• Fly Fishing

From the Archives ...

Tiny creeks and sea run trout - Christopher Bassano

Presented from Issue 105, August 2013
Christopher Bassano fishes over 250 days a year. This interview was recorded just before he headed off to fish for Australia in the World Fly Fishing Championships in Norway 14-17 August 2013.

I live on a small stream and at the start of the season I like to go off on a bit of a discovery mission and fish the headwaters of the creeks and rivers I feel an affinity with.

These small rivers include the St Pats, Meander, Forester, Little Forester and others. The further up you go on these rivers the clearer and lower the levels. They are often less affected by the rain and runoff and you get some good opportunities. Get as close to the source as you can and you will find some good dry fly fishing. Don’t limit yourself to those I have mentioned. Most headwaters will hold trout.

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Sinking fly lines for early season success

Joe Riley
Joe Riley is as keen an angler as they come. With the opening season approaching he can barely sleep. Joe has fished in many competitions and in this article he reveals a few of his tips on how to maximise your results during the early part of the season with sinking fly lines.
Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 9071

Fly fishing during autumn in northern Tasmania.

Nick Voce.
The autumn season brings with it a certain kind of sadness. For me, the changing colours of the autumn leaves are a reminder that only a few weeks remain before the majority of Tasmania's trout-fishing waters will be closed for the spawning season.
Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 6016

Fly fishing in October/November - Tasmanian Northern Lowlands

Nick Voce
Some beautiful weather at this time of year has provided conditions that can only highlight the enjoyment of our favourite outdoor pursuits. Many of us will be encouraged to venture forth and pursue our fabulous trout.
Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 6385

The bizarre Booby - a great import

Joe Riley
Anyone who has picked up an English fly fishing magazine will have read about the virtues of the Booby. This bizarre looking fly has been around the lake fly fishing scene in England for close on twenty years. In this time it has become one of the "must have" patterns in fly boxes for everyone from rank beginners to the top competition anglers. The Booby is a fly that can be fished on every line from a super fast sinker to a floating line, it can be used for very specific purposes as a sacrificial fly, but will catch plenty of brown and rainbow trout in its own right.
You would think that a fly with such abilities would be well recognised here in Tassie, however if you asked ten fly fisherman about the Booby, I reckon about 8 or 9 of them would be thinking lingerie not fishing.

Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 9323

Fish in the water

"Give the fish a chance, put the fly on, or in the water"

Barry Hickman
Fly fishing, by definition, must involve a genuine attempt to capture fish. Armed with a balanced outfit and adequate casting skills the final element, fishing the water, is still not without it's challenges. This is particularly so for our ever increasing, urban based, aspiring fly fishers who, more than others need this type of outdoor activity, but have little experience to draw on to understand the aquatic and marine environment of the fishes. It is most likely unfamiliar and the mirror like surface of the water, denies vision of the fish habitat and behaviour below.

Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 4890

Improve your fly casting and catch more fish

Peter Hayes

I love to cast. I am fascinated by it and I have been since I was a 13 YO boy. I'm not sure wether it is the feel of the loading and unloading rod or the mesmerising motion of the fly line as it weaves it way backwards and forwards.
Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 5798

Two fly river fishing - twice the fun


The Hedged Bet

Fishing two flies is often referred to as hedging your bets - typically the leader will consist of a buoyant dry fly such as Royal Wulff tied on the end of the tippet, and tied between 30 and 60 centimeters off its hook bend will be a nymph such as a Pheasant Tail nymph. If the fish are feeding off the of surface, then the fish may take the dry, however, if the fish is feeding below the surface, such as trout feeding on nymphs, the fish will probably take the nymph trailing below the Wulff, hence the reference to a hedged bet.

Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 5000

BALANCING THE EQUIPMENT

"Why do we buy the rod first and flies last?"
As a fly fishing instructor and trout guide I have had the benefit of teaching and guiding a considerable number of fly fishers. This exposes me to a significant range of fly fishing equipment, all manner of casting techniques and the ever-changing challenges of weather and water. We must get the best out of these circumstances and can only do so by focusing on the critical elements of fly fishing

Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 7783

8 Weight Saltwater Fly Rods

I was recently asked to do an eight weight Fly Rod review and a recent trip to Weipa provided the ideal testing ground. Eight weights are perhaps the most common salt water weight used in this country and certainly in my experience in the Kimberly, the Northern Territory and now in Weipa I would suggest it is the single most appropriate rod weight for the job. If you are going to buy just one rod for salt water work - make it an eight weight.

Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 16161

Fishing Multiple Dry Flies

There was a time when dry fly fishing simply involved tying a single dry fly onto a leader of appropriate diameter, casting either to a rising fish or likely spot with a static fly and waiting for  an opportunity in the form of a snout, either brown or rainbow, to poke out of the water to swallow the offering.
Category: Fly Fishing
Hits: 8225

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Get a Drogue

Catch more fish - use a Tasmanian Made Drogue

Jim Allen drogue Woods Lake

Current River Heights for the Northern Rivers

Current River Heights Northern Tasmania

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From the Archives ... (last chance)

Sea runners - Early Season Excitement - Christopher Bassano

Presented from Issue 100
Considering the world class quality of our sea trout fishery, these fish are not sought after by enough anglers. Sea runners live in the salt water and run up our estuaries and rivers from the start of August to the middle of November. At this time of the year, they are here to eat the many species of fish that are either running up the rivers to spawn or are living in and around the estuary systems. Trout, both sea run and resident (Slob Trout) feed heavily on these small fish which darken in colouration as they move further into fresh water reaches.

The majority of these predatory fish are brown trout with rainbows making up a very small percentage of the catch. They can be found all around the state but it would be fair to say that the east coast is the least prolific of all the areas. They still run up such rivers as the Georges (and many others) but their numbers along with the quality of the fishing elsewhere make it difficult to recommend the area above the larger northern, southern and western rivers.

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