Young Gun

from Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 145 2021 May

by Tasmanian Fishing

Targeting Whiting — Jarvis Wall

Interview with Finn McDowell

by Lubin Pfeiffer

A stunning Mersey River brown trout — about to be released by Finn.

There are lots of great young anglers in Tasmania. It was fantastic to spend the day on the Mersey River with Finn Mcdowell before the season closed and catch a stack of fish. Afterwards, I sat down and interviewed Finn about his fishing. These interviews are aimed at encouraging more young anglers into the wonderful world of fishing and fly fishing. During our day on the river, it was awesome to see how Finns fishing has progressed over the last twelve months. He is going to be one of the top anglers in the competition fishing in the next few years! What is your age and where are you from? I’m 16, turning 17 this year and I am from Ulverstone in the North West, but I spent eight years living in Hobart.

What got you started on fly fishing? I think I was nine when I started fly fishing and dad was the one who introduced me to it. I started going out with him a bit and went from there. Pop had a shack at the lakes so we used to stay up there a lot. How many competitions have you fished? I have fished five competitions now, the first four I was in the lower end of the results, but in this round, I finished seventh and got my first ranking points. This was my first-year competition fishing. What got you into competition fly fishing and why? I started by doing a course offered by Fly Fish Australia and learnt about Euro Nymphing and technical Dry Fly fishing, and you, Tom Jarman and Casey Pfeiffer suggested I should join FFA and start doing some competitions. Once we moved up North and got settled I joined and did my first competition in October.

For someone that doesn’t compete in fly fishing competitions, why would you recommend starting? You learn so much, it is amazing the learning curve that happens just by controlling or being in a boat with someone and watching them fish, it’s insane. You also get to meet other people that are into it and know what they are doing and are really good at it. I think the main thing is that you learn heaps, but it’s also social getting to talk and interact with lots of like-minded people. Do you have a favourite type of saltwater fish to catch and why? Bream for sure and then squid. I grew up near Browns River and used to fish there all the time for Bream and really enjoyed it. Do you have a favourite place to fish and why? I enjoy going up the lakes, that would be my favourite spot. Bronte Lagoon is where I learnt to fish and I caught my first lake fish there. I’m a member of the Kingborough Anglers Club and I learnt a lot from them fishing at Bronte. I know you’ve started tying flies, how did you get into this and what are your favourite fly to tie? Dad got me into fly tying, I’ve been tying flies since I started fishing so I was about 9. My favourite fly to tie is a tricky one. It depends where I’m going. I have favourite flies for all my favourite locations.

What are your goals? I’d like to take my competition fishing further, I’m really enjoying it so I’d like to try and maybe get to the Youth World Championships next year and see where it takes me from there. What do you think the opportunities are for young anglers in Tasmania? We have probably the best place in the World to go fishing. It’s just a matter of going really. Talk to people that you know, find out what they are doing and just tag along, it’s not that hard. There are trout everywhere, every bit of water in Tasmania has trout in it.

Finn using one of the many techniques on the river he has learned through competition fly fishing. Finn and Lubin Pfeiffer doubling up on Mersey trout.

Do you have a mentor for your fishing or anglers you inspire? Lubin Pfeiffer in particular and Tom Jarman. Just being in a club also is great because you get lots of different opinions and you can kind of form your style from that. What’s your best capture to date, explain how it all went down? The fish I got out of the Meander River fishing with Stewart Dick. A big brown that I caught just up from Cheshunt Bridge that I got out from an undercut bank under a tree. It took me down two sets of rapids and Stewart ended up netting it down the bottom so I was really pleased with that one. I also got a nice one out of Penstock Lagoon, a fourpounder that I got static nymphing. Static nymphing is a technique that I’ve only just started to learn so that made it even more special.

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