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Headed off around 8:00 am for a spin session in the river this morning only to find the river was running a little on the high side and it wasn't safe enough for me to cross over. That's what I get for not checking the river levels before I left home. I decided to head on up to the upper reaches of it where I knew it was safe enough to hop in and wade. This is when it's handy knowing the rivers I fish so after so many years of fishing in them, one gets to know them like the back of your hand. I headed to one of my favourite areas only to find someone else already in the river fishing which meant I had to fish elsewhere.

Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training

Category: Mersey River

Published: 12 December 2018

Hits: 461

• Mersey River
• Adrian

Read more: Great spin session with the Aglia Furia - 30/11/2018

Another overcast and windless morning saw me in the Meander River by 7:20 am when I started casting the Mepps Aglia Furia up & across the river. Using the cast & drift method it was on the second cast that I had a follow from a medium size brown. Even though it didn't take the s[inner it was a good sign seeing a trout so early into the spin session. The river height was running at 62 cms which was fine for where I was fishing at this stage, though I would have preferred it to have been five to ten centimetres lower.

Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training

Category: Meander River

Published: 10 December 2018

Hits: 407

• Meander River
• Adrian

Read more: Great start on the trout, before it slowed to a crawl - 19-11-18

Presented from Issue 117, August 2015

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: 617

• Western Lakes
• Trout Fishing

Read more: Western Lakes Tactics - Craig Rist

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: 512

• Tackle, Boats and other Equipment
• Trout Fishing

Read more: Dodging the Donut - Strategies that work - Mik Rybka

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: 507

• Mersey River

Read more: Plenty of trout, but all small fish - 16/11/2018

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: 362

• Mersey River
• Adrian

Read more: Trout fishing a little better in the Mersey - 14/11/2018

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: 437

• 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: 509

• IFS, DPIPWE, MAST and Peak Bodies

Biotoxin testing update Lobsters have been sampled from the Maria Island Biotoxin Zone and are now at the certified laboratory being analysed for paralytic shellfish toxins (PST). Results are expected by Friday 30 November 2018. In the Maria Island Zone, PST levels in sentinel species (mussels) were above 0.8 mg/kg (maximum prescribed level for shellfish) for several months, but in recent weeks have dropped to low levels. As a precaution, lobsters samples are being tested as lobsters are much slower to purge the toxins than mussels. No other biotoxin zones are being tested and it is expected all other zones will open in accordance with the scheduled season openings. The East Coast Stock Rebuilding Zone is scheduled to open on 8 December and we are aiming to notify fishers about the status of the Maria Island Zone by 30 November.

https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/sea-fishing-aquaculture/sustainable-fisheries-management/Biotoxin-Fishery-Events

Written by Stephen Smith - Rubicon Web and Technology Training

Category: IFS, DPIPWE, MAST and Peak Bodies

Published: 29 November 2018

Hits: 411

• IFS, DPIPWE, MAST and Peak Bodies
• Rock Lobster