Sea-run trout fishing this year got off to a cracking start in most areas, with the majority of anglers employing nearly every trout fishing technique to secure fish in local estuaries statewide.
Even those anglers fishing the "off-season" lower down in our estuaries for sea-trout commented on the number of fish moving in early August.
Rain & thunder storms were the forecast for today and I was unsure whether to go fishing today or not. At 5.20am I decided I'm going and hopefully get a couple of hours in before the weather sets in. I headed on over to the Meander River once again as it's been the river that's been fishing well for me so I'm sticking with it. I was in the river by 6.35am and picked up a small (270gm) brown on the very first cast. Can't beat that for a start to the session that's for sure. Today I was back to using the black bladed black fury as it did the job for me the last time I fished this area on the Meander.
This three kilometer run of river has a mix of fast and medium/fast water so I'm hoping it will fish as good as my last trip here when I caught & released 21 browns back on the 6th January.
With ideal conditions forecast for the Australia Day holiday I headed on over to give the fast water a go on the Meander River. This time of year it usually fishes pretty good so I'm hoping it will fire up today. I was in the river by 5.45am and started off with a black bladed black fury and had a nice little brown on within the first three casts. When I went to slip the net under it the fish made a quick head shake and was gone. The thing is it didn't toss the lure at all but the swivel that is attached to the anti-kink broke. This is the first time that I've had an anti-kink fail. It was on with another anti-kink set up and back into the spin fishing. I had put a new black fury on and it worked a treat as I had six hook ups in quick time but lost every one of them. I decided to change from the black blade to a gold black fury to see if that may make a difference. I have done this in the Meander before when the same thing has happened and it worked.
Still feeling pretty stiff and sore from yesterday's five hours in the Meander River I wasn't right to go fishing again until around 1.00pm today. Even then I was still feeling sore in the back and hips but popped down a couple of Panamax and headed of back to the Meander River at Montana. I thought I would try different stretch of river that I haven't fished for a couple of seasons. The main reason is because it's one of the toughest stretches of the Meander River to fish because the bottom is very rocky and quite often slippery too. Being a bright sunny day the good thing is that by the time I get there around 2.00pm it will have some shade along the western side of it.
Read more: Very poor three hours on the Meander River 2016 01 15
With the cool change finally here I headed off to fish the Meander River this morning at 5.30am. The forecast was for gale force winds but it wasn't too bad when I left Sheffield and headed off for the forty minute drive. I was in the river just before 7.00am in what was ideal conditions with it being overcast and a light South Westerly breeze. The first section of river I had just the two hooks up from small browns, they just didn't stay on the Rapala lure. I'm hoping this is not going to continue as the last trip here back on the 4th January when I lost the first four browns before I finally landed one. Well it only took me just on thirty five minutes before I had my first brown on this time and I only lost one other brown before I caught and released this 460gm trout. It's always good to get that first fish into the net that's for sure.
Read more: Gale force winds, but I still managed a few trout
It was early start once again on the Meander River this morning and it was one of those beautiful mornings too. No wind, overcast and 5 degrees, absolutely great conditions for another session on the river. Today I'm fishing a different stretch of river, one that I haven't fished for around four years at least. I felt that with the way the river has fished below the bridge then perhaps it's time I gave the four kilometres of river above it a go. I was in the river at 5.40am and started off with the black fury today because the first one hundred meters was all shallow fast water. I was onto a small brown on the second cast but lost the little fella. That was the only hit for the first twenty meters, after that is when the fishing really picked up. Over the rest of this fast water stretch I caught & released seven nice browns from eight hook ups with the best brown going 540 gms. This was a great start, one I haven't had like this for some time.
By Adrian Webb
Well with daylight saving and Easter out of the way it was back to work for me today. What a great day is was to be back at the office with no wind, clear skies and crisp air. Couldn't have been a better day to go back at all.. This morning I had to travel to one of my other offices some 45 kms from Sheffield. Still it was a beautiful morning for a drive in the country side and it helps to get the brain into gear for the work ahead of me. My office today was the Meander River.. No better place to start off my first day back after a brief break.
After having an hour of acupuncture this afternoon I was off to the Meander River for another (4.00pm) afternoon session. The last trip here the brown trout really won out by tossing the hooks more times than I can remember ever happening during a session. I don't normally lose more than I catch, but that trip (20-11-14) I did when I hooked and lost ten in a row before spitting the dummy and headed for home.
With the wind coming from a variety of directions today I headed on over to the Meander River for a spin session. I arrived there at 1.20pm much earlier than I would normally hit a river, but I new the area I was going to fish would have good shade along most of the 1.5 kms of river from thick vegetation along the river banks. On my arrival I found the river was running around six inches higher than my last trip here as well. It just meant that some of the areas where I cross over will take a little longer than they normally do due to the stronger flow.
Read more: The Meander River fished well, but all small Brown Trout
Today we were greeted with a medium 10 knot Sth Easterly breeze and another afternoon trip was on the the way. This time it was to be a stint on the Meander River above Deloraine. Once there I was happy to see the river level was down by around 125mms lower than my trip here a week or two ago and it was just about the right height.
Read more: Meander River slow going, plus disaster strikes 2014-10-23
Read more: Small reward for the time spent in the Meander River 2014-04-14
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The first Atlantic salmon eggs used to begin Tasmania's Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry were introduced into Tasmania in 1984. From these humble beginnings a valuable Tasmanian industry has evolved with a worldwide reputation for having a premium disease free product. This industry provides a spin off to all anglers in the form of regular escapes of salmon from the farms.