The "Glory" that is The Corroboree Cup!

After winning such a prestigeous event as the Mob's Corroboree Cup (the ASADA tests came back clear, just in case you were wondering), I am often asked what the secret is to cracking such a finicky fishery?  My response is usual candid and short, "mind your own business"!

Because the Mob is such a great bunch of sharing and caring people, honestly, we are, I will now divulge my secret!

Hook-Mustad Tarpon 3/0
Thread-red silk
Eyes-Nickle dumbell eyes with red pupils (3mm)
Tail-Yellow bucktail with three ogange saddle hackles either side of the bucktail firmly secured, followed by one yellow and one red saddle hackle secured to each side, followed by one slim but long natural grizzly hackle secured down each side.
Body-Pink/Orange chennile, overwrapped with red palmer chenille
Collar-palmered yellow and orange schlappen hackle.
Weed Guard-multi strand trace wire.



This is the actual fly I was using both days so it is a little ragged

The other information that I credit to my success during the Cup was other people's information!  Really folks if you want it, the information is free for all.  Firstly Glenn Watt's brief summary of how and where to catch Togas.  He mentioned fishing slow and deep, and strip strike hard.  No more information needed.  All of my Togas came from down deep and a very slow, short and erratic retrieve, no more than a couple of inches at a time.  Second was the location.  I have always found that when the lillies are recovering after the wet, the best bet is to fish the fringes of the lily beds.  I normally drive the boat up against the bank and cast back into the channel perpendicular to the bank.  I then slowly work the fly along the edge but close to the bottom.  Third, after a discussion with Graeme about the breeding habits of Togas, he shared with me the reason he likes to fish yellow for Togas.  Saratoga are mouth brooders, that is the males carry the eggs around in their mouth before they hatch, and the young use the male's mouth as protection until they are independent of the yolk sac, which is usually about a week or two after hatching.  The key here is that the eggs are large, spherical and a nice yellowy orange in colour.  The theory is that the fish has an inate need to pick up the eggs and protect them.  Does this translate into them eating a yellow or orange fly?  Interesting question, I am sure you'll agree.  It would be interesting to sex the fish that are caught this way and see if they are males?



Kate's first ever Toga on fly (That'd be one of Rog's)

Why did I catch a lot of barra and others found them hard to find?  This information was well advertised too before the running of the Cup.  Barra are lazy, they'll hang out where food comes to them, find that spot and you are in for some fun.  I found them in a patch where they congregate regularly at this time of year, in fact they are normally at this one spot.  The reason is because there is a small run off that flows in from behind.  For all intents and purposes, the spot looks identical to the other 50 or so kilometres of bank at Corroboree, except for that little bit of run off.



They weren't big but they were plentiful

  

Tarpon were thick as usual, but the trick was getting the bigger fish out from amongst the youngsters.  Again the fly discussed above worked well for me here and the larger fish were targetted from the grassy edges.  These fish were actively preying on the rainbows up in the grass.  You'd see them periodically smash through the surface taking out a mouthful of young rainbows.  Again fishing slow and deep made a difference.



There were a lot of this size class around this year, possibly why the bigger barra were a little elusive

So Mobsters, there you have it. My secret is out, moreso than on Saturday night when the grog was flowing a little freer that it probably should and socially lubricating fellow punters into divulging their spots.  Kate and I fished almost exclusively, well I am not going to divulge that, but most of you who fished the Cup know where that was. Hang in there, keep your ear to the ground and your reading glasses on the blog and take note of the hidden and not so hidden messages that fly around in cyber space and perhaps next year you will be able to proudly display a Cup for of "Glory" on your mantle piece.

Here are some more fish photos for you all to enjoy,  Cheers.