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Highlands - and Arthurs Lake tips, tactics and secrets

Presented from Issue 113, December 2014
I am probably the most frustrating angler someone could get stuck with. Why? because my very strong view is it is better to get four hours of good fishing in, rather than eight hours of poor fishing. I am a weather tragic and can spend hours in the mornings dawdling around my shack, serving coffee, drinking coffee, and holding court about where to go and what to do. Mostly everyone gets frustrated about not fishing and off they go.

The weather in Tasmania can take time to settle during the day and what is happening at 7am is often completely different to the settling weather at 11am. Many anglers drive forty five minutes only to find, as the weather settles, the location is far from ideal. However, I try to make no such mistake, and I head out when I’m reasonably sure the fishing will be good.

Photos are at the end of the article.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Trout Fishing; Published: 26 March 2018; Hits: 3459

Presented from Issue 113, December 2014
Lake Gordon is truly one of Tasmania’s forgotten waters. Visitation here would be one of the lowest in the state from our 20,000 plus licensed anglers. But given you hit this place at the right time it can turn on some very memorable fishing.

Lake Gordon History

Lake Gordon itself is an impressive piece of water. A 140m high concrete arch dam holding back a body of water with a surface area of 272 km 2 and an astonishing 11.9 cubic million litres of water. At the time of completition, despite a strongly led and backed protest from environmental groups, the Stage 1 Gordon River Development produced the single largest water storage and hydro electric scheme of its kind in Australia, dwarfing Lake Eucumbene threefold.

Please note: there are lots of pictures at the end of the article.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Lake Pedder and Gordon; Published: 25 March 2018; Hits: 7640

Lake Pedder and Gordon

Presented from Issue 113, December 2014
While not hugely popular in Tasmania, smoked eel is considered a true delicacy in many countries. It is particularly popular throughout Eastern Europe where it is often sold at a premium price. While it is rare to encounter this type of smoked product in Tassie, I have seen it at a one of the seafood establishments on Hobart’s waterfront. The sale price was over $50 per kilogram. You may be asking yourself, why so expensive? At that price, it must taste amazing, right?

Well, the answer is yes, it is expensive, but the taste is something special!

In my opinion, hot-smoked eel tastes a bit like crayfish, with the added flavour of smoke. The flesh is oily, and it is similar in appearance to that of cooked cray flesh. The high natural oil content of eel makes it the perfect fish to smoke.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Eel; Published: 24 March 2018; Hits: 29490

The Derwent Catchment Project is running a training session that may appeal to Anglers who want to learn more about waterbugs that attract the trout . We are running a free training day in how to identify waterbugs at Tynwald Park New Norfolk on Sunday April 8th 2018 from 9am-2pm (but you don’t have to stay for the whole session).

We identify water bugs using basic equipment (no microscope required!) together with a groovy phone app or key. We will have a Freshwater Ecologist on hand who helped develop the system.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Events; Published: 23 March 2018; Hits: 2478

Events

Presented from Issue 113, December 2014
Aunique partnership between Hydro Tasmania, the Inland Fisheries Service (IFS) and professional eel fishermen is boosting the health of Tasmania’s inland waterways and the sustainability of the State’s growing commercial eel fishery.

Tasmania has the most predictable and high quality juvenile eel migrations within Australian waters, but 50 major dams built for the creation of hydroelectricity obstruct these upstream migrations. So IFS and Hydro Tasmania give hundreds of thousands of elvers (baby eels) a metaphorical leg up into the Hydro catchments and the eel fishers translocate as many more to other inland waters around the State.

The IFS annual elver harvesting and restocking programs support the wild fishery in Tasmania’s rivers and lakes, where eels are a vital part of the ecosystem as the only large, native, predatory fin fish. Hydro Tasmania has a responsibility for 53 of Tasmania’s major lakes and at least 1200 km of natural creeks and rivers are influenced by their operations in some way.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Eel; Published: 23 March 2018; Hits: 7405

2018 03 09 Meander River 5853 With the weather still being fine I headed back to the Meander River this morning for another spin session. I was much later starting off today after having a doctors appointment & didn't hit the river until 10:45 am. Good thing was the area I fished still had plenty of shade along it for quite some distance. The river level was down by around five inches but still had good flow and running clear and cool. It wasn't all that long when I had a brown have a go at the hard body lure but it missed getting hooked. It was very similar to a trip to the river a couple of days ago when the trout weren't really all that aggressive in the slow/medium runs.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Meander River; Published: 22 March 2018; Hits: 2722

Meander River

Presented from Issue 113, December 2014
Lake Leake has been a water I have fished infrequently, but for many years. It has great history as a water supply and an up and down ride as far as a fishery goes. I t is smallish and relatively shallow and has in the past hosted some fantastic early morning midge hatches and outstanding mayfly hatches.

Its waters contain brown and rainbow trout, brook trout in the past and many small redfin, plus a few big ones.

A recent trip with a mate Bob started at 3am and 5am on the water. It was filled with expectation of an early morning midge hatch, with rising fish expected all over the lake. That didn’t happen.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Lake Leake; Published: 21 March 2018; Hits: 4709

Lake Leake

Presented from Issue 113, December 2014
It all started a few years ago when a small number of King George Whiting were caught in Georges Bay on a few different occasions. We didn’t think too much of it at the time as lots of different species turn up in the bay quite often, some continue to be caught and some come and go. But we kept our eye on it, monitored catch rates and anecdotal evidence over the next few years and found that all of a sudden there were more and more fish being seen. Before you know it we have now had a regular King George Whiting season for about 4 solid years and hopefully will now be another permanent species to add to the ever growing list that is caught out of St Helens . Some would say that King George Whiting are the perfect fish, they fight hard and are great sport, are a fantastic table fish, require minimal equipment, can be caught by all ages and with a little bit of knowledge and know how are not difficult to catch.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Saltwater and Estuary Fishing; Published: 20 March 2018; Hits: 10078

Presented from Issue 113, December 2014
The Meander River is another one of the many rivers in the north of Tasmania that until a few years ago was a free flowing natural river.

This beautiful waterway that starts its journey from the Central Plateau area of the Great Western Tiers and into the new Huntsman Dam above the small township of Meander.

With its flow now regulated it continues on down through Meander, from here it travels on down through Deloraine and on for another thirty five kilometers to Hadspen where it enters the South Esk River.

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: Meander River; Published: 20 March 2018; Hits: 5616

112 burnie beach Presented from Issue 112, October 2014

Burnie, the unofficial capital of the north-west coast, through the depths of Winter, can be dark and dreary. However it is still exceptionally productive on the angling front. While snow capped St. Valentines Peak and its surroundings, rain and wind pounded the coast for the majority of the cooler months. Surprisingly however, the fishing, particularly in the coastal rivers, has been encouraging. Now, as spring launches into effect and the conditions around us begin to warm, the fishing will only improve even more, preparing us recreational anglers for a very productive summer.

At the beginning of the cold snap that buried the highest reaches of the state in snow, after climbing a mountain or two, I decided to start hitting the local rivers mouths, creeks and other coastal haunts such as my childhood favourite Red Rock in Cooee and the Emu River, Fern Glade in particular. Targeting trout mostly, due to the opening of the season, I really found it difficult to get my first fish on the board!

: Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training; Category: North West Coast; Published: 19 March 2018; Hits: 10548

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Fishing on the Wild Side

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Lake Gordon History

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