There’s always something exciting about heading to a location you have never been to, or have never fished before. Such was the case with me in regard to Tooms Lake. Pretty much located in the middle of nowhere and somewhere, but somehow between Ross and Little Swanport lies Tooms Lake. The drive there takes you through numerous paddocks and over countless cattle-grids, winding it’s way up to around 460m above sea level. While not very high in altitude, most Spring days would normally see a pretty good day in terms of weather up here. Not for us, we copped it right in the A-hole.

Wind, rain, hail and snow showers gave us a fair belting over our two-day stay, but still we soldiered on. Four blokes, two tinnies and a heap of strawberry tarts (Boags XXX – Mothers’ milk) to get us through the evening. The term ‘mothers milk’ reminds me of an old local I ran into at the Surfside Inn on Tassie’s East Coast one time. A few of us boys had just returned from a surf and popped in for a cleansing ale. We all took a well deserved sip and let out an appreciating chorus of ‘aaaahhhs’. My good mate Moe followed up with… ‘Mothers Milk’. An old fella sitting nearby, in fact he was the only other person in the bar chimed in with an immediate response: ‘If I had’ve known it was this good, I ‘d have never left the tit’. You’ve gotta love old people!

Anyhow, back to Tooms. It’s a pretty cool water offering a few bays and some timbered shores. The wind denied us access to some of the lake as it was howling. We picked up a few fish here and there but the fishing was quite slow. One highlight was watching a brief mayfly hatch during a snow storm. I think we ended up with a dozen or more between us, both browns and rainbows. The best fish probably pushing four pounds. In any case, it was much more fun with warm hands around the campfire listening to Mick Attard and ‘Moon’ strum a few chords and delight us with some choice original tunes.

On the edge of the lake was a burnt-out combi van. It was a quiet reminder to keep the fucking noise down, or else.