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Lake Barrington

Craig Rist
Approximately 16 kilometres long and rarely more than half a kilometre wide, Lake Barrington is a deep clear lake with mostly steep tree lined shores. The Hydro Electric Commission built three dams on the Forth River to form Lake Cethana, Lake Barrington and Paloona Dam. Lake Barrington is best known for its international rowing course and is a popular water skiing destination during summer. Over recent years the Inland Fisheries have transformed this lake into a viable fishing destination with it's extensive stocking program. The lake has a healthy population of rainbow and brown trout. Small rainbows up to 0.5 of a kilo can be very active, dominating the catch at times. The browns on the other hand can be a bit more elusive, but generally larger in size, some reaching well above double figures. Over the last five years, large ex-brood stock Atlantic salmon have been introduced into the Lake, some up to 30 pounds, testing the nerves of even the most seasoned anglers. The lake is one of the few in our State that is open to all forms of freshwater fishing throughout the year. A five fish per angler bag limit applies to Atlantic salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout with a minimum size of 300mm.

: Category: Lake Barrington; Published: 22 October 2009; Hits: 18727

Lake Barrington

Great Lake Early Season Fly Fishing

Craig Rist
By the time July and August comes around, the browns in Great Lake are back in feeding mode, after spending the last couple of months spawning. Stick caddis, the Great Lake Shrimp and native galaxia and paragalaxias are highly sort after by these fish at this time. The galaxia and paragalaxias are small native fish that inhabit Great Lake. The majority of these inhabit the shallower margins of the lake; making shore based wet fly fishing a productive option. The colourations of these small native fish range from golden brown through to dark grey or black and are generally around 40 to 50 mm in length. Many trout, early in the season, find it hard to refuse a well-presented fly that even remotely resembles one of these fish.

: Category: Great Lake; Published: 22 October 2009; Hits: 6291

yingina/Great Lake

Early Prospects for 2009-10 Trout Fishing Season

Greg French
Since the big wet of 1996-97 Tasmania, like the rest of south-eastern Australia, has suffered from a severe lack of rain. The Midlands, East Coast and eastern fringes of the Central Plateau have been especially hard hit in the last three years, with disastrous consequences for high-profile trout fisheries like Tooms Lake, Craigbourne Dam and the Coal River. Whether this can be attributed to normal drought cycles is moot: the trend to generally drier conditions has been evident since at least the mid-1980s and may well be the result of irreversible climate change.

: Category: Trout Fishing; Published: 22 October 2009; Hits: 5763

Trout Fishing

Jan's Flies

Jan Spencer
It's that time of year when everybody's optimism is running very high. Most are contemplating what the new trout season will bring. One thing is for sure - it will be cold. The rivers will be brownish in colour as we have had some good recent rain which has made for some swollen streams, this is wonderful as the trout will be foraging for food washed into backwaters by the excess water and they will be in prime condition when the weather warms up.
The highland lakes are another story. Both Great Lake and Arthurs are rising with good flows of water from recent rain. As normal, this time of the year the surrounding shore lines will be icy if not iced all over. It takes a little while for the lakes to get rid of the winter blues, but the fishing can be good if you can put up with the cold. So if you are fishing in the highland areas, be prepared for extreme weather.

: Category: Jan’s Flies; Published: 22 October 2009; Hits: 5383

Jan’s Flies

Fishing Four Springs Lake

Todd Lambert
Early season
The new season is on us and with it comes the anticipation of another year's fishing. Will it be as good as last year - or maybe better?

: Category: Four Springs; Published: 22 October 2009; Hits: 11668

Four Springs

Jigging for Trout

Tom Crawford takes a slightly different approach to lure fishing for trout.
Vertical jigging is becoming very popular in salt water fishing in Tasmania with the release of many large and sophisticated jig's hitting the market. But very few people try this method for trout. One of the biggest problem trout fisherman face is getting their lure or fly down to where the fish are sitting. This technique cures that problem. Jigging for trout has been extremely popular in New Zealand for quite some time and has produced many good sized fish there. In this article I will give you a look into what I believe should be one of the more popular fishing techniques in Tasmania in years to come.

: Category: Trout Fishing; Published: 22 October 2009; Hits: 8554

Trout Fishing

Tasman Peninsula

Kayaker, Craig Vertigan takes us to his favourite spot. It is a great place to catch fish all year around.

Tassie has many great spots to take your kayak. One of my favourite spots is the Tasman Peninsula. Hundreds of kilometres of shoreline start at Dunalley Bay and finish opposite at Blackmans Bay. Norfolk and Frederick Henry are the most friendly for kayakers offering protection in many small bays and coves.

: Category: Saltwater and Estuary Fishing; Published: 20 October 2009; Hits: 12197

Saltwater and Estuary Fishing

Huge broadbill caught off NE coast

Andrew McDougall was drop lining for blue eye trevalla in his six metre Razorline near the Eddystone Patch and got more than he bargained for.

: Category: Saltwater and Estuary Fishing; Published: 20 October 2009; Hits: 6442

Saltwater and Estuary Fishing

Buying a boat - Don't have a barbeque

Hadley Deegan has been boating for virtually all of his (almost 40) years. From a toddler to taking over the Family Business (Deegan Marine) Hadley has spent thousands of hours in boats. From fishing and racing to selling boats he has done it all. So TFBN thought who better to ask about advice on buying a boat than Hadley.
Whilst this is skewed a little in regard to new boats it applies equally to used boats.

: Category: Commercial Interests; Published: 20 October 2009; Hits: 7105

Commercial Interests

Slow down and give the Winter trout waters a try

Leroy Tirant gets beaten by his son and learns a Winter lesson.
There have been many articles over time about fishing in winter. I love targeting Tasmania's fish rich lakes on clear crisp winter days, perhaps almost romanticising it, because it's quite easy once home and warm to forget how really cold it was-and how hard it was to finally find feeding fish. These can be swimming lethargically in 30 feet of water.
Most of my fishing is done from a boat, but occasionally and it seems only in winter, my young bloke and I will wander around the shoreline, mainly for his sake more than mine because he loves discovering things. At five years of age he competently fishes on his own with little instruction from his dad. As with most youngsters though he can become annoyed if he thinks I'm taking over.