Snowy Mountains Trout Festival 2012

Head to the highlands for some of the finest trout fishing seen in NSW for many a season and a boatload of prizes to be won in the annual Snowy Mountains Trout Festival 2012.

The trout fishing has been absolutely spectacular this spring in the Snowies, expecially from the banks on Eucumbene, Jindabyne and Tangangara. Main bait and fishing gear outlets in the region have reported the biggest ever run they have seen for scrub worms. But Powerbait has been just as good.

In fact, 2012 is going down in record books at the Year of the Brown Trout. We've heard of a photo of a brown claimed to have weighed-in at 12.70kg (28lbs). About a metre long, the monster trout looked like a big kingfish. The young anglers holding it had a wide smile and was seated in a tinnie.

There was also a report of a brown trout of 10.43kg (23lbs) taken on fly in Providence Portal, just before the main brown trout spawning run that started late April and continued into May.

Meantime, anglers everywhere are landing lots of browns trout in the 2-3kg range fishing from boats trolling Tassie Devils. We've also heard reports of many similar-size fish going for hard-bodied lures like McGraths, Rapalas and Nilsmasters

So anglers taking part in the 2012 Snowy Mountains Trout Festival should have no trouble getting their bag of five per day. And the Rainbows are just starting to chase lures.

The big thing will be deciding which of the bigger fish to release or keep for weigh-in.

That said, all you have to do is enter this year's event and attend the prize presentation to be in the draw for the new Quintrex 390 Explorer boat, with 25hp Yamaha motor and trailer prize valued at over $8500. 

This year's competition is made possible with the continued support from Yamaha Motor Aust. who have donated the fabulous 25hp motor in conjunction with Riverina Marine Centre Wagga Wagga, who have supplied the new Quintrex 390 Explorer boat and trailer. 

Second prize is a Hobie Kayak Outback valued at around $3000. Third prize is a Waeco two-way, 50-litre fridge freezer valued at $1500.

There's also the chance of winning $1000 worth of quality tackle for each fishing category. There will be daily "secret weight cash prizes" valued as much as $1000 each for brown trout and rainbow trout.

Then there's the prize pool for the Clubs/Team Category at $1000 cash.

There will also be the prized Festival beer glasses for the largest rainbow and largest brown trout recorded at each weigh-in center.

WEIGH IN CENTRES

- Adaminaby ?Adaminaby Angler, phone (02) 6454 2260, www.adaminabyangler.com.au ??
- Anglers Reach? Anglers Reach Caravan Park, phone (02) 6454 2223, www.anglersreach.com; Anglers Reach Lakeside Village, phone (02) 6454 2276, www.anglersreachcabins.com ??
- Braemar Braemar Bay Holiday Park, phone  (02) 6456 8805, www.braemarbay.com 
- Buckenderra Buckenderra Holiday Village, phone (02) 6453 7242, www.buckenderra.com.au 
- ??Jindabyne? Snowy Mountains Sports, phone (02)6456 2530 111, www.snowymountainsports.com.au
- ??Old Adaminaby? Rainbow Pines Tourist Park (02) 6454 2317, www.rainbowpines.com.au ??
- Providence Portal? Providence Holiday Park (02) 6454 2357, www.providenceholidaypark.com.au 

For more infomation see www.troutfestival.com