• Estuary Fishing

From the Archives ...

Fishing on the Wild Side

Fishing on the Wild Side

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.

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Tamar Red Bream

Damon Sherriff

Autumn is a great time to chase snapper anywhere in Australia. As the water temperature starts dropping the bigger fish come on the chew.
The Tamar estuary is my home ground and is the most challenging area to catch big red I know. To catch big snapper on reasonably regular basis is very hard work. Preparation, bait collection, timing and the time on the water are all key aspects to make a successful angler. The thing that makes the Tamar so hard to catch big snapper is the low numbers of fish and the size of the estuary. Sometimes it feels like you are trying to find a needle in a haystack. But the reason that I keep fishing it is there are some very sizable fish lurking in its discolored waters. Some of the fish that I catch are well over the old-fashioned 20lb mark. I do believe that snapper up to 30lbs plus exist in the system at time to time.

Category: Tamar River
Hits: 7274

Tamar Shore Fishing For Kids


As a youngster I was fortunate enough to have a Grandad " The late Ben Sherriff" who would take me fishing once a week. Every Saturday evening he would take me to the Hillwood jetty which unfortunately burnt down some years ago. I used to live for Saturdays. I would get so excited. We wouldn't catch much but we didn't care.  It was the atmosphere, the anticipation of the catch and the other anglers that we would meet  that made it so special to me.  Sadly my Grandad passed away in 1983. I still miss him very much but he has given me a gift that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Fishing.
Category: Tamar River
Hits: 12530

Tamar Snapper Research


About 18 months ago Simon Conron of Victorian Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute asked if I would be interested in filling out a fishing diary for him so they could gain some information on Tasmanian snapper. Over a period of time we have learnt quite a bit and also have gained some valuable knowledge on this precious fish.
Category: Tamar River
Hits: 7548

AUTUMN TAMAR ACTION

Tamar River

There is some excellent fishing to be had in the Tamar during autumn. Many species can be targeted which include Australian Salmon, Snotty Trevally and Elephant Fish. These three species can be targeted during the daytime and also can be caught off most of the land based pontoons and jetties situated along the Tamar Estuary.

Category: Tamar River
Hits: 9921

Tamar Bream

Southern black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) are one of Tasmania's great sport fish. They have the lot, great fighting, great eating and, on Tassie's North East and East coasts, they are in great numbers.

Category: Tamar River
Hits: 10591

Georges Bay Boom

Mike Stevens spends his summer holidays at St Helens. He has noticed a great improvement in the fishing over the last summer - especially for salmon, tailor and bream. Mike gives a few tips on how you can find some of the big Australian salmon and tailor he has been catching.
Unexpected catches can be some of the most satisfying of all. Planned trips and planned catches are the "norm" and whilst they can be fantastic the surprise catches are somehow special.
Early January is beach time for our family, and this usually means St Helens. The trout are forgotten for a while and we turn to bait, lure and fly. It is really an eclectic mixture of fishing - mostly in Georges Bay.

Category: St Helens
Hits: 5549

Pontoon Fishing in the Tamar

As most of you would probably know, I love fishing the Tamar.  Unfortunately, lately, due to work and family commitments, I don't have quite as much time to fish but, after work,  when time allows, one thing I really do enjoy is fishing the new Tamar pontoons.  The pontoons are placed at intervals right along the estuary.  In this article, I am going to run through the Tamar pontoons and give you some general information on the species you may catch, techniques, bait, peak times, tides and modern rigs all of which may make the difference between no fish and a fine brace.
Category: Tamar River
Hits: 24333

TAMAR SILVER TREVALLY


As I mentioned in my last article about snotty trevally in the Tamar Estuary, the river has lots of surprises - and this season, we have seen an awesome run of tailor and blue warehoe, or snotty trevally.  However, these runs are not usually consistent and may not reoccur every season.

Category: Tamar River
Hits: 12286

A Great Tamar Season


I must admit I love fishing - and I love the Tamar River - but this past season has especially amazed me!  It has been a season with a difference!  Warmer water temperatures, up to 22 degrees in some areas, is one major difference and the other factor has been the appearance in large numbers of two exciting fish species which are not commonly caught in the Tamar. 
Category: Tamar River
Hits: 7518

CHASING TAMAR GOLD


When I was a youngster I remember my grandfather, Mr Benjamin Sherriff, telling me a story of giant green-backed fish which he saw at a certain pylon in the Tamar River. Sadly, grandad passed away in 1985, when I was 11 years old.  However, I always wondered, in the years following, what these giant fish could be? I will never know for sure... but I have a reasonable idea they were yellowtail kingfish.
Category: Tamar River
Hits: 11188

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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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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

windyty.com

Visit https://www.windyty.com/

Rubicon Web and Technology Training

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.

From the Archives ... (last chance)

Sea run trout tactics – Craig Vertigan

Sea run trout tactics – Craig Vertigan

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.

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