The Khancoban area has seen a continuation of the good rains we have received during 2009.

The Khancoban area is still green and there is still plenty of feed in the paddocks. We are looking forward to the rain continuing into 2010. Khancoban achieved several inches above the long-term average, which is a pleasant change from the below average years during the drought.

The extra water has meant better fishing and a noticeable decline in the number of European wasps around (being ground dwellers, the nests have been flooded), which certainly makes fishing more comfortable.

The pondage has been fishing well recently, particularly for redfin. We’ve seen reddies up to 2kg, (five pounds in the old scale) which are taken on worms and soft plastics. Pink Berkley T-Tails are a stand out lure.

I love eating redfin, much preferring them to trout, for the table.

Larger reddies are easy to prepare – just fillet following the backbone, from the tail. Crumbed, battered or grilled they are a moist sweet flesh – great eating!

The redfin are caught mainly in the weed beds around the pondage. Pole fishing is a great way to take reddies without getting your tootsies wet!

Trout have been deeper with the warming waters and have been going well on mudeye and redfin patterned lures. In particular, the Viking CM5 crank minnow and Black and Gold soft plastics are doing well.

February should see hoppers starting to appear, so the Tassie Devil yellow wings and other hopper patterns should be the lures and flies of choice.

The autumn should be excellent, because of the good rainfall and milder temperatures

The higher dams (Tooma, Tumut ponds & Geehi) have been hit and miss with anglers catching heaps one day and nothing the next. The fishing should improve as the summer heads toward autumn in late February.

Remember the mid-week specials are available as soon as the school holidays finish, so come and take a break in Khancoban – We’ll see you here.