Regular activities
For more than 58 years, the Lakeside Fly Fishing Club has been promoting the art and science of freshwater fly fishing for trout in New South Wales. This has largely been through teaching beginners the skill required to become a successful fly fisher, or improving the skills of those wishing to better their casting technique.
Fishing Trips
During the year, Club members go on regular fishing trips to known Trout waters close to Sydney, the Snowy Mountains Region, Victorian High Country and New Zealand. Given that our membership base covers a wide range of ages and fly fishing preferences, we can offer a multitude of fishing experiences to suit most peoples tastes. Please see the Calendar of events for details on trip dates and locations.
Competition Casting Days
Between March and November of each year the Club holds an in-house casting competition that offers members the opportunity to compete in internationally recognised events such as Wet, Dry and Skish casting. The competition is open to all members regardless of their skill. Scores are recorded and grades awarded with prizes given each year for the most improved in each category.
If for no other reason, casting activities will help members hone their skills in terms of accuracy and placement of flies, judging distance and learning different casting styles - all of which are important skills to master when out fishing.
Casting Practice and Tuition
The Club holds casting practice and tuition days at its pond for all members to touch up on their casting skills. Experienced members will be on hand to assist and instruct those wishing to learn basic casting technique, different casting styles and how to accurately judge distance. These sessions will be held on the last Saturday of each month between March and November 2010, unless otherwise specified.
Fly Tying Nights
Fly tying evenings are held on the first Tuesday following the regular monthly meeting at 7.30pm sharp, in the Club's usual meeting room. Members are encouraged to bring along their own equipment and take part in tying their own flies under the guidance of our resident experts.
It's a great opportunity to swap old ideas and to come up with new and interesting patterns. Dates and times are posted in the Calendar of Events.
Major Competitions and Events for 2010
Fishing the Snowy Mountains: 19th to 21st February 2010
Members are invited to come away and fish the peak of dry fly fishing in the beautiful Snowy Mountains. Our base will be Thredbo Mountain Resort and the Rivers targeted include the Thredbo, Murray and Swampy Plains, where the water level will be low and crystal clear. Insect life will be in abundance and the trout wary. This trip will test the skills of our members as they stalk and tempt trout with an assortment of dry flies (hoppers, cicadas, royal wulfs etc) in what can only be described as testing but idealic conditions.
Fishing the Eucumbene River: 19th to 21st March 2010
April is the time when the seasons start to change. Each year the Club spends a weekend fishing the Eucumbene River and other local rivers and waterways in the beautiful Snowy Mountains. With the weather starting to cool down, this is a great opportunity to walk the rivers and explore water that rarely sees an angler. The chance to sight and catch a large shy resident Brown, is high. We stay at the Snowy Mountains Alpine Cabins where we enjoy comfortable accommodation with the closest river not more than 10 minutes away. At the end of they day, we enjoy a fully catered BBQ dinner as we watch the sun set over the high mountains. STOP PRESS - This years trip will focus on our beginners. A package has been put together that will focus on equipment, knot tying, basic casting, streamcraft, fishing technique and some of the safety issues of fly fishing. Lessons will be conducted by our own in-house experts together with our experienced club memters (streamcraft & fishing technique).
NSW Fly Casting Championships: 17th to 18th April 2010
The NSW Casting Championships will be held this year at our new casting venue at Lansdowne. Competitions will include Wet, Dry and Skish casting, FAD events, Single Handed Distance and Double Handed Distance casting events. This event has sanctioned by the Australian Casting Federation (ACF).
CFA Inter-club Meet: 30th April to 1st May 2010
Lakeside Members compete each year in the NSW Council of Freshwater Anglers (CFA) Inter-club meet, which is held at Wallerawang, west of Sydney. The event is usually held towards the end of April / early May and involves an organised agenda comprising a fishing competition on the Saturday taking in the rivers and lakes of the local area. Prizes are awarded for most fish caught and biggest fish caught.
On the Sunday, various accuracy casting competitions are held throughout the day. Accommodation is at the Black/Gold Country Cabins Wallerawang. Lakeside is proud to say that it has now held the trophy for the best overall club at the Meet since 2006, having successfully defended it again in 2009.
Close of Trout Fishing Season: 11th to 14th June 2010
A trip to the Eucumbene River, to coincide with the closing of the Trout Fishing Season, is one of the Club's peak annual events. The weekend will see Club members targeting local rivers such as the Upper Murrumbidgee and Upper Eucumbene together with numerous other streams and brooks in the area. This trip takes advantage of what is usually a good time of the year to catch large fish as they start to move out of the Lakes and up into the rivers to get ready to spawn. We stay at the Snowy Mountains Alpine Cabins, approximately 9km on the National Park side of Adaminaby. The Cabins themselves are modern comfortable and offer single and three bedroom accommodation. Apart form the fishing, this is a great social occasion where members and their families enjoy each others company at evenings end around with a nice BBQ dinner.
Brunn Shield Casting Championships: May-August 2010
Each year, Lakeside members take part in the Brunn Shield Casting Championships, which is a national competition hosted by the Australian Casting Federation (ACF). The Brunn Shield casting competition is held during the Autumn and Winter Months at the Club's Casting pond at Lansdowne, Sydney. Events contested are Skish, Dry and Wet events. For further details of this event, please refer to the "Calendar of Events" or speak to our Casting Master, Ken Trench.
President's Challenge: 10th July 2010
Once a year in July, the Lakeside Fly Fishing Club hosts the "President’s Challenge", which is the Club’s peak casting event and open to all members from other like minded fly fishing clubs across the City and State.
The event is open to all fly fishing skill levels and is a great day of competition and fellowship between other like minded Clubs. Each year the Club also holds a separate casting event during the President's Challenge, to encourage those not wanting to take part in the main event, to nevertheless experience competition casting in a more relaxed format so as to foster greater awareness and understanding needed to take part in more formal casting competitions.
Polaroiding Lake Jindabyne: 13th to 15th August 2010
The Club hosts an annual trip to Lake Jindabyne to polaroid the shores for trout feeding along the weed beds. At this time of the year, the days are cold and the weather clear (mostly). Large trout have moved back out of the rivers after spawning and are feeding aggressively on bugs and insects that have been dislodged along lakes edge as a result of rising water lines caused by snow melt. Our friends from Sydney Fly Rodders and Illawarra Fly Fishers join us in what is a great weekend away. On Saturday night, we dine out at "Hunters Lodge" - Mt Gladstone and enjoy a first class German banquet.
Opening of Trout Fishing Season (Victoria): 3rd to 9th September 2010
Once a year, Club members make their way down to small town of Thornton to coincide with the opening of the Victorian trout fishing season. Staying in a purpose built fly fishing cottage at the Goulburn Valley Fly Fishing Centre, we fish the Goulburn and Rubicon Rivers together with other small streams and creeks which weave their way through the lush green pastures of beautiful North Eastern Victoria. Staying at the Goulburn Valley Fly Fishing Centre also gives members a vast array of fishing opportunities including, guiding, streamcraft lessons, fly tying facilities and float trips (depending on river levels). This is a trip not to miss!
Opening of Trout Fishing Season (New South Wales): 1st to 4th October 2010
A trip is scheduled to fish the Eucumbene River and other local streams to coincide with the opening of the season during the October long weekend. Our accommodation will be the Snowy Mountains Alpine Cabins located 9km from Adaminaby. This trip will offer opportunities to nymph fish late spawning trout in the ice cold fast flowing waters of the region.
Fishing the Western Lakes and Rivers: 19th to 21st November 2010
This will be the last planned Club fishing trip for 2009. Our base will be the Black/Gold Country Cabins in Wallerawang. Depending on weather conditions we will fish the local Rivers as well as Lake Wallace, Thompsons Creek Dam and Lake Lyell. Conditions should be dry and starting to warm up for Summer. This trip will offer both wet and dry fly fishing opportunities for all our members.
Annual In-house Competitions
Fly Tying Competition: March, May, July, September & November 2010
An in-house fly tying competition is held each year. Members wishing to compete will be asked to present their entries at the March, May, July, September and November general meetings. Four flies will be tied for each occasion. Flies tied will be prescribed prior to submission dates.
The categories will be Wet, Dry, Nymph and a fly of choice. The winner will be announced at the Christmas Dinner and Awards night in December.
In-house Casting Competition: March-November 2010
Members taking part in the regular casting practice days have the opportunity to compete in an "in-house" competition that seeks to award the "most improved" caster for the year. This event is open to all levels of ability.
At the end of the year, each competitor will also be ranked according to their ability - based on their average scores. To take part in this competition, each member must take part in four out of the eight casting days planned for each year. A prize will be awarded for the most improved caster at the Christmas Dinner and Awards night in December.
In-house Fishing Competition: March - November 2010
Members taking part in each of the Clubs official fishing trips away automatically qualify for entry in the year long fishing competition. The competition itself is very straight forward. Points are awarded for participation (1 point) and then for 1st (3 points), 2nd (2 points) and 3rd (1 point) place based on the sum total length of all fish caught over legal size. The overall winner will be the member that has accumulated the most number of points throughout the year. Legal size for trout is 250mm (or 500mm as prescribed in blue ribbon waters). So if you catch for example 3 fish for the weekend over 250mm, you add the length of all fish caught together to get the sum total. This competition also covers all official trips away with Illawarra Fly Fishers to designated trout waters only.
Awards Night: 1st December 2010
At the Christmas Dinner and Awards Night in December each year prizes will be given for various casting and fishing events over the year. The fishing prize will be awarded for the overall length of fish caught during the Club's organised fishing trips throughout the year plus the points collected for participation.
The overall length will be determined by the sum total of all the fish a member has caught during the year. Only fish of legal size will be counted (250mm +, or as stipulated under local "Fisheries" rules and regulations).
An award for fly tying will be given based on a scoring and marking system for those flies tied in conjunction with the five official fly tying events over the year. Various awards will also be given to members for casting.
Other activities
Fly Tying Nights - the first Tuesday after regular club meetings
The Club takes great pride in the depth of knowledge its members have in the art of fly tying and stream craft. Each month, a new fly is tied by one of our experienced fly tiers that more often than not employs the latest materials, pattern or technique.
New members are taught these skills (if they are interested) along with stream-craft, as well as what fly to use at particular locations at varying times of the year. These skills are all necessary in making fly fishing all the more enjoyable and successful. Club members take part and successfully compete in regular casting and fishing competitions throughout the year together with organised Club fishing trips to a number of locations around the State.
Mid-week Fishing Trips
The Club is planning to put together a programme of mid-week fishing trips for those of our members wishing to take in the "quieter" days of the week. These dates will be posted in Random Casts and or announced at Club meetings.
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