Greenwells Fly Fishing Club

President’s Report
Firstly, I would like to thank Luke Pearce for his enjoyable and impressive presentation on the plight of the Southern Pigmy Perch and the Macquarie Perch in NSW inland waters, at our April Meeting. Luke has been studying these threatened native species for NSW Fisheries and re-cording the impact that carp and redfin have had on these fish. Carp by removing native vege-tation and degrading habitat and redfin by their predacious appetite for smaller fishes, includ-ing pigmy perch and young Macs.

Our thanks also to Andrew Summers from Mayfly Tackle for visiting our Clubrooms on Friday 8th. Andrew brought along some fly rods made by Kanak and Innovator with some Scientific Angler fly lines for us to trial whilst there was still sufficient light. He then gave us an in-formative presentation on the features of the fly fishing products distributed by Mayfly Tackle including the Scientific Anglers fly lines, Korkers wading boots and Ross reels. Andrew also do-nated a Scientific Angler fly line to the Club for raffling off at our Beef and Reef night. It was a great night and we should look at inviting Andrew up more regularly or at least annually. On the following Saturday morning I took Andrew fishing up the Mitta River and was joined by Mauro. Andrew then proceeded to impress us with his european style nymphing technique by catching and releasing about ten trout, using one of the Kanak fly rods. Mauro also did well by catching about five trout using the traditional across and down method and I made a showing by catching two. Not bad, about seventeen fish, for a few hours fishing.

On Saturday 9th we had our Beef and Reef social night at the Clubrooms with 24 members/partners attending. The night began with a delicious smoked trout pate and biscuits, thanks to Kay Bennetts. We then had a prawn entree followed by a scrumptious steak, cooked to perfec-tion by Russell Hook, with a garden salad and chatt potatoes as a main course, and finished off with cheesecake for sweets. There was a frustrating brain teasing quiz won by John Hawkins’s table and the main prize in the raffle was won by Ben Nieuwerth. Our thanks go to Bryan Clyde, John Hawkins, Russell Hook and everyone that helped to make it a very enjoyable and entertaining night.

As this is going to print before our Broken Sage trip at Khancoban, I can only comment on what has been planned and look forward to hearing all the results at the May meeting. Currently, we have nine names down for the competition with seven staying in the house at Khancoban. From recent reports it should be a great weekend with excellent fishing in the lake and in the Swampy at Geehi.

Coming up we have a Combined Trip with the Wangaratta Fly fishers to Talbingo on the week-end of the 28th and 29th May. Accommodation will be at the Kinder Cottage at a cost of $20 per person per night. This is generally a great trip and gives us an opportunity to catch up and share our fishing with the Wangaratta club. Although there is no competition, there will be bragging rights at the BBQ on Saturday night. Please ensure your names are up on the board at the meeting to make sure you do not miss-out.

I look forward to catching up, and hearing all of your fishing exploits at the May GM.

Firm Strikes
Jeff Baldock