# Tas Cluny Lagoon Trout



## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

I fished Cluny Lagoon for the first time on Sunday. I had popped in for a suss two weeks prior and thought it looked fishy. I arrived and found the water had dropped around 2 metres as Hydro was releasing water into the next dam downstream. I had heard rumours of the odd XOS rainbow trout in there so i trolled a deep shoreline in 4-8 metres of water for a few hours looking for a rainbow while peppering the shoreline structure with my other rod.

After loosing two Daiwa double clutch minnows to snags where i strayed too close to the edge of the drop off and failing to see any fish on the sounder i decided to try something different. I went over to the shallow mud banks and went looking for browns. This was always going to be a big ask as it was very sunny and the water was like glass which always makes fishing for browns hard. I have also been told that when Hydro lets water out the trout shut down. I spotted a small brown in 20 or so cm of water but only enticed him to follow my lure to the yak. Having now seen a fish i was encouraged and continued.

Concentrating on the shallow mud channels in the 10-50cm depth i started to see a few fish and hook the odd one. The first fish fell to a pink and silver Luckycraft Cra-Pea which i had retro fitted with #14 trebles instead of the singles. I had another small brown follow this in twice so i switched to a Megabass X-55SP in green to show it something different. This failed to work but another small brown slammed this lure a few minutes later hooking itself in the top of its head. I got another small brown on this lure before i cast it to the side of the adventure breaking the bib off when i forgot to open the bail arm before casting. I switched to a 70mm Daiwa Doctor minnow and kept fishing. A few more smallish browns around the 35-40cm mark fell to this lure before i hooked a better fish of 4-5lbs. This brown did what a decent brown in shallow water often do and kept alligator rolling which resulted in the hooks pulling and me calling it colourful names.

I spooked another nice fish around the same size that was sitting in around 5-10cm of water. It had dug itself a small hole so its back and fins weren't out of the water. I then fished a shallow fast running rocky stretch and landed a small Atlantic salmon around the 40cm mark which like the rest i released to keep on growing. Here are some crappy photos i took on my mobile.


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Eric, I have been buying them on Ebay. High quality Japanese lures for around $10.00 each. Much cheaper than buying them locally.


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

My lure collection always seems out of date. Well done Scott. Knowledge and perseverance pays off. Also an example of when not to accept the advice of locals.


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## bildad (Jun 20, 2011)

Ahhh trout fishing! How I miss trout fishing!


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Scott nice results mate, the fish in the second last pic looks a bit mangey, do they knock themselves around or is it just mud smears?


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Looks like the Hobie Adventure got a run Scott , well done on the trout , some nice table fish there , hows the Loon ?and how is the black beast going ?, i am looking forward to getting out on the Loon and BLOO2 in the next few weeks , i can smell BASS in the Nepean


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Thanks for the comments guys.



Dodge said:


> Scott nice results mate, the fish in the second last pic looks a bit mangey, do they knock themselves around or is it just mud smears?


Hi mate, it was just mud smears. they were all still in poor post spawning condition.



bazzoo said:


> Looks like the Hobie Adventure got a run Scott , well done on the trout , some nice table fish there , hows the Loon ?and how is the black beast going ?, i am looking forward to getting out on the Loon and BLOO2 in the next few weeks , i can smell BASS in the Nepean


Hi mate, yeah i took the adventure as i planned to troll with one rod while casting at structure at the same time so i really needed the Hobie for this. The loon has become my most used boat, perfect for running rapids in skinny water. The black beast has got dust on it, the days are getting longer i will start to get a paddle in either before or after work. The other two are just looking at me with puppy dog eyes when they are not selected to get their bums wet. You should get in to the bass mate, i wish i had the loon when i lived back there, it would have been so much better than the big dirty old canoe i use to use. Give the grose a run too, just downstream from Yarramundi. Nice water, good stocks of bass and even the odd little maquarie and perfect for the loon.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Handsome browns Scott  So how big is an XOS rainbow down your way?


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

Squidder said:


> So how big is an XOS rainbow down your way?


There's a pot of gold at the end of them.


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## mattmoki (Aug 4, 2009)

thanks for the good read 

especially the bit about casting with yr bail-arm still down - so glad to learn that the gurus do that as well !

Strange about the Atlantic Salmon - I guess they're been released there?


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Squidder said:


> Handsome browns Scott  So how big is an XOS rainbow down your way?


8 + pounds mate. I have been lucky enough to get a couple over this weight including a 14 and a bit pound fish. Its the big brown that is still eluding me. I have heard of 3 20+ pound browns taken this year on the Derwent/Tyenna system so far this season, currently i would sell my soul for one half this size.


mattmoki said:


> thanks for the good read
> 
> Strange about the Atlantic Salmon - I guess they're been released there?


Mate i am wondering how it got in there. The stocking records go back to 1993 and there hasn't been any stocked in that time. there are some a few dams up due to a fish farm being above it but i don't see hoe it could get down to Cluny as it would have been chomped in the turbines as they are all Hydro Tasmania dams.


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## kanganoe (Apr 30, 2008)

That looks like a good day out.I can feel my annual tas trip coming on .i like that cluny dam .I think it must get overlooked by people heading further up but it seems to have some good willing fish.


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## vertigrator (Jul 25, 2006)

Good to see a report from Tassie. 

The atlantic may have come over the dam wall. All the dams in the Derwent system were spilling earlier when we had all that rain.


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