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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 !

Tasmania recently hosted, Kirk Deeter, a leading US angling journalist and widely travelled author. Here is what he had to say in a recent social media post about his experience.

"Thank you, Tasmania.

Just back from one of the most extraordinary "fishing" trips I've ever experienced. Never thought I'd watch a wallaby jump over the creek as I made a cast. Never thought I'd see 7-pound brown trout tailing like redfish in skinny water, crushing frogs in the grasses. Never imagined a hatch of snowflake caddis that made the river look like an impending blizzard. Under-appreciated the significance of Tasmania in a cultural and historic context... as this is where the empire of the brown trout first expanded beyond European shores. Didn't fully respect just how dialed Tassie anglers are in terms of their cutting-edge techniques. Had almost forgotten what a truly wild trout behaves like, and how awesome it is to watch them eat a fly.

Did NOT under-appreciate the amazing hospitality and stunning environs while I was there.

Much, much more forthcoming, but worth saying that Tasmania is beyond special. Love NZ, and Chile, and Argentina, and of course, the wild, wild West of America. But for context, know that Tassie sold a grand total of @250 fishing licences to foreign anglers last year... by contrast, NZ sold about 100 times that many.

In other words, it's wide open.

More soon... just landed... totally spent... feel like Dorothy waking up after her trip to Oz."

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: IFS, DPIPWE, MAST and Peak Bodies; Published: 20 December 2018; Hits: 1288

IFS, DPIPWE, MAST and Peak Bodies

Free living Caddis larva
Family Hydrobiosidae)

The Peeping Stick Caddis

Presented from Issue 117, August 2015
Caddis larva are very high on trouts’ diet. They come in two forms, those that build portable homes (Stick Caddis) and free living. All caddis larva have a hardened section near and including the head, whilst the bodies are soft and range in colour from off white through to a dirty yellow and green in a variety of shades. They also have claws to cling onto the inside of their portable case. Caddis can be found in water from fast flowing streams to marshlands and lakes. Case building caddis use leaves, sticks, reeds or spun silk as a home. These are generally found in slow moving or still waters: others use sand or very small stones and these are normally found in streams.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Tackle, Boats and other Equipment; Published: 17 December 2018; Hits: 5454

Tackle, Boats and other Equipment

Dry fly or wet fly

I like catching fish on a dry fly just as much as the next person and will often persist with floating flies early in the season, experimenting to try for a response, . I know that I will get refusals and catch less doing this, but for me this is not a numbers game.

Success or failure with any fly can vary from water to water in the Western Lakes, as each location can be vastly different from the next. What fish feed on can change from lake to lake or from shore to shore depending on the make up of each lake, the food within it and the effects of rising or falling water levels. The trick is to find a fly and technique that will trigger a response from them more often than not. Sometimes it comes down to finding a single fish that is willing to take a chance and open and close its mouth onto a fly that vaguely resembles a potential feed.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Western Lakes; Published: 05 December 2018; Hits: 3745

Sometimes getting
one in the boat
can be a challenge.

Presented from Issue 117, August 2015

For those of you who love to trout fish, there will have been a time, some stage during your fishing ‘career’, where you lucked out and didn’t catch anything! Most of you will also know that in the ‘fishing world’, this is what is commonly known as a ‘donut’! It is the same shape as a zero of course. Now while the usual ‘donut’ means that no fish were caught, it doesn’t mean that there were no missed takes or bites. While this might seem bad at the time, there is something worse. That something is the ‘big fat donut’. This is where you go a whole day and don’t even get a sniff!

Iwill be brave here and admit to having taken home many ‘donuts’ during my time as a trout angler. I have also done the same during a bream competition some time back; however, given that it is the start of a new season, our focus here will be on trout. There are many factors that can influence the feeding behaviour of trout, with weather a significant one. While rain, or any other form of precipitation such as snow or hail, does not make for enjoyable fishing, such weather events do require the presence of clouds, and cloudy conditions generally mean good fishing conditions.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Trout Fishing; Published: 04 December 2018; Hits: 2232

2018 11 16 2018 11 16 Well conditioned brown Perfect weather conditions for trout fishing today saw me head to the upper reaches of the Mersey River chasing the trout. It was a dull overcast day with a light shower of rain every now & then, it couldn't have been a better days for chasing trout. The area I headed to is probably one of the toughest to get to and also not the easiest on the body either.

The river bottom is always slippery, even worse the rocks roll under foot making it so hard when wading up the river. Just staying upright in the river is a bonus. In saying that, the fishing has been great for the majority of trips I've had here, it can also have it's off days too. Those off days are usually when the river is low and clear with full sun on it. Today is the ideal day to fish this area, it's in these humid, damp conditions when this area fishes really well. I arrived at 7:50am then headed off to the river,I started fishing just after 8:30am.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Mersey River; Published: 03 December 2018; Hits: 2140

Mersey River

2018 11 14 A well conditioned rainbow A gusty Easterly wind was forecast as the day went on so I hit the Mersey River just after 8:00 am in what was a lovely morning with overnight fog lifting and no wind to worry about for now. I spotted several trout on the rise in a wide open stretch of water which was a good sign. Seeing them on the rise meant there were a few insects around, so I'm hoping the fishing may improve here at last. I started of using a #1 Mepps Aglia TW Streamer spinner, mainly because it has a small fish like streamer attached to the main body.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Mersey River; Published: 02 December 2018; Hits: 1724

The Maria Island Zone (between Cape Forestier and Marion Bay) will remain closed when the east coast rock lobster season opening occurs on 8 December for the recreational fishery and 11 December 2018 for the commercial fishery.

Results from rock lobster samples collected from this Zone on 20 November show that biotoxins remain at unacceptable levels – above the regulatory limits.

Although biotoxin levels detected in sentinel mussel samples along the east coast have been at negligible levels for some time, PST levels in lobster in the Maria Island Zone have not declined to within the regulatory limits from the harmful algal bloom (HAB) in that Zone during the closed season.

The Maria Island Zone will remain closed until biotoxin levels are below the prescribed levels.

Additional sampling will be undertaken and a decision on the open/closed status for this zone will be made just prior to the weekends of 15/16 December and if necessary 22/23 December.

ALL OTHER ZONES WILL OPEN AS PLANNED - More information here

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: IFS, DPIPWE, MAST and Peak Bodies; Published: 30 November 2018; Hits: 2248

IFS, DPIPWE, MAST and Peak Bodies

With East Coast Stock Rebuilding Zone waters opening on Saturday 8 December, it's time to check that your rock lobster licence is up to date. Recreational licences for abalone, rock lobster, scallops, nets and set lines are now on sale at Service Tasmania and online.

Get ready for the new season by picking up a free rock lobster measuring gauge from Service Tasmania. You can check up on catch limits and other rules using the Recreational Sea Fishing Guide or on our website.

Buy a licence here

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: IFS, DPIPWE, MAST and Peak Bodies; Published: 29 November 2018; Hits: 1709