Recently Atlantic salmon seems to be a very hot topic amongst local anglers, especially those in the south of the state in the D'Entrecasteaux area. Northern anglers should take a close look at the Tamar as there are opportunities here as well.
The recent "great escape" has provided a perfect opportunity for fresh and saltwater anglers alike to experience some truly memorable sport. Tasmania's pristine, clean and cool waters are the perfect nursery for the Atlantic Salmon and as our local fish farms produce more and more fresh quality seafood it is a fact that there are going to be tangible consequences.
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 !
The ever-popular junior angling pond will be part of Trout Weekend once again this year (18 & 19 May 2019). Fishcare volunteers will be on hand to provide advice, hints and tips for junior anglers (under 14 years) to help them try and catch a trout. Each angler will be allowed to fish for 10 minutes before moving on so the next person in the queue can try their luck. If you are lucky enough to catch a trout you are welcome to keep it or release it. There are also eight tagged fish in the ponds, if you catch one of these you will win a prize generously donated by 42 Degrees South Real Estate.
For more information about Trout Weekend 2019 click here.
I headed off to the Meander River to catch trout number 500 today, something I thought would come nice and quick in the river. Thing is I was pretty slack in getting up to start with and I wasn't in the river until 9:30am after a 1.5 km walk, the sun was well up and full on the clear water. Still feeling confident that my favourite river would give up the fish required I was quick in starting the session of with a Mepps Aglia Furia in a nice free flowing medium stretch of river. Twenty minutes later I still hadn't seen a fish, no follows, just nothing, there wasn't a fish in that beautiful stretch of water. I tried a variety of spinners & even hard body lures, still nothing. I continued spin fishing my way upstream giving the Okuma Helios SX20 reel & Okuma Celilo 6'6'' ULS 1-3kg trout rod a good workout all to no avail, still no signs of any trout. It wasn't until 10:30am when I drew a nice brown out of a shaded area on the left hand side of the river, that trout was only half interested before it turned and moved off. Seeing that trout did give me some hope of catching one here today after all.
The weather was fine & sunny today but the wind was still blowing at 25-35 kph with gusts up to 55 kph at times making me wonder if I should stay home or go and tough it out in the same small stream as I did the day before. I decided to do the latter and headed off to fish the stream from where I called it a day yesterday, there was still some good trout water to be fished. I was in the river by 2:10pm and boy the wind was roaring like hell. Good thing was I did have plenty of wind breaks thanks to the thick tea trees that lined both sides of the stream.
After having quite few injections in the lower back and hips this morning I was feeling quite good so decided to head back to the Leven River for another shot a picking up a few more wild brown trout in the afternoon. I had arranged to meet a friend at Gunns Plains who's just made the move from Queensland to Tasmania to start a new life here. It's been 35 years since he last had a fish for trout so today was a big day for him & one he'll remember for some time too as you'll find out when you get a little further into this report.
Calm, mild overcast conditions had me heading back to have another crack chasing trout in the rocky fast waters of the Meander River. I hit the river at 7:40 am to find it was a little lower than my last trip here, it still had plenty of water coming down. Like most of my trips of late I started off with the lure that keeps on keeping on even though it's now very much worse for wear, the copper blade Mepps #0 Aglia Mouche Noire was the lure.
I only intended to fish a five/six hundred meter stretch of river then move to another area two or so kilometres further downstream. The area I fished was perfect for the cast & drift method and it wasn't very long before I had the first trout hooked and landed. The trout were here but they weren't overly aggressive to start with, they were just nipping at the spinner. I stayed with the copper Mouche Noire lure and by the time I had reached the area I was finishing up I had caught a total of six small browns from nine hookups.
After having around 50 injections in my lower back, hips and left shoulder blade I felt good enough to hit the fast water on the Meander River. Before I left home I put several stick on heat patches on my lower back & took a couple of pain killers as well. Any way I arrived at Meander in thick fog, got the trout wading gear on and headed off to the river. When I arrived at the area I was going to fish I found the river was running a too little high and fast for my liking.
Click on the image for full size
December 2018
International Fish Passage Symposium, Albury
Australian Visiting Journalist Program - Hosting Kirk Deeter, the editor for Trout, Trout Unlimited's quarterly magazine, and editor-at-large for Field & Stream magazine. His stories have appeared in Garden & Gun, The Drake, 5280, Fly Rod & Reel, Fly Fisherman, Big Sky Journal, Salt Water Sportsman, and Trout, among other places. He lives in Pine, Colorado.
January 2019
Bronte Fly Fishing School
February 2019
IUCN Australian Freshwater Fish Global Assessment Workshop, Melbourne
Australian Visiting Journalist Program - Hosting Martin Cottis, British fly-guide and
instructor.
Compliance Statistics from 1 July 2018 to 31 January 2019
During this period there were:
2 534 angling licence inspections.
111 whitebait licence inspections.
445 recreational vessel inspections under Marine and Safety legislation.
4 commercial fishing inspections.
5 search warrants executed.
8.5 kilograms of whitebait seized.
8 whitebait nets seized.
3 lobster traps seized.
2 cray rings seized.
6 defendants convicted of 32 offences in the Magistrates Court.
122 offences detected and dealt with via Infringement notice and/or Infringement Notice endorsed as a Conditional Caution notices.
Read more: IFS Quarterly report to anglers for December 2018 to February 2019 Part 06
We catch and stock migrating elver and lampreys from two Hydro Tasmania catchments:
1) Meadowbank Dam in the River Derwent
2) Trevallyn Tailrace in the kanamaluka/River Tamar
The lamprey run at Meadowbank Dam started in October and peaked in December. Overall we caught 2 414 kg of lamprey for the 2018-19 season.
In November, we began to catch elver using nets set in the Trevallyn Tailrace and in December from a trap at the base of Meadowbank Dam. By 6 February we had caught 1 308 kg of elver across both sites.
Read more: IFS Quarterly report to anglers for December 2018 to February 2019 Part 05
Click above for current issue content. The current issue of TFBN is extensive and topical. In Tackle Stores, Newsagents and by subscription.
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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.
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.