Leadline trolling - An effective and essential technique for Tasmania

Trolling guru, Bill Presslor takes a close look one of his favourite trolling methods - leadline

Most freshwater trollers have at one time or another had at least some experience with lead core lines. Whether you love it or hate it, lead core catches fish!
Basically, lead core line, a lead wire covered by woven nylon, has been around for over fifty years and was developed as a means of trolling lures deeper than they could be trolled by traditional means. Used in conjunction with downriggers, planer boards and surface or flat lines, lead core lines can add versatility to any trolling spread. They are often the most productive option when you need to get your lures that little bit deeper. In lakes such as Arthurs Lake, Great Lake and Dee Lagoon lead core lines are bound to improve your catch rate.

Makos of the North West

Tim Anderson
Beginnings
As spring sets in most creatures have already, or are set to begin a fornicating frenzy and all though my thoughts at times are dominated by similar images, the approaching game season is steadily turning the tide toward thoughts of chasing mako sharks from our local ramps. These mighty adversaries are available in numbers on occasions and in my experience the jumbo triple figure numbers are more prevalent in the early part of the season.

Curries River Dam

Damon Sherriff

Curries is a challenging water. It has had its ups and downs over the years but now thanks to the IFC its stocks are getting back on track. Curries is not every anglers cup of tea. The catch rate is normally lower than in other areas but the fish taken from Curries are of excellent eating quality.

Unlocking the secrets of bream sex

St Helens - a bay full of fish in my backyard

Jamie Henderson
As we move through spring, and summer looms ever closer, the days grow longer and the temperatures get warmer. We dust off our fishing gear, service our reels, respool with fresh mono or braid, check lures for rusty hooks - all the while reminiscing on seasons past, and wonder what adventures the new season holds for us. What species will we target this year, what new frontiers will we explore, what records will we strive for and more importantly how many days off do we have to get it all done in.

Nymph under Dry - double your chances

Deepwater jigging for trout and Atlantic salmon

Leroy Tirant

How often have you been trolling around and have seen fish on your sounder showing up in depths of 20-40 ft or more? Even in today’s modern world where an angler can buy a 5cm lure that will dive to 20ft or so it can still be frustrating trying to get your lures to the right depth to target these deep fish. But there is a fantastic exciting and easy way to target deepwater fish!

Fabulous Flinders Island

Fishing the edges

Peter Hayes
History of my experience
You know, it’s a funny thing. I started guiding a dozen years ago and whilst I had a big, flash, fast sportfishing boat (which incidentally I still have) I never used it to catch fish from it except in windlane and dun fishing situations.

Jan's Flies October 2006

While the winter months have been ticking by I have been on a couple of northern fishing trips one catching barra, threadfin salmon, trevally along with a couple of dozen other species. Trip number two was to New Britain which is part of New Guinea, we were fishing for the hard fighting black and spot tail bass, they are a remote fish in an absolute remote area of the world. It was a great trip and really is good to broaden one's knowledge into other fish species.