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Inland Fisheries Service report

RECREATIONAL FISHERIES REPORT

Opening of the brown trout season 2019-20.

John Diggle: Director of Inland Fisheries

The Tasmanian brown trout season will opens Saturday 3 August and the outlook for fishing looks good.

We are excited that Tasmania will be host to the World Fly Fishing Championship this year. The five venues that will be used from Monday 2 to Friday 6 December are Penstock and Little Pine lagoons, Woods Lake and the Meander and Mersey rivers. Be aware that there are special closures of these waters to support the competition. Check your Tasmanian Inland Fishing Fisheries Performance AssessmentCode 2019-20 for details.

We are looking forward to seeing how the international Technical Report competitors perform and hearing their thoughts on the fishery. Check out the short movies about the Bronte Lagoon – September 2018championship venues in the IFS website video library.

The brown trout spawning runs have been solid. The run started in Liawenee Canal in early April and continued well into July with fresh runs on each rain event. The run was late at Arthurs Lake with the first heavy rain coming in early July. The fish pushed up in force on this event and as a result there should be some good recruitment. Data from the Tumbledown Creek fish trap (Arthurs Lake) this winter shows a solid pulse of young healthy spawning fish that look to have come from the good recruitment year in 2016. This all goes well for the rebuilding of this important fishery. The trap on the Derwent River at Lake King William has caught almost 10 000 brown trout as we write this in early July and they were still running in.

The West Coast and most of the Central Highlands has had some good rainfall. The Nineteen Lagoons and greater Western Lakes have benefited from this. There should be some good fishing for those that want to explore this area. Woods Lake, Lake Crescent, Tooms Lake and Lake Leake have seen below average rainfall and the lakes are low the further east you go. Rain is badly needed for these eastern fisheries.

The water quality at Woods Lake is still good and based on the young fish that were seen coming through last season it will fish well again right from the start of season. It may require a release of water from Arthurs Lake before the season is over, if the rain does not come. We will be keeping a close eye on this and will work with Hydro Tasmania to maintain suitable environmental conditions. Fishing on the opening and through the season will be popular at Four Springs Lake, Craigbourne Dam and Brushy Lagoon. We have been busy transferring wild adult brown trout over winter to popular waters. Check out the IFS website (www.ifs.tas.gov.au) to see what we have been up too. For anglers chasing a trophy trout, try Lake Crescent early in the season, it is producing some big wellconditioned trout. The water level is low and it will need some rain in the catchment if it is to rise into the marshes. Fish it early (August/October) for the best chance of a big fish Another trophy trout chance is Blackmans Lagoon. Over winter, we transferred 500 wild adult brown trout Blackmans Lagoon. These fish will grow quickly in this water. It will fish well early in the season. Talbots Lagoon fished really well last season and this is expected to continue this year. With the improved angler’s access, everyone is talking about how good a fishery it is. It will fish well all season but aim for the October mayfly hatch and you will see something special. Angling in Tasmania is not all about trophy trout. It is about the amazing fishing experience. It is impossible to list all the fisheries expected to perform well going this coming season. Beyond the well known waters like yingina/Great Lake, Woods Lake, Lake Echo, Bronte Lagoon, Little Pine Lagoon, Penstock Lagoon, Four Springs Lake why not explore the Bradys Chain. It has had a large number of wild adult brown trout transferred into it over the last few years. This year 7000 fish have been transferred from the River Derwent fish trap at Lake King William to the Brady’s Chain alone. Check out the King William Fish Trap video to see how we do this. Some of these fish have been tagged to allow a Fisheries Performance Assessment to be undertaken and we would like anglers to report the numbers and locations of captures. Send information to infish@ifs. tas.gov.au.

Over 22,000 wild brown trout have been moved from heavily populated waters to other areas. Of course, there are plenty of other waters that are under fished and exciting to explore like lakes Pedder, King William and Burbury. These are reliable but be prepared for some rough weather particularly early in the season. For a more sheltered option with good numbers of fish, try Huntsman Lake. Rivers will provide great fishing in the coming season. Just how good they are will depend on the rainfall for the rest of winter and spring. If the major rivers aren’t in flood, the sea run trout will be about in the estuaries and lower reaches from the start of August. This can provide exciting fishing right through to Christmas. Visit Hobart and fish the River Derwent or Huon River. Of course the Lune, Pieman, Forth, Mersey, Great Forester and Duck rivers are great places to seek out a sea runner. As of 3 July, we have relocated just over 22 000 wild adult brown trout from spawning traps in the Central Highlands. Fisheries that have benefited include: • Blackmans Lagoon received 500. • The Bradys Chain of lakes with 7 048, • Brushy Lagoon received almost 2 000. • Craigbourne Dam gained 1 000. • Curries River Reservoir, 1 175. • Four Springs Lake with just over 4 000. • Lake Crescent received an even 1 000. • Lake Leake with1 050. • The Nineteen Lagoons received 450 • Pet Reservoir also 1000 • Penstock Lagoon a little over 3 000 • South Riana Dam with 550 • Tooms Lake, 1 100. Exact numbers on the website stocking database. If you want to buy a licence, know more or simply want to pass on your experience then visit the IFS website (www.ifs.tas.gov.au), ring on 1300 INFISH or email infish@ifs.tas.gov.au, we do value your feedback.

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