Presented from Issue 105, August 2013
Bob is a professional fishing guide and guides for trout and estuary species. Check him out at www.fishwildtasmania.com
There are several things we look for in our early season trout waters. It is still winter and cold, so some of the things to consider are: Altitude as this dictates the water temperature and therefore feeding activity. Food for the fish. Availability of trout food is generally dictated by the quantity and quality of weed beds.
Quantity of fish.
Three waters which I believe fit all three requirements are:
Read more ...Well, BM (Tim) & his partner Joanne arrived safely on Tuesday morning after sailing over on the Spirit of Tasmania, they called in around 12.30 PM that afternoon. We were organising where to go the following morning and I suggested the Meander River would be best suited for the two of them. With Joanne having her first real spin session in a river I knew a stretch of river that wouldn't be too difficult wading for the first time.
The next morning was very calm and also pretty foggy, the conditions were perfect for river fishing once again. The rivers was at least four inches higher than my last trip here which wasn't going to be a problem any way.
Read more: Good few hours on the Meander with Barra Mick and Jo - 7/3/2018
Still needing two more trout to reach the 500 mark which I want to do before the end of February and given there is rain on the way today I hit the Meander River at 7:30 am in the hope of getting the two fish required before the weather arrives later on. I'm going fish a two kilometre stretch that has a mix of medium & fast flowing water, it a nice peaceful area to fish too and it does hold some nice browns. This trip I'll only be using hard body lures too because I feel they'll do the job for me today, if they don't then it's on with the Mepps spinners.
Read more: Finally the 500th trout for 2017/18 season is caught
Woke up to see the sky heavy with cloud cover so I headed off to the Meander River for a spin session in the fast water stretches. The river was up by some four inches which was good to see as it meant there could be some trout for the taking so to speak as I catch and release mine any way. I'm fishing a 1.5km stretch of river that can make or break most trout fishers but I've fished it plenty of time so I know where the easiest areas are. It's still tough and with the water being up it will be even tougher going & there's no room for mistakes, once you slip and fall in then you're going for a bumpy ride downstream. I've been lucky in all my years of river fishing I'm yet to fall in a fast water run and I don't intend too on this trip either.
Another warm day was forecast so I had an early start this morning and was in the Meander River just as the sun was on the rise at 6:10 am. I'm fishing a stretch of river that hasn't fished all that well lately, today I'm hoping it will all turn around for the better. The weather conditions were perfect as it was quite overcast and very muggy, but the small flies were an absolute pain in the butt.
No amount of swearing and cursing them sent them on their way either, each cast into the clear cool water still had them crawling over my face. I started the session off with a small gold Aglia spinner to see if it may do the job early in picking up a trout for me. It did attract several browns but no takers, they just followed it. After fifteen minutes I changed to the ghost brown lure, same result follow after follow. I then tried a F3 rainbow Rapala and that didn't even draw the attention of a trout at all and after ten minutes it was time for another change. This time I went for the Mepps black Aglia Mouche Noire spinner and managed to have three light hit and misses, still the trout weren't aggressive.. A light breeze had popped up and those small flies had finally disappeared which was a relief, now all I needed was for the trout to come on the take.
Read more: A much better day with the trout fishing - 8/2/2018
A hot day was forecast with light NE winds early then gusting later in the day so I had an early start on the Meander this morning. I was in the river flicking a gold Aglia spinner around by 6:15 am in what was beautiful cool conditions with some cloud cover. The river had good flow and was running very clear, now all I needed was for the trout to be in an aggressive mood. It wasn't all that long before the little gold spinner drew the attention of a couple of browns, but they were only interested in it for a short distance before moving off. I replaced the spinner with the small ghost brown hard body seeing as that's got them going several times here before. Well it wasn't any better than the gold spinner, I had follow after follow from some nice browns and that was it. Another change of lure, the rainbow Rapala was the choice this time. I had a repeat of what has been going on so far this morning with the lures, more follows but no takers. I have now been in the river for forty five minutes and all I've had is a dozen follows from a lot of non aggressive browns.
Read more: Trout make for a frustrating spin session - 18/1/2018
With cloud moving in making conditions quite humid I decided to head on over to the Meander River for an afternoon session. The river was running some 4-6 inches higher than my last trip here which was back on Tuesday 28th November and it was little discoloured too. By the time I had walked 1.5 kms to the river it was 3:30 PM when I had my first cast with the little #00 gold Aglia into a long wide medium stretch of river. There was a reasonably strong North Easterly breeze blowing from behind me so I was getting good distance with the light weight spinner, I was reaching the opposite side of the river with ease. I used the cast and drift method and had my first take within three minutes, it was a nice solid 460 gram brown. After it making several runs and leaps I slowly led it into the net, once in it out popped the spinner.
Read more: Twelve browns caught and released today - 6/12/2017
Well I did manage to hit the Meander River just on 6:40am this morning in what was beautiful calm cool conditions. The river was running at a nice height with very clear water, there were a few insects out and about as well as the odd trout on the rise. I started off with a gold Aglia and picked up a solid 450 gram brown in the first ten minutes of fast water fishing. The flowing stretch of water was a wide deep slow piece of river so I just worked the spinner down the shallow left hand side of it where I had a solid hit but missed it. It was all quiet over the next couple of stretches of river until I reached the top end of the second run after changing over to the small ghost brown hard body lure.
Read more: Fair session on the Meander River today 28/11/2017
I had every intention of heading over to the Meander River this morning and was ready to head off at 6:00am. Just before I was about to leave I thought I would check the river level on the BOM site only to find the river was up by 90cms from last night which made it a little on the high side for a spin session where I was heading. So that was the end of my trip to the Meander River, then I decided to head over to Merseylea and fish upstream from the top bridge. Once there I found the wind was up and coming straight down the river, it was a pretty cold breeze too so I headed on back home. I was still feeling a little sore from yesterdays spin session in the Mersey River any way, so a rest today won't do me any harm at all.
Read more: Meander River fishes much better this time - 25/10/2017
Finally after checking the online river plots one of the rivers I fish had dropped low enough for me to hit it for a spin session. That river was the Meander, this will be my first trip of the season to it. Once there it was still a little higher than expected but still safe enough for wading. The area I'm going to fish today is probably the only one that is safe enough to fish at the height it is at this stage. That's the good thing about knowing everything about the rivers I fish which has come from many years of fishing them. With rain forecast later in the day I hit the river just after 10:20am in what was cool and heavy overcast conditions with a light North Westerly breeze. I started the session off with a #1 Aglia-e red & silver blade spinner, another new one that I wanted to see if it could attract a trout.
Read more: Rain puts an end to a good spin session. 12/9/2017
Presented from Issue 107, December 2013
For the last few years I’ve been a bit of a lake fishing fanatic. Almost every chance I got I’d zip off “up top” for a chance to attack a stillwater. It could be a few hours of an evening, a dawn patrol tail session on the Pine, or a couple of hours through the middle of the day between jobs. Free fuel and a work bus made it easy to take off on a whim. Sessions were short and travel times were often pretty long, and increasingly the travel with a young family has become just a bit more tiresome.
Read more: Meander’s Morning Glory - Caenid sippers at dawn - Andy Howell
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Mike Fry doesn’t only live on the Wild Side of Tasmania, but also goes fishing in probably the wildest boat ever to troll for trout—certainly in Tasmania.
When your mate says ‘What are you doing tomorrow, want to come up the Gordon for the night?’ it would be pretty hard to say anything else except “you bet” and start checking out your tackle box and packing your overnight bag. But if your mate was Troy Grining and he wanted to give his new 52ft, high speed cruiser a run across Macquarie Harbour, test the new onboard dory with a chance of landing a nice Gordon River Brown you would have to feel privileged. I didn’t say anything about getting on my hands and knees and kissing his feet…just having a lend of ya’ but I did feel very appreciative.