Trout Weekend, Liawenee 2012

The annual Trout Weekend at Liawenee held on the Saturday and Sunday the 19th and 20th of May was as popular as ever this year, with over 4,000 people braving the keen highland weather over the two days to enjoy a range of different attractions that make this event a must-see on the Tasmanian angling calendar.

The event is centred on the IFS’s harvesting of eggs from hundreds of wild brown trout on their annual spawning run from Great Lake up the Liawenee Canal. The eggs are eventually grown into fry and fingerling, and used to restock and supplement trout fisheries throughout the State. This activity that has been going on for nearly 150 years, since trout were first introduced to Tasmania in 1864. The legacy is Tasmania’s world renowned wild trout fishery and the Trout Weekend provides an opportunity for anglers, fishery managers, the industry and the highland community to celebrate and showcase it. Having started from humble beginnings in the early ‘70s, the weekend has become a tradition for anglers and their families, extending to the wider community and tourists. It is an important event for the Central Highlands in bringing the angling community together.

Some of the most popular attractions over the weekend included a helicopter ride, which took paying customers for a flight above Great Lake providing a birds-eye view of Liawenee Canal. Two buses ran continuously providing a free tour along the Canal to Great Lake to view the bottom fish trap, where the trout are first captured for stripping. Also free and very popular was the children’s trout fishing ponds run by Fishcare volunteers. Over a hundred children lined up over the weekend for a session of fishing at one of the two ponds stocked with healthy rainbow trout. Each child was provided with a rod, lures and one-on-one tutoring from a Fishcare Volunteer, and many of whom were successful, taking their catch home already cleaned.

There was a range of informative displays and live freshwater fish aquaria, Inland Fisheries staff were available to chat to anglers about fishery management issues. It is the support of the fishing tackle industry angling clubs and the highland community that makes the weekend so successful. The staff and management of the IFS would like to thank all the stall holders, participants and volunteers who attended this year’s event and hope to see you all again next year.