeting video and indeed all the previous presentations on our Members Private Video Library on YouTube. To view them please Login to our Sydney Fly Rodders Website; click on Members and select YOUTUBE CHANNEL, as per the picture below.
We have many wonderful videos in our Private Members Video Library, in fact they're all wonderful and informative, plus you can view them at your leisure!
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Next Monthly Meeting and Guest Speaker |
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Our November Members Monthly Meeting is at our usual venue, The Freeway Hotel in Artarmon, on Monday the 6th November 2023, kicking off at 7:00pm.
Our Guest Speaker will be Neil Nelson, President of Illawarra Fly Fishers, and he will be presenting on his chosen topic of "Slovenia......Via Where? So come along and enjoy another great presentation.
For those unable to attend the meeting we will be recording the presentation and then uploading it to our Club Members Private Video Library on YouTube.
You will also be able to view all the previous meeting presentations that we have recorded, and view at your leisure.
Many of our attendees arrive a bit earlier and have dinner either before, else the bar staff will deliver your meal order to our meeting room and you can enjoy your meal, and or drink, whilst the meeting is underway. The food is good value for money and the company is priceless!! So come along and have a relaxing and entertaining meeting where you can meet other members and pick up on useful snippets information that is shared amongst the group.
Our Meeting is normally held on the 2nd Monday of each month, unless it is a public holiday; in which case it will be delayed a week.
There is ample parking in the parking garage under the Freeway Hotel, which is accessed from Dickson Avenue (at the back), just off Reserve Road, in Artarmon.
The address is 115 Reserve Road, Artarmon 2064 (for for GPS).
Looking forward to catching up at the meeting.
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We had six new members join our club in October.
We extend a warm welcome to Peter Brownlow, David Connon, Dario Ferlin, Mark Gass, Danny Gompes and Nick Rhoades to our Club.
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. |
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Last Months Casting Practice Report |
CASTING PRACTICE REPORT FOR 8th OCTOBER 2023
Well, the spring weather seems to have been a sign for the members to think seriously about doing some casting. Or just getting outdoors. We had 20 keen Flyrodders looking to stretch the arms.
It’s been a while coming, but we did get started (once again) on the Fly Fishers International (“FFI”) Fly Casting Skills Development casts, as well as individual practice on false casting and shooting line. We just didn’t get to the expected roll cast revision. Well, read on.
Next casting practice day will be pretty much devoted to demonstrating and teaching the Bronze level casts. As part of the day, anyone who wishes to can have their efforts recorded as steps towards the award of the Bronze Certificate. There being a few Bronze holders now heading for Silver, they too will get some attention.
Beginning casters can sometimes make a good attempt at some of the Bronze casts without specific instruction, but the design of the program has other, fairly subtle objectives which are particularly relevant to competent, intermediate and advanced casters. That is, to instil (or at least experience) sound casting principles, which have probably never been appreciated by casters who have never had instruction. When I say instruction, I certainly include the experience of having someone observe your casting to check for you exactly what is happening to produce the results you see in your cast – for good or otherwise. Or which you are not really seeing, or not aware of. Over the course of the three levels in the program, the expectation is that at the person who can do all the casts in the Gold level may be casting as well as some qualified casting instructors, or is on the threshold. What it is not, is an instructor qualification. The teaching bit is not part of it. In other words, the Gold level is likely to challenge advanced casters because of the difficulty and diversity of casts required and is a worthwhile goal for those who are keen to develop their casting to a high level.
If you are like me, you taught yourself to cast and spent years acquiring a style, for better or worse. Mine was in the ‘worse’ category, let me say. I hear a lot of confessions similar to mine: fly fishers spend their money and time on gear and being guided, not instruction. Casting a flyline is not an intuitive skill. We almost naturally do things with our bodies which are negatives when it comes to efficient casting. Sure, we do get to hack out a standard cast eventually and learn to live with it because we catch fish, despite some level of frustration which we could really do without. Getting to the point, a process like the Casting Skills Development program is, and is designed to be, a method to revise and advance your casting with a view to instilling best methods, given your stage of experience and the range of fishing circumstances you engage in. You can take it or leave it at any stage and needn’t bother with getting the formal tick: it’s up to you. As the person who conducts the practice sessions, I can’t devise a better, progressive experience than the fly casting gurus at FFI have done; so I’m proposing to focus on the casts in the program for the foreseeable future on monthly practice day. You probably won’t notice a great deal of difference in the actual casting activities, but you will see a bit more structured progression. None of it will prevent members coming down and practising whatever they wish to, or be expected to try things which are too advanced.
In doing this, I rely on helpers to run some of the exercises and note down results of people who want to work through the program. We need more people to help in that way, so make your interest known next day. Bear in mind that success at the Bronze level casts can be assessed by anybody capable of reading the instructions. You don’t need to have a Bronze certificate or even know how to do any of the casts – really. It’s a ‘look and measure’ process. Which is another reason it is a good program – you can practice the casts in your own time and easily see whether you achieve the set outcome. Even helping people to check their progress will result in some learning rubbing off – so it would be a good entry point. Training to very specific outcomes, progressing from less difficult to more complex is the foundation idea of the program, so it is ideally suited to self-paced practice – which makes helping 19 other casters in one session possible for me and the other volunteers.
For further information on the program, just go to the FFI site or Google “FFI Fly Casting Skills Development”. To enter the website, you will need to enter an email address. You can download the skill levels and instructions. Once in, also check out other elements of the FFI’s “Learning Centre” for very professional videos on many of the basic casts.
Here are the first 3 of the 7 Bronze level skills:
Without hauling or false casting: - Pick up and lay down ("PULD") cast to 35' - dominant side. (Accurate to within 2' of a target centre).
- PULD to 35' - non-dominant side. (Accurate to within 2' of a target centre).
- PULD in horizontal plane to 35'. (Accurate to within 4' from tape; leader landing fairly straight).
The final 4 casts cover shooting line, accuracy to various distances, roll cast (dominant side) and a distance cast to 50' with accuracy goals. See you in the park.
David Caddies
Our next Casting Practice will be held on Sunday, the 5th November 2023. See the following section for further information.
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Some October Casting Practice Photos: |
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We had another wonderful turnout of 20 members keen to improve their casting capability. |
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It's not at all too difficult |
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Some serious concentration going on here! George Nolevski, right foreground, who is FFI certified to Gold Level standard also assists David with the tuition. |
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David demonstrating precision casting between the markers. |
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It's not all serious, as we have some light hearted, fun moments as well as Vorn Sweeney will attest. It's a wonderful learning environment! |
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John Baricevic practicing some long distance hauling! Russell Walker looks on approvingly. Tony Pryce looking comfortable in the background!! |
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The figure of 8 retrieve in the cusp of his hands! |
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This is how you manage your line during retrieval. |
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Club Monthly Casting Practice - Details and Event Schedule. |
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SFRC MONTHLY CASTING PRACTICE 9am Sunday 8 October 2023
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.
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.
David Caddies
So come and give it a try, as there is so much to be gained by attending these sessions. And they are Free!!! The following are the remaining dates for Casting Practice in 2023: 5th November and 3rd December.
Put these dates in your diary. |
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Last Months Fly Tying Meeting Report |
Fly tying on 18th September with Dave Wilson
In this months tying we tied the Bullet Head Hopper fly pattern.
We had another good turnout on the night.
These are wonderful sessions with our fly tying guru Dave, so even if you are thinking about tying, and wondering about the benefits, please come along and give it a try as we have plenty of fly tying equipment, and you don't have to bring a thing; apart from yourself that is. Or you can just come and watch. Give it a go as we all commenced our fly tying in this manner and Dave will teach you the correct techniques and various tricks to make it a straight forward process. Then you'll kick off the best way and buy the appropriate equipment that suites your needs.
As Dave says "Learn the core skills and tie any pattern you like!"
Some photos from the session: |
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Dave Wilson shows how it's done |
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This month we tied the Bullet Head Hopper fly pattern. |
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Next Monthly Fly Tying Meeting |
Our next Monthly Fly Tying Meeting will be held on Monday, 19th February 2024, from 7:00pm to 9:30pm. The doors will open at 6:30pm to give you time to set up for a 7:00pm start. There will be no fly tying in November as Dave Wilson is up in The Gulf fishing for barramundi and other people are also away. Plus we don't have fly tying in December and January. We normally have experienced tiers to help and look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
For those who don't have a vise, we have ample spare one's available.
We particularly welcome first timers and all levels of fly tiers as you will all learn something from these wonderful sessions.
If you would like to just come and observe, then please do so to see if this is for you. You'll be surprised at how "easily" you can get into tying your own flies.
The venue is the Henley Community Centre in Hunters Hill, and we meet in the Green Room on the right as you enter.
The venue address is: Crown Street, Henley, NSW 2111. As you turn into Crown Street, from Victoria Road, take the first left and drive down a bit of a bumpy road, and it's the last building about a 100 yards down the drag. There's parking off the track and walk through a small road, but it's a short walk to the front door.
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December Meeting & Christmas Dinner |
Our annual Christmas Party is being held on Monday 4th December at the Ranch Hotel on Epping Rd. It’s a three course sit down dinner for $55 a head. This year our guest speaker is Gordon Dunlop and we will have 2 major raffle prize vouchers of $500 each from our club sponsor, BWC Flies. Doors will be open from 6:00pm for drinks, and 7:00pm dinner. The Christmas decorations are already out in the shops, so please book early to secure your seat and enable us to lock in numbers for this very enjoyable and popular event. Bookings close Friday the 17th November, don’t leave it until later as we have a number limit, jump onto the Club website and book now, before it slips your mind again. Regular attendees at our monthly club meetings will know our attendance numbers are way up, so even though we have space for 40% over last year’s party numbers there is a good chance that “if you snooze you lose”. Special Dietary Requirements for the Fly Rodders Christmas Party. Once you have booked for the Christmas Party if you have special dietary requirements please email me directly with those needs and please put in the email heading “Xmas Party Dietary request”. If you are reading about this event on the website and you want to go, click the "Register" button on the left-hand side. Otherwise, click this Christmas party link and you'll be taken to the website, and after you log in, you can register to attend the event. |
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Skills Tuition Weekend Trip Report
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Fly Fishing Tuition Weekend in Wallerawang: A Beginner's Perspective by Jon Whitear
I’ve recently returned from the club’s tuition weekend in Wallerawang, which was an incredible experience for a beginner like me. It was a great opportunity to learn and grow as an angler, and I can't emphasize enough how valuable it was to fish alongside more experienced club members.
There were around twenty fly rodders in the group, with a diverse mix of members with varying levels of experience, from those who are just starting their fly fishing journey to the old hands. What made this trip exceptional was the camaraderie and willingness of the experienced members to share their wealth of experience.
Location and Accommodations:
Wallerawang is a great base for fishing in the area, and at 2 1/2 hours from Sydney, makes a weekend on the trout streams very doable. We stayed at the Back Gold motel, which provided us with a perfect base for our fishing adventures. The club had organised everything, from lodging to meal bookings, making the trip hassle-free. After arriving on Friday night we all met in the motel’s restaurant, and enjoyed a meal while Denis Hill and Phil Burton gave us a run down on the weekend’s activities, and some tips for fishing the area.
Learning from the Experts:
The most significant benefit of this trip for beginners was the opportunity to fish alongside experienced anglers. They generously shared their knowledge and expertise, helping the beginners improve our casting technique, select the right flies, and understand the local fish behaviour.
On Saturday morning, we set off for Flat Rock reserve on the Fish River. Phil took the time to work with us on our casting skills, and demonstrated the proper techniques and provided hands-on guidance. My goals for the weekend were to improve some skills and meet club members - I hadn’t really expected to catch anything. Nonetheless, I teamed up with Kym, who showed me how to read the river, including spotting likely feeding areas and the best spots to cast. It was like having my own guide. I think Kym was as delighted as I when I finally hooked a nice little Rainbow.
On Sunday, we split into a number of smaller groups heading off to different spots. I chose to go to Thompson’s Creek Dam with Phil, for a day of sight fishing. Again, it was hugely beneficial in terms of how to read the water, fly selection, and general approach. We saw quite a few fish, and caught a few, though it wasn’t my day.
The Takeaway:
This Wallerawang trip was a great experience for newer club members and beginner fly fishers. Fishing alongside experienced club members not only improved our skills but also boosted our confidence and passion for the sport. As a beginner, I couldn't have asked for a better way to start my fly fishing journey. |
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Jon Whitear with a lovely rainbow on the Fish River |
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Phil Burton setting the scene for the following day on the river |
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Some of the group at dinner on Friday night |
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The first time that Nick Frougas casts a fly rod; one that he made! David Caddies providing his wonderful casting tuition and puts Nick through some of the FFI's Foundation Skills Program. |
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The line follows the rod tip |
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Learning to track the line in a straight line |
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Nick get his first casts on the water after the tuition on the grass. After getting in some good practice casts, Nick put in a few casts to the bank on the far side of the river and hooked a lovely trout that proceeded to put in some aerial gymnastics that earned an early release, so no photo of his first fish unfortunately. Then in the afternoon Nick caught another rainbow. A wonderful days effort and learning experience. |
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David Caddies showing the members present on how to read and fish the river |
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David getting a nice drag free drift, which is the key to catching and not spooking fish. It may look like it, but he's not euro nymphing! I repeat NOT! |
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Craig Symonds and Roy Burton looking on |
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James Webber fishing a lovely stretch on the Fish River |
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Looks like a perfect cast by James... |
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......which resulted in this lovely wild rainbow |
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Some of the crew getting back from the morning session for some lunch |
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Yours truly with Paul Graham after an enjoyable morning session |
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Steve Peach, Craig Sommerville and Peter Adams reflecting on the morning's activities! |
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Piste Haus Ski Lodge for Hire - Jindabyne |
The Flyrodders have access to the Piste Haus Ski lodge in Jindabyne during the off season. https://pistehaus.com.au
We are letting all members know this so you can arrange your own trip(s) to the snowies with whoever you want to take (club members and partners only) between now and June (the ski season - closed for us).
Unless you book out the entire lodge you are likely to be sharing it with other lodge members. So its important to be courteous to strangers at the lodge as we have a good reputation there.
From the website you can see they have a variety of rooms and configurations. From bunks to doubles to singles, etc
The off-season rate is $70/night/room, so this is very inexpensive if you shar a room.
To book you need to:
1. Go to the website and look at the room configuration and decide what type of room you want.
2. Advise James Webber (treasurer@sydneyflyrodders.com.au; 0478401126) of your dates and rooms you wish to book. He will then provide you the current Member password so you can check availability and make the booking yourself. behalf or let you know how to do this yourself - email James on sfrci.treasurer@flyrodders.com.au
Following are some photos of the Ski Lodge: |
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Interclub Meeting in April 2024 |
Our club is hosting this Interclub Meeting, scheduled for April 2024, with the NSW Council of Freshwater Anglers. This is a heads up to save the date in your calendar, as we would like to have as many members participate as possible. It's a team event but more sociable and about having a good time. As we have more information to hand we will provide members with updates until all details are finalised. It's always an enjoyable event. |
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Big River Trip - March 2024 |
We have one spot available for this trip This will be our fourth annual trip to Big River. It will be during "hopper season"!!
Once again we will be accommodated at The Blue Duck Inn, where Dinner is also available, plus at "The Willows", which is just up the road from the Blue Duck Inn in Anglers Rest.
Big River, is the Mitta Mitta River above Lake Dartmouth and above Anglers Rest.
The trip commences on Saturday, 16th March 2024 and we are out on the following Saturday, 23rd March 2024, so 7 nights all up. Accommodation cost is $525 per person for the week. As per the trip this year Tom Jarman is available to trip attendees for his guiding expertise over the week. For those who aren't aware, Tom is the current Captain of The Australian Fly Fishing team. They have just last month competed in the World Fly Fishing Championships, in Slovakia, and Tom finished 4th in the World and the team finished 7th overall. Making the achievement even more remarkable is that they fished for grayling, a fish that is more familiar to European countries than Australia; an incredible achievement. Tom is a wonderful fly fisherman and an equally good teacher. He will be staying with us at The Blue Duck Inn and he has kept his rates the same for The Sydney Fly Rodders; which are $700 per day for a single angler or $900 per day for 2 anglers sharing ($450 per day each sharing). This is wonderful value for money. I'll be organising this for attendees once we are fully booked.
Every attendee has their own bedroom.
The Willows is located about 8 minutes from the Blue Duck Inn, and is fully self-contained. They do breakfast and this can be pre-arranged. Else you can either take all your provisions or you can have dinner at The Blue Duck Inn, which has a good restaurant; but they don't do breakfast or lunch.
Anglers Rest is some 726Kms and an 8.5 hour drive from Sydney, Forestville exactly.
It is also 30 Kms from Omeo, should you need to buy some supplies.
Should you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to call or email me. Else Login to the website, select Events and go to the March 2024 calendar and select the Big River trip and make your booking to secure your spot.
Regards,
Gavin van der Wagen gavin@vit.com.au
0411877546 |
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The Blue Duck Inn, with cabins in the background |
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The restaurant at The Blue Duck Inn - great food and venue |
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The upper reaches of the beautiful Cobungra River |
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Big River - upper reaches |
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The Cobungra River higher up |
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The Big River looking very clear |
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An early morning view from The Willows accommodation. |
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Mitta Mitta Trip - May 2024 |
This will be our 11th annual pilgrimage to Mitta Mitta. It will be in on the Saturday, 18th May 2024 and out on the following Saturday, the 25th May 2024; so 7 nights all up at $525.
We will be staying at the “Pink House”, the Caravan Park and a Unit behind the General Store, all a close walk to the Mitta Mitta Pub and Bistro; plus Murphy's House a 2 minute drive from the pub. So just a short trip to quench your thirst or dine at their fabulous and reasonable Bistro. Every attendee has their own bedroom.
You can take your own food and drinks, or you can eat at the Mitta Mitta Pub or a combination. Many members eat only at the pub.
Further up the road, about 30 K’s, there is also a good pub at Eskdale (which you pass through) and also an IGA and fuel. Mitta Mitta has a very small and limited general store and fuel.
The local dairy farmers allow us to fish on their properties, so we have access to many spots without competition!
There are many river options to fish, including the Mitta Mitta, Snowy Creek (runs right past the pub and caravan park), Lightning Creek, Wills Creek, Little Snowy Creek (near Eskdale) etc.
It’s about a 7 hour drive and 646 kilometres away.
I will provide more information to the attendees as required and then prior to the trip.
Should you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to call or email me. Else Login to the website, select Events and go to the May 2024 calendar and select the Mitta Mitta trip and make your booking to secure your spot.
Regards,
Gavin van der Wagen gavin@vit.com.au
0411877546 |
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The Mitta Mitta Pub and Bistro, with the General Store Accom just to the left out of picture |
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The Pink House across the road from the Pub |
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The Mitta Mitta River from a farmer's property |
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The stunning Snowy Creek upstream |
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Some of the friendly locals who always come to greet us |
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Snowy Creek near the confluence with Lightning Creek |
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A magical evening on the Mitta Mitta River |
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Autumn colours on Little Snowy Creek at Eskdale |
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This is what we find there |
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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. It has about 450 people following the page and any post will be seen by between 180 and 240 people.
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 |
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Sydney Flyrodders Instagram Page |
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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. |
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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.
Gavin van der Wagen Editor, Flyrodder gavin@vit.com.au |
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