Coastal Catches 18/12/2014
With only a week to go Christmas is looming very quickly. There should be quite a few new anglers out on the water judging by the number of junior combos we are selling. If you are heading out for a fish at Christmas please do it safely as no fish is worth your life or serious injury.
I was fortunate to spend some time fishing with Paul Worstling last week. He was in the North West of the state to film some footage for the next season of IFish. Paul was blown away by the quality of fishing we have here and I know he will be back to check out some more. We fished in the Smithton area and caught and released some big Flathead and King George Whiting and had a brilliant day out.
There was a Mako shark caught off Burnie on Tuesday so this will excite all the anglers who chase them. Hopefully the weather will be good over the break and allow boats to venture out. If you decide to target these fish it’s advisable to talk to somebody who knows how to handle them. They can be dangerous when handled incorrectly. There are lots of experienced Mako anglers who are only too happy to share their knowledge
There were a couple of anglers in the shop this week who had been fishing at Arthurs Lake and had fished in a Dun hatch in the top end of the Cowpaddock . The biggest fish was around 3.5lbs and the caught plenty about half that size. They said that the fish were in fantastic condition. This is great news as Arthur’s lake has fished poorly for a few years. It’s worth considering a trip there.
I am told that there are a few dun hatches happening in the Western Lakes so all is looking good if you are heading out there at Christmas. Be sure you take a raincoat with you even on a day walk. The weather can change quickly and you need to be prepared for all conditions.
There are some reports filtering through of more Snapper being caught near Devonport. It goes to show that they are there in reasonable numbers and can be caught if you put some time into them.
There are a few nice sized Bream being caught in the Mersey river near Latrobe. It’s great to see that a good number of them are being released. A 400mm bream takes about 30 years to get to that size so if they are being targeted and kept there will be limited numbers in the future.