Oberon has proven to be a successful venue for our club trips over past years, so we headed through the outskirts of Sydney with much anticipation of a good weekend. A bad storm on the freeway (with hail encountered by those behind us) hadn't dampened our enthusiasm and after stopping near Katoomba for some lunch we wound our way down the western side of the Blue Mountains and along the Jenolan Caves road towards Oberon. Arriving around 2pm we found Col and Kerry Breese had already arrived and Rob Harwood and Stickerman weren't far behind. By the time we had settled in and prepared our gear, Murray Keating had also turned up and we headed off for an evening fish. Sticker and I headed out of town to Kelly's Lane, while Col, Rob and Murray went out to The Reef. With a stiff sou'wester breeze, fishing was hard over at The Reef and Col soon headed our way leaving the other two to persevere. But we weren't having much luck either, enduring the odd shower of sleet and gusts of wind. Fish were rising but none seemed close enough to cast at and by 7pm we decided to head back for dinner. By now Bob and Anne had arrived, and over a BBQ and red wine we recounted our lack of luck.

Rising at 4.30am on Saturday morning we all headed down to The Reef for a fish before the wind got up. Conditions were cold (we had to scrape the ice off our windscreens before leaving) but otherwise perfect and we all headed off in different directions around the lake. I decided to head down to the right from the car park. A couple of bait and lure fishermen had headed off that way and I hurried to beat them to the water I wanted to fish. Making my way stealthily around the lake to a point looking out across a small bay I cast my Bushy's Horror onto the still water, let it sink a little then slowly stripped it back. A second cast a bit further around and still nothing. My third cast was short but I decided to retrieve it normally anyway and just was well I did. A nice 3.5lb brown took the fly and put up a decent fight before being landed. I dispatched the fish and put it in my backpack before prospecting further around the lake edge looking for another fish.

By the time the sun hit the water the wind had picked up and was making casting tricky. I wandered over to see how the others were going and most were heading back with only Col reporting fish caught and sporting some new trout fishing bling.

Col had managed to not only hook a nice rainbow, but also his nose. But in true fly rodders' style he didn't let this deter him and he fish on. Back at the vehicles some attempts were made to remove his new nose ring, but it was decided (by Col) to let a professional handle it, visiting the doctor in town after we returned to the cabins.

While Col, Bob and I spent the day with our families, Rob and Murray went in search of a river somewhere, while Stickerman went off to sell his soul to the devil by bait and lure fishing. It didn't help him though, returning that afternoon with nothing to show for his day-long effort. Rob and Murray also found little to get excited about. In the mean time Steve Tizzard and Jimmy Hyatt had arrived and were keen to get on the water. Once again we headed down to the lake. Bob and I went to Kelly's Lane, this time heading around towards the dam wall. Bob fished to some timber and dropoffs along the way while I made my way right to the wall to fish deep. The wind had blown a lot of flotsam to the wall and amongst it were insects. I fished through the surface scum, letting my line sink down for some time before retrieving it. I had to clear the floating grass and weed from my fly between each cast, but in the end it paid off with a nice brown trout just on dark. With failing light I made my way back around towards Bob, who had been casting to numerous rising fish without luck. We fished our way back around to the bay where we met up with Murray and headed back up to the cars. Here we discovered that Col had come over this way to fish and had caught a huge brown going around 5-6lb. It was a monster of a fish.

Back in town we cleaned up and headed up to the local Chinese restaurant for our traditional Saturday night dinner. Everyone enjoyed the meal while we talked about our afternoon's fishing and our plans for tomorrow.

Up again early this morning, we were down on the lake by 4.30 this time and I headed down to where I'd caught my fish previously. I'd figured if I have had luck there before it may well happen again. I started at the bay again and worked my way around the lake. I was beginning to question my choice of location when a small rainbow of about 2lb took my fly and proceeded to do cartwheels through the air. I was waiting for the fly to come free, but it stayed and I eventually subdued the feisty little fish, and returned it to the water. I continued to fish until the sun and the breeze were both well up then called it quits and headed over to see how everyone had done. Unfortunately the others had feared no better so we all returned to the caravan park for a much deserved breakfast before we headed home. In all, five fish and one nose were caught. Some were returned to the water. The nose we kept.