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.
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by Greg French
Sea trout are simply brown trout which spend time in the ocean. In spring they follow huge schools of whitebait into the estuaries and lower freshwater reaches of most of the state's rivers and creeks. Some of the best action is conveniently close to Tasmania's major population centres. Hobart has the mighty Derwent as well as the southern rivers (including the Huon, Lune and Esperance). Launceston anglers have the Tamar, North Esk and Great Forester. While on the north west coast there are a number of superb fisheries, including the Mersey, Leven, Forth, Black, Detention, Inglis and Duck.
John Pollard
In April-May (Issue 79) we covered what to wear on your body while on your Yak, this issue we will look at what else you may need or want out on the water with you. As previously mentioned we have very changeable and sometimes diabolical weather conditions, so what you take out with you on your yak takes some planning, consideration of your yak's storage capacity and good common sense.
Jamie Henderson
The North East Coast of Tasmania is undoubtedly home to some of the states best saltwater fishing; world class game fishing, amazing estuary sports fishing and some of the best bream fishing in the country. When we talk about quality trout fishing our minds and hearts always wander to magical western lake-tailing trout, dun hatches on Little Pine and big sea run trout on the west coast. However for East Coast trout anglers there are a number of fresh water gems closer to home that offer quality trout fishing to those willing to do a little leg work and poking about. The region has it all to offer from magical stream fishing to trophy trout waters and all within 90 minutes drive from the East Coast town of St Helens.
Geoff Madden's day off with his sons was heaven sent.
Fishing for me has always been a part of my life. Growing up living on the banks of the Derwent River, and having a family holiday home on the East Coast, gave plenty of opportunities from an early age to throw in a line. I'd lived in a family where any sort of fishing-fresh or salt water-was the norm, and somehow, I'd passed on this passion to my sons as well. We'd always welcome the chance to get out on the water- even if it meant taking a day off work if the conditions suited and the opportunity presented itself.
By Marty Wells
The Derwent River has been my fishing playground for many years. I started off targeting flathead in the Sandy Bay area but soon had my eyes opened to the fantastic range of species and fishing scenarios the Derwent offers. I have detailed below a few of the successful locations and tactics that I've explored during my Derwent years.
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.
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.
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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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Presented from Issue 100
Considering the world class quality of our sea trout fishery, these fish are not sought after by enough anglers. Sea runners live in the salt water and run up our estuaries and rivers from the start of August to the middle of November. At this time of the year, they are here to eat the many species of fish that are either running up the rivers to spawn or are living in and around the estuary systems. Trout, both sea run and resident (Slob Trout) feed heavily on these small fish which darken in colouration as they move further into fresh water reaches.
The majority of these predatory fish are brown trout with rainbows making up a very small percentage of the catch. They can be found all around the state but it would be fair to say that the east coast is the least prolific of all the areas. They still run up such rivers as the Georges (and many others) but their numbers along with the quality of the fishing elsewhere make it difficult to recommend the area above the larger northern, southern and western rivers.
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