TASMANIAN FISHING

and BOATING NEWS — ISSUE 148

Tamar King George Whiting Winning a Flyfishing Comp.

Moving Dry Flies - Works

Gordon River - secret tips

Estuary Boat Setup Tips

Exmouth Expedition

Summer Trout - lures

Bass Strait Jumbo

Kayak Snapper

$5.95

Instagram and Facebook are extraordinary resources in fishing. It once was the realm of magazines like this to deliver the knowledge, but now ‘Instant Gratification’ is delivered as it happens. Follow the Tasmanian kingfish, King George whiting, fly fishing on many other pages to see the show-offs bragging about their captures. I say show-offs in the nicest way, because we are all grateful to see what can be caught.

I believe magazines are still a huge contributor to the fishing community as the stories can be much longer and with more detail, a flat battery does not affect them and a magazine can be picked up any time, so don’t write us of any time soon.

Prior to social media it was just word of mouth and rumours that would get you excited, now we can see fishing almost live, and whilst many don’t reveal the exact location it is often pretty easily worked out.

Fish finders are another game changer and side scan combined with the regular down scan GPS and Navionics will reveal things never thought possible. A good unit can be well under $1000 and no boat should be without one.

Likewise, electric trolling motors are also a gamechanger. The better versions have GPS spot-lock and an anchor can often been dispensed with. If you find a good bit of reef, just hit the spot-lock and despite wind or tide the GPS will keep you hanging on the exact same location for as long as the battery lasts. No rattling chain, hanging over the front, no swinging on the chain, no wiping out the weed or reef an no reset to get the right spot. When the tide or wind changes on spot-lock you are still in the exact spot, but on anchor you could be in an arc 50 metres away. And when tide and wind combine on anchor anything can happen.

So I urge you to embrace the latest in technology, follow a few pages that give you a very targeted overview of your specialised interest and enjoy the results.

Estuary Perch

After the comprehensive article last issue on estuary perch and their vulnerability in Tasmania I had several discussions with interested people. Most interesting though was the Minister, Guy Barnett, did take an interest and I will be meeting with him.

This is perhaps the fish at most risk of becoming extinct in Tasmania. It seems to have a very low population and a environmental upset could see the end of them in Tasmania.

One expert I spoke to said - ‘I could easily grow them in a plastic swimming pool’ they are not a complicated