During the trout off-season I tend to spend a bit of time chasing bream, to continue getting a fishing fix, and spend time tying flies and dreaming about the trout season to come. It’s a time to spend doing tackle maintenance, stocking up on lures and dreaming up new challenges and goals for the trout season ahead. When the new season comes around I usually spend the first few months targeting sea runners. Sea run trout are simply brown trout that spend much of there lives out to sea and come in to the estuaries for spawning and to feed on whitebait and the other small endemic fishes that spawn in late winter through spring. Mixed in with the silvery sea runners you can also expect to catch resident fish that have the typical dark colours of a normal brown trout as well as atlantic salmon in some of our estuaries that are located near salmon farm pens. Living in Hobart it is quick and easy to do a trip on the Huon or Derwent and is a more comfortable proposition compared to a trip up to the highlands with snow and freezing winds to contend with.
Read more ...I had a great moment this week when a customer came into the shop and told us about how he had taken his grandson out fly fishing at the upper Inglis river. His grandson had been practicing his casting and has become reasonably proficient. They were standing at a pool and grandfather asked grandson where he thought the biggest trout would be sitting, grandson points out the spot and puts a dry fly over the spot which is promptly engulfed by a 2lb trout which was duly landed. I think proud grandfather got a bigger kick out of this fish than grandson and it goes to show what a fantastic sport fishing is for families spending quality time together.
The long weekend turned out to be a ripper with many anglers taking full advantage of the good weather. There were a lot of people up in the Highlands and I am told that the saltwater was very popular as well.
Arthurs Lake is starting to fish really well. The fish are in superb condition and if you want a few fish to take home for the table you won’t find any better.
Water levels are very high in Arthurs Lake and Great Lake and as a result there is a fair bit of debris floating in the water. Care needs to be taken when you are out on a boat because some of them are very hard to see so it would be good practice to slow down a little.
There are an ever increasing number of sea runners and resident fish being caught in estuaries along the coast. Bait numbers are building up and there are fish feeding on the bait. You can try any water flowing into the sea from small creeks to large rivers. If you look closely enough for long enough you will generally be able to see signs of Trout.
The rumour that I mentioned last week turned out to be true and if you checked the IFS website on Friday you would have seen that Lake Barrington and Brushy Lagoon were stocked with 1000 3kg Rainbow Trout in each water. There are plenty still happily swimming around waiting to be caught so it is well worth the effort to head out and try to catch one.
Tasmania is an interesting place when it comes to weather especially how quickly conditions can change. On the weekend for instance, driving up to the lakes there was very little wind however as soon as you get to the top of the mountain it’s there with enough strength to blow the milk out of your tea.
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Here is a list of all of the Article Categories. The number in Brackets, eg (13) is the number of articles. Click on Derwent River and all articles relating to the Derwent will be displayed in the central area.
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Hello everyone, I thought it would be a good time to introduce myself.
My name is Stephen Smith and I have been managing the website tasfish.com since May 2009.
It has been an epic journey of learning and discovery and I am indebted to Mike Stevens for his help, support and patience.
I am developing a new venture Rubicon Web and Technology Training ( www.rwtt.com.au ). The focus is two part, to develop websites for individuals and small business and to train people to effectively use technology in their everyday lives.
Please contact me via www.rwtt.com.au/contact-me/ for further information - Stephen Smith.
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.