Scott McDonald
The first Atlantic salmon eggs used to begin Tasmania's Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry were introduced into Tasmania in 1984. From these humble beginnings a valuable Tasmanian industry has evolved with a worldwide reputation for having a premium disease free product. This industry provides a spin off to all anglers in the form of regular escapes of salmon from the farms.
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 !
Trout Everywhere – Craig Rist
In Tasmania, trout have found their way into just about every trickle of water around the state. Many of these are very small tributaries of larger more popular rivers. The majority of the fish in these smaller streams are by no means monsters, with the average fish being somewhere between half a pound and a pound. Small brown trout dominate most of these small streams with the exception of a few rainbow only waters that are isolated from the dominant brown trout population.?The upper Mersey River between Lake Meston and Junction Lake is a classic example of this with its huge impassable waterfalls preventing any further migration of brown trout up stream.
Mythbusters – Excuses or fishy trends
Too windy, not windy enough, wrong wind direction. Too bright, too dull, too wet, too dry: excuses—or are they? Farmers and fishing guides have two things in common: firstly, they’re both in the weather everyday, working with Mother Nature. Secondly, both groups will tell you that the animals in their lives all react differently according to subtleties and vagaries of wind direction, atmospheric pressure and lunar cycles. In the case of fishing guides and experienced anglers, you can add a list of hatch and water level factors to the nuances of Mother Nature, vagaries which become plausible excuses at the end of a tough day. After the question of weather patterns and their affects on fishing came up on the FlyLife internet forum, I thought it might be a good time to do a bit of myth-busting with the aid of my fishing diary.
Smorgasbord – October and November
For fly fishers in Tasmania, October and November offers the greatest range of sight fishing opportunities for the season.
Tailing trout at Little Pine Lagoon, mayflies on the lowland rivers, sea-runners on the wild West Coast: just some of the classic Tasmanian sight fishing events found in the sometimes wild and windy, but always dependable October to November period. Tailing trout Leading on from early season action in September, tailing trout are the fly fishing highlight of October on the Central Plateau. The Nineteen Lagoons, on the edge of the Western Lakes, plays host to the most opportunities to chase tailing trout. Popular waters include the floodplains associated with lakes Augusta and Ada, though the peak events usually occur on the lagoons and tarns along the Little Pine River system, continuing downstream beyond the Nineteen Lagoons and onto Lake Fergus and the more accessible Little Pine Lagoon. Further down the plateau, and more action can be found in Pine Tier and Bronte lagoons. Feeding on caddis, snails, isopods and amphipods in shallow water, with heads grubbing along the bottom and tails waving in the air, hunting tailing trout can be very exciting. Both dry flies and wet flies can be successful, but persistence and patience are the key to catching tailing or mooching shallow water trout. Great fly patterns to try include Woolly Bugger variations, stick caddis imitations, snail patterns, Black Spinner dry flies and of course, the Red Tag. My own personal favourites include the Woolly Caddis, Simon’s Snail, MkII Woolly Bugger, Black Spinner and the Black and Peacock as described in my In Season Tasmania or Fly Cards books.
Hit the middle reaches of the Mersy this morning with mate Andy, being low tide we fished the edges of the drop off casting hard to shore, plenty of salmon around smashing bait but only the small models, no flatties about which was disappointing. They make a good by catch while searching for our target the mighty black bream, I caught one on a green fry gulp, nice fish of 1.34kg, not being in big numbers in the Mersy one fish while fishing with plastics in a session is a successful trip. I am 5 from 5 this year so it's well worth having a crack at and the fish here like the Tamar are huge, fish over the 2kg mark are very common, Andy missed out again, sorry mate maybe next time.
Tight lines
Leigh
Have a couple reports from Great Lake which was on 7/5/11,Georges Bay and Scamander River last weekend.
Fished great lake with Bailey & Jack from the shore near the intake and around to Sandbanks Bay,using soft plastics and the boys had a ball,
Hi all, just a few pic’s from a trip to Craigbourne during the week. No doubt many would have read about Inland Fisheries tipping a quantity of large salmon into it a week or so ago.
The 2010-11 angling season starts on Saturday 7 August, with the traditional opening of brown trout waters. Rainbow waters will remain closed until Saturday 2 October this year.
Get a Licence!
You require a current angling licence to fish at any open inland water in Tasmania (including farm dams on private property), except at a registered private fishery where you generally pay to fish. You can purchase or renew an angling licence by visiting a licence agent (at major tackle stores or any Service Tasmania shop). Licences can also be purchased or renewed online at www.ifs.tas.gov.au.
Angling licences range in price from a full season adult licence at $66.50 to a short term weekend licence for $20. The full season licence offers anglers the best value for money; being a 12 month licence with the opportunity to fish every day of the year; and with significant discounts for juniors (80% less at $12.00), pensioners (45% less at $36.50) and seniors (25% off at $53.00).
Other benefits include the convenience of being mailed a renewal form each year before the start of the season, which contains a durable licence card. The Service also targets full season licence holders with information and special offers such as the automatic entry into competitions to win prizes. This year, we are repeating the offer of free entry to the Salmon Ponds on presentation of a full season licence card and also a Voucher, mailed out with the renewal notice, for a free weekend licence to ‘Take a Mate Fishing’.
Caught this at Lake Barrington one Sunday.... on a hard body diver right hard up against a bank on the western side of the lake. Pretty happy with the results nice calm day fishing with my brother and father.
From Daniel Costelloe
Click Read More for other pictures !
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When you have finished for the day, why not have a brag about the ones that didn't get away! Send Mike an article on your fishing (Click here for contact details), and we'll get it published here. Have fun fishing - tasfish.com
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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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.
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.