Article - Coarse
Winter Morning at Willow Lake
By Michael K, added on 15/05/2009
I headed to Canberra for the weekend to fish for carp in Lake Burley Griffin. Forecasters predicted a low pressure system south of the Australian continent would bring cool weather, with strong winds and showers. Not ideal for carp fishing. I was keen to spend some time by the lake and decided to fish regardless. Saturday was as forecast: short periods of sun punctuated by cloud. I fished from a small bay on the southern shoreline. At time the sun was warm enough to bring remembrance of recent summer. At the bank’s edge a single bee worked the mauve flowers of an upright Hoary basil plant. A strengthening wind delivered banks of heavy grey cloud which unleashed their burden as showers of light rain. Plants and gardeners will be rejoicing.
The wind blew directly into the bay directing flotsam to my pitch. I repeatedly cleared my line of uprooted rushes and detached willow stems. A good-sized stick the thickness of a boy’s arm and carrying a slight curve down its 5 foot length spun constantly as the current worked its shape. It approached my position from the left hand bank, travelled beneath my rod and disappeared around the bank to my right. Out in the lake’s central waters a clan of at least forty cormorants worked together to corral and feed on small fish possibly perch, or redfin as they are locally known.
The fishing was slow although I was enjoying my day. On my previous visit to the lake about four weeks earlier the pace had been frenetic. Over a period of a couple of hours I had landed 12 carp. I was constantly baiting a hook, casting and landing fish. Today’s outing was more of a pace associated with carp fishing: occasional high excitement but plenty of time to enjoy the occasion. I missed the first run of the day. I caught the next fish, a beautifully conditioned 4lb common carp.
Few people walked in the parkland surrounding the lake. It was ANZAC day; Canberra’s association with the military ensured official ceremonies and two-up games at local pubs were well-attended. I left the bank in late afternoon as the temperatures plummeted with the fading sun. The evening news told of the year’s first snow falls in the Snowy Mountains less than 2 hours from Canberra.
I awoke on Sunday morning to the sound of wind shredding yellowing leaves clinging to plane and ginkgo trees outside my bedroom window. The air was cold enough to dissuade me from another day stationary on the bank. I changed my plan and decided to call in on Roger to investigate progress of the Rainbow trout recently stocked in his neighbourhood lake. Whilst enjoying a coffee Roger informed me that ANZAC Day is recognised in Canberra as the start of winter; it certainly felt that way. Roger was delighted at NSW Fisheries agreement to stock the lake with trout and showed me the photos he had taken three weeks prior of an official carefully lowering 3 and 4lb Rainbow trout in to the lake. The Fisheries vehicle would return in spring with hundreds of fingerling fish to further boost the population. Carp and perch are already established in the lake. Despite the cold wind we decided to spend an hour walking around the lake to fish with light spinning rods and small wooden plugs.
Beds of Cumbungi rushes grow on the shallow shelf at the lake’s margin. Gaps between the seven foot high rushes provided us with limited opportunity to cast our tiny lures out to the deep water. Casting was made more challenging by branches hanging low from willow and native gum trees. I managed a cast which delivered my plug along the rush bed to my right and started a slow retrieve by sweeping my rod downwards causing the lure to dive, its wiggling body movement transmitted by the 4lb gel spun braid. Between rod sweeps I brought the rod back in front of me and reeled in line leaving the wooden lure to rise slowly in the water column. At the end of my third retrieve the stationary lure was hit hard. I raised my rod and felt the weight of a good fish diving away as the clutch of my reel gave line. The fish came to the surface and I immediately recognised the colours as a perch. Roger in waders went in with the net and landed the fish which was in fine condition and we estimated to weigh about 2½lb.
Further around the lake Roger’s lure was hit twice, on both occasions his light rod was pulled over in an arc as the fish dived deep. Both fish slipped the hook. We think they were trout, but didn’t see either. We headed back to Roger’s house on the far bank for lunch buoyed by the success of the last hour. Beth put on a welcome lunch of beef and mushroom pies which we enjoyed while discussing future fishing options on the lake. A small boat would allow us to cast flies from the deep water back towards the rush beds at the margin. And I’m keen to return in summer to entice the 20lb carp Beth saw mooching at the bank of their garden.