i can’t race DH right now with my spinal issues, so it was a perfect opportunity for me to head down to the Kosciuszko NP to go fly fishing.

it has been getting cold in the NSW Snowy Mountains. snow started falling a few weeks ago and all the preparations are happening for the ski season. there’s only a tiny dusting of snow in the alpine but it feels like the season is right around the corner. it’s that feeling you get around Thanksgiving when you’re a kid because you know Christmas is only a month away and all the stores start playing the jingles.

anyway i digress, it’s fucking cold down there. the thermometer in my car said -4deg when i pulled into Thredbo Diggers to camp on Friday night and -5deg when i “woke up” around 7. shelley has my warm sleeping bag in Shanghai so i was stuck with my +5deg rated Marmot Atom bag which has an “extreme/survival” rating of -7deg. i was cold and i didn’t even have any whiskey this time.

frost at camp at first light

pinky at camp at first light - cold as brrrrr!

enough about me and more about fish. being outsmarted by fish makes you feel stupid. trout have evolved over 1000s of years (since biblical times i guess) to have excellent defense mechanisms against their #1 predator, the naked ape. i suppose theoretically trout aren’t smart, they’re just good runners. a lot like deer i guess. so when you’re stalking the trout you’re not just casting blind like you would in the lake or ocean, you are hunting one particular fish that you can see rising. you have got to try not to let him see you, so you fish from the creek and try not to move around too much. you stand ten meters back and try to cast the fly so it lands about 1m in front of him and trickles down to him. you try not to hit the water too hard with the fly, you try not to land it behind him, and you try not to let him see the shadow of your rod. if you screw up any of that your chances of catching him are slim. it’s a bit like golf in that it requires enormous practice to be able to put the fly where you want it and to know what fly to use.

naturally, as i am with all sports that require practice and skill, i am crap and i only caught one measly fish named Larry. Larry wasn’t photo worthy but we took one anyway.

Pinky and Larry - BFF's.

i’m not sure i’m gonna take up fly fishing as 1) it seems like you kinda have to do it alone – at least here in australia, the etiquette seems to be that fisherman stay 1-2km apart so they don’t spook each other’s fish, 2) i’m dumber and less patient that the brown trout, 3) it’s catch and release…. Larry was too small to eat but if he was bigger i would’ve liked to eat him, 4) there is nowhere close by for me to fish, 5) gear is expensive!

That being said, it seems way better than ocean or lake fishing because you don’t get seasick and it’s just a little bit more natural than riding around in a boat. it’s a good brokeback mountain thing to do for sure.

the moonbah creek at dusk