Please check all relevant authorities before fishing - www.ifs.tas.gov.au and dpipwe.tas.gov.au . Don't forget issuu.com/stevenspublishing for years of back issues !

fisheriesSchool holiday fishing clinics

Looking for an activity to get the kids out of doors these school holidays?

Free fishing clinics are being held in January at local jetties around the state from Dover to St Helens to Devonport. All ages and abilities are welcome.

New fishers learn basic skills like setting up a rod, casting, how to measure your catch and to fish responsibly. Rods and gear are provided.

Dates and details

2019 12 14 The only rainbow troutcaughtWith the lower back and hips not feeling all that good this morning I thought I'd have a break from river fishing for a few days to give the body time to recover from a couple of tough river trips two days ago. Then seeing how good the weather was and with some windy conditions forecast again I decided not to rest up but to go a chase a few trout in the upper Mersey River again.

After placing eight heat pads on the lower back & hips and taking a few pain killers I was on my way, this trip wasn't in the same area where I caught ten trout from eighteen hook ups a few days ago, it was further downstream from there.

The weather this morning was absolutely beautiful, probably the best day for some time with no wind, clear skies, it couldn't have been better. It was around 7:05 am when I hit the dead flat glassy crystal clear waters on the Mersey, the first thing I noticed was trout surface feeding on small Mayfly duns and midges.

2019 12 13 The ever reliable Stone Fly BugspinnerFeeling the effects this morning of the long stint in the upper Mersey River yesterday I was going to have a rest day then when I saw how overcast it was I just had to go chasing trout. Trout fishing in these conditions is what I like best and I couldn't sit home and let it pass me by. After taking a couple of pain killers and placing several heat patches on the lower back and left hip I was on my way to the lower reaches of the Mersey River.

I did think of heading to another area in the upper reaches but with the body being on the sore side I thought it best to go closer to home. As I approached the river I spotted several trout surface feeding in a wide slow flowing stretch of water, perfect for a fly fisher, not so good for the spin fisher such as me.

2019 12 12 Brown trout taken on the White Miller BugspinnerWild windy weather is going to hit later today and it's going to hang around for the next few days so I thought I'd better get a spin session in before it arrives. When I arrived at 9:05am the first thing I noticed the water level had risen by around three inches which was great to see, yesterdays much needed rain did the job.

The rise in water level meant the trout should be in a aggressive mood with any luck. With the water being higher meant I could also use the anti-kink today and my spinner of choice was the Mepps #00 White Miller the same lure that caught thirteen of the fourteen trout a few days ago. The tannin coloured water was only marginally darker so everything was looking good for a spin session here today. By the time I had my wading gear on and hopped in the stream the wind had arrived, even though it was still sunny the air temperature wasn't all that warm.

All the lobster samples from the Storm Bay/Bruny Zone collected on Sunday 1 December have paralytic shellfish toxin (PST) levels below the maximum permitted level for safe human consumption.

Under the Rock Lobster Monitoring Program decision protocols, the Storm Bay/Bruny Biotoxin Zone can open as scheduled on:

· Saturday 7 December for the recreational fishery; and

· Tuesday 10 December for the commercial fishery.

As detailed in the 2 December biotoxin update, all other biotoxin zones in the East Coast Stock Rebuilding Zone will open as scheduled.

Check up on the rock lobster rules before you go fishing.

rock lobster 2019 12 07

Rock lobster biotoxin update

lobster

Majority of East Coast Stock Rebuilding Zone to open as scheduled. Storm Bay/Bruny Zone returns high PST results - there may be a delay in opening.

As part of the Rock Lobster Biotoxin Monitoring program, rock lobster samples have been collected by IMAS and an independent contractor from the Central East, Maria Island, Lower East and Storm Bay/Bruny Biotoxin Zones.

2019 11 14 10000 meppstas holding his 10000th trout croppedToday is the day I'm going for my 10,000th Tasmanian wild trout since we moved here back in March 2000 & I'm going to catch it in one of my favorite tannin waters. Looking through a few of my past trout seasons records I found that these tannin waters fished extremely well at this time of the season so that's a good enough reason to head there. It proved correct yesterday when I fished a new tannin water, the trout were there and pretty aggressive and with cooler weather and recent rains they'll be on the take today.

2019 11 13 Not big but in beautiful conditionAfter having around 5-6 mms of rain and with the morning being quite humid I thought a trip to tannin waters would be well worth it this morning. I was just about to leave when the rain arrived again so I had to sit around for an hour before heading off. This trip involved a long walk and plenty of bush bashing to reach a new tannin water, one I came across while looking around on Google Earth. With nineteen trout still needed to be caught for me to reach a milestone of 10,000 Tasmanian wild trout I thought the change to a new water may help bring it that much closer and maybe a little quicker.

2019 11 12 Beautiful red spots on this little brownFine warm weather was forecast for today but when I looked out the window this morning it was windy, very overcast and quite cool. I had intended to fish the upper reaches of the Mersey River then changed the trip to a small tannin stream. I was hoping it may still be at a reasonable wading height after the 6mms of rain we had a few days ago but I wasn't expecting too much. No sooner had I arrived the cloud started to break up something I didn't want to happen after seeing how low the water level was.

2019 11 11 Trout fell to the hard body lureMore lousy weather forecast for the next few days I thought I would get a few hours of trout fishing in today seeing most of the day was going to be reasonably good before the change arrives later on. I was in two minds whether to head over to the Meander River at Meander or to the shorter trip to the Mersey River at Weegena, I chose to head to the Meander River. I was originally going to fish at Weegena then after checking the BOM site to see that the water level at Meander had dropped to a decent wading height helped me decide where to go.

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