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Springtime Fishing at Meadowbank Lake

by Greg French
For the last few years the Inland Fisheries Commission has overseen the release of Atlantic salmon into Meadowbank Lake. These fish are surplus brood stock supplied free of charge by Saltas and they typically weigh 4.5 - 8 kg when liberated. Domestic salmon which have spent their entire lives in a hatchery environment tend not to feed well in the wild (though they readily attack lures and wet flies) and initially there was concern that the fish might be unwelcome, especially if they were not caught quickly and became slabby. Anyway a trial release of 120 fish was undertaken in mid July 1997 and most were subsequently landed before Christmas, almost all in good to fair condition. As a consequence of enthusiastic support from anglers a further 175 fish were released in July 1998, yet another 200 or so in July 1999 and the salmon liberation looks like becoming an annual event.

Category: Meadowbank Lake

Published: 03 November 2009

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Lake Barrington

Craig Rist
Approximately 16 kilometres long and rarely more than half a kilometre wide, Lake Barrington is a deep clear lake with mostly steep tree lined shores. The Hydro Electric Commission built three dams on the Forth River to form Lake Cethana, Lake Barrington and Paloona Dam. Lake Barrington is best known for its international rowing course and is a popular water skiing destination during summer. Over recent years the Inland Fisheries have transformed this lake into a viable fishing destination with it's extensive stocking program. The lake has a healthy population of rainbow and brown trout. Small rainbows up to 0.5 of a kilo can be very active, dominating the catch at times. The browns on the other hand can be a bit more elusive, but generally larger in size, some reaching well above double figures. Over the last five years, large ex-brood stock Atlantic salmon have been introduced into the Lake, some up to 30 pounds, testing the nerves of even the most seasoned anglers. The lake is one of the few in our State that is open to all forms of freshwater fishing throughout the year. A five fish per angler bag limit applies to Atlantic salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout with a minimum size of 300mm.

Category: Lake Barrington

Published: 22 October 2009

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Great Lake Early Season Fly Fishing

Craig Rist
By the time July and August comes around, the browns in Great Lake are back in feeding mode, after spending the last couple of months spawning. Stick caddis, the Great Lake Shrimp and native galaxia and paragalaxias are highly sort after by these fish at this time. The galaxia and paragalaxias are small native fish that inhabit Great Lake. The majority of these inhabit the shallower margins of the lake; making shore based wet fly fishing a productive option. The colourations of these small native fish range from golden brown through to dark grey or black and are generally around 40 to 50 mm in length. Many trout, early in the season, find it hard to refuse a well-presented fly that even remotely resembles one of these fish.

Category: Great Lake

Published: 22 October 2009

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Fishing Four Springs Lake

Todd Lambert
Early season
The new season is on us and with it comes the anticipation of another year's fishing. Will it be as good as last year - or maybe better?

Category: Four Springs

Published: 22 October 2009

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Monster Arthurs Lake fish

Highly skilled, well lucky really, Devonport angler and international celebrity John Lyons nearly had heart failure when he caught the first glimpse of this fish. Stripping a Black Woolly Bugger at Arthurs Lake on Saturday 16 October John thought he had just hooked another nice Arthurs Lake brownie. How wrong he was though as he spent a very tense and nervous time getting this 11.5 pound fish to the net.

Although John rarely goes fishing without a camera, but this time he did. A quick call to some mates had the cameras rolling and after an hour at the boat ramp showing off it was back to his shack for a few celebratory bevies.

Although big fish are uncommon at Arthurs a few are caught each year. Fish of four pounds are at the top end of what can be expected at Arthurs, six pounds is a very large fish, so 11.5 pounds is a fish of a lifetime. It is most likely the biggest Arthurs fish on fly for many years if not ever.      

Category: Arthurs Lake

Published: 19 October 2009

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Autumn on the Lakes

Joe Riley looks at the tail end of the trout season and encourages anglers to make the best of it. You can be sure he will.

As daylight savings comes to pass and the days grow cooler through autumn, winter approaches and the brown trout season draws to a close. All is not despair though as there are still fish to be caught, even the prospect of specimen dry fly fishing in the highland lakes on the warmer days. It's the last surge to make the most out of a season which has been challenged by water draw downs, blustery weather and controversy over one of the world's finest brown trout lakes coming under threat from irrigation schemes.

Category: Other Lakes

Published: 19 October 2009

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Somewhere completely different

Shane Flude
The heading sounds like something from a Monty Python sketch, but Shane Flude teaches us here about the joys of fishing and exploring. Or maybe that should be exploring and fishing. Nevertheless, sometimes, probably more often than you perhaps do, you should put some boots and a pack on and walk to the fishing. Walking is one of the easiest and healthiest things to do. So take a tip and take a trip by foot with Shane and discover new water.

Category: Other Lakes

Published: 19 October 2009

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Walking and Stalking

A first timer's impressions of Tasmania's Western Lakes with ABC Radio's Scott Levi.

So you think you're a dedicated fly fisher! Well try this quick quiz: Are you prepared to walk 1300 metres straight uphill with a 30 kilo pack, cross loose rock screes that can break an ankle with one false step and navigate across trackless wilderness?

Category: Other Lakes

Published: 18 October 2009

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A breath of fresh air for Lofty

with Greg "Lofty" Hynes

Early December 2008 my son arrived back in Australia fresh from a pretty hectic time in Afghanistan with the 4 RAR commandos. He called me and said "dad I want to go back to Tassie fishing'. It had been over four years since we had been fishing together and over three years since I left Tasmania to live on the Gold Coast in Qeensland.

Category: Woods Lake

Published: 18 October 2009

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