Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 147 November 2021

$5.95

TASMANIAN FISHING

Estuary Perch - will anyone save them?

Calamari - Cuts Proposed

Bass Straight Jumbo Bluefin

Great Lake - Summer Tips

Lures Tip for River Trout

Jigging - Tips and Tactics

Jack Gillespie shows how it’s done. See page 17.

Calamari limit cut from 10 to 5 per day proposed, but commercial fishers continue over-fishing

The commercial sector heavily targets spawning aggregations of calamari, whilst the recreational sector DOES NOT, however recreational fishers are expected to take more cutbacks because the resource is listed as depleting.. This is a common theme in fishery management where it seems the recreational sector must be penalised even though they have not contributed to overfishing. Ed

Are you prepared to take more cuts to recreational bag limits?

This is a must read on Southern Calamari!

Submission by TARFish

The southern calamari fishery is now rated as “depleting.” This is sad and frustrating and right now, the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water, and Environment (the DPIPWE) are proposing to ‘fix it’ by halving the recreational bag limit from 10 to 5 and introducing a new boat limit.

TARFish does not support the proposed changes to southern calamari that will see more cuts and restrictions to recreational fishers and we remain firmly committed to ensuring recreational fishing access is fair and protected.

More than that, we want the fishery to be returned to a sustainable level by dealing with the problem at its root cause.

Too often, we see simplistic solutions to complex issues and we are certainly seeing that here.

It is our view that the sustainability issue is largely being driven by commercial over-catch of spawning populations on the North Coast of Tasmania.

The commercial sector has been targeting spawning populations in the north and exceeding the maximum sustainable yield by 40% state-wide and up to 100% on the northwest coast for the last three years. We didn’t make these numbers up, they are publicly available in the scalefish fishery assessments.

Given the rapid decline in the fishery from its sustainable status in 2016/17, we believe commercial management controls MUST be able to constrain the commercial catch below this level to protect spawning populations.

When you look at the recreational catch you can see that just 17% of all calamari taken (i.e. not caught and released) by recreational fishers comes from the north coast of Tasmania.

Importantly, recreational fishers are not taking significant numbers of calamari when they

are spawning (i.e. the issue that needs fixing!). We estimate that 2%, that’s right, 2% of all recreational taken calamari happens between August and November on the North Coast. That means that fishers are not taking from the spawning populations in any significant way.

It begs the question then, if the issue to be managed is protection of the northern spawning populations, why are fishers on the east coast and in the south bearing the brunt of the proposed management changes that will have little or no effect on protecting the spawning populations?

Any cuts targeting recreational fishers would be limited in their ability to protect the fishery, because recreational fishers target calamari post-spawning.

TARFish believes the current bag/possession limits for recreational fishers should not be reduced. The daily bag limits for VIC [10], WA [15], NSW [20] and SA

fish.

[15] are already equal or higher than Tasmania’s bag limit, so any further reductions would be out of step with other states.

TARFish believes a boat limit is not an acceptable outcome. It would disproportionately affect a specific group of recreational fishers who fish in groups via boat. We do not support boat limits as they supersede individual bag/possession limits with no evidence to support a view that recreational boat fishing has a greater impact on the fishery than other methods. Boat limits also decrease the ability of recreational fishers to fish with their family and friends, and could increase unsafe fishing by incentivising operating a vessel single-handedly. Finally, the boat limit may unfairly prevent people from being able to catch calamari at all, with mobility impaired fishers more likely to be impacted.

The question that must be answered by the DPIPWE and indeed the Minister, Guy Barnett, is why are regional spawning closures not even on the table for discussion?

That is the conversation we should be having right now.

These proposed changes are laughable but there is nothing funny about it.

You can read the full TARFish proposal here: https://www.tarfish.org/news/tarfishsubmission-calamari-management

If you’re a recreational fisher and you want a different outcome that what is currently being proposed – join your peak body TARFish today. Your membership will increase the strength of our advocacy on your behalf.

www.tarfish.org.au

There are a number of relevant papers also available at: www.tasfish.com

Extract from the minutes of Scalefish Fishery Advisory Committee (SFAC) where it shows the commercial sector ‘hammering’ the fishery, which is acknowledged as ‘depleting’ by the fisheries department. Some of these fishers entered the calamari fishery after a Ministerial warning in 2018 that catch after that date would not qulaify them for a proposed calamari licence.

SFAC 74 Meeting minutes

Date: 02 June 2021

‘The FAC noted the following:

• Another industry member noted that while would like to see this done properly but is seeing the fishery getting absolutely hammered with new entrants—active after the investment warning of 23 August 2018—who believe that if they spend the most time on the water and catch the most they can’t not give us a licence.

• Need to maximise the chances of success to introduce new licences— hence the two state consultation process— and possibly reaffirm to commercial fishers that catch history passed 23 August 2018 will not qualify for a licence. Need to progress management action as quickly as possible to honour the investment warning date.

• Need a simple overarching message around the status of the calamari stocks for both commercial and recreational fishers—i.e., emphasise that calamari have been assessed as depleting, stocks potentially on a knife edge on the north coast and it’s time for management action. Do not want to see the fishery collapse due to inaction.’

The full document and minutes are available at www. tasfish.com

New TARFish website OUT NOW!

www.tarfish.org

We’re here to champion you, Tasmania’s marine recreational fishers. To find out how we are doing that and for the latest on the issues that matter in marine recreational fishing from your peak body, visit our new website.

Recreational fishers mainly target calamari during summer, not during spawning aggregations.

I always think of it as a privilege to write an editorial. It is an opportunity to explain something, or to put forward an opinion.

This issue you will see - on opposite page in fact, we are trying to bring estuary perch (EP) back to the forefront. This is a native Tasmanian fish that is seriously at risk of disappearing. It needs some love from someone that can save it from extinction. If you think that sounds over the top, please read the story - and the supporting documents that are on www.tasfish.com

The Inland Fisheries Service has NEVER sought funding to manage, rehabilitate, survey or save this native fish. Perhaps so little is known about this fish in Tasmania no one cares. But if this were the mainland - Victoria being the best example EPs are highly regarded as sport fish. Victoria has a stocking program and it works extremely well. Tasmania is down to probably well under 2 000 wild fish and we do nothing.

EPs are easy to breed in a hatchery, and Tasmania has been breeding fish in hatcheries since 1864. Surely we can do something.

Estuary Perch are classified as a freshwater fish and it is a function of the Director to protect them. The Director, under the governing ACT (Inland Fisheries ACT 1995) has the power to do whatever is necessary to ensure estuary perch do not disappear.

The IFS has done an extraordinary effort to eradicate carp, so surely we have the skill sets for an easy job like this to bring this fish back. I truly hope they try.

Surely someone would like their legacy to be ‘I saved Tasmania’s Estuary Perch’.

Jumbo bluefin - that is enough to get any game fisher’s heart pumping. The discovery and progression of a game fishing zone in Bass Strait within a few minutes of Devonport is extraordinary.

Traditionally game fishing in Tasmania was an East Coast pursuit and NW coasters had a long haul to get to productive watersanywhere between St Helens and Southport.

But it seems there have been a few factors that allowed a fishery to become productive closer to the NW coast.

Tasmanian Fishing and Boating

One of the biggest factors must surely be the reduction of overfishing the southern bluefin fishery by the Japanese. They were caught red handed selling more fish than their total take quota. The fishery was heavily overfished. That was remedied some years ago and Tasmania has seen a huge resurgence. The next factor is better boats, more boats, better equipment and much smarter fisher.

Glen Saltmarsh got a handle on all this, got his butt into gear and worked out there were fish close to his home of Devonport. The bluefin story in this issue tells that story.

Then there is calamari.

Maybe a bit like the Japanese overfishing bluefin, we have the commercial sector also overfishing calamari and now the fisheries department thinks it is a good idea to cut back the recreational sector’s take.

I do not like targeting or pointing out the commercial sector is over-fishing - and it is not their fault - fishery rules allow them to do so. The fisheries department should have addressed this issue years back when they knew. But they didn’t.

A paper ‘Tasmanian Calamari Fishery - Managing Stocks for SustainabilityDiscussion Paper - October 2021’ was released. It suggests recreational fishers go to the lowest bag limit in Australia to save calamari. All that really needs to happen is constraint on the commercial sector and a closure to protect spawning biomass - as recognised in the research available. Maybe close the fishery to all from August to October and the fishery will recover.

It is good to see TARFish recognising how important this issue is to keep our individual bag limits as is, not just for calamari, but all species. I am prepared to fully support rec. fishers and TARFish on this one. Bring it on.

I hope the Minister, Guy Barnett, understands recreational fishers, he is a recreational fisher himself, but it seems the department only listens to the commercial sector.

Lastly, it amazes me, after 25 years of publishing TFBN we still have such fantastic stories and contributions. Thank you all.

Mike Stevens - Editor

Tasmania’s Estuary Perch are disappearing

Less than 2 000 remain. Endemic and Endangered - can they be saved?

by Mike Stevens and Bryan van Wyk

Isat on the Inland Fisheries Advisory Council (IFAC) around 2014. One of my concerns at that time - and continuing, is the status of estuary perch (EP) in Tasmania. I am embarrased to say I achieved nothing to help rehabilitate estuary perch and it seems there is little desire by anyone else to re-establish a viable and diverse population of this species. They are a fantastic sport fish and in Tasmania are only found in the Arthur River on the West Coast. As far as I can find there has been a report by IFS staffer, Tim Farrell and a thesis by Bryan van Wyk. Both papers and others mentioned here can be viewed at www. tasfish.com.

Whilst estuary perch are revered in mainland states the Inland Fisheries Service has never sought funding to protect and/or rebuild EP here in Tasmania.

At the IFAC meeting October 31st 2015 there was an Action item 5. It said:

Action 5 - Estuary Perch – Mr. Farrell had prepared a discussion paper considering the options for the development of a fishery in the future. The matter was discussed and the next steps in the assessment process were to consider two options for importation of fish one from hatcheries in New South Wales or the transfer of fish from the

Arthur River population. Both these options would require consideration of biosecurity issues in the first instance. IFAC commended Mr. Farrell for the paper.

It appears nothing was done.

Action that has been undertaken since then has been the listing of the species as ‘rare’. Under section 131 of the Inland Fisheries Act 1995 a fish may be declared as a Protected Fish by Ministerial Order preventing the take of any protected fish, fine not exceeding 50 penalty units.

The listing of the species under threated species legislation would make it difficult to remove such protection

should the status of the species change due to establishment of further populations. A declaration of the species as a Protected Fish allows for this flexibility.

The Inland Fisheries Protected Fish Order affords the species legislative protection that prohibits ‘take’ of the species. This is how estuary perch are now managed - as a ‘no take’ fish. In fact it is illegal to even fish for or target them.

Where to from here?

We asked Bryan van Wyk for his input. Bryan did a UTAS Thesis on EPs and is now a fisheries manager in Northern Australia. He still has a keen interest in this fish.

This fish was caught and released in the Arthur River before fishing for them was banned.

Does estuary perch have a future in Tasmania, or will it become another Tasmanian extinction?

Growing up in Tasmania with a passion for recreational fishing and a craving for understanding made sure I was always on the hunt for knowledge during my explorations. I was based in the NorthWest and spent a lot of time searching for large trout in untouched regions of the West Coast, so it didn’t take long before I found myself venturing into the Arthur River. It’s a place blessed with lush tarkine rainforest, a complicated network of timber snags and endless opportunities for trophy sea run trout. Little did I know at the time, it was also the last remaining stronghold for Tasmania’s largest native freshwater fish, estuary perch.

The rise of estuary perch

For most tassie fishers, estuary perch was a fish you only saw on TV, with many elite anglers targeting them in rivers on the mainland. To a lot of anglers, their existence in Tasmania was merely a rumour and for a lucky few who knew about them, they were considered the “holy grail” of light tackle sportfish for their elusiveness. When the word finally got out on fishing forums, many anglers were traveling as far as Hobart to the Arthur River for the opportunity to tick this species off their bucket list. As the years went by, techniques and technologies changed. With side scan imaging, GPS electric motors and an arsenal of soft plastics available, a handful of anglers were able to successfully crack the EP code and produce consistent catch and release results. In a way, these were essentially the only people in the state monitoring the stock.

But where did these fish come from, why were they only found in the Arthur River and how many were left? Those were the questions asked by recreational anglers for many years with no answers.

The first significant biological estuary perch study in Tasmania

Six years later, those questions were still unanswered and after completing my degree in fisheries management, I put together a project proposal for a 1-year population study on the Arthur River with Dr James Haddy. James is a highly passionate and respected fisheries biologist in Tasmania. He has worked on many key estuary species and we both agreed that critical research was needed on this species. Estuary perch falls under the jurisdiction of the Inland Fisheries Service (IFS), so we presented our proposal as the first significant biological study ever undertaken for the species in Tasmania. The aim was to develop a better understanding of the Arthur River population and provide crucial information to the IFS to guide future management decisions.

What happened to estuary perch?

Prior to the commencement of field work, extensive background research was undertaken to understand where estuary perch were once found and what

happened to the species in Tasmania. The only other documented evidence of estuary perch outside the Arthur River was in the Ansons River in the early 80s. However, given ocean currents, their spawning strategy and tendency to migrate to other rivers during flood events, it is likely that they were once found in more rivers in the state. Unfortunately, this information is not well documented but there were numerous anecdotal reports of estuary perch in the Pipers River, Scamander River and Georges River. It’s widely believed that in the 1950s-1960s they were often caught in large quantities as bycatch with gillnets, referred to as razor fish (for their sharp gill plates), and discarded. Estuary perch are also known to have trouble spawning if conditions aren’t right and given that they are also migratory spawners (moving into the saltwater regions to breed), it’s believed that culverts and weirs had a big role to play in their disappearance. Overfishing, combined with barriers to migration and poor recruitment are all factors that likely caused their decline in Tasmania.

Study Results - Understanding the Arthur River population

In 2015 we secured permits and approvals to sample the river. As the status of this population was uncertain, we used extreme caution with our sampling and collected as few individuals as possible for biological processing. We also tagged and released any individuals not subject to biological dissections for some early indications of population size. To make sure we were not wasting this unique opportunity, we also collected various DNA samples (later used by Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning VIC) and scales and fin spines for nondestructive ageing experiments. Unfortunately, scales and fin spines could not be accurately used for ageing.

Our findings were concerning

The population displayed extreme cases of episodic recruitment. Almost 70% of the fish sampled came from 3 good years between 2001 and 2003. Given that most of these fish are now over 20 years old, a population crash could occur if environmental conditions remained unfavourable for spawning.

Unlike their cousins on the mainland which spawn around winter-spring, these fish spawn in summer. In the Arthur River, there are known periods of low dissolved oxygen around that time of year which can reduce the success of recruitment.

These fish are long-lived and slow growing (oldest fish was 34 years at 38cm FL).

Population estimates were low at around 1,500 fish. 81 fish were tagged and released in 2015. A total of 27 recaptures have been recorded with the last recapture reported in 2019. With no tagged estuary perch reported in the past 3 years, this could be a concerning sign of a population reduction or, be a result from the legislation change that excluded recreational anglers from targeting estuary perch.

Further Research Undertaken

Our genetic samples taken in 2015 were analysed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning VIC as part of a larger genetic study on estuary perch in Australia. Their findings outlined that the Arthur River population displays low levels of genetic variation and that restocking with mainland populations is recommended to increase diversity and strengthen the Arthur River gene pool.

Restocking/Breeding Potential

Breeding and restocking estuary perch in Tasmania is an idea that has been proposed for many years, long before our study in 2015. In Victoria, recreational license fees funded an estuary perch breeding program where over 200,000 fingerlings were released into several waterways. This was part of a larger initiative to increase recreational fishing activity. The results were promising with estuary perch observed to be thriving in lakes and dams, growing to half a kilo within 3 years. It has been noted that estuary perch are excellent candidates for captive breeding with high recruitment success from wild broodstock. Due to the natural vulnerability of estuary perch and their importance as a key recreational species in Australia, restocking strategies are used throughout NSW and VIC to boost population numbers in the wild. There are a wealth of resources, knowledge, and people available that can be accessed to aid the implementation of a successful restocking program in Tasmania.

The Inland Fisheries Service did have some positive things to say in 2015.

What we know about estuary perch:

Estuary perch is a native fish that has been neglected and historically declined in Tasmania.

The estuary perch population in the Arthur River have recruitment difficulties. If this population was lost, this fish would be yet another iconic species to become extinct in Tasmania.

As, estuary perch are listed as a protected species under the Inland Fisheries Act, the Inland Fisheries Service are currently responsible for their conservation. However, given that this is an estuarine species, there could be jurisdictional gaps with DPIPWE which could potentially hinder conservation ownership.

Estuary perch are easily bred in captivity and frequently stocked in several waterways in VIC and NSW to boost wild populations.

Weirs and culverts disrupt the breeding migrations of estuary perch. There are proven modifications that can be made to these man-made structures which can maintain access for migratory fish.

Estuary perch can also be stocked into freshwater impoundments with impressive growth rates as a recreational fishing alternative.

So what has occurred since our study:

When we completed our estuary perch study in 2015, James Haddy and I envisioned that this research would catalyse further studies and conservation efforts in Tasmania. We believed that this species had potential for a strong recovery and a future in Tasmania as a recreational species.

As I write this article almost 6 years later, I am deeply saddened on the lack of effort, funding and attention given to such an iconic native fish despite a clear track record of declines in the state, evidence of natural recruitment difficulties and poor gene pools.

To my knowledge, there has been little to no engagement with recreational anglers. The only action taken to safeguard the species since our study was a legislation change which stopped anglers from targeted catch and release and enforced accidental catches to be returned to the water immediately. This means you are in breach and could be fined if you stop to take a photo or even record tag details of an estuary perch.

While I do support precautionary decisions in fisheries management, locking out the very people pushing for estuary perch conservation, and the only people who were monitoring the stock, especially after such an evident catch and release survival rate from our gillnet surveys (+33% tag recaptures) is counterproductive. As a consequence of this decision, future tag data or catch information may not be reported, awareness of this species will drop, and the recreational community will lose trust in the Inland Fisheries Service.

There is a significant opportunity lost where tag/ release equipment, training and permits could have been given to recreational anglers as “citizen scientists” to collect vital information that could be used to monitor this stock in a cost-effective manner.

What could happen in the future:

Conservation grants and funding need to be applied for estuary perch.

A follow up survey and long-term monitoring plan needs to be developed for estuary perch in the Arthur River. This is where recreational anglers can add value.

A feasibility study and proposal should be developed for a wild restocking plan in the Arthur River. Stocking can be contracted to established facilities on the mainland or replicated in Tasmania. Any released fingerlings should be marked and incorporated into the monitoring plan.

An ecological survey should be undertaken on the Anson’s River to identify relevant spawning habitat and water parameters, potential interactions with other native species and modifications to barriers of migration. The re-introduction of estuary perch into the Anson’s River with on-going re-stocking and monitoring should be considered as there is clear evidence that this species was established there in the past.

A feasibility study and project should be developed to increase recreational fishing activity in Tasmania by stocking estuary perch into appropriate impoundments. A pilot study could be conducted with UTAS/IMAS to assess the growth rates of Tasmanian estuary perch in freshwater lab tanks.

Regular updates on all estuary perch related management decisions, projects and news should be transparently given to the recreational fishing community.

Bryan van Wyk

Estuary perch can be rehabilitated, but it will need the IFS to take up the challenge. The IFS undertake a lot of work on galaxiids and native fish. We have also seen an enormous effort by IFS to eradicate carp, so skills and determination are there. We encourage the IFS to rebuild the EP population. It could be a future sport fishery again. Ed.

•Winner of Yellowstone Anglers 2020 5wt Shootout “Best Overall Rod” with 30 plus 5wt rods tested

AWARD WINNING RODS AT A REASONABLE PRICE

•Distinctly effortless casting and increased sensitivity on some of the industries lightest blanks and swing weights in its class

•REC Titanium shape memory Cerecoil stripper guides with zirconia inserts, REC Titanium recoil guides

•A skeletonized aluminum reel seat, double uplocking rings with nylon bushings and burled blackwood inserts

•Moderate-fast action, multimodulus blanks constructed with G-Tec platelets over a glare-resistant platinum color with G-Armour coating

•AAAA flor-grade cork

•Section alignment dots featuring rod line weight

•Powder coated aluminum tube and plush moisture wicking rod sock

•Lifetime Warranty on all Douglas Fly Rods

Photo: Logan Summers

“The Douglas Sky G is astounding. I’ve been y shing for over 50 years and own more y rods than I care to admit. I’ve thrown just about every brand rod there is, but I’ve never used a rod that has the characteristics that this one has. I can carry a ridiculous amount of line in the air and reach long distances e ortlessly. It is a joy to sh.”

6 WT. SHOOTOUT

SKYG89049’0”#84B

Dave Townsend

SKYG 6904

Best 6 weight - Yellowstone Angler

yingina - Great Lake

Summer Prospeting Craig

Rist

My good friend Jim Schofield absolutely loves to fish Great Lake from his boat with his favourite fly rod and a size 10 foam fly. I think it’s the simplicity of this combination that is so appealing to Jim. I have to admit as much as I like the challenge of the Western Lakes; I do enjoy an easy day on Great Lake fishing foam flies from dawn to dusk during the summer months. With so many different kinds of terrestrials being blown onto the water throughout the day these Great Lake fish have become very opportunistic surface feeders during summer. So even when they are sipping down tiny midge they have no problem eating a large terrestrial that has ended up on the water amongst all those midges. It makes perfect sense really, it’s just a bigger protein hit for far less effort.

Early morning midge feeders

On this trip, Jim and I decided to drive up to the lake after work to camp overnight in our swags on the lakeshore. We often do this and it’s a great way to get a few more hours of sleep before we hit the water at dawn for what is often a 16-hour day on the water.

The next morning Jim and I launched the boat in the dark at Swan Bay just as the first sign of light started to light up the horizon. The wind was blowing from the Southeast so Swan Bay was flat calm at the boat ramp. We shone our headlamps onto the water to see if there was any midge on the water, but there was nothing. This was not a good sign so we slowly motored out across the bay looking for potential wind lanes that may have formed and accumulated midge or other insects overnight. As we reached Haddens Bay a wind lane had

formed off the point. We stopped and switched off the motor to see if we could see any fish feeding. There was some midge in the air but nothing on the water at this stage and there was no sign of fish feeding at the surface.

By now there was enough light to safely navigate the lake at speed, so we restarted the outboard and got Jim’s boat up on the plane to go over to Beehives Point. This point is always a reliable place to find wind lanes and foam lines that have food and fish in them. We stopped the boat again and used the electric motor to slowly make our way along a wind lane that had formed off the point. A fish suddenly showed itself, as it broke the surface on the outside of the wind lane 20 metres downwind from us. It didn’t rise or tail again so I made a cast in the hope of covering this fish, but nothing. We followed the wind lane for at least 100 metres hoping

to find another fish but there was just no food in this lane to hold fish. This isn’t uncommon when there is no food in a wind lane or foam line, so we fired up the big motor again to head towards MacLanachans Island and then up the Eastern shore towards Muddy Bay, which is often good areas to find fish feeding on midge. It soon became very clear that there were no significant midge hatches overnight and we needed to change tack. We decided to go into Elizabeth Bay, where there are weed beads along the Western shoreline and submerged trees and rocks along the northern end of the bay that always holds fish. As we entered the bay we could see a large mass of white foam along the northern shore that had been pushed in from the southeasterly wind overnight. This was definitely worth a closer look. We motored over and stopped well away from the foam line. Using the electric motor we moved

Electric motors will make polaroiding a much easier exercise

closer to check the foam for any signs of fish. A slow head and tail rise suddenly appeared five metres off the bow of the boat. As Jim had already insisted I fish first, I made the cast, landing my size 10 black and orange foam caddis upwind one and a half metres ahead of the rise. The fish quickly sensed the fly entering the water and gently took it from the surface. I lifted my rod to set the hook and my rod bent over under its weight.

There is no better feeling than the moment when my rod loads up on the weight of a fish because it’s the final confirmation that I have done everything right. A typical two and a half pound brown trout was quickly brought to the net. It was Jim’s turn next so put my rod away and took control of the electric motor to put Jim on the next fish.

I had seen another fish rising amongst the foam, while I was landing my fish, so I took Jim towards that general area. As we approached the fish rose again and again in quick succession, Jim made the cast, but the fish didn’t show again. Another fish was steadily rising further downwind, so I repositioned the boat so Jim could cast to that fish from upwind. This time Jim’s cast was rewarded with a snout leaving the water to eat his brown

and red “Bruisers Bug”. This fish was hooked close to a submerged tree so I quickly used the electric motor to move the boat away from the tree and out into open water. Another brown around two and a half pounds was quickly scooped up in the net. We changed roles again and I landed one more fish from this foam and despite searching the area for another hour we didn’t see another fish.

Boat - Sight fishing

By now the sun was high enough in the sky to see into the water, so we decided to motor back to the start of Elizabeth Bay so we could drift up the Western shore with the sun at our backs. This drift gave us a perfect view back into the shoreline. We used the drogue to slow and control our drift and the electric motor to reposition the boat when we drifted too close to the shore. This time we could both fish at the same time with Jim on the bow looking towards the shoreline and me at the stern fishing the deeper water and in control of the electric motor. We spooked two fish in close before Jim finally had a legitimate shot. Unfortunately, as the fish rose to his fly it sensed the boat or us and spooked off.

Towards the end of our drift, I spotted a fish hugging the bottom as it slowly swam out into deeper water. I quickly covered the fish with my foam caddis. My fly hit the water with a loud splat which had the desired effect as the fish immediately sensed the fly, rising from the bottom to take my fly.

After a quick coffee and a bite to eat we decided to go over to Canal Bay on the other side of the Lake. Canal Bay is always worth a look, it has many food rich weed beds that hold a lot of fish in relatively shallow water when the lake is not too high. It’s important to remember that this bay is restricted to Lure and fly-fishing only and opens for fishing on the Saturday nearest to the 1st of December to the Sunday nearest to the 31st of March in the next year.

It’s also good to keep in mind that like all rivers that run into Great Lake we are not permitted to fish closer than 50 meters from where the river or canal enters the Lake.

Something big and Something small.

When we arrived at Canal Bay we had the whole bay to ourselves. We did a quick run up the middle of the bay to check out the foam lines for insects or feeding fish but things were still fairly dead out wide so we decided to try a drift along the southern shoreline. We covered a lot of water before we finally found a fish when we hit the shallower Western end of the bay.

This was no real surprise as this shallower area of this bay has many weed beds that create the perfect habitat for aquatic insects and the trout that feed on them. I covered this fish with my fly and watched it rise to my fly, then refuse it at the last moment. Refusals are not good, not good at all, so I decided to increase my odds by using two flies.

I had already noticed some green midge on the water and one or two mayfly duns sailing down the bay. I knew the next fish I presented the foam fly would most likely take it, so I left my black and orange caddis on at the point of my leader and tied on a size 16 green emerging midge on a short 15 cm dropper, 70cm up from my caddis. This little midge pattern has a green seals fur body, a white Hi-Vis wing and a brown hackle clipped underneath to make it ride low in the water. I always wet the body of the midge first and then apply a dry fly floatant to the top of the white Hi-Vis wing and the hackle to ensure it sits low in the water.

When I fish two dry flies, I like to have the fly with the most weight at the point because the momentum of the heavier fly helps me roll out the leader when I need to make a cast into the wind.

We were drifting across the bay in a northwesterly direction with the morning sun shining over our right shoulders. There was also some scattered cloud cover overhead limiting our vision when the sun disappeared behind a cloud and creating that annoying cloud

Jim gets the result using the ever reliable Bruiser’s Bug

Wind lane fishing on the Great Lake can be sensational

reflection on the water. This meant our view into the water was limited to a small window on the west side of the boat. I was on the west side, so I had the best chance of seeing fish. Jim on the other hand was limited to blind searching on the eastern side of the boat.

When Jim and I fish like this, we split the water evenly between us. Any fish that comes up on Jim’s side, I leave for Jim to cover and he does the same for me. Even though I had the best vision, I still had an area on my right-hand side that I couldn’t see. I always like to make a short cast into this blind spot to cover those fish I can’t see while I’m looking into the water I can see. This short cast also allows me to recast and cover a fish quickly with one or two false casts.

As we settled into the drift, I routinely glanced over to check my flies in my blind spot to see the rings of a rise where my flies were. I immediately lifted my rod to set the hooks, breaking my fly off in the process. No doubt, with my overpowered attempt to set the hook quickly before the fish rejected my fly. In truth, I had all the time in the world. Not knowing which fly was taken I checked my leader and found the midge fly was missing so I tied on another and kept fishing.

Now and then we could see a fish rise to mayfly, I managed to cover one of these rises and again the midge was taken over the foam caddis. The downside of fishing a dropper like this is the occasional tangled mess, which can also contribute to some break-offs. This is why Jim fishes a single Bruisers Bug and is happy to accept a refusal now and then. As I said, he likes to keep it simple and he still catches fish. For me, however, the increased catch rate is definitely worth a few tangles and broken lines. We made several successful drifts across the Bay, each time covering new water and between us, we managed to catch five more fish, some on foam flies and some on my size 16 midge.

Covering Water

After catching or spooking the remaining fish in this bay we decided to give this area a rest and head back out into the main lake to see if we could find fish in some foam lines. Having a boat like Jim’s that is large enough to safely cover a lot of water on a big lake such as this is a real advantage to find fish.

The wind can create some fairly dangerous waves at times on this lake so you need a boat that can comfortably handle these waves. Jim has a 50 horsepower outboard on his 4.5-metre boat, which has plenty of power to get us out of trouble and cover a lot of water to find fish.

We headed south back towards the Beehives finding a foam line hard in against this very recognisable landmark. It was Jim’s turn to catch a fish so I used the electric motor to see if we could find a fish.

We spooked one fish towards the point then I spotted another swimming just under the foam. Jim made the cast and his Bug was eagerly taken with confidence. Jim made no mistake setting the hook, landing another nice fish after a strong relentless fight. It was now 3 pm and there was very little action out in the main Lake. There was just not enough food on

the water so we decided to go back into Canal Bay for the afternoon session.

Blind Prospecting

Back in Canal Bay, we drifted the shallows of the Western shore once again. The wind was still blowing from the southeast so this made sight fishing ahead of the drifting boat very difficult as we were forced to look towards the afternoon sun. We had no choice but to fish blind to cover fish that we knew would still be in this area. Fortunately using foam flies that make their presence known when they hit the water is perfect for blind searching with a dry fly. These flies can pull fish from several metres in all directions. Our technique was simple, make a 15-metre cast, leave the fly sitting there for 20 seconds, give it a short twitch, leave it for few more seconds and making another cast two metres to the right or left and repeat until all the water in front of us has been covered. I was still using the black and orange caddis with the midge dropper. Unsurprisingly,

Jim was using the same fly he had on this morning or possibly last season, I wouldn’t put it past him. It didn’t take long before Jim and I saw that familiar brown shape suddenly appeared under our flies and chomp down on our foam, dear hair and rubber leg creations. Once again we made several passes across the bay catching many fish on our foam bugs and a few more on the little emerging green midge.

It was now 5:30 in the afternoon and the week of shift work had finally caught up with Jim as he laid fast asleep on the floor of his boat. I caught another fish while he was sleeping and then I stopped to boil some water for a coffee and something to eat to keep us going for the afternoon session.

The wind direction had changed and was now blowing in from the east. This wind change had formed a large wide foam line out in the middle of Canal Bay. This was sure to have fish in it so after our coffee and a bite to eat we started up the big motor and headed back out towards the main lake to drift back down this foam line with the wind behind us.

Once again we put the electric motor back into the water and slowly made our way closer to the foam line, which was at least three metres wide in some places. There was midge in the air and on the water so there had to be fish out here. Then we saw what we were looking for, that dimple in the middle of the foam as a trout takes something floating in the foam. Then we could see many more fish feeding towards us on the outside of the foam. I made a cast into the foam with my two flies and waited. My line suddenly pulled from my hand as a fish took the midge without me seeing the take. Unsurprisingly the hook instantly pulled free and the fish spooked off. Another fish was nearly upon us so I quickly recast delivering my flies in the feeding path of this fish. The fish took my foam fly and this time I had time to allow this fish to turn down before setting the hook. As this fish felt the resistance of my line, it jumped clear of the water. This was no brown trout as the silver flank and the pink stripe was visible.

Jim and I had an absolute cracker of a session on this foam line that was packed with midge and fish. The daily fish score quickly pushed up over 20 fish by the time the fading light forced us to stop fishing and make the long run back to Swan Bay. We had fished from dawn to dusk, but the day had felt like it had vanished in a blink of an eye, as they do when we are fishing.

Chasing Silver

St Helens silver trevally Nathan Huizing

Located on Tasmania’s northeast coast is a popular estuary system that is home to a large variety of the state’s best light tackle sportfish. Georges Bay hosts big bream, King George whiting, Australian salmon, snapper, kingfish and flathead throughout certain months of the year. However, one species, in particular, may well be the biggest drawcard for many anglers. Silver trevally or ‘Trevs’ as they are often referred to tick just about all the boxes you could hope for when chasing inshore fish on light tackle. Their feeding habits present anglers with the opportunity to practice a variety of angling methods when pursuing these fish and once hooked they certainly know how to use every centimetre of their bodies to their advantage. With a moderately elongated and compressed body, soft blubbery lips and forked tail, these southern speedsters are similar in appearance to their northern cousins, the golden trevally. Despite their name, silver trevally will even display a series of vertical gold bars down their flanks when caught around weedbeds, particularly on the larger specimens. The best part of all is that they can be caught year-round and the coming months are prime time!

Locating Trevally In The Bay

Silver trevally can be found just about anywhere throughout George’s Bay due to the endless amount

of fishy looking habitat. That being said, there are certainly a few hot spots around the bay that fish better than others at certain times.

Roughly in the centre of Georges Bay is a network of flats and channels that are marked out by several green and red posts. Both the channel and flats are worth fishing as the trevally will often move onto these flats to feed on a high tide and are often caught as bycatch by anglers chasing bream with hardbodies. However, the channel edges are where your efforts are best focussed. Trev’s will patrol these channel edges hoovering up any small prey items that they may come across and a well presented soft plastic fished close to the bottom is rarely refused. Although due to the excessive amount of weed in this system, these channels can be quite difficult to fish when the tide gets moving and I have found these channels to fish best an hour on either side of the tide change.

Towards the northern end of the system is Moulting Bay. This is a bay that takes up a relatively large portion of the whole system and is a great option to explore when the tide starts pumping as it isn’t affected as much by the strong currents

and floating weeds. There are many shellfish leases and some nice weedbeds towards the centre of the bay and fishing deep with soft plastics around these habitats can often result in some great action with trevally sometimes coming in cast after cast!

Further down towards the mouth of the system around Dora Point and following the shoreline of Akaroa are a couple of channels that are very popular amongst anglers and for good reason. These channels are not only fishable by boat but also by land-based fishermen and from my personal experiences, this part

A solid trevally all lit up!

Light spin gear and silver trevally are the perfect match

of the bay consistently produces some of the larger specimens in the system! On our last trip to St.Helens, we found this part of the bay to fish exceptionally well during the first hour of the run-out tide and towards the last hour of the run-out as well. Unfortunately in the hours between, we found the current to be too strong and the weed being flushed out of the system made it unfishable. I believe the trevally congregate in this part of the bay during the run-out tide as it acts as the bottleneck of the system and all the small prey items such as baitfish, crustaceans and other aquatic invertebrates that the trevally love are drawn into the area with the outgoing tide. This can result in some crazy fishing, especially when the bigger fish show up!

Tackling trevally

While silver trevally in some parts of the world is rumoured to grow up to 1.2 metres in length and weigh as much as 18kg, that is certainly not the case in Georges Bay. The average fish you’re likely to find in the bay will range anywhere from 30-50cm and these fish will still give you a great scrap on light tackle. However, there are some slightly larger models kicking about and these are the fish that will give you hell on light gear. Trevs in the 55-65cm range are encountered semi-regularly and when hooked will certainly test your knots and angling ability! While there are rumours of anglers hooking some unstoppable fish in the bay I’m personally yet to see photographic evidence of any 70cm+ models, but I believe the potential is there.

Given the size range of the trevally in the bay, light spinning tackle is the preferred option and provides the best sport. A 1-3 or 2-4kg rod around 2.1 - 2.2 metres in length with a fast or med-fast action is ideal. A rod with a sensitive tip section is important for feeling the fickle bites as well as absorbing the headshakes these fish can give throughout the fight. If the rod is too stiff your chances of tearing the trevally’s soft lips increases substantially. When it comes to reel selection, I opt for a high gear, 2500 size. A 1000 size will suffice for the average trevally but I like the extra spool capacity of the 2500 which offers a little more insurance if you manage to get connected to one of these 65cm+ unicorns. As

far as line choice, I run 3 or 4kg braid on all of my 2500s and have found it ideal when fishing Georges Bay. The sensitivity of the braid is great for feeling the little ‘tick’ the trevally will often send through the line as they pluck your soft plastic off the bottom giving you the chance to get a solid hookset before they spit your offering back out. It can pay to have a couple of different size leader options at hand when chasing trevally. If the water is super clear and the trevally are a little shy, I’d suggest fishing 3kg but no lighter. If the water is discoloured as it often is in Georges Bay you can get away with fishing 4 - 4.5kg leader which definitely helps if you hook a reasonable fish as they will often try to bury you in the dense weed beds!

Lure choice and how to fish them

Fishing with soft plastics is by far the most popular and productive method amongst anglers when chasing these fish. Simply because they can be fished deep in the channels and over weed beds where the trevally predominantly hang out. There are a variety of styles which are all proven trevally slayers and these include ZMan Grubz and Slim Swimz in the 2.5 inch size, Gulp Turtlebacks and Fry, 80-100mm Squidgey Wrigglers, 3 inch Powerbait Minnows and the Holt Productions Swimprawn just to name a few. As far as colour selection, I’ve had most success on natural baitfish patterns as well as classics such as bloodworm and motor oil. It pays to have a variety of jighead sizes in your tray as well. 1/8 and 1/4 ounce are the two sizes I find myself using the most when fishing the channels and it is important to fish the size most suitable to the depth and tide phase you’re fishing.

The most effective way to fish plastics for trevally I’ve found is to cast up current from your position and allow the plastic to sink to the bottom as it drifts back towards you while keeping light tension through your line. Once the plastic reaches the bottom you’ll notice the tension in your line will instantly drop. Proceed

to lift your plastic with two or three quick hops and then allow it to sink back to the bottom while slowly winding the slack and repeat the process all the way back to the boat. It is often as the plastic sinks or is sitting on the bottom that the trevally will inhale it so be ready for that tick through the line! Hardbodies can also be effective on trevally with both shallow and deep diving suspending jerkbaits in the 60-80mm sizes working a treat over the shallower weed beds and flats. A steady paced retrieve with sporadic twitches and short pauses will often get results!

It can also pay to keep your eyes peeled for birds working the surface. This will usually be a sign of Australian salmon feeding on baitfish but the trevally are never too far away and will quite often just be hanging a few metres below the salmon, picking off scraps. This is when casting a soft plastic into them can pay off. Try to allow your plastic to sink a few metres without applying any action to the lure as this will grab unwanted attention from the salmon. Once you feel your plastic has sunk far enough, begin a slow retrieve. This is a method that has proven itself plenty of times!

Nathan Huizing

A selection of effective trevally lures.

Tailor - a common bycatch in the bay

A nice one on the brag mat!

Soft plastics for big trout

The techniques explained

Jack Gillespie

Targeting trout using soft plastics is a favourite technique of mine due to the versatility in the way the bait can be presented. They can be slow rolled, jerked, and bounced off the bottom depending on the situation you’re in, or the environment and habitat that you’re fishing. They can be fished in almost every situation due to the ability to be able to change patterns, jighead weights and hook style in a matter of moments.

Where To Start

Since their introduction into Tasmania in the 1860s, trout species can be found in almost all freshwater systems across the state. If you’re looking at freshwater, chances are trout aren’t too far away. Brown and Rainbow trout have self-sustaining wild populations in these systems, but stocking programs support other water bodies where trout are unable to spawn.

Rivers –

Early in the season, when the water levels are typically at their highest is when I like to fish rivers. Fast flowing

water and flooded margins where fish can get into the mashes to feed makes for a lot of fun. Sections of the river I will target is anywhere I can identify where the water flow either speeds up or slows down. The reason for the change in flow could be caused by all manner of things, including submerged structure, a bend in the river, changing water depth or a fork in the river. Trout will sit in these spots facing into the direction of water flow to hold their position waiting to pluck off whatever comes their way.

Lakes, lagoons and dams –

There is an endless amount of these landlocked bodies of water spread right across Tasmania, and most are well suited for fishing soft plastics. While fishing these larger waterways it can be a daunting task to find the fish. I concentrate most of my effort on targeting points and weedbeds. Trout will hold around both to ambush prey and a well-weighted soft plastic is a prime lure for these areas.

Which plastics for trout

A wide range of soft plastic designs can be used to fish for trout. Jerk shads and, my personal favourite, the minnow, but there are also grub, worm and even crustacean imitations. I’m a big believer in “matching the hatch”, so I will always stick to the most natural colours like black and gold, brown, and dark greens. A whitebait colour can also be powerful when fished in rivers when they begin to start their annual run. Brands such the Daiwa BaitJunkie, Berkley Powerbait and Tasmania’s own Strike Tiger all have a fantastic selection of plastics in their range for targeting fussy trout.

Best retrieves for getting the bite

Slow rolling involves retrieving the plastic in a slow and steady motion and allowing the design and shape of the soft plastic to do all the work for you. Popular styles of soft plastic for this method include minnow (also called paddle tail or t-tail) designs that make the tail of the plastic wobble from side to side as it passes

A big Lake Leake brown during a wet and windy day

through the water. Jerkbait style soft plastics generally require a slightly faster action, with swift, short jerks of your rod tip, making the plastic dart through the water, imitating injured baitfish. In lakes, slow-flowing rivers, or when the water temperature is cooler, the soft plastic can also be bounced off the bottom. By allowing it to sink to the bottom and lifting your rod tip slightly, the jighead will slowly rise off the bottom and land again, an action that is successful when the fish are sulking down deep in the water column.

Rigging

Rigging soft plastics can be tricky and done in a manner of different ways, but taking the time to get the plastic perfectly straight is one of the most important points. A straight rigged soft plastic will improve catch rates dramatically as it looks and behaves a lot more naturally to the fish you are targeting.

In most scenarios, I use a standard style ball head jighead. This style of jighead gives you the ability to fish a range of techniques, and it is my opinion that it’s the easiest to use when learning the art of fishing soft plastics. Hidden weight, or HWS, is a style of jighead I’ve also grown fond of in recent years. This style of hook hides the weight inside the body of the

soft plastics and makes for the most natural-looking bait. I will usually reach for this style of hook when fishing streams and rivers with flowing water where I will be using a slow roll retrieve, as the hook point will stay upright resulting in fewer snags and less lost tackle. Another option that is perfect when fishing around tight structures and a lot of trees is the weedless style jighead. I haven’t found the hookup rate to be as successful as other styles of jighead, however, in extreme circumstances I do still use them to avoid losing too much gear.

Favourite Catches

There are a few fish that are most memorable to me, and I will hold them close in my heart. These may not always be the biggest or heaviest fish I’ve caught, but these catches I will share are special to me due to a range of different circumstances.

Skinny water giant –

Fishing with my good mate Jason Sherriff in my local river in the northeast of Tasmania, the morning was extremely quiet. We both missed opportunities on smaller fish earlier in the day but just before calling it quits we hit one last spot in hope of finding a bite before calling it a day. We headed to a small weir that is roughly 5km upstream from the river mouth. This spot had always provided some good fish, especially on dusk. As anyone that fishes weirs, power stations or fast-flowing water will know, it often means you can have 50 casts in very close proximity before the lure finally goes past a fishes nose to trigger a bite, and this was exactly the case on this day.

After a few casts and several lure changes, I hooked up to what I first thought was a snag. To me, it just felt like dead weight on the end of my line. All of a sudden, my line started screaming downstream and then I was certain it was not a rock I was hooked up to! After slowly battling the big male trout against the water flow, and a few average attempts on the net from Jason, we were both over the moon to have the 8lb Brown trout out

of the water. After a quick photo, he was released back into the fast-flowing water to continue gorging himself on the countless whitebait.

Tournament trout –

With the sun high in the sky and not a breath of wind, the conditions were certainly tough on our first trout fishing tournament at Great Lake. With a target of ten fish, none yet landed, and only a couple of follows from small fish, it was looking like we wouldn’t have anything to show for our efforts. With only a couple of hours left until we had to be back at the ramp, and an empty scoresheet, we made a change and headed for a nearby island where there was a steep drop off around the rocky edge. After fishing for only a couple of minutes my teammate, Jen Westwood, let out a loud “YEP!” as she hooked into a beautiful brown trout that measured 60cm. This was the start of a red-hot session, where I soon followed suit, catching myself a similar model within a matter of minutes. Soon our sad-looking scoresheet was stacking up, and we had both caught multiple fish of similar size within the final hour of competition. It certainly goes to show that one more cast can make all the difference.

Yak Hunters –

Last, but certainly not least, was during a two-day Yak Hunters event at Lake Leake. The first day was very long and uneventful, where I was harassed by countless Redfin Perch, and cast and pedalled the Hobie until I felt like my arms and legs were going to fall off at the end of the first day.

On the second day, we were met with cold, windy and wet conditions. It was also at this time that I realised I had left my wet weather gear at home. It made for a rather unpleasant day of fishing, and I have never worked so hard to catch a fish. Seeing the updates from people through the mobile app spurred me on, and I stayed determined not to give up until the allocated fishing time had completely run out. I pedalled back to a small point that I had already fished on the first day, and again that same morning. The wind was howling around the corner, and at times blowing my

Hooked up to a plastic munching brown!

Amazing condition on this big buck!

A baitfish feeder fooled with a paddle tail style plastic

Hobie and me directly onto the shore. However, it was one of those spots that you just had a feeling would produce a fish. Luckily for me, the third time I hit this point was the time I would tangle with the biggest fish to be measured in the comp. The big brown inhaled a Baitjunkie 2.5 inch minnow and put up a terrific fight, and multiple times I thought I was going he was going to have the best of me. This trout was all about fighting dirty. He swam towards me at full speed leaving me with slackline, then did multiple laps around the Hobie, wriggled his way out of my small landing net and fell back into the water but finally I had him safely in the bottom of the kayak. Persistence paid off big time and I pedalled back to shore freezing cold, with numb hands but a big smile on my face.

There is no doubt that soft plastic lures are an effective tool when chasing trout in Tasmanian waters and I hope after reading this you will give them a go. Feel free to contact me via any of the social media platforms if you have more questions related to targeting trout on soft plastics, and don’t forget - rig ‘em straight and start fishing!

Siglon PE, is made from EX-PE fibres and offers a tightly woven braid that provides superior abrasion resistance, a very thin diameter and minimal stretch. Available in 8 carrier PE (PEx8) and 4 carrier PE (PEx4).

STILLWATER

The new SONAR Stillwater range are specifically designed for cold weather trout fishing in lake environments — just like Tasmania.

Stillwater angling presents its own unique challenges and demands. Fishing just beneath the surface film, camouflaging full sinking lines, and fishing the hang are all aspects of Stillwater fishing that we’ve addressed with our Stillwater series.

Stillwater Hover

Stillwater Hover

For fishing flies just below the surface

WF-4-H thru WF-8H

Stillwater Clear Camo

Camouflage Line for Sub-Surface Fishing

WF-4-I thru WF-8-I

Stillwater 5’ Emerger Clear Tip

For Fishing Flies in or near the Surface Film

WF-6-F/I thru WF-8-F/I

Stillwater Seamless Density

Double Density sinking lines provides straight-line connection to fly

Sink 1/ Sink 3 – WF-4-S thru WF-8-S

Sink 3 / Sink 5 – WF-5-S thru WF-8-S

Sink 5 / Sink 7 – WF-6-S thru WF-8-S

Stillwater Parabolic Sink

Sinks in U-Shaped Profile

Sink 3 running line, Sink 5 head, Sink 3 tip section

WF-5-S thru WF-8-S

Sink rate chart – IPS (inches per second)

Hover – 1 IPS

Intermediate – 1.25 IPS

Sink 1 – 1.25 IPS

Sink 3 – 3.0 IPS

Sink 5 – 5.0 IPS

Sink 7 – 7.0 IPS

Stillwater Clear Camo Intermediate

Stillwater Emerger Clear Tip

Stillwater Seamless Density

Stillwater Parabolic Sink

Floating Line Techniques

Advanced techniques that will bring results

Tom Jarman

One of my favourite ways to fish Tasmanian lakes is with a floating line and a team of small wet flies or nymphs. The sensation of the line tightening as a fish eats my fly whilst I am retrieving never gets old. Also, casting a floating line from the boat or bank is a pleasure and makes for a nice change after fishing intermediate or other sinking lines earlier in the season. By late spring, trout across both highland and lowland lakes will be looking up and feeding high in the water column or off the top. This can be to a variety of insects including mayfly, midge or caddis. This is a great time to be targeting trout on a floating line, and you will find being prepared to fish a few different styles of flies and techniques will increase your success rate.

When to fish a floating line?

The ideal scenario to fish these techniques is when they are rising fish. Both the wet flies and nymphs will work, however, you will find that on some days and lakes they prefer one over the other. The best part about having rising fish is you can present the flies to the fish and see their response. Sometimes they will charge over to eat your retrieved wet flies as they fish through the surface film, and other days they will completely ignore them. The mood of the fish often dictates which way I will fish. If they are moving quickly and seem aggressive then I like to retrieve a team of wet flies and cover as many fish and/or as much water as possible. If they aren’t willing to chase then I find slowing down and presenting the nymphs to be the best way to go.

If you do not have rising fish and are forced to search through the water fishing blind, then reading the conditions will help you decide whether to fish wet flies or nymphs. There are so many different factors that influence my decision making, however, the main ones are the wind and cloud cover. In windy and overcast conditions, I like to fish a team of wet flies. Retrieving your flies gives you more line control and keeps you tighter to your flies when there is a wave on the lake. Typically the fish are also more confident and happy to chase in windier weather so this lends itself perfectly to fishing traditional wet flies. In calmer conditions, or when it is bright, I tend to lean towards fishing a team of nymphs. This is because you can fish with more control over your flies as there is less wind and

Nymphing on a floating line at Four Springs produces some fantastic brown trout.

can offer a more subtle and precise presentation. This is important because particularly in bright conditions the fish can be quite touchy, and may not eat the fly with as much confidence.

Gear and leaders

The gear required to fish these techniques is very simple and is interchangeable. I like to fish a six weight rod preferably in 10 feet, a floating line with a tapered leader and then my tippet. Leader setups can be a very personal thing, what works for one person may not be what works for another. The most important thing is that you find a leader set up that you find comfortable and enjoyable to fish with. I use a 9ft tapered leader in 3X or 4X and shorten it so that it is only 5ft long,

I then tie a tippet ring onto the end. I use a tippet ring is so that I don’t eat into my tapered leader each time I change my tippet sections. I like a fluorocarbon tapered leader, as I feel it allows me to achieve a little bit of depth if I need it, however fishing a nylon tapered leader is absolutely fine as well. From my tippet ring, I then add 12 feet of 3X fluorocarbon (again nylon is fine also). I then tie two droppers onto this section where my top and middle fly will go. My top dropper will be attached two feet beneath my tippet ring, and my middle dropper will be attached five feet below my top dropper. Both of these droppers I attach with a triple surgeons knot. This results in a leader that is 17 feet long, with three flies spaced five feet apart. If fishing three flies is a bit hard to manage, you can shorten this so that you are only fishing two flies, five feet apart.

Retrieves

Deciding how to fish your flies on a given day is one of the hardest parts of fly fishing. Often the fish will eat a range of presentations throughout a given day, so being able to mix up your retrieves to find what is working, and then still mix in other retrieves once you have found out what is working is important. When fishing a team of wet flies, I like to rotate between slow, medium and fast retrieves along with a two-handed rolly polly. Adjusting the angle at which you are retrieving your flies in relation to the wind is also incredibly important. As is not feeling the need to fish too long, the shorter you fish, the better line control you will have and the better take detection and hook sets you will get. When

fishing a team of nymphs I like to fish them nice and slowly. Remember nymphs don’t tend to swim very quickly, and when I am nymphing this is generally because I am looking for a more realistic presentation. A figure of eight retrieve (hand twist retrieve) or a long slow draw is a great way to fish your nymphs. It is also good to mix up the depth at which you are fishing your nymphs, this can be done by adding a beaded fly to the point, changing the length of your cast or speed of your retrieve.

My favourite flies

As is always the case with fly fishing, technique and decision making is more important than fly choice. However, having a good range of flies that you have confidence in fishing whichever lake you go to can be a big advantage. So many of the flies we fish in Australia originated overseas and are very successful on our waters. This gives me confidence that if I have a few patterns that I like fishing and are successful with, I can take them to any water and can expect to catch fish on them. Some traditional wet flies that I believe to be must-haves on Tasmanian lakes include the claret dabbler, Kate Mclaren, zulu and bibio. Nymph wise, you could almost fish only with seals fur nymphs of varying colours and be very content. However, I find black and claret seals fur nymphs to be particularly good as are Bill Beck’s krystal flash nymphs. If you were to then add in some diawl bachs, a stick caddis and a hares ear, then you have a very complete nymph box.

Jeff Perin from Oregon with a big Penstock Lagoon rainbow that ate a seals fur nymph.

Col with a quality Arthurs Lake brown trout on the floater.

Karen Brooks playing out one of the many excellent condition fish in Four Springs the love a nymph

Fishing with a floating line on lakes is such an enjoyable way to catch trout, it allows the angler to be versatile as you can fish a mix of techniques. With the use of the correct technique, you will be amazed at some of the fish numbers this style of fishing will produce, when most other techniques struggle. Get out there, fish with confidence and enjoy some of our great lakes and I’m sure you will be rewarded with some fun and exciting fishing.

As the weather warms, there will be an abundance of mayfly hatches. Col

Tom Jarman

Orange beads are best

My experiences with this outstanding fly

Todd Lambert

Origins: The Orange bead- headed nymph. I preface this article with a disclaimer. What I have written is my experiences pertaining to this fly pattern only. I don’t go into a debate about how it is used, whether or if it is at odds with the ‘purists’ view of fly fishing. I just like to catch fish - and this fly consistently delivers the goods from the start of the season in August right through until mid-March.

I have fished it religiously for over twenty years. It is easy to tie and if fished with confidence, it will see you heading home with a healthy creel more often than not. Fish it as a stick caddis or mayfly nymph.

If you consider yourself an average angler with reasonable casting abilities, please check out the advice written below and you can thank me later.

Where did this pattern originate?

Most current fly patterns are variants of originals and no doubt this pattern is a result of that, but my first introduction to this particular fly was in the late 1990s by a gentleman by the name of Jim Ferrier. Jim was involved with the fly fishers club of Tasmania at the time.

I distinctly remember being in awe of his day’s catch when I caught up with him as he was retrieving his boat at Jonah Bay (Arthurs Lake) around that time.

Jim is a man that strongly encourages fly fishers and is very generous in sharing information about what is working for him and what wasn’t.

I remember Jim generously cutting the fly off and gaving it to me to take home – and tie if I could. I tied many — and the rest is history.

There are other stories of where this fly originated, and like many flies they seem to often popup in a parallel universe. There is no doubt that coloured beaded flies are now very popular all around the world.

At that time Jim Ferrier gave me the fly I was living at Longford and haunted an area on Brumbys Creek known as Bonds Broadwater, in my 12-foot tinny. I fished this nymph about 1.2 metres under a Carrot fly. I tie it directly to the hook shank and use the Carrot as an indicator. Any well floating dry fly will do though as it makes it a lot easier to detect takes.

The number of fish I caught from Brumbys back then was mind blowing. They were all around three pounds in weight and the strongest fighting trout for their size that I have ever encountered.

My good friend, Allan Davey, and his wife Sue ran a local tackle store in Longford and as part of a community service for the local fishing club, they weighed and verified catches for its members for the end of year competitions. When they saw my old yellow Hilux pull up out the front, they would reach for the scales and say ‘been out to Brumbys with the orange Bead head again have we?’

How I tie them.

• This pattern is as simplistic as the method is to fish:

• Dark Brown seals fur or similar dubbing. Rough it up with Velcro - the uglier it is the better.

• Orange brass bead.

• Brown glass bead for thorax.

• Small amount of brown hackle fibres for tail.

• Green / Gold crystal flash for ribbing.

• Hook B175 Kamasan heavy traditional, (size 10

For some reason I haven’t fished that water for years, but perhaps the increased weed growth and lack of fly life has put me off. I well remember floating about and watching crop sprayers working overhead and wondering what affect they would have on the mayflies and damsels.

The fishing there is, reputedly, not as good as it was, with rapidly fluctuating water levels resulting in a distinct drop in insect life, I fear it is just a shadow of its former glory. However, after writing this article, I will make it a mission to head back there for a trip this season just to satisfy my curiosity, if nothing else.

Anyway, back to the fly…

Where and how to fish it.

These are quite a few waters that I have found the orange bead headed nymph excels at. I now fish it under a size 10 Klinkhammer dry fly pattern – again with the line tied directly to the bend. Often, I have seen fish take the dry instead of the nymph, so you are setup for a double chance.

Penstock, Lake Augusta, Arthurs Lake, Four Springs and Tooms lakes consistently give up fish to this

NEW SAGE SONIC

nymph, but my favourite is Lake Leake. Early morning wind lanes with this nymph hanging about 30cm below the dry, it’s not often refused and as a mate says, ‘it’s like bloody chocolate to them’.

I fish with 8-pound leader in Penstock and Lake Leake and 6-pound leader everywhere else.

So, there you go, if the fishing is quiet or you are floating about waiting for some dry fly action to evolve, why not tie one of these on and see how you go?

Todd Lambert

A sucker for oranges in Little Pine. Klinhammers can double your luck. Lake Leake is a red hot lake for Orange Bead Heads.

Experience

The best teacher - time on the water

Lubin Pfeiffer

Many things can be taught in fishing. It’s always been said that engaging with likeminded anglers is extraordinarily helpful. Getting lessons from those that teach fishing, whether it be casting or fishing based tuition, fly or knot tying, rigging and the many other areas, it is a great way to further your fishing knowledge and ability. While this

is the key to a successful foundation of a good angler, I’d like to take a deeper look into how experience ties all these things together. The old saying of practice makes perfect could not be more true when it comes to regular captures on the water. Whilst I fish many methods I want to take a look here at what makes a great fly angler. Experience and time ion the water is always the answer, so let’s look at ways you can hugely increase your fly angling ability without always needing to get taught more.

Getting started

Tuition will fast track your learning, but remember not to take on too much before you master what you already know

Before we look at anything else, as a beginner fly angler, you’re going to have to consume as much as possible with what’s available to you, which these days is a huge amount. There are magazines, YouTube channels, many forms of social media, guides, and casting instructors to name but a few. These will all help you get a good foundation to work with.

I’ve found with my fishing that once I’ve learned a particular technique, rather than learning anything else straight away I’d rather go to the river or lake and use that technique constantly until I’ve mastered that one aspect. I remember the first time I got shown how to swing a wet line with streamers attached in New Zealand. After that day, I spent the entire trip and most of the next one just swinging a wet line and fishing downstream. Looking back on it now, there would’ve been plenty of fish that I didn’t catch because of this, but the ability to fish a wet line with streamers has been firmly implanted in my brain forever. Fishing downstream like that actually involves a fair bit of rod work, such as the angle you stop the rod to get the right swing, where and when to start stripping the flies and what length of line is most effective depending on what part of the river you are fishing. To try to explain all of those things to someone without them going and experiencing how that looks and feels over a range of different scenarios is impossible.

I went through the same process for fishing tiny dries on a long progressive leader, it wasn’t until I dedicated almost a whole summer of practice doing the same thing over and over, learning when to do what and why that it all made sense. I often explain to people that I’m guiding that the way I’m showing you to do it is just a foundation and once you have

Netting fish effectively is learned from experience.

THINGS THAT SNAP THINGS THAT D O N’T

40% stronger than the competition.

You don’t have to take it from us. We had a 3rd party lab independently test and prove that our wet knot strength is 29% stronger than our previous material, and 40% stronger than the premium competition. scientificanglers.com For

nearest stockist visit www.mayflytackle.com.au and click on the logo.

mastered the understanding of that, you’ll know there are times when you will need to do it another way to get the same result. Maybe the currents are unusual in that particular pocket or section of the river and it requires what would be considered the wrong cast to get the flies doing the right thing. Makes sense right? These things unfortunately can not be taught, they must be experienced to truly understand when and why you should be doing them.

Fishing for everything

The more fishing I do, the more I realise it doesn’t matter what part of the world you are fishing, things are always relative. Coming to this understanding though, requires you to have experienced a range of different fishing scenarios. As dedicated fly anglers, we can sometimes turn our nose up at all other forms of angling that will teach us far more than you could ever realise. Take fishing for garfish with bait for example.

Now I know of many fly anglers that wouldn’t give away a day on the river or lake to go and catch garfish on bait, but the amount that can be learned is massive. Fishing nymph under dry or plonking is the same thing as fishing for garfish. You have a pencil float (the dry fly) and then two baits suspended underneath (the nymphs). The angler must have good contact with the float to detect the bite, watch for any takes and make adjustments depending on the wind and currents (tide). You may need to fish a shorter or longer leader depending on where the fish are holding. Sometimes the fish are cagey and require a longer cast, sometimes they are happy to eat and can be caught closer to you which in turn are always easier to land. I would say that it is far easier to catch a garfish on bait than what it is to catch a trout in a stream nymph under dry. So being able to see this all play out, fight the fish and send the rig back out again to repeat the process will ensure you understand the mechanics of why what is happening is happening. With the use of berley, you can get a whole school of garfish just waiting to grab the bait, so here we learn about the pace of fishing. Playing the fish quickly, without ripping the hook out, unhooking the fish, then casting back out again, getting in contact quickly and then watching for another take.

In Tasmania, we are blessed with outstanding bream fisheries in most parts of the state. Now fishing for anything with soft plastics is considered sacrilege for a dedicated fly angler but it turns out, you guessed it, there’s a heap to learn that will make you a more competent fly angler. I’ll say it loud and proud, I absolutely love fishing for bream with soft plastics! Bream are very fussy and will refuse anything that’s not presented naturally when it comes to soft plastics. It needs to be as light as possible and fished with almost a slackline to get the lure sinking the way they like it. Most bites from bream will come ‘on the drop’ so contact is key. You’ll feel bites through the braid, by seeing the line move or maybe seeing the fish change direction. All these things are the same when fishing euro style fly fishing techniques on a river.

Be open to doing different things as you will be amazed at how much there is to be gained. There is no need to spend thousands of dollars to do so either. A single light spin rod will cover many different fishing scenarios here in Tassie and will only cost a few hundred dollars for a very good one.

It’s not the fly

The more I fish for other species and then come back to competition fly fishing, the better results I have. I’ve had several times when I haven’t picked up a fly rod for 10-12 months and then win a round of the state championships. Looking a little closer into this, I have found that one of the biggest things I can pick up from it, is that my fly selection is very basic. This is something that I have kept in my head now, even when I fly fish flat out for an entire summer.

You don’t need to have 20 different fly patterns or that one special nymph that someone else is using. You need to present the fly in such a way that the fish are going to eat it. That said, you want to be using something the fish will eat but that’s not a complicated affair. Take the pheasant tail nymph for example. A great mayfly pattern, which is the preferred food item for most of the year for a trout. Have these in the weights and sizes you need for the area you are fishing and that’s it! Fish them well and the fish will come.

The time spent fly tying countless different flies or variations should be time spent on the river or lake experiencing what is happening on the water. I’ve always found it funny that you can give someone one of your flies, that is the same fly as one of theirs, but they will fish it with far more confidence and get better results. Why is this?

It’s a few things really, the fly stays in the water longer because it’s not being changed and therefore percentage-wise has a far greater chance of being successful. Another big one is the fly is fished with confidence, so rather than thinking about what flies someone else is using, the concentration of the angler is put into making the casts right and the retrieves successful. European anglers are such a great example of the fact that the fly is just a small part of the entire system and will be quite happy to substitute material for whatever is available at the time. As long as it looks kinda similar and sinks or floats a similar way, they’ll fish it well and catch fish on it more regularly than we could dream of, even if we were using the original ‘killer’ pattern.

Confidence is key

Confidence is key when it comes to successful angling and this comes from experiencing enough to know when things are happening and why you should be doing something, or making a change to something else. These things can only be loosely taught. Take for example when you should be making the change from fishing streamers in a lake to nymphs or dries

This Russell River brown trout was one of many from an exploratory mission. Rigging up for a day on the river - everything is relative.

Simple is better when it comes to fly fishing

The New Scott Centric Fast, Fresh, & Unfiltered

The ne w Scott Centric fly rod hasn’t been here for long but it has alrea dy made a lasting i mpression o n a nglers a nd f ish al ike.

Proving itself as the go-to fly fishing too l of the modern era, the Centric has been putting smiles o n dials of professional guides, fly fishing obsessives, a nd weekend warriors all over the world.

Buzzer be ating goals have been kicked in the backcountry, front country and everywhere in betwe en with no fish being safe from the power of the Centric to find them hiding on the o pposite bank, or the delicate touch to fool them up close.

Still, it’s up to you to clock the k’s, locate the fish and put in the casts because there’s only so m uch of the work a fly rod can do for you. But if the fish are earned then the smiles come fo r free.

because a mayfly hatch is about to start. You can be told it’s when the fish start to rise, but when you’re on the water, you can feel the air temp change, the wind may drop a little and those duns will start to pop. By the time the first one rises you could’ve had your line already changed over. Being confident only comes with experience. Gaining confidence comes with spending time mastering the little things and then building on them. Take on too much too quickly and you’ll soon be swallowed up by the intimidation of knowing nothing because you know too much.

75–115hp FourStroke

Experience is gained and not taught. While I’m fortunate to have been able to fish for many different species with many different techniques both here and overseas, the point I’m trying to make is it is fine just to head out for a day fishing by yourself and see what happens. I think fishing by yourself is an important one as it’s the only way you’ll truly learn. If you happen to break a leader that someone else always ties for you, you quickly learn there are other ways to do it that may get the same result, you never know you might

come up with a way that’s more suited to your style. Fish the time you have as sometimes one little moment in a days outing can have a lifetime lasting effect. Remember it is okay to go fishing for everything with whatever technique is the most effective at the time. You’ll learn far more than you could realise trying to experience as much as possible. All of these things will help you become a more competent fly fishing angler!

Lubin Pfeiffer

Unbridled power, unexpectedly compact, uncompromising reliability, unbelievably fuel efficient. Mercury’s 75–115hp FourStroke Range. Unlike anything the world has ever seen.

Dry fly is one of the hardest techniques to master, practice makes perfect. Bream on plastics can teach you a lot about effective fly fishing.

You’re an Angler, and no matter how many times you go fishing you’ll want to go again and no matter how many fish you catch (or nearly catch) it will never be enough.

There will be days when the fishing is better than one’s most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home. You’re hooked, along with us.

WE ARE TONIC!

The Whole Kit

Everything you need for lure fishing rivers

Adrian Webb

Iwas asked some time ago if I could run through my trout kit from head to toe, such as specific clothing, waders, boots, glasses, camera, drinks, snacks, rod, reel, tackle and whatever else I have for trout fishing the rivers here in Tasmania. I was also asked about some memorable moments plus a few other things that may be of interest, it’s something I’ve never thought about really, probably something I’ve just taken for granted.

The wading gear

So let’s start with the waders and boots. Seeing as I only fish rivers/streams and creeks for trout the first pair of waders were Horne’s waist waders with the Blundstone boots. They were a tough long-lasting set of waders, but they were heavy and the boots had no grip on the slippery rocky river bottoms. I perservered for six trout seasons, then a friend told me to go for a pair of breathable waders and wading boots, so that’s what I did.

My first pair were a cheap set I bought online from China — they didn’t get me through the first season. The feet leaked as did the welded seams. I average 90 trips per trout season, so I needed something that would last. Each trip varies from three to five hours of wading a river. After quite a lot of research I went for the Redington breathable waders with the neoprene

stocking feet. These waders are quality and lightweight waders that I hoped would get me through many trout seasons. They did and ten years on I’m still using those waders, but on my third pair.

The wading boots I went for were the Korkers with the interchangeable soles, sticky rubber, felt and studded felt. The soles I use on the majority of my river trips are the studded felt soles, they have excellent grip in the larger rivers that are very rocky and slippery. The plain rubber and felt soles are ideal from small streams and creeks that have small gravelly bottoms with the odd rocky sections in them, so that’s my wading setup. Most wading boots will be one size larger than your normal shoe size to allow for the thickness of the neoprene stocking foot. The main reason I went for a boot with an interchangeable sole is because of the number of kilometres I walk to get to and from a river which can be two to six kilometres a trip, that’s not counting the distance spent in a river fishing for trout. Korkers are no longer available in Australia but Redington do some great felt sole boots, readily available.

Clothing

I’m a believer in wearing clothing that blends in with the surroundings one’s fishing in. Most of the rivers/

streams and creeks I fish have fairly dense foliage on both sides of them, so the majority of my clothing is dark green and khaki coloured items. If I’m heading to the more open larger rivers and the grass-covered river banks have dried off, I’ll wear a beige coloured outfit. When chasing trout in clear waters on sunny days a dark colour will stand out in an open river, that will spook a trout in no time at all. If possible stay as close to the side of the river that has dense foliage on it. I have seen a trout sitting in clear open water and a small wagtail had flown over, the shadow of that small bird was enough to spook it. I prefer fishing in dull heavy overcast humid weather conditions with very light drizzle. One can wear dark or lighter colours in these conditions.

Fishing vests

I have a few of these, both in green/khaki, camouflage and light brown/beige, all have plenty of pockets for the many small lure boxes I carry. They are short vests as well, there’s nothing worse than wearing a long vest and getting them wet when fishing in waist-deep water. Not only that, the pockets that hold the lure boxes in a long vest fill up with water, which I found out from experience.

Fully kitted out for a day’s river fishing.

Rods, reels and line

The rods I use are Okuma Celilo Finesse ULS 1-3 kg, 6’, 6’6’’ and 7’ lengths, these are beautiful lightweight well-balanced spin rods, perfect for what I require when chasing trout in the rivers and streams. I can fish for four to five hours covering anything from one and a half to three kilometres without getting tired in the shoulders which is a real benefit when spin fishing rivers, how many casts and retrieves I would have over that time and distance would be in the high hundreds I would imagine. All reels used are Okuma spinning reels, the models are as follows: Okuma ITX-1000, Okuma Inspira ISX-20B, Okuma Helios HSX-20, Epixor EXPT-20 and Okuma Ceymar C-10 spinning reels, these spinning reels are nice lightweight spinning reels that are well suited to the Okuma Celilo Finesse ULS 1-3kg spin rods.

I only use one brand of line and have done so for many years, it’s the Australian made and owned Platypus line. It is strong and reliable and I am accustomed to it. It has come a long way since I first used it back in the 1960s. The Super 100 Ultra High

Tenacity four and six-pound monofilament is the main one I use in the clear and brown colour. The other Platypus line used is the Pretest Premium Grade four-pound monofilament, the six-pound leader is the Platypus Stealth FC 100% fluorocarbon line.

Lures

It’s Mepps, Mepps and more Mepps inline spinners that I have in my small lures boxes, they range from the smallest and lightest starting with the #00 (0.9gms)

Steamepps (black, gold, silver blades) #00 (1.5gm)

Black Fury (black, gold, copper blades), Aglia ( Plain, Mouche Noire, Aglia Mouche Rouge in black, gold, copper blades), Bug spinners (Stone Fly, March Brown, White Miller and Cherry), Comet (silver, gold blades). These small lightweight spinners are ideal for shallow small streams/rivers as well as some of the larger rivers I fish. Next is the size #0 (2.5gm) & #1 (3.5gm) inline spinners same models and blade colours as above but with a few different models included such as the Aglia Fluo tiger, rainbo, brown and phospho colours, Aglia Furia, Aglia TW and TW Streamer. So as you can see

I do carry a large variety of Mepps inline spinners, all of which I have caught trout on.

I also carry several small hard-bodied lures that get used on the trout when they are not in the mood to take the Mepps inline spinners which isn’t all that often because 98% of my trout are caught on the Mepps spinners. The hardbody lures are mostly in the 30 mm to 60 mm size, floating and suspending models, Pontoon 21, Daiwa, Atomic Hardz, Goldy minnow and Rapala lures are the most common hard bodies I have on hand. I carry a few Ghost and Switchblade lures as well, there’s nothing better than having a good mix of lures when trout fishing the rivers.

Other essentials

One of the main items is a landing net, the ones I used are all wooden framed with a soft plastic mesh that doesn’t damage the fish. The good thing about using a wooden landing net is that it floats and I have mine attached to my vest with a two-metre strap. That way if I drop it while fast water fishing it floats and I just pull it back in with the strap. Other items I carry in

All the goodies I carry in my fishing vest. My vest set up.

A good lightweight setup for trout fishing rivers.

A beautiful Mersey River rainbow.

the vest are: Small plastic containers with snap swivels, anti-kinks in them in case for some reason the mainline breaks, you’ll need them for replacement of the lost anti-kink set up. Small sharpening stone to keep the lure hooks sharps at all times, a small pair of pointed nose pliers that are used to pull a treble hook from a finger or hand, accidents do happen when handling a fish, it’s quite easy to have the lure fly from the fish and lob in the finger or hand when it tosses the spinner or lure. Also one can get a hook in the hand when trying to take hold of a fish that’s playing up in the net, the pliers are ideal for when you need to remove the hook. The pliers are also used for setting the treble hooks off centre, I’m not a fan of straight trebles.

Digital scales are essential if you wish to weigh your catch as I do. I weigh the fish in the net then deduct the weight of the net from the total weight which gives you the fish weight. That way one’s not handling, damaging or stressing the fish, if you are keeping the fish then it doesn’t matter. A set of forceps is a must for removing hooks from the mouth or throat of the fish, it’s much easier and less damaging to the fish than using bulky pliers.

Another item that you should carry is a good fold up pocket knife, handy for gutting a fish if you intend on keeping it. A Boomerang duo zinger that has a line cutter attached to it for cutting fishing line. Another item I carry is a small first aid kit, it’s compact and only carries a dozen or so small to large band-aids, hay fever tablets and a dozen Panamax- Panadol tablets in case of headache or some other pain that may occur.

A pair of polarised sunglasses is a must when fishing, they take the glare off the water and one can see the river bottom as well as the fish. The snacks I carry in my waders pocket are usually three Cadbury’s chocolate Freddo frogs or a couple of small Mars bars and a can of Pepsi Max. My camera is a Canon SX620HS compact camera a small reliable quality camera that takes a great photo and video - a must-have when fishing to take a photo of what may be your catch of a lifetime. It’s small and packed with plenty of punch.

If and when you do catch a trout, remember to always wet your hands before handling the fish that way you don’t remove its protective slimy coating. I know a lot will keep a trout for a feed and that’s fine, if you’re not keeping it and just want to take a photo of yourself and the fish, be careful how you hold it. Don’t take a vice-like grip behind its gills because that’s where the heart and liver are and you will damage them, the fish will swim off, but it will more than likely die soon after its release. Handle the fish as short a time as possible, even more so in hot weather when river trout are under stress due to warmer water temps. If you don’t need a selfie holding a fish, take a photo of it in the landing net and release it ASAP.

My memorable moments

There’s been quite a few over my 56 years of trout fishing, and I can remember many of them. There’s two that always come to mind, the first time I went trout fishing to the Finniss River at Yundi in my home State of South Australia back in 1966. My rod was a 6’ solid fibreglass one, the spinning reel I can’t remember what brand it was, the lure was a brand new Mepps #1 silver Black Fury that I bought from Adelaide Fishing Tackle, silver was the only colour available back then.

On that first trip trout fishing in the Finniss River, I caught my first trout on the Mepps Black Fury, a trout that weighed three pounds, from that day on I was hooked on trout fishing.

We made the move to Tasmania in March 2000. I record all the fish I catch in a diary and I recall the first trip I had on opening day that yeaar was to the Dasher River and being keen to get an early start I was at the river just as the sun rose. It was a very frosty morning, in fact, it was so cold as I retrieved the spinner the water

that came off the line onto the rod eyelets froze up and made it impossible to retrieve the spinner, I have never fished at first light in August since that day. From there I went down to Lake Barrington where I caught my first trout of the 2000-01 trout season on a Mepps gold #1 Black Fury spinner, it was a 1.5kg brown trout.

On the last day of the 2017/18 trout season I caught a PB brown trout in a river, it went 3.85 kgs (8lbs 8ozs) and was caught in the River Leven at Gunns Plains.

On the third of November 2019, I caught my 10,000th Tasmanian trout, something I never thought of achieving. Another winner on the Leven River was back in 2009 when I won the World Grasshopper Championship in the Carnival of the Grasshopper, I captained the two-man team that day.

I also won the Lord of the River for most trout caught as well as the heaviest fish. In 2006 I joined the Ulverstone Angling Club and to my surprise the first season with them I won the Vic Whitehouse Memorial Trophy for most trout caught in rivers and streams with 437 trout being caught. Since that time I have gone on to hold the Vic Whitehouse Memorial Trophy for the past 15 years (2006-2021) in a row. So there you have it, these are just a few of many memorable moments I’ve had over many years of fishing. Hopefully, before it comes to a time when I have to call it a day, I can add a few more memorable moments to it. My PB wild brown trout, 8lb 8ozs, was released back into the river as are all of the trout I catch.

One other thing and this isn’t a most memorable moment, it’s just a little something extra for you to take in if you’re just starting to fish the rivers. The more often you fish a river you’ll get learn a lot more about it, like pockets of flatwater behind rocks in the river, narrow flat waters close to the river banks, they are all fish-holding areas, so you won’t bypass them like you may have done to start with, you will flick a lure into them. You’ll also get to know where it’s safe enough to wade, where it’s safe to cross the river, most of all, remember safety must come first, it must be a priority when fishing any river. No fish is worth drowning for, so please do not take any risks while fishing in any river, stay safe and tight lines.

Adrian Webb

Small reels get the job done.

My PB river wild brown trout, 8 lb 8 ozs.

The Canon SX620HS is small and packs a lot of punch.

Covid19 Permit A freedom escape

Tim Johnson

As most people living in this Covid19 world, we were feeling fairly housebound even with all the freedom of living in Tasmania and we were looking for fishing options inside Australia as international travel has been taken out of the equation. As I hadn’t caught up with my family in North Qld in a dog’s age and there was a window in the state’s lockdowns, the decision was made to combine catching up with the family and a week of fly fishing at Hinchinbrook Island chasing those elusive Permit.

Hinchinbrook Island is located in between Cairns and Townsville on the Queensland coast and is one of the largest mangrove forests in the southern hemisphere. The island is over 50km long and it has a multitude of creeks, rivers and flats to explore. As an East Coast fishery, it is one of the most accessible options for the Saltwater fly fisherman to chase Permit, Barramundi, Queenfish, GTs, Mangrove Jack and a range of other pelagic species with excellent guiding services and with all the amenities to keep any nonfishing family members happy. Being so accessible has its drawbacks in that it gets a lot of attention and the fishing can be hard but on its day it can be the place of dreams. I finally had one of those days on this trip.

The first two days the conditions had been magnificent but I had struggled to land a fish and

those nagging doubts had started to swirl around in the back of my head as to what I was doing wrong, was I still “trout striking” and was that why I couldn’t stay connected, was this a giant waste of time and effort and should I just take up lawn bowls. Leaving the marina on day three we were greeted with a complete “glass out” and with not a ripple on the water, the decision was made to make our way down the channel and search for a permit on some of the vast sand flats.

As we travelled over the glassy surface we could see at a distance, baitfish getting blown out of the water being pursued by tuna. The problem with the water being so calm was that when the boat got within about 50m of the school of fish they would sound and resurface 300m away. This happened about 3 times and as I had an 8 weight in my hand with a chartreuse clouser on it I decided to put out a long cast so I could wind up the loose line and continue with our plan of chasing permit.

As the fly sunk at the end of the cast a stray long tail tuna that must have been late to the party mistook the clouser for something more edible and I was tight to 30lbs of pelagic muscle. After 40 minutes of long runs and then deep circles I finally got my hands on one the largest longtails I’ve caught, and on an 8 weight no less, fish of the trip or so I thought.

The sand flats at Hinchinbrook are something to see and with the use of an American style flats boat, you can silently pole over shallow water without scaring every fish in the ocean. Standing on the polling platform the guide’s eye line is approximately 12 feet above the water level so the visibility for spotting fish is unbelievable. As the incoming tide starts to push over the sand flats, schools of permit move up into the shallow water to feed on the crabs and other crustaceans and that’s what you are looking for, shadows moving in the shallows.

Permit on sand flats are a prized saltwater fly fishing target for multiple reasons.

1. Being in shallow water the permit has all their senses on high alert so the cast you present needs to be fast to intercept them before they are aware of your presence and accurate in all types of wind conditions so as not to spook them.

2. The permit is looking for crabs and things buried in the sand so your fly must be on the bottom and looking as natural as possible when the fish comes across it. Crab flies with massive lead eyes are necessary to sink quickly in three feet of water and sit in place against tide and current.

3. With their big eyes and timid nature, Permit are notorious for tilting over to inspect your perfectly

Every permit you catch on fly is a celebration. The first - even moreso.

INSTINCTIVE PERFORMANCE DEFINITIVE STYLE

IT ALL STARTS WITH OUR UHC TECHNOLOGY OF AN ULTRA-LIGHT HELICAL CORE TO SUPPORT HOOP STRENGTH AND STABILISE THE BLANK IN FLEX. THE UHC IS OVERLAID WITH HIGH MODULUS FIBRES REINFORCED WITH OUR AMPLIFIED NANO RESIN WHICH STRENGTHENS THE BLANK WITHOUT DAMPENING THE GRAPHITE FIBRES. IN TRADITIONAL ROD MANUFACTURE, UNIDIRECTIONAL FIBRES ARE ROLLED ALONG A TAPERED MANDREL, AS YOU MOVE TOWARDS THE BUTT OF THE ROD THESE FIBRES BECOME OUT OF LINE WITH THE AXIS OF THE ROD, REDUCING POWER, SENSITIVITY AND ENERGY FLOW.

AT PRIMAL WE USE CUSTOM OFF AXIS PREPREGS THAT WHEN ROLLED ENSURE THE IMPORTANT LONGITUDINAL FIBRES ARE ALIGNED ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE BLANK. THE RESULT IS MORE FEEL, IMPROVED ENERGY FLOW THROUGHOUT THE CAST AND LIGHTNING QUICK RECOVERY RATES.

PRIMAL’S LOW MASS SCRIM TECHNOLOGY MAXIMISES HOOP STRENGTH WITHOUT ADDING ADDITIONAL WEIGHT LIKE TRADITIONAL GLASS SCRIMS.

ALL OF THIS COMBINES TO CONSTRUCT A ROD THAT CAN DELIVER HIGH LINE SPEED WITH A VERY STABLE TIP PATH AND DELIVERS SMOOTH, WEDGE SHAPED CASTING LOOPS THAT ARE CAPABLE OF CUTTING THROUGH WIND AND SENDING LONG, ACCURATE CASTS WHEN YOU NEED THEM MOST.

LONGITUDINAL FIBRE ALIGNMENT

presented offering and then rejecting it and spooking off the flat taking every other fish with them

Hence why permits on the fly are so revered, you earn every one.

Our guide for the trip was Allan Donald from the Australian Fly Fishing Lodge. From his lofty position on the platform, he saw our first group of shadows making their way out of the deeper water and started to call out directions and distances, eleven o’clock, sixty feet. As the angler, it’s my job to locate the shadow of the fish and get the fly to land into its line of travel and about eight feet in front so the fly gets down. Surprisingly my first cast landed pretty close to where I wanted it and we both watched as the shadows changed direction and tracked over to where my crab lay on the sand. Slowly stripping the fly to keep in direct contact in the current we watched this one shadow follow the crab for about 10 feet before it tilted and the line came uptight and I was into my first Australian permit. It blasted off the flat followed by about four of its mates and after about 15 minutes of back and forth, we finally got our hands on a beautiful North Queensland permit. The boat erupted in elated joy as we came to terms with what had just happened and after a few pictures, our prize was released to give some other angler the same amount of joy at a future date.

While we were all still processing the events and reliving the amazing things we had just seen, Allan

yells “another school, two o’clock, forty feet” and amazingly we repeat the process. Fly goes in, shadow tilts and then all hell breaks loose as the line comes tight and this permit strives to reach deeper water. 10 minutes later we put our hands on our second permit in 30 minutes. I couldn’t help but think this place is unbelievable!!!

To highlight how much the stars had finally aligned in my favour, 30 minutes later Allan spotted another school of permit at close range (we had just about pushed the boat over the top of them) and I rolled out my fly in front of the lead fish. It followed the fly and engulfed it as I twitched it and took off at such speed that the loose fly line turned into a big knot and clunked its way through the guides following the fish into the channel. Now, normally you could guarantee that the knot would have caught it the guides and broken the tippet as the fish accelerated or

the fly would have fallen out from loose line as we tried to undo the knot but amazingly with a bit of teamwork and some fancy footwork we managed to hand line the fish, undo the knot and still land my third permit for the morning.

The fishing gods are rarely so lenient so you have to make the most of those days when they finally come along but a massive long tail tuna and 3 Permit in a session will go down as one of the greatest fishing days I have ever experienced. Hinchinbrook Island is a spectacular place that should be high on the travelling anglers bucket list. It is readily accessible, has great services and the fishing can be something you will never forget.

Tim Johnson

Crabs are the preferred fly for anglers chasing permit, yellow legs are a must!

Kim Johnson with a beautiful queenfish.

Team work makes the dream work.

Longtails fight hard and taste great as sashimi.

Hinchinbrook is an amazing place to cast a fly

‘Salty’ started it

Glen Saltmarsh discovers the barrels of Bass Strait

Kelly ‘Hooch’

Hunt

Herman’s Hermits wrote a songI’m into something good. It’s about a girl, but if you were to change it to southern bluefin tuna it might be the song for Salty - Glen Saltmarsh. It starts like this:

Woke up this mornin’ feelin’ fine There’s somethin’ special on my mind

Last night I met a new girl in the neighbourhood, whoa yeah Somethin’ tells me I’m into something good

In this day and age it is unusual to watch something new in fishing evolve. It is 2021 and you would expect that most of anything worth doing has already been done. Well someone forgot to tell Glen Saltmarsh. Glen is a family man, a tradesman who grew up on a farm in Meander. He has made the coastal town of Devonport on the North West coast his home and what a ‘fishing’ mark he has stamped on the place.

Glen is a modern-day trail blazer of the same ilk as Sir Douglas Mawson, Strzelecki and Abel Janszoon Tasman. If ole mate Mawson listened to the doubters about it being too cold Antarctica wouldn’t be the place we know today. If Strzelecki was told the mountain is too high Mt Kosciuszko would not have been conquered and if ready willing an Abel had not set out courageously Tasmania wouldn’t even be a thing !

So well done to Glen Saltmarsh for not listening to the doubters and the “why would you bother” brigade. He wasn’t the first person to catch a snapper off Devonport, but he was instrumental in making it a reality for a great many of the mainstream anglers across the coast. His advice and keenness to share his triumphs has led to a significant increase in people not only trying, but having great success in finding some red gold.

Another endeavour he was first in doing that can not be overstated is southern bluefin in Bass Strait. Glen Saltmarsh got a strike and boated a 100kg southern bluefin tuna within 12nm of the Devonport River mouth. Glen thumbed his nose at all the knockers and headed to sea - intent on finding tuna. This is the modern day version of rounding up a heap of camels and deciding to traverse the continent from the South to the North just because you can. Ok …ok… bad example as Bourke and Wills made the trip North but stumbled on the return trip and pork pied… Bit of a fail, but not our Glen.

The story goes that after being out on a snapper mission he noticed an insane bird feed one day prior to that big day on 14th July 2020, but more on that later. Glen had a lure out trolling for what he thought might be kingfish or big tailor and bang. He had a strike and was spooled lickety split - totally smashed. That event got him thinking and now we are back at the Burke and Wills moment.

Heading back to sea, Glen was loaded up for an expedition that was unheard of in Bass Strait. A designated tuna mission with outfits designed to take down Thunnus maccoyii. Wikipedia describes SBT to be found in OPEN southern hemisphere waters, but they may have failed to tell this fish. They go on to say they can grow up to 2.5m in length and weigh up to 260kg. Glen steamed from the Mersey River and I doubt he thought he was after much more than a decent school sized fish, or did he. Something special was about to happen.

Glen Saltmarsh with the fish that started the phenonema - a 120kg SBT barrel

150HP FOURSTROKE UNBEATABLE

The Mercury 150hp FourStroke is the largest displacement and lowest weight outboard in its class. The perfect partner for powering trailer boats.

LARGE DISPLACEMENT.

The New Mercury 150hp Fourstroke comes in at an incredibly light 206kg* making it the lightest in its horsepower class.

The Mercury 150hp FourStroke is the largest displacement, helping out gun other 4-strokes in the category.

The largest capacity 150hp FourStroke boasts an impressive 60amp alternator output, giving you ample power for all onboard electrical accessories.

SPECIAL ALL RIGHT

Low and behold and special it was. On 14 July 2020 he struck a fish that stuck, fought and was then boated - a southern bluefin tuna that pulled the scales down to 120kg. It was a momentous day and the fishermen of Tasmania were stunned. There were two very distinct camps. Those that were equally as amazed as they were as excited wanting to know more and work out what was going on. Then there was the same old tired crew of haters and doubters that went to the mindless conclusion that the fish was caught somewhere else and it was staged like some fabled moon landing. I mean really?

The energy burnt in coming up with this nonsense and discussing it on private hate pages doesn’t even beggar belief. What did stand tall was the man Glen who instantly spread the word on how it was achieved and what they did in the hope that others would head out and share in the amazing fishery that was breaking for the first time.

A ‘fluke’ is listed in a dictionary as “an unlikely chance occurrence, especially a surprising piece of luck.” And this is what most who did believe the capture story thought it must be. That was until another one was caught on 16 May 2021 pulling the scales down to 107kg. You guessed it … by none other than Glen Saltmarsh. Then another by Glen and crew on the 21 May that went 95kg.

This was now a ‘phenomenon’ – “a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen whose cause or explanation is in question.”

One thing was now never in doubt and no one would ever question. Glen Saltmarsh is a fishing legend that not only started off a big push of snapper fishing off Devonport, but also has broken a southern bluefin fishery that never existed. A trail blazer that discovered something very special and also helped push others to try their luck, and try they did.

The Devonport boat ramp was alive with boats all heading out trying their luck. You could not buy an overhead reel set up for for tuna for love nor money. It was a gold rush. Everyone had Jumbo fever and it was on for young and old. Fish were being caught with reasonable consistency and they were all Jumbos. Dave Carter 120kg cleaned, Harry Murfet 125kg, Joshua Wolfe 133kg and Tony Beswick with a fish that was around 130kg. The smallest of these fish caught was a 75kg specimen by Ned Fitzallen. Then just to get back into Jumbo land with a fish over the 100. It was the Tasman Sea terror Doug McDerrmott, fighting out of the Black and White corner all the way from Rotorua that felled a fish that went 108kg.

Then there were the heartbreak stories of the solid hook ups that were dropped. The Purton boys dropped one and on the same day due to youthful enthusiasm and sheer stupidity I dropped a massive fish as well. Michael Banham dropped a good fish and Glen proved that he too is human hooked and dropped one as well.

“Fast forward to October just gone and there were two captures that fired every one up again. Kyle Woodhouse and Tyson Hutton set the world on fire

with a fish that went 145kg and Jamien Branch and his mate Trent Hardwicke found one that weighed 98 kg. Kyle and Tyson’s fish was a fantastic capture if it was off the traditional SBT grounds off Tasmania, but to come out of the Mersey River and nail it “off Port Sorell Point” is a remarkable achievement. The two lads were pumped and rightfully so. Here is some of their story …

At first the day was a bit of a flop, my young bloke (2yo) has been asking every other day to go fishing in Dad’s boat, so I decided Monday was the day since the weather was looking flat as a tack, the plan was to go get after some salmon for him to have a bit of a play with. So Sunday night I got the boat ready. All pumped up for my son’s first fishing trip in the boat.... Monday morning, you think I could get that little bugger anywhere near the boat. There goes that plan. I decide I’ll get a crew together and go on the hunt for the elusive

Bass Strait Barrel... yep that’s right couldn’t get a crew together. I’d pretty much given up on going out now. About 1.30 I get a call from Kyle Woodhouse “what’s going on? Looks like this job in Smithton is going to fall through, wanna go drag some lures?” “Definitely” “I’ll be home by 3.” Long story short 3pm we’re on the water. The plan was to head to an area we had seen a lot of good signs in the past weeks and try to find some schools of bait. By good I mean bait that appears to be being worked into columns and spot at least 2 or 3 combinations of predators. Luckily it didn’t take long to find what we were looking for. We found three good bait columns, with seals and dolphins in the area along with some terns and gannets that seemed to be scanning the same rough area waiting for something to happen. Now once we found this, the plan was to STAY in this area and grind it out. About an hour into sketching the Bermuda triangle into the plotter (over and over our three bait columns) we saw what we had been waiting for, dolphins cutting up the surface

Kyle Woodhouse and Tyson Hutton set the world on fire with a fish that went 145kg

erratically with turns bombing the surface. One of the bait balls was up on top. We made a beeline for the feed. We had based our spread on what we thought they might be feeding on, a combination of redbait and pilchards. Leaning more towards the redbait colours as these have produced hookups on more than a few occasions in the new capital (and the fact I didn’t have a Halco pilchard in the boat) we were running a Halco coral trout 190 XXD on the short corner, Meridian demon in the slimy colour on the long rigger, Pakula Cockroach in redbait billy on the shotgun miles out the back and a 3d fish print Pakula in redbait on the short rigger, the trap was set. As we approached the feed my hopes were increasing as we could see seals, dolphins and birds smashing through the bait. The first pass. We were both dead quiet in anticipation......

BRAAAAAAAAAAAAA Meridian gets demolished, the Tiagra starts screaming

“YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH” “ WE’RE ON” we jumped up to clear the lines, we barely get the first lure out of the water and bang the line goes slack Devastation. I’m not going to repeat here what was said on the boat but I think you get the idea. Ok time to stop sooking and get back on them before they’re off the chew, we reset the spread and double back for another pass. Nothing...... Again.... Nothing. Third time

lucky....... BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Red Bait Billy, reel screaming the boys are up and about again (also screaming).

This time we get the lines clear, Kyle Woodhouse is strapped in, the fight is on, well kind of, the first 5 minutes is just the sound of a spool being dumped at a million metres a second. We let him take every bit of available line before we turn to reclaim it. We chase him down and get a good amount of line back on the spool before we circle around to force him into another run. We let him dump the spool again before we go back to reclaim some more, then bang the line goes slack..”F@#$$##$#” “hold on Woodhouse” I swing the boat around and gun the throttle to try to get him tight again. “Yep he’s still on” thank f$@$# for that. The fight continued this way for around 30 minutes. Yep you guessed it, slack line again, I gun it again in an attempt to come up tight, I look back and see my worst fear... the lure bouncing across the surface behind the boat. “Well we’re up shit creek now”. Finding them again now felt like an impossible task. Getting one hookup out here is a dream, two is just ridiculous, the chances of hooking up again are pretty much zero. As you can imagine the mood on the boat was pretty low to say the very least. So now it’s back to the grind. We head back to the “strike zone” to find any sign of action. Nothing. No birds, no dolphins, no seals, no bait and definitely no fish. Gutted. We decided working our way out from where we last hooked up, in big circles was our best shot at tripping over them again. We did this for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was more like 45 minutes. A glimmer of hope, a whale blow in the distance, we hone in on the area and spot birds feeding on the surface, as we get closer we see the tell tale signs. The feed is on, this time the mutton birds are in on the action, and they are thick. We circle around the feed to avoid ploughing the boat through the middle, and pushing what might be there down. We drag the spread through 3,4,5 times... Nothing. On maybe the 9th or 10th pass we line up the direction of the feed to attempt to get the lures through in a straight line. The frenzy reaches the corner of the transom and moves into the spread like clockwork. Nothing.... I look back “surely they’re here”. I look back at the vapour trail coming off the 3D pakula. Old bucket mouth!. It was like watching the USS Growler steaming up behind it and then opening up a black hole. That lure DISAPPEARED. This time there was no yelling and screaming, no dancing on the deck, just level heads and light drag.

We had already pulled the hooks on 2 jumbos, there’s no reef to get busted off on, no big seals to steal him off the line and relatively shallow water so we kept the drag down around 6-8 kilos on 37kg tackle and Woodhouse begins the fight. I couldn’t tell you how many times that fish dumped the spool in the first 2 hours. We stayed calm and sent a few videos through to the boys, one of them being the pioneer of this fishery Glen Saltmarsh. Five minutes later my phone rings, of course, it’s Salty. “What’s happening out there” I give him a quick rundown on the ridiculous turn of events, “you boys need a hand?”. I said “mate if you want to drive out here and get on board I ain’t gonna say no.” “I’ll ring around see if someone will drive my boat out.” Salty made some 500 phone calls and finally Mitch Jones steps up to the task, and mate I can’t thank you enough. The fight continued for another hour, during which I had to relieve myself at the helm... there’s no way I’m leaving the wheel haha. I get a call from Salty “which boat are you mate? My GPS just lost power.” “Hahaha you’re kidding me, we’re the furthest one out.”

“Righto I’ll see you in a minute.” On the horizon we see 610 Quinny charging through the chop towards us, as the boys get closer I signal the position of the fish and where I want them to pull up. Mitch noses the bow up to the port side and Salty jumps on board extra gaff and spotlight in hand and dishes out some high fives and hugs, the mood in the boat is sky high. I take a break while Salty takes the wheel.

The fish takes another huge run - Salty gives us a run-down on what’s worked for him fighting big fish out here, letting them run reclaiming line then forcing the fish to change direction by circling around and cutting him off, and not letting the fish cruise along in one direction to rest. It’s gotta be line in or line out, no stalemates. The fight continues into the fading light as we watch Mitch disappear on the horizon (with no GPS ). Now it’s pitch black, Salty at the helm, I’m on the spotlight and Woodhouse is still on the rod. We’re maybe 4 hours in now. We’ve had the double out of the water a few times now and the runs are getting shorter, we’re starting to win the battle. We get him up again, this time the double reaches the rod tip, we get a pretty good look at him as he cruises alongside the boat - he’s a good’un, we estimate 80 to 90kg.

In the blink of an eye he does the classic big tuna thing and charges straight under the bottom of the boat, no time to react Salty slams the boat in neutral, I dive over the gunwales to grab the leader to keep it off the boat and away from the trim tabs. He turns and heads out the back of the boat. Now the line is between the outboard and the trim rams, what a f@#%ing disaster, we’re going to lose him after all this. By now Salty has trimmed the motor up and is hanging over the other side of the transom trying desperately to keep the line away from the tabs. Strangely the fish is just kind of hanging there like a dead weight, it felt like the line was in danger for an eternity.

Finally he turns and heads back out the direction he came in. I try to get a feel of the double and leader to see if has been scuffed up but he takes off again at a

Glen Saltmarsh and Craig Tuthill

million miles a minute. But not for long, the runs are getting increasingly shorter and he’s starting to come to the surface and do the big thrashing head shakes. We get the double all the way on the rod, the plan is, when I can get my hands on the leader I’ll pass the spotlight to Woodhouse, he’ll operate it with his left and wind up the slack with his right. I let Salty know we’re going to get a gaff shot on him, he leaves the wheel and keeps the boat cruising along in gear, I leader the fish up past the transom... he’s getting bigger, we get him alongside the boat and holy shit that thing went from 80-90kg to a world record sized fish real quick, seeing that head come out of the water the first time is an image that will be burned into our memories for a long while. Salty sinks the gaff...... This thing goes absolutely ape shit, like mako ape shit. It’s thrashing that hard it almost knocks us both off our feet “I can’t hold him” Salty yells as the thing prop washes us and dives for the bottom, along with the gaff. We all just look at each other in shock. That thing is a beast. We all burst out in nervous laughter, what a machine. This time we’re not taking any chances, I hitch the flying gaff to the corner cleat of the transom. This fish surfaces again “well Salty ya didn’t lose ya gaff” this beast is just cruising along towing the pole gaff behind it, I think it worked in our favor as it was pretty easy to see the metallic gold handle in the spotlight. We let him run a couple of times, “how ya going Woodhouse you all good?” “I’ve got another 5 hours in me” he laughed. We closed the gap again and executed the plan once more, I grabbed the leader again, no crazy marlin wraps you don’t want to go to hard on the leader with big tuna you’re a good chance of pulling the hooks. We get him up beside the boat Salty makes a good shot with the flyer, lucky we tied it off because it headed for the bottom again with no chance of hanging on to the rope. We pulled him back to the surface I reached for the pole gaff (still in him from the first attempt). I held on to both gaffs while Salty removed the dive door, we guided the fish around to get him in. Salty holds on to the fish with the flyer while I remove the pole gaff so as I can hook him under the chin, to make it easier to pull him in. Woodhouse gets out of his home for the last 5 hours (the gimbal and harness) we all get on the gaff and begin to heave this behemoth in through the dive door “PULL” I yell “I F-ING AM” was the reply from both the boys. BOOOM the thud of that fish hitting the deck rattled every rod in the rocket launcher. “YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH” Let me tell you if we weren’t before, the boys were absolutely up and about now, holy shit what a feeling. I don’t think there are words that can describe the emotion that I was feeling. I could probably bang on forever, but I think a lot of you have seen the live feed that began shortly after this moment. The greatest day on the water to date, this is why we all do it, moments like these that will stay with us forever. 145kg is in the boat.

This activity and excitement has all game fishers keen and again boats went to sea in numbers. Skipper Clinton Howe and I were no exception and we spent

10 hours on the water at the other end of the spectrum. The Bass Strait Barrel grind. It is a thing.

The fish are traveling with the whales but not every whale has tuna with it. So you have to work over an area and see if you can pull an SBT out from under a dolphin and bird feed that inevitably starts when the whale starts to feed. We had some of the best feeds and sea surface signs you will ever see, but for no hook up. We tried to bring on a fish with some tasty muffins and ham, but no good. We even tried a couple of “bring a fish on” Canadian Clubs. Still no good. A boat had hooked up in the morning and we still couldn’t believe we knew the crew. They had waltzed out pretty much the same time we did. Hooked a fish, reeled it in and were back home before lunch. We continued to grind .

We saw the pics of their fish and were stoked to see Willy and Popey and Dave Maxwell at the SEAMASTER Marine gantry with a fish that went 95kg. All these fish and not one school sized tuna to be seen. So we kept grinding away. Two other boats hooked up and dropped their fish after about 5 minutes of tussle so that kept us keen for another few hours. We had to pull stumps as the sun was going down and it was an epic day. We may not have had a strike or seen a tuna, but we were in the mix. We listened to music and we remembered our great mate Mozza and willed the reel to go off. It was not to be, but the good news is that it’s all to be done next time and that is what keeps us going back. Catching a jumbo in the full view of the Forth River valley is my new goal and I will keep trying.

I want to make a personal thank you to Glen Saltmarsh for having the gumption and drive to get out there and discover a brand new fishery of southern bluefin that just did not exist 3 years ago. A Ridgey Didge, Cobber, Dingo, True Blue ANZAC that has created something that will go down in history. I tip my hat to you man and I and the many fishermen on the North West coast thank you.

If you are wanting to get in and get the good oil on Bass Strait Barrels pop in and see Harry and Glen who now works full time at SEAMASTER MARINE in Devonport. Tight Lines and watch the weather.

Kelly Hooch Hunt

Craig Tuthill, Glen Saltmarsh and Chris Tuthill.

Glen and daughter Emmilia.

Calamari Time

Get prepared for delicious squid

Richard Sherriff

Over the past few years, squiding has gained in popularity amongst recreational anglers, fishing from boat, jetty or pontoon. It’s becoming popular as squid are challenging to catch, put up a good fight on light tackle and cooked correctly is delicious.

With concern that there are signs of Calamari depletion, closures during peak spawning season have been introduced for the full month of October each year along the north coastline and the Eastern coast fishery from the 15th October through till 14th November.

These closures are designed to give the calamari an opportunity to lay eggs during these periods. Moreover, recreational fishers have had bag limits cut from 15 per day to 10. There is a proposal that a further bag cut is planned, and if so it will be fiercely resisted by the recreational fishing fraternity, as the closure and prior reduced bag limits was accepted with little or no criticism.

In relation to gear, there is now available a range of purposely designed EGI rods that add to the experience and help increase catches. These rods are designed to improve distance when casting jigs and, due to their built for purpose design, afford gentle and at all times pressure to the catch without tearing out the barbs or breaking off the squid’s tentacles.

The popular sizes of jigs are 3.0, 3.5 & 4.0 with the latter preferred for deep water and where strong currents are running. Size 3.5 is the popular choice for most anglers, with the 3.0 popular when fishing in shallow water. Jigs are made in a huge range of colours, but always have a redhead in your tackle box plus the now popular lumo, green, yellow with orange body jig. Different colours seem to work well on different days, don’t be afraid to try other colours. A successful squid jig features a good sinking rate and a balanced attitude in the water. The key though is to always fish an incoming or outgoing tide as slack tides are usually unproductive.

Get your jig well down whilst retrieving using a series of rips and pauses, most times squid take to jig on the pause. When a squid is hooked ensure your fishing partners cast another jig well behind the incoming catch as often another one or two squids are following the already hooked one.

The productive areas for catching squid are locations where a weedy bottom is present, regardless of whether you are boat or land based. For pontoon and jetty anglers, there is often a tell-tale sign that squid are present in the area by the amount of squid ink on the structure deck, these are the places to try your luck.

A good starting location is the Clarence Point pontoon. Another popular spot is the sea side of the Pilot Station rock wall at Low Head which is often productive for Squid, in particular after they have laid eggs and started to move into the river. For boaties, inside the Tamar River Heads is a good spot or over the weeds beds off Kelso. For those anglers who want to venture outside there are good weed

beds at Two Mile Reef and further east that are usually productive. Birdport is another great location to try for squid with some really good sized specimens in this area. On the eastern side of the state, Bicheno has some fantastic fishing at times as well.

We have a no ink in the boat policy as it’s shocking stuff to clean and permanently stains clothing and safety gear. Best before netting to let the squid eject a fair bit of ink, let it swim parallel with the boat, touch it on the tail with the net for a final blow out of ink and quickly net it in, then squeeze it firmly around the neck dispatching it before it can generate more ink.

If taking a picture then snap it whilst it’s still alive as photographing a dead washed-out white coloured squid does not make for a great picture. The same applies when photographing any species, always present it for good public viewing, nothing looks worse on social media than holding a dead fish with a broken neck or blood dripping from it.

When boating for squid it’s a good idea to have a scaler bag to clean your catch on the way back to the ramp. It can save a lot of time and difficulty trying to clean squid at the ramp and worse still taking it home to clean. All the ink stays at sea rather than polluting ramps or cleaning tables.

When choosing a scaler bag seek advice from the experienced staff at your local tackle store as an el-cheapo one may well break causing the loss of many hours of hard-earned catch, which I have learnt from experience. If you go to the Sherriff Agencies YouTube page there are quite a few videos on their use and how best to prepare them for the cleaning run.

Finally, cooking squid correctly is important and the best advice I received from an experienced fisher was to marinate the rings in Kiwi Fruit for a couple of hours prior to cooking, then crumb or batter and cook in very hot oil for around 30 seconds. Give it a try and I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Nothing beats a fresh feed of squid

Red and white is one of the best producing colours for Tasmanian waters

The author with a cracking size calamari.

Try getting jiggy

Techniques that will inspire and work

Tim Whybrow

Fast and slow pitch vertical saltwater jigging is a sport across Tasmania that’s gaining traction among many anglers. Although it’s not a new method and has been around for many years, the active nature of the fishing genre keeps many enthusiasts entertained on the water; much like the consistent movement and tactical hunting methods amongst fly fisherman. Not that you can compare the two.

It is stated that you can catch almost EVERY species whilst jigging in Tasmanian waters. Striped Trumpeter, Jackass Morwong, Flathead, Kingfish, Snapper, and Calamari are what most anglers are hoping to land with their jigging combinations. Barracuda, Cod, and Gurnard are the most common bi-catch. There have even been two instances where Southern Rock Lobster (Crayfish) have been caught on slow-pitch jigs over the last year in Tasmanian waters that we know of. Tascast Fishing Adventures recently released a video hooking up to a Crayfish on a slow pitch jig, which is viewable on YouTube. As jigging across Tasmanian anglers picks up, we may find Southern Rock Lobster to be a common catch. Ensure you’re fishing within regulations if you ever catch a southern rock lobster jigging.

Jigging tactics

So what exactly is jigging and why should you try it? Jigging is an exciting type of lure fishing, but instead of spinning or trolling, where you’re retrieving your

lure through topwater, or just below the surface, you’re dropping your lure to the bottom of the ocean, fishing vertically, and imitating a fish swimming in that vicinity. As you wind or ‘jig’ your lure up from the sea floor, you usually let it sit between retrieves of 1-4 metre intervals before dropping it back to the bottom and starting over. Quite often fish are caught on the lure dropping from it’s unique butterfly style seesaw movement that grasps lots of attention, or between jigging up and stopping in intervals. It’s uncommon to catch your target species whilst your jig is sitting in one spot without any prior action, although sometimes the topwater swell can even do the jigging for you.

Selecting jigs for Tasmanian waters

There are two types of jigs on the market that we’ve encountered, centre weight, and tail weight. Centre weight is balanced around the centre of the lure, giving it a butterfly seesaw effect when dropping to the ocean floor as it is quite effective in 30-80m of water; the tail weighted jig is designed to reach the ocean floor

quicker with less lift and is commonly used for deeper dropping. It’s always recommended to have a variety of jig weights in your tackle box due to variables such as tide, wind, and drift affecting your drop while you’re out on the water. There are many different weighted jigs on the market. So which weight should you be using? As a rule of thumb, most jigging anglers use one gram per metre of water they’re fishing in. This isn’t always the case as wind, tide, and drift affect the jig’s ability, as mentioned above, but when commencing

James with a beautiful trumpeter.

A selection of jigs suitable for Tassie waters.

your jigging journey it’s a nice rule to go by. Tascast Fishing Adventures have had a lot of luck recently catching Striped Trumpeter in approximately 80 metres of water on 120(G) gram knife jigs in windy conditions. This is without any fancy spotlock or anchoring when out in that depth. A 60 gram jig on a glass out day in 30-40 metres of water would be perfect too, or even a 30 gram jig for that matter. As an all-rounder, you can pick up a center-weighted 160g jigg at most tackle stores for approximately $17.00. We’ve witnessed crayfish, flathead, calamari, cod, and morwong caught on this weight in depths from 35-80 metres. Like all lures, there are many different colours and accessories to choose from. Pink and green, red and orange, glow in the dark, blue and silver, plus countless other patterns are on the market. Probably a more important priority is combining one or two assist hooks with your jig. 3/0 or 4/0 are quite common. About 70% of jigs purchased at a tackle store will not come with hooks, so purchasing a few different sized assist hooks for your own experimentation is recommended.

Which rods and reels?

There are many combinations that are hitting the market designed specifically for the jigging addicts. You don’t have to spend an exorbitant amount of money to attach a jigging lure to your fishing rod, but most anglers are opting for a combination of 30-60lb braid, 40lb-80lb leader, spinning or overhead reel and 6ft-6.5ft rod PE3-PE5 rods. The main benefit of using an overhead reel and rod combination is control and weight. As Jigging is a very physical journey, lightweight graphite material is easier on your arms after a day on the water, and an overhead reel gives you the benefit of controlling your jig’s dropping speed with quicker accessibility to your tension and simply winding your reel immediately to lock into place and commence your retrieve.

Retrieves that work

Numerous retrieves are said to entice fish to snap at your jig for that exciting hookup. This is going to vary upon your target species and the style of hunting that species pursues. When jigging for Flathead across Tasmania in 30-45m of water, the most common retrieve is allowing your jig to land on the ocean floor, slow jigging/actioning your rod up two or three times in 30cm increments whilst winding, sitting your jig in that position for three to six seconds, before dropping back down to the bottom of the ocean to repeat again. This would have to be the most common jigging action across these lures. Another very common retrieve is an erratic retrieve to imitate a fleeing fish from the ocean floor, which consists of powering quickly up from the bottom with five to six winds and jigging with your rod tip in sync with each wind. This kind of action seems to grab the attention of a feeding frenzy on the ocean floor. A simple slow jig up and down, winding in slow increments is also common when targeting all species.

This article is to act as a basic guide only to get you started with your jigging adventures. Most anglers find it to be a fantastic sport in between bait fishing or trolling whilst out on the water. Let me tell you, it’s quite an addiction! It’s so exciting to play around with different jigs to see which species prefer which jigs and what species you’ll find in different water columns. Remember to always treat your fish, even bi-catch, with the utmost respect ready for a healthy release if you don’t hook up to your target species whilst jigging and be sure to follow all bag and size limits set out by dpipwe.tas.gov.au.

Tascast Fishing Adventures are set to release numerous videos on Youtube sharing their jigging action and success, so be sure to head over to Youtube and indulge in that content. Safe and happy boating everyone! Tight lines.

A fishing buddy can often be a quicker way to find out what’s working and what’s not!

Squid

Happiness is when a plan comes together!

RECREATIONAL SEA FISHERIES NEWS

NOVEMBER 2021

Tasmania’s First Recreational Sea Fishing Strategy Released

The Tasmanian Recreational Sea Fishing Strategy was launched by the Fisheries Minister Guy Barnett on 20 October. Guided by a vision statement and a set of principles, the Strategy provides a roadmap for actions over the next 10 years.

The Wild Fisheries Management Branch of DPIPWE started work on the Strategy in January last year. As such, the launch marks the ‘end of the beginning’ in a new era of marine recreational fisheries management in Tasmania.

The Strategy was inspired by a need to support recreational sea fishing into the future. A long-term, strategic approach was considered necessary to effectively deal with a range of issues. These include engaging fishers, strengthening partnerships, providing fishing opportunities, promoting stewardship, and ensuring fisheries are managed sustainably.

The Strategy will progress existing issues and meet future challenges. To identify issues and challenges, and how to progress them, DPIPWE consulted extensively with recreational fishers and other stakeholders. This included a survey of recreational fishing issues (which received over 3200 responses), plus public feedback on a discussion paper and the draft Strategy.

This feedback helped develop six outcomes:

• Ensuring the long-term sustainability of fish stocks and habitats

• Promoting responsible recreational fishing

• Involving the community in fisheries management

• Valuing recreational sea fishing

• Making it easier for people to go fishing

• Improving capacity to support recreational fishing

Across these Outcomes, 54 actions have been identified in the Strategy. These include installing and upgrading fishing infrastructure, addressing flathead stock challenges, and making fishing easier for women, youth, and people of all abilities.

Also planned is the development of harvest plans for key species and a fisheries resource sharing policy framework. This will guide catch and access sharing between recreational and commercial fishers and will enable recreational only fishing areas to be implemented.

Some actions have already started. A description of these, and the Strategy document itself can be found at www.fishing.tas.gov.au/rec-strategy. More actions will be added over the life of the Strategy.

Love Fishing? Volunteer for Fishcare

Fishcare needs new recruits. Becoming a volunteer is a great way to meet people and do your bit for Tasmania’s fisheries. There’s a statewide volunteer training session being held in St Helens in December so enquire now.

What volunteers do:

• Attend fishing and community events including boat shows, fishing competitions and Agfest;

• Pass on practical fishing knowledge and information; and

• Maintain local fishing signs and rulers. Want to know more? Email us at fishcare@ dpipwe.tas.gov.au, ring the Fishcare Coordinator on 6165 3039 or go to: www.fishing.tas.gov.au/ fishcare

Need more information?

• Get a copy of the Recreational Sea Fishing Guide from Service Tasmania

• Download the Tasmanian Sea Fishing Guide app

• Go to www.fishing.tas.gov.au or www. facebook.com/FisheriesTasmania

• Phone: 1300 720 647 or 03 6165 3233

• Email: fishing.enquiries@dpipwe.tas.gov.au

Mark - the Miracle Worker

Mark can repair, renovate, rebuild, replace, redesign or renew just about anything to do with boats, trailers, propellers and other general engineering stuff. If it is busted, bent, broken or dinged Dr Mark can fix it.

Spongers, idiots and time wasters are not welcome.

Vale + for MOZZA

‘Grab hold of the other battery post - the positive one’

a tribute by Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt

Adrian ‘MOZZA’ Morrisby 1972 - 2021

There are thousands of words I could write about Adrian ‘Mozza’ Morrisby. They would document where he was born and raised on the South East coast’s Orford village.

They could go on to speak of his childhood of boating and fishing in and around Maria Island, Schouten Passage and many trips to Port Davey. Paragraphs could be typed about his effect on his industry of vehicle refinishing and repair and his love of motorsport that included racing, commentating and parts supply.

The many, many sentences, you could amass in describing his passion for not only fishing, but the promotion of Tasmania its fishing and boating treasures would be massive.

Yet there are two numbers that tell you a great deal about the man that was Adrian Mozza Morrisby. 2000 and 42 000.

On a Thursday in September 2021, in our busiest of lives, 2000 people attended his funeral at Blundstone arena. There was no official count and if you look at the seating it was closer to 3000. The 42 000 number however, is spot on, and it is an accurate metric - as 42 000 people took time out to watch the funeral’s live feed of a humble man from southern Tasmania.

This man never got a 100 for Australia at the MCG, never captained a rugby side, and never punted a six pointer to win a final. Hell, I’ve never saw him touch a footy let alone kick one.

Mozza was magic.

A man of great power and enthusiasm that was infectious. This man could raise your spirits, put a smile on your face and have you living the very best version of you in a five minute meeting.

This man put others before himself at every opportunity and went above and beyond when asked to help any and all in need.

No cause was too large or too small for him to put his effort behind and he was a champion of the people.

He leaves behind an army of people true to him and faithful to the very core. They have his ideals instilled in them and they will rise to any and all occasion with the man’s mantras ringing in their ears.

“Grab hold of the other battery post – The positive one”.

“Pay it forward”.

“One life, live it – ‘cause it sure as hell ain’t no dress rehearsal”.

He lived by these and many more one liners that built into a movement that powered his life and many of

his friends and tribe. He used this magic for the greater good and had an army of followers that helped do fabulous things for the community and people he loved.

He was a humble man in these endeavours, but by nature of their speed and power, the press and even members of parliament would make mention of them and be impressed.

Mozza was a unicorn in this world. The one and only “Adrian MOZZA Morrisby“ and his name will live on in people’s hearts and minds for a great deal of time. When planning your next fishing trip have him in your mind and remember three things that were very close to his heart.

Mozza’s edicts for life

WEATHER – Learn to read it, have a solid grasp on what the wind and swell will mean to the area you fish. Just don’t look at the weather of when you want to get on the water in the morning, but what it is forecast to do later in the day. Have a mind set of what you might do different if the weather is stronger than the forecast and have a plan B and C.

MATES AND FAMILY – Treasure them. Fishing means many things to many people and a day on the water can be about loading up on fish for the freezer and family meals. Mozza used fishing to get out of his day to day and take mates and family for an adventure. In this world of crooked work /life balance he liked nothing more than getting away and hit the reset button. It would be about fun, laughs and catering. He knew that the lives we lead can be a pressure cooker and at times there just needs to be a release.

ATTITUDE - The world has gone down the path of distrust and negativity. It seems the default position is to hate and ridicule and try and make yourself feel better by putting down someone’s enthusiasm and dreams. Not our Mozza. He spent his entire life putting others first and helping them feel good about themselves. It would start with a kind word of encouragement and have you leave with a massive smile on your face and the energy to do big things. Or just mow the lawn you had been putting off for a few days. He was all things to all people and if you were lucky you would get one of his trademark hugs.

So please do him the honour in his passing and strive for a positive attitude and outlook with everything. Always default to helping and being part of a solution. Bring smiles and laughs to as many situations as you can and simply help. In anyway you can. If you see something out in this big wide world that needs some assistance, then just simply ask. What can I do and do you need a hand?

An amazing Tasmanian, an amazing one of a kind, once in a generation character who created a footprint we would hope never fades.

A devastating loss but we all can do something each day so his departure is not in vein .

Tight lines and see you at ramp or out on the water.

Much love, Kelly ‘Hooch’ Hunt

“One life, live it – ‘cause it sure as hell ain’t no dress rehearsal”.

CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY. CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY. BOATWISE? BOATWISE?

ARE YOU DODGY BOATWISE? ARE YOU DODGY BOATWISE?

CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY. CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY.