Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 150 August 2022

TASMANIAN FISHING

World Ladies Fly Fishing Report

Southern Land Based Options

Early Trout Season Tips

Kayaking

Broadbill

Kingfish

Scallops

$5.95

Lubin Pfeiffer with a early season brownie.

Early Season Streamer Tactics — Lubin Pfeiffer

JO PALMER is our marine and freshwater fisheries Minister and just in that space there is plenty to do - let alone the rest of her departmental responsibilities. One area I have of huge concern is calamari. It is a diminishing resource. Calamari management is a challenge. It is commercially heavily fished in the north of the state - and there is currently no constraint on commercial catch. Recs have bag and possession limits.

It is quite likely the fisheries department and Minister will do nothing this year to address the overfishing - especially during spawning.

At the moment the only things saving massive explotation of spawning aggregation is a one month closed season for both the commercial and recreational sector, but spawning times vary and the best time is just a guesstimate of October. I think the closed season should be extended at least two weeks either side of the current arrangements.

This issue is ongoing, and whilst there is a planned commercial licence arrangement to be introduced for the north of the state - that will not happen this year. Undoubtedly the Northern zone will get very heavily fish again, again with no constraint outside a seasonal closure. Managers and scientists know this area is overfished and depleting, but are doing too little too late. This has been too common in Tasmania. You can check out some calamari documents here:

https://tasfish.com/160-peak-bodies/2910-calamarimanagement-documents

Trout season

It always interests me that people have their favourite water. We are all creatures of habit. Often they fish the same lake, lagoon or river constantly, with little variation. I try not to, (apart from my local Four Springs), but not doing that makes it difficult to learn the vagaries of waters.If you want to get good at catching fish in those waters I suppose constant visits are a must.

I have about 20 or 30 favourite places and some days I fish 5 or 6 streams until I find one that is firing. But, to me, that is the attraction of small streams. I love them.

Last year on opening day I fished a very small stream with a mate where you could have a foot on each bank without getting wet. I think I caught five fish on dry flies and he was similar. Is was a lot of fun and I think that will be my plan again this year - find a little streamand some happy trout.

That said, I do like Four Springs Lagoon and usually go there at 6.30am on opening day to do my ABC Radio broadcast. I don’t fish there opening day.

It is only 30 minutes drive from home and usually the weather is similar, so if conditions are good in Launceston, they will be similar there. It has been an extraordinarily popular water and as it is at a low

Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News

altitude it is very popular early and late season amongst anglers. Bait, lure and fly fishers all have good fishing and access and there are some big fish. And one can fish there at first light and still be at work - if you need to.

Other waters that I like are Blackmans Lagoon, Curries River Dam and Huntsman. In the last year or so I have not fish ‘up top’ a lot, usually preferring a river session.

This year IFS have 50 tagged fish in different waters - all with a $2000 prize. Check the rules on the IFS website, but keep an eye out for those tags.

Be boatwise and boatsafe this trout season and enjoy your fishing.

Mike Stevens

Early Season Streamer Tactics

Spend your time more effectively

Lubin Pfeiffer

Streamer fishing would be one of the most effective ways to catch early-season trout in Tasmania. The water is the coldest it will be all season and the fish will eager to put on weight post-spawn usually looking to chase down large prey items. Streamers cover all bases when it comes to large flies. There are traditional woolly bugger and rabbit-style flies but also new age bright and sparkly ones. These used in conjunction with sinking lines in the lakes can produce some incredible fishing. In this article. I’ll give you a run down on how to get setup up for streamer fishing, the gear you’ll need, the techniques that work best and where you should be heading for that early-season trout fix after a long cold winter!

Getting Set-Up For Streamer Fishing

If you haven’t done much early-season streamer fishing before, you may need to grab a few extra items before you head to the lakes. My approach for fishing lakes shore-based is similar but slightly different to what I will take for a boat-based lake mission, so let’s look at each individually. Firstly, shore-based streamer fishing is a very rewarding way to catch a big early-season trout. The beauty of Tasmania is that there are so many places where shore-based angling is very accessible. For shore-based streamer fishing, I like a 6wt 9ft fly rod with a medium to fast action. I’ve used rods that are 300 dollars to 1500 dollars and both get the job done, it is really up to what the budget allows. Reel selection is important as I like to have a spare spool with my reel for shore-based fishing. Having a spare spool is

lighter in weight than carrying a whole extra reel and while it might not be much-added weight, once you get all the other items in your kit it starts to add up. I’ll have one spool with a good quality floating line and the other with a fast intermediate. Fly lines are often overlooked when it comes to the purchase of a new setup and more emphasis can be put on the rod and reel. My advice would be to get the best line you can afford because it will be a night and day difference from that of a cheaper line. Your casting will benefit hugely and more water will be covered with consistent and longer casts time after time. Tippet selection is pretty simple as the water can be slightly coloured at this time of year. The fish are usually pretty angry so won’t require the finesse as they do later in the season. While you would get away with a spool of 0.20mm

Black straggle buggers are a great early season fly.

fluorocarbon, I would also have on hand a spool of 0.18mm and 0.23mm just to give you a couple of options on either side if the conditions are still or the fish are being super aggressive. While streamer fishing there is no need for a tapered leader, I will always use a straight-level leader made from a single diameter of tippet. For boat-based fishing, you need a few different options as you have more access to different water types and depths. For a good starter kit, I would go for a slightly longer 10ft 6wt rod because the extra length of the rod will give you far greater control while fishing from a boat. While you can use a 9ft for this situation, a 10ft is definitely a better option. Reel selection should include a reel that comes with several spools because you will need to add a few extra fly lines to the mix. For me, I feel comfortable heading out onto the lake with these options; a floating line, a fast intermediate,

a Di3 and a Di5. While I also have a sweep 3, sweep 5 and Di7 in the kit, these are not completely necessary if you’re just starting. Tippet selection again is 0.18mm, 0.20mm, 0.23mm fluorocarbon. Again, there is no need for tapered leaders for this style of fishing.

Fly Selection

At this time of year, the fish are usually very eager to chase flies so your fly selection should have this in mind. My kit includes size 12 woolly buggers in favourites such as a black straggle bugger with a silver bead, black humungous with a gold bead, olive Magoo with a gold bead, olive Magoo with an orange bead, and a Hollywood. All my beads are 3mm tungsten regardless of the colour. To add to this I will have some bright options such as a size 10 UV orange blob and a size 12 gold sparkler. These flies are my go-to options from the shore and in the boat. For shore-based angling, I will also never head out without some size 12 unweighted black woolly buggers for fishing in shallow water on a floating line. Countless flies will do the trick, these are just the ones I am confident in. If you are unsure, often the best option is to call into or phone the Essential Flyfisher and ask the crew what flies have been catching well at that time.

Leader Construction

Leader construction is something that was always over complicated in my fishing. Whereas now I just use straight leaders constructed of a single diameter of tippet. For streamer fishing, I will always use either two or three flies in the set-up. For a two-fly rig the formula is as follows; roughly five feet (two arms width) to the first dropper and then roughly eight feet to the point fly. I say roughly because you need to work out a measuring system that works for you and you can do it quickly out on the water. For me, it’s both my arms spread apart measures about five feet and that’s my gauge for making leaders. It’s only approximately five feet but the fish don’t care. From a boat, I will almost always use a three-fly rig with each fly five feet apart. Keeping things basic is the way to go with this style of fishing. If a three-fly rig isn’t working for you, just fish two and keep the flies in the water, as you’re not going to catch a fish while the flies are consistently tangled. A handy trick is to get yourself a foam board that you can wrap premade leaders on. You can make them in the warm at home and even attach flies if you know what you’ll be using. That way when it’s freezing cold on the lake and you have minimal movement in your fingers you only have one knot to tie to the braided loop of the fly line and will have far more time fishing.

Where To Fish

What is so awesome about Tasmania is that there are countless options to fish once the season opens. Every year is slightly different and it will be interesting to see which lakes fire better than others. For boat anglers, great starting options are Four Springs and Lake Leake on the lowlands. While I would be heading to the big-name options such as Penstock and Little Pine Lagoon up the hill. Cowpaddock, Seven-pound bay, and the Lilly pads will all be worth a look on Arthurs Lake. Starting options for shore-based angling would definitely be Four Springs and Little Pine Lagoon and the countless options out in the Western Lakes. Inland Fisheries have been working hard over the spawning season to ensure that there is plenty of fish in all the lakes so no doubt the fishing should be amazing.

Techniques For The Lakes

For boat anglers, a bit of wind increases the success of steamer fishing simply because a drifting boat allows you to cover more water. Make sure you have a well-made drogue fitted to your boat to get that drift speed just perfect for effective fishing. For me, I like to target the water that is three to four metres in depth and anything shallower. Pick an area where the wind blowing in to and set up a drift out wider and fish your way in shallow. Once you’ve completed a drift, head back out and either repeat the same drift if you hit fish or move over a little way and repeat the process until you find them. For shore-based angling, wading out and fishing with the wind behind you casting in shallow is the most effective way I have found fish. If you arrive at the lake and are not sure where to start try and look for any signs of foam on the edge as the fish won’t be far from there. Retrieves should be mixed up until

Ten foot rods are perfect for boat fishing.

The browns will super aggressive early season.

you find out what is working on the day. Early season you may not need much pace at all in the retrieve as the fish will be eager to find your flies and eat them. If they need some encouragement pick up the speed! A great retrieve I have found is half a dozen fast pulls followed by a figure of eight retrieve to keep in touch before ripping them again. Repeat this to about a rod length out from the boat and then hang the flies before recasting. The rolly polly retrieve is also a very effective option. By having a selection of fly lines you can change the depth you are fishing if you are not catching in a particular area that you know the fish

may be in. From the boat, I would generally start with a fast intermediate or Di3 and then work from there.

Be Prepared

At this time of year, it will still be very cold out on the lakes so make sure you take all the essential items with you before heading out as the weather change very quickly, especially up on the hill. Quality wet weather gear is an absolute must-have! Pack a thermos so you can have a warm drink during the day and keeping a set of dry clothes in the car can be a life saver if you happen to get wet while fishing.

While the dry fly fishing on our lakes will start a little later in the season, I almost enjoy the ripping take of an aggressive streamer bite as much as a delicate dry fly eat, so if you’re looking for an angling fix early, streamers are the way to go. The great thing about Tasmania is the plethora of options available to anglers. If you haven’t tried streamer fishing early then there is no better time than now to get set up and head out there!

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A big early season rainbow from Lake Leake.

Boat hire is available from Miena Village for those looking for a day on the lake.

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!

A New Season Approaches

Preparation and reflection

Adrian Webb

In the lead-up to a new Tasmanian trout season and my (meppstas) 22nd since moving to Tasmania and 58th year chasing trout, here are some thoughts about my off-season - and gearing up for a new season on the rivers and streams.

What I did during the off-season

Not a lot really, all I did was catch up on cleaning up the native garden area around the house, and a few other small jobs. I relaxed by going through the thousands of photos that I’ve taken during the previous trout season and made up several musical slide show DVDs, I also made a yearly trout season photo book. I read fishing magazines, thanks to the team at Tackle Tactics who sent them to me. I also wrote my fullseason trout fishing report, which is something that I do at the end of each and every trout season. I went for short walks every second day (weather permitting) as well as hopped on the exercise bike most days in the two weeks before the opening of the trout season. My biggest downfall is that I suffer from chronic lower back pain and hip problems, so I didn’t do all that much else throughout the closed season to get the body right for the coming trout season.

At the end of each season, I clean and service my Okuma spinning reels, wipe down the Okuma Celilo Finesse ULS rods and check the eyelets and replace

the Platypus Super 100 mono and Pulse mono lines to make sure everything is ready for opening day. Servicing the reels, cleaning the rods and replacing the line on the trout rods is something that I do on a regular basis throughout the trout season as well. I also go through my lure boxes and take out any of the well-used Mepps spinners that I think need replacing with new ones. Though, I do tend to keep a few of my old favourite beatup spinners too. One never knows when they may have to be used again to get the bite as I’ve done in previous seasons. As soon as the new season arrives I replace the batteries in my digital scales and check the landing net cord and stitching. My waders and wading boots are checked over, after being stored in a dry place for three months and that’s about it for what I do during the closed season, apart from staying in touch with the land owners that have allowed me to access their properties to fish various rivers.

Keeping a close eye on things

I’m always online looking at the river levels right through the closed season, keeping a check on the amount of water that’s coming down them. Those with the hydro dams on them have a regulated flow,

I carry a variety of hard body and inline blade spinners.

so they tend to fluctuate regularly with rainfalls in the highlands. Rivers without regulated flow are a different story, like the River Leven which is usually running very high early season and isn’t worth me taking a fortyfive-minute drive to a flooded river. I could walk the river banks but I prefer to be in a river chasing trout and that’s where the following site comes in handy;

http://www.bom.gov.au/tas/flood/index.shtml

I will normally fish the small tannin streams/creeks early season because they’re most likely to be the ones

A bright-coloured spinner did the job on the cold water brown trout.

that I can hop into, wade and catch a few early season browns on the Mepps inline spinners. The hydroregulated rivers that I fish during the season, such as the Mersey and Meander rivers, I only fish early season if they’re at a safe wading height.

If they’re running high and dirty, then I may sit back on the river bank, relax and drown a worm. With August still being winter, we do have a lot of snowmelt that keeps the water temps in the rivers to a very low four to six degrees, making for some tough, cold, trout fishing days. I carry a thermometer to check the water temperature and if it’s below five degrees, I know I’m in for a tough spin session. With the water temperatures being low early in the season the trout need to be stimulated into taking an inline spinner or hard body lure, so it pays to stick to the brighter coloured lures.

Trying to catch your first trout?

Firstly, if you have never been trout fishing before then read up on it. Get in touch with anyone that you know who does a reasonable amount of trout fishing and pick their brain for any info you can get. Better still, see if they’ll take you fishing with them on a few trips, whether it be bait or lure fishing.

Watch as many videos on trout fishing as you can and there are plenty of them on YouTube, including a few of mine.

Whilst I am sponsored by Tackle Tactics, their brands are absolutely first rate and I rate them very highly. Here are some suggestions: All you’ll need to start with is a nice lightweight 1-3kg rod. The Okuma Celilo Finesse 1-3kg ULS 1.8m rod fits the bill - add an Okuma spinning reel, spooled with 2kg Platypus Super 100 mono line and you are perfectly setup for Tassie trout. Choose a selection of Mepps Aglia, Black Fury and Bug spinners, as well as a couple of small anti-kinks. The anti-kink setup is a must when using inline spinners with fine lines as it prevents line twists.

You can practice some casting in the backyard or a parkland by placing a few small planter pots at different distances and seeing if you can hit them with the

spinner with a cast. Remember, practice makes perfect, it may be the difference between catching a fish with a perfect cast versus not catching one with a poor cast. To me, river fishing for trout is great and just being in a river or even sitting back on a river bank bait fishing is quite relaxing. Early season bait fishing in a back water or a flooded flat water area, away from the main flow, is always a good area to catch a trout.

River fishing for trout isn’t the easiest way of catching trout because it does require years of fishing them to know where the trout hold out. Most regular trout fishers have heaps of knowledge and are always happy to pass on what they know to help out. I’m always happy to pass on what I know. I’ll do anything (and have done) to help get someone into trout fishing rivers, as there’s nothing better in my book.

There’s one thing you must always remember, it’s something that I always stress in my info for beginners and that is;

1. Safety first when fishing any river.

2. Never take any risks or step into a flooded river.

3. No fish is worth drowning for.

4. Always go with someone, preferably an experienced river trout fisher and you will learn a lot more about trout fishing by doing that.

5. If you do decide to have a go on your own, then please pick a river that has wide-open river banks or better still, try small stream fishing for starters.

6. Before you leave home tell someone where you are going to fish and take a camera with you to record your catch, along with the beautiful surroundings that you are fishing.

Once the weather warms up be on the lookout for snakes as they will often be close to the water. Wear thick work pants or jeans and a good pair of walking boots. Also, ensure that you check the freshwater regulations for licence requirements, size and bag limits as well.

The anti-kink setup the author uses when inline blade spin fishing.

Bright inline spinners work well in cold water.

When a river floods, fish the flooded flats.

Top left: Fish on, early season, Mersey River.

Top right: This small stream trout fell to a gold inline spinner.

Centre: Trout zones to look for when fast water fishing.

Above: This early season brown fell to hard body lure.

Left: One of the author’s lightweight spin fishing setups.

What a Team!

The First Australian World Ladies Fly Fishing Team

Julie Butler

From beginner to the World Championships in under 4 years.

My journey into fly fishing started in 2018 when I was in search of a new pastime to take my mind off work. I stumbled across a demonstration day at Hiscutt Park in Penguin being run by the North West Fly Fishers club. The guest angler was the then Australian Ladies Champion, Karen Brooks. Karen got me casting in no time, and from then, I decided that fly fishing would be my new pursuit.

I tend to never do things by halves, so I decided if I was going to do this, I would dedicate the time and resources to learn as much as I could as quickly as I could. The next day, I booked in a guided day with Karen and a few weeks later was on the river catching my first fish on the fly. I caught a total of 6 fish that day on the Mersey River and it was the start of my new obsession.

We journey through life and if we are lucky pick up friends along the way who enrich our experiences and potentially change our lives. This is exactly what happened when I attended a Girls Gone Fly fishing weekend at Peter Hayes’ at Cressy.

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born”.

(Writer Anais Nin)

Among this incredible group of women, I met two who would do exactly that, change my life and accompany me on my fly fishing adventure. Jules Stevens from Essential Flyfisher was also just starting fly fishing, that was the start of an amazing friendship. For a while we would laugh that we were all the gear and no idea, but that quickly changed thanks to that other new found friend, Casey Pfeiffer, and of course with Casey you also get Lubin, her husband, they are fishing dynamos - both Commonwealth champions. It was Casey who ‘badgered’ me into competition fly fishing. I was so inexperienced and was very aware that in the scheme of things, I knew very little, but she was persistent, and when an opportunity to fill in as a ‘dummy angler’ arose, she wouldn’t take no for an

answer. I learnt so much that weekend that I decided to join Fly Fish Australia and competition fish to escalate my knowledge and Jules joined me.

Coach, Martin Droz; Manager, Jules Stevens; Casey Pfeiffer, Julie Butler, Jane Forster, Marian Millar and Karen Brooks.

Julie Butler with the main speciesEuropean grayling.

What a great decision that was, everyone was so helpful and supportive and very keen to share their knowledge. At the same time, Jules and I continued to fish with Casey who continually pushed and challenged us to fish better, wade deeper and read the water. We have had so many great adventures together fishing Tasmania and last year we went to New Zealand for two weeks of fishing.

In under 4 years, I have accumulated a lot of gear, including a Purdon dinghy and a fly fishing van, got bitten by a snake at Pine Tier Lagoon on my first solo trip

and amazingly in 2020 competed in the Australian Fly Fishing Championships and became the Australian Ladies Champion, finishing 10th overall. None of which could have been possible without my incredible mentors who have been so eager and selfless in sharing their knowledge. Doing so well at the Nationals earned me a place in the Australian Ladies World team.

I’m writing this article somewhat sleep deprived after having returned yesterday – 14 July, from the 1st FIPSMouche World Ladies Fly Fishing Championships in Norway. The team being – Karen Brooks – Tasmania (Captain), Casey Pfeiffer - South Australia, Jane Forster - ACT, Marian Millar - VIC and myself from Tasmania, Jules Stevens – Tasmania (Manager and reserve) and Martin Droz – Tasmania (Coach). It was such an honour to represent Australia at such a momentous event and it was made even more special to be able to share that with my two fishing mates.

1st FIPS- Mouche Ladies World Fly Fishing Championships – the challenges

European Grayling - The team had very little experience catching Grayling which would be our major target species. We left for Norway on 25th June for a week of practice and to familiarise ourselves with the waters we would fish.

We soon learned that to be successful in catching grayling, you first have to find them. They sit in deeper water, in depressions and in the calmer water behind rocks, quite often in schools. They are quite eager to bite when the water is disturbed by you wading and dislodging morsels of food from the riverbed.

My most successful strategy was to wade across the river, casting upstream with heavy nymphs, allowing them to sink, then swing them and guide them up through the water column behind and leave them for around 5 seconds. Quite often this would result in fish taking the nymph on the rise or while stationary behind. Then I fished back across where I had just waded and disturbed the bottom. The most difficult thing is not to strike, but to allow the fish to hook themselves.

24 hours of daylight – This seemed very strange after coming from a Tasmanian winter where it is quite dark at 5.00, but we quickly adapted and found the endless daylight just gave us longer to fish. Once the competition started, we would rise at 4am in the daylight which was extremely useful in our preparation.

The championships consisted of 5 sessions, four river and one lake. The team were based at Koppang for the practice week, sharing a house, we soon became a close-knit team, fishing through the day sharing and

Julie, Jules and Karen during practice.

Julie during practice.

The opening ceremony through the town of Koppang was great fun.

discussing what we learned through practice and fly tying at night. Our first practice day was on the Attna, we all caught fish under Martin’s expert coaching. The following day we fished the Rena but were driven home with heavy rain and thunder storms.

High water levels – Day three of our practice became an enforced rest day as the water levels were too high and dangerous. It soon became obvious that we were experiencing a significant weather event and much of the holding water quickly became inaccessible.

The team had a great practice day on Lake Solensjoen, at 14km long and 3km wide it is a beautiful lake with a very rich history, it’s early fishing inhabitants predating the Vikings. We determined that the fish were in more shallow waters up to 2.5 metres, in many cases sitting right on the bank. Intermediate lines were the most successful with small English wets and a beaded nymph on the point.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony included a parade through the streets of Koppang and was well supported by the local community, it was a truly proud moment, walking as the very first Australian Ladies World Team to compete in the very first Ladies World Fly Fishing Championships. We received enormous support from the fly fishing community in Australia and are extremely grateful for this.

The Competition

The beats were set at the high water mark but two days prior to the start of the championships the markers were washed away, organisers having to remark them. The competition was fierce and high water levels made it challenging but my height was definitely an advantage. It required extreme wading, lots of stamina and a huge amount of courage, most competitors going for multiple ‘swims’ in fast water. We were described by the controllers as brave, courageous and tough – it left everyone with no doubt what women anglers at this level can achieve.

We had the usual variance in beats, with a couple not catching any fish at all and some unable to cross due to high water levels, reducing the fishable water –that’s competition fishing!

All in all, it was an amazing experience and I learnt so much. We were fortunate to have Tasmanian resident and former world champion, Martin Droz as our coach and guide, it enabled us to learn and adapt quickly to the different styles of fishing we needed to adopt. Martin and our team Manager Jules ensured we had everything we could ask for before, during and after the competition.

Eleven countries were represented at the Championships and Team Australia finished 5th. Overall, I finished 19th out of 55 anglers – of course we always want to do better, none the less, I’m happy with my result. I think I fished well both in practice and the competition and that’s all you can ask for.

The Czech girls took out the Team first place as well as placing as the top 4 anglers – what champions they are!

My good friend and constant fishing companion, Jules was the appointed Manager, but also the reserve angler and she also got to fish the last session as one of our anglers was ill.

The next Ladies World competition is in Canada September 2023.

The 1st Australian Ladies Fly Fishing Team would like to acknowledge and thank our loyal supporters and our dedicated sponsors Essential FlyFisher, Manic Tackle, Mayfly Tackle, Great Lake Hotel and The Winter Gin Company.

Jane Forster going deep looking for fish.

Some of Norway’s fishing cabins date back to the 1600s.

The peak flows correspond with the fishing sessions.

Lake Solensjoen is a beautiful lake and one of the sole competition lake venue.

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Casey with a lovely grayling. Karen working hard.

Jules fishing the final session.

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Southern Land-based Options

Spring opportunities and tips

Xabi Kumar

When spring arrives, fishing along the shores of Tasmania’s southern rivers starts to heat up. As masses of whitebait head up the rivers, trout and bream start to feed more aggressively. This makes for some excellent opportunities for us land-based anglers! As the whitebait gets pushed onto the edges of the river by hungry trout and black bream, trout will often be seen spraying and crashing through schools of whitebait - an awesome sight to see for any angler. In the south of Tasmania, the Derwent and Huon rivers are the stand-out areas for targeting these amazing sports fish.

Where to fish?

Although these fish can be caught on just about any shoreline throughout our southern rivers, there are few different things I look out for when walking the shores. When choosing a location to fish, I like to find a shore that is in the mid-section of the river where the water will be estuarine / brackish. This mix of both fresh and salt water allows the angler to target both trout and bream in the same location.

From my experience I find fishing the rocky shores the most successful, as they offer a few stand out points. Firstly, they are convenient to walk for the land-based angler; sturdy ground makes focusing on the fishing far easier. Your casting accuracy also improves greatly, which is a major advantage. Secondly the fish also like to move hard up on those shores, as it provides good

structure for the fish to hide in, and a great feeding area, especially in spring when the whitebait are thick throughout the rivers. All sections of a rocky shore will fish well at their time, but a standout spot of any rocky shore will always be a point. A rocky point will almost always have more current running off it which makes for an awesome spot for trout and bream to sit, and wait for bait to be brought to them. Due to this ease of feeding, multiple fish will normally stack up on a point, fish that are sitting in faster current will often feed more aggressively, making it easier to get a bite and making for some awesome land-based fishing.

Fish Behaviour

Trout will either sit hard up against the shore or just off of it where there is more structure, such as logs or rock piles. They will often be spotted in the shallows when the bait has been pushed up and they can be seen actively feeding. These fish will often eat a well-presented lure: sometimes they will take a bit more convincing though, as they will be fixated on

the whitebait. Once I have seen a sign of a fish, I will figure out an approach on how to get that fish to eat my lure. Signs of a fish include, whitebait spraying, bow waves, reeds moving and most obviously, a fish crashing through whitebait. I normally like to make a cast a fair distance past the fish so as to not spook the fish by the lure hitting the water. I will then retrieve the lure towards the fish, pausing it when it gets close

Trout will often give their location away when smashing through the white bait.

Casting past the fish so to not spook them is an effective technique on both bream and trout.

to the fish. This will trick the trout into thinking the lure is a dead or stunned whitebait, as trout will go through a school of whitebait and try to knock out the bait so they can come back through and eat it while the bait is not moving. So having a lure that imitates whitebait will improve your catch rate greatly. When there are no fish to be seen actively feeding, I will make a series of random casts starting along the shore, working my way all the out to the middle of river so I am covering all spots a hungry trout could be hiding.

Bream

Bream will sit in very similar areas to trout. The only difference is that they won’t give away their location as easy as a trout, as they do not normally crash through the schools of whitebait. They do occasionally, but it’s rare. When bream are in the shallows, you will sometimes see them tailing, which means they are most likely feeding on crabs and other small critters that get caught around the rocks, but they still tend to always take a minnow type of lure that is imitating the whitebait.

When I see them doing that, I will approach it the same way as I would with trout in the shallows, making a long cast past the fish so it is not spooked, working the lure back towards the fish twitching and pausing it until I hopefully get a bite. When I can’t see the bream in the shallows, I do the same thing I would for trout, making a series of random casts along the shore working my way out to the middle of the river. There is still a high chance that if you can’t see a bream in the shallows that they will still be there, as they normally do a pretty good job of hiding themselves. So, it always pays to have a cast even if you can’t see anything.

Conditions

Wind plays a large role when chasing trout and bream in our southern rivers. I like to pick a shore to fish that has the wind blowing into it if possible. As all the bait will get pushed to that side, which will result in more fish being along that particular shoreline. I also find that when the weather conditions are a bit rougher the fish are a lot less spooky and are more willing to smash the lure, especially trout. The waves crashing into the shore will also stir up and dislodge all the little critters in the rocks, which is another great thing which will lure the fish to the wind-blown side of a river.

The run-out tide has always been the most productive for me when chasing whitebait feeding trout in the estuarine parts of the rivers. On the run-in tide trout will herd the whitebait up along the shore, then when the tide starts running out, they often start feeding aggressively which will make it a lot easier to convince a trout to eat your lure. From experience I have found that bream will eat on most stages of the tide. The tide that has been the most productive though has been a higher tide when there is more water in the shallows, meaning a lot of fish will move from the deeper channels and reefs and move into shallows making them more accessible for the land-based angler.

Lure Selection

My favourite lures for fishing land based for trout and bream would have to be a shallow diving minnow in the 60 to 80mm range. Some of my favourites are the Atomic Jerk Minnow and the Liquid Gold Aurum minnows. A colour that replicates the bait such as a silver or translucent colour has been the most productive in the spring. Soft plastics are another great way for targeting trout and bream especially in deeper water. Soft plastics that work well are t-tail and minnow styles as they are also very good at imitating whitebait, and they are very effective when the water is deeper and a shallow diving minnow won’t run deep enough. Grub style plastics are another effective plastic especially for bream. Grub style plastics are great for fishing along the bottom imitating a little critter moving across the bottom and they will come into their own when bream are being too lazy to chase bait and are just sitting around the bottom eating small things.

Rod and Reel Selection

When choosing a rod for chasing trout and bream, I like to use a rod that has relatively soft action as it will help keep the hooks stuck in the trout when they come to the surface, thrashing their heads and jumping. A 2.1 metre 1-3kg rod is what I use for land based, as it is long enough to allow for a long cast, but not too long that my casting accuracy is sacrificed. I find 1-3kg is the perfect weight as it is light enough to not pull hooks, but can put pressure on the fish when it is needed. Any rod between 1.82.4 metres and 1-5kg range will do just fine land based, each having their own advantages and disadvantages. When

Match the colour of the baitfish when selecting lures.

Rocky shores that have the wind blowing in to them is a great place to target your efforts.

Minnow style lures are a popular choice for land based anglers.

picking a reel, any reel in a 1000 or 2500 size will be ideal for trout and bream. Any line class between 3-8kg will be perfect for this type of fishing. I know 8kg sounds quite heavy but many companies will measure their braid differently. For example, Major craft which I use, will say 8kg but it will actually be a similar diameter to 3kg Powerpro. When choosing a leader, I will take into account a couple of things. I will look at the clarity of the water, if the water is clear I will go down to a 2-3kg leader. If the water has a bit more colour to it, I will go up to an 4kg leader. I will also take into account what is on the shoreline I am fishing. If there is a lot of structure, like jetties, logs, oysters and rocks I will go a heavier leader like 4kg so I am able to put more pressure on fish if they are trying to go into the structure, the heavier leader will also have more abrasion resistance so if the fish does make it to structure it will leave you with a fighting chance of getting it back out. If I am fishing a shore that has very little structure, I will go down to a lighter leader like 2-3kg to have less chance of spooking a fussy fish.

Some of the authors favourites.

For those of you reading this article, I hope it has given you some tips and tricks into the world of land based light tackle fishing. For more fishing tips and content be sure to follow me on:

Instagram @xabi.kumar.fishing - or subscribe to my YouTube channel: Xabi Kumar fishing.

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Shallow Water Targets

Spring kayak fishing

Jonty Kruska

As the weather warms during spring one of my favourite forms of fishing is chasing blue spot flathead and King George whiting on lures in the shallows. The kayak is ideal for scouting around the coast in search of prime-looking locations and gives a little more flexibility than fishing from the shore. Having said this, fishing from the shore can also be very productive.

Finding spots

The main areas that I have found these two species in are generally fairly similar and it isn’t uncommon to catch a blue spot and a couple casts later a whiting. This makes targeting them a little easier as you can focus your efforts in certain areas and have a chance of catching both species. Before I head out, I like to find likely-looking areas on google earth to narrow down my target location. I’ll look for any reasonably shallow coastal bays with a good mixture of sand, weed and reef. Areas with broken weed and sand patches

Flathead like these fight hard in the shallow water.

and defined weed and sand edges will hold both blue spots and KGW. However, I have definitely had the most success fishing the patchier areas. These spots are generally fairly easy to spot on google earth. The lower reaches of estuaries are another great spot to target big blue spots. Once I have found a spot it’s just a matter of picking a day with reasonable weather and getting out on the water for a closer look.

Targeting bluespot

Although blue spots can be caught in several different locations, including open sand flats, I have always found the bigger models don’t like to stray too far from structure, whether that be a patch of weed or rocks and reef. It is for this reason I find it easier to target flathead on clear days and when the water has good visibility. I find it is important to be able to see the structure you are casting at. This allows you to

cast nice and close and avoid getting snagged up in the reef or weeds. I have caught blue spots on a range of tides but I have found the last part of the runout or first part of the incoming tide to be a little easier. I think this is due to the fact there is less water up on the flats/beaches and they are a little more concentrated in certain areas. When targeting blue spot in the estuaries I normally look for any drop-offs, weed edges, deep holes and rocky edges. I like to fish estuaries on the run-out tide as I find this gets the fish sitting on the edges of the flats waiting for bait to wash off.

Methods and lure selection

Once I’m in a fishy-looking area my go-to method is usually a basic soft plastic-jig head set up. I generally go for any style of plastic in the 2.5-4 inch range. Paddle tails such as the baitjunkie minnow in both the 2.5 and 3.2-inch sizes are a couple of my favourites. As for colours, I don’t think it really matters too much for flathead. I usually go for a more natural colour like bloodworm however sometimes shades of orange and pink can be very effective. The jig head weight and hook size will depend on what depth you are fishing in and also what size of plastic you go for. Usually, for me, it’s between 1/4 -1/12 ounce, matched with a 1/0 hook for the smaller plastics and a 2/03/0 hook for the larger sizes. When fishing these I

simply cast to a likely-looking spot let it hit the bottom, give it two or three hops, let it hit the bottom again and repeat back to the kayak.

Another lure that big flatheads love is the Cranka crab. I’ve had some great success on big blue spot throwing the 65mm crab into likely-looking areas and slowly crawling it along the bottom. Spotted and brown are favourite colours of mine when chasing flathead. Often on quiet days swapping over to a crab can produce some results.

Trying something different

Recently I have been trying a couple of different methods when chasing big flatties and have had some promising results. These methods are swimbaits and surface lures. The swim bait I have been using is the 90mm Biwaa S-Trout. I have been opting for a swimbait over a plastic or crab in shallow waters around 0.5-1.5 metres deep, where there is a little more weed or reef coverage. Being very slow sinking and having great action on a slow roll allows you to fish the swimbait slowly just above the weeds and reef and avoid getting weeded up or snagged. I have had the most success by letting the lure sink close to the bottom, beginning a slow roll and after five or six turns of the handle stopping it for one to two seconds before continuing. The aggressive fish will eat it on the move but more often than not the bites come as soon as it is stopped.

Surface luring for flathead is something I haven’t done a lot of but it has accounted for my biggest blue spot to date going 78 cm. This fish engulfed a bent minnow off the surface in a loud and explosive manner that almost resembled that of a Murray cod. Bent minnows have been my go-to lure so far but I’m planning on trying a few different styles such as small paddling style lures this coming spring. When fishing surface I prefer to target shallow water less than a metre deep, in calm, low light conditions. A slow retrieve with plenty of pauses has provided the best results.

Targeting KGW

When I switch my focus to KGW, not a lot changes with regards to the areas I fish. The same broken weed/

The author with an incredible flathead caught from the kayak.

A net is a handy item when a trophy whiting nears the kayak.

Try hot orange jig heads for added attraction for the whiting.

reef/sand areas seem to produce the most fish. I prefer to target KGW on the last part of the incoming tide and the first part of the outgoing tide. I have had my best luck in the reasonably shallow water of around 1.5m to 3m. In these shallow areas, I think the KGW hold out deeper in the weed at low tide and then moves up with the tide to feed, much like bream do on the flats. Similarly to targeting flatties, being able to see where you are casting is important, so a calm sunny day is usually best.

Methods and lures

Of the various methods used to target KGW my favourite method is throwing plastics. I like to target any sandy areas in amongst the weed and reef and slowly hop the plastic along the bottom. The set-up I have had the best luck with is a grub-style plastic rigged on a 1/6th or 1/10th ounce orange nedlockz jig head. Both the Z-man and baitjunkie 2.5-inch grubs work well. Bloodworm and mud blood are two of my favourite colours for KGW. Rigging these buoyant plastics on a nedlockz jig head gets them to sit upright when resting on the bottom and nicely imitates a nipper or worm burrowing into the sand. I have found the KGW will usually come along and suck them up off the bottom whilst they are at rest. A small plastic and hook size allows the whiting to inhale the entire plastic and not just grab onto the tail. Whilst fishing the flats in Georges Bay for bream I have caught a few small KGW on the 50 mm Cranka crab. I haven’t given it much of a try on the bigger ocean-dwelling KGW along the north coast but I’m sure it would work and I plan to try it out over the next few months.

Tackle

When targeting flatties and KGW I usually use my standard bream gear. This is a 1-2kg 2metre long BKCustom rod with a 2500 size reel spool up with a 3kg braid. I normally tie on a 3-4kg leader of around 4 metres in length when targeting flatties. Although flatties aren’t dirty fighters and usually don’t try and bust you off in structure, having a slightly heavier leader can help protect against being bitten off if the lure is taken down deep. Sometimes when throwing larger heavier plastics or heavier swimbaits I’ll use a slightly heavier rod of around 3-6kg. As for KGW, I will usually opt for a slightly lighter leader of 2.5-3kg. Having said this, sometimes sticking with a 4kg leader when chasing KGW can be helpful when trying to stop bycatch such as big bluethroat wrasse from getting back into the reef.

Equipment

There are a few other pieces of equipment that make chasing blue spot and KGW a little easier. A pair of good-quality polaroid sunnies are very important. They allow you to see the weed edges and sand holes much easier, allowing you to consistently make casts into the right areas. Although you will generally only be looking for structure as opposed to fish, I have spotted solid KGW cruising along in a metre and a half of water, flicked out in front of them and hooked up. Being able to see where you are casting also makes getting an expensive swim bait snagged in the reef a little less likely. Another piece of equipment that comes in handy is a large landing net. It can be very difficult to land a 60cm plus blue spot while it’s thrashing around on the surface with a small kayak net. Even a solid KGW can be a challenge to fit into a small net. I always carry a couple of squid jigs when I’m chasing blue spot and KGW as they tend to hang around similar areas and will often follow a plastic up to the side of the kayak. A quick flick of the jig for 10 minutes often results in a nice feed of calamari.

Chasing big blue spot and KGW in the shallows is a great light tackle option during spring and is easily accessible from the kayak. Once you have found fish in an area it can often pay to hang around and fish it thoroughly as there will often be others nearby. Sometimes leaving and resting a spot for half an hour and then coming back can help turn one or two fish from the one spot into three or four.

Both King George whiting and blue spot flathead can be caught in the same areas.

A selection of lures to target the shallows this spring.

Match the hatch!

Penstock Encounters

Techniques and tips for my favourite water

Logan Reid

Penstock lagoon is a favourite of mine. A stunningly beautiful lake with native eucalypts growing down to the water’s edge, Penstocks clear waters offer excellent polaroid fishing for both big brown and rainbow trout. This makes it the perfect location for a fly fisher to spend some time in, especially early in the season. The lagoon also has awesome dry fly opportunities in the warmer months with duns turning into red spinners, caddis, stoneflies and damselfly being some of the most prominent hatches. Penstock can be a tough fishery. It cops a heap of fishing pressure and the fish have become educated but in this article I am going to give you some tips I have been given and some things I have learned along the way, focusing on land-based and wade fishing.

First encounter on Penstock Lagoon

For as long as I can remember, my dad and all his mates had fly-fished. Throughout the summer months when I stopped catching fish on lures dad and his mates kept on catching fish on the fly. So I decided to give fly fishing a go at the age of 11. As a lot of us fly fishers start, I began by casting on the lawn in the front yard and stuck at it for about six months before moving onto the water. It would be six more months before I caught my first fish

on the fly. The first fish I caught on the fly was a brown trout of about two pounds that took a dry fly. The fly of choice was a deer hair beetle. Because I was only just starting with my fly fishing journey, I couldn’t cast out as far as I wanted. Those who know penstock, and especially those reading who have fished off the dam wall, would know the fish are often a cast and a half away! So I gave dad my rod and asked him to cast the fly out for me. Catching my first fish on the fly would’ve been a proud father and son moment for Dad. He wanted to be there next to me to see it all happen and share that moment. Dad stood next to me, waiting 2 hours, and putting out another 50 or so casts before I would get a fish to take my fly. But as it often happens, Dad placed his rod on the ground and looked away for three seconds and that’s when the fish decided to take my fly, and I hooked up on it before he could see it all happen! Before hooking up on the fish I had many fish take my fly but not hook up so to be able to feel contact and head shakes from the fish was rewarding and I was filled with adrenaline. Penstock lagoon being a shallow lagoon the fish don’t have the depth to go down so they just run like a freight train, jumping and going absolutely crazy. The cast that dad threw out for me was a long one, and it wasn’t long and I was almost into the backing. Not

The author with a Penstock brown taken on a dry.

knowing how to fight fish back then this brown was peeling line off and doing whatever it wanted! For a moment he went down and hit the bottom, and I thought I might have lost him until I thankfully felt him come loose. I regained most

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of my line but it wouldn’t be that easy as close to the bank he wrapped himself around some strap weed. After a little struggle, I got him out and dad got the net to him. This was an epic first encounter to fly fishing for me and I have been obsessed with this sport ever since.

Dry fly - Leader setup

Penstock Lagoon has some of the best dry fly fishing I have seen on a lake and is one of the reasons I keep travelling back to the lagoon. When using dries from the bank on a lake I often go a double dry setup with a 9ft 4X tapered leader with a short section of 3kg tippet to my first fly. From there, I have my point fly about a metre below. The reason for this is you give yourself about a metre of coverage in front of a fish and more chance of the fish seeing your fly. To be successful in fishing Penstock Lagoon, you need to focus on a specific family of insects. These insects are mayflies. As some of you may know, the lifecycle of a mayfly has four stages; the first stage being the eggs that will then hatch into the nymph, and then on an overcast warm day with a bit of wind those nymphs will then turn into a dun take to the wing. These little insects spend about a day sitting up in a tree or the grass before hatching into the spinner. At different times trout will key onto these life stages.

Targeting spinner feeders

Penstock has huge numbers of spinners around the edge which the trout key onto and start feeding heavily on them. Fishing to spinner feeding trout can be very exciting and engaging fishing. These fish are often close to the edge and in the shallows, charging around making very obvious bow waves chasing after spinners hovering over the water. So the sight fishing can be epic. With this style of fishing, I usually go with a 12ft 4X leader with a 6lb tippet attached, about a metre long. To the end of this, I will attach a single dry of either size 12, 14 or 16 red or black spinner. If your first presentation gets ignored, you can represent your fly to the next fish and add some movement to give it some life. You can add movement by just lifting your rod tip until your flies start to skate across the surface hopefully inducing a take. If the doesn’t work downsizing or changing the colour of your fly is the option.

Targeting dun feeders

Unlike stone flies, damselflies and dragonflies that will crawl up the bank, a log or rock to hatch, duns will emerge through the water column. Even out in the middle of the lake where there is no structure whatsoever. Whilst they are emerging, they are in a very venerable state and trout will lock onto them as they don’t have to chase these emerging duns. Duns have a sail ship-like wing and get pushed around a lot in the wind. When this is happening, I find the place to fish is the shore where the wind is pushing in too. Often this is where you will find

the majority of fish feeding on them. For a dun feeding fish, I like to again use a 9ft 4X tapered leader with a one-metre long section of 6lb tippet to my first fly which would usually be a highland dun, then about a 60cm section of tippet down to my point fly. My go-to point flies are either a Possum Emerger or a Shaving Brush. These flies usually get the job done for me.

Fussy trout when duns are hatching

There have been many frustrating times on Penstock where there will be duns on the water and fish breaking the surface, but they just wouldn’t take the dry for me. In these situations going subsurface can be a game-changer. My favourite way to fish under these conditions is by using a team of nymphs with a floating line, retrieved using the figure of eight retrieve. For this technique, my leader consists of a 9ft tapered leader to a short dropper with my first fly. This fly will usually be an unweighted claret nymph, or sometime I’ll put a stick caddis on. Then on the point, I would put an orange beaded claret nymph on. Sometimes using something flashy on the dropper also works well. The technique is quite simple. I don’t like to fish a full cast, as a medium cast gives you better control. When the flies land, I like to give them a few big strips to get in contact with my flies and then slowly figure-eight my flies towards me. Another way to fish a fly subsurface is with a dry dropper set-up. Using a 9ft tapered leader to a larger more buoyant dry such as a big highland dun, I’ll hang a small claret nymph underneath it with a short dropper about 30cm long. The claret nymph can either be unweighted or have a small orange bead. The weight doesn’t need to be any more than a 2.5mm bead under the dry of you may sink it. Adjusting your dropper length to the point fly is also important to getting regular takes. Sometimes 30cm will work and other times you may need to go a little deeper.

Gear for the lake

For bank fishing on the lakes, a 5 or 6-weight fast action fly rod is a great choice. The rod that I have been using for about the last year is the Temple Fork Outfitters LK Legacy 9 foot 5 weight. I pair this rod with an Orvis Clearwater Large Arbor reel. The Scientific Angler Amplitude Smooth Infinity WF 5 F is the line I love.

Increase tippet size

Penstock is known for its rather large brown and rainbow trout. So upping your tippet size is sometimes important. Because the lagoon is shallow, and all the fish can do is run, they put a lot of pressure on your tippet so if you’re a 4lb fly fisher, upping the tippet to 6lb or 8lb is a good starter. I’ve lost plenty of fish in Penstock from breaking them off and I’ve heard a heartbreaking story of someone hooking up on a fish being on for a few seconds and the fish jumped about a metre out of the water before broking the line. The fish

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would proceed to jump another 11 times in a big ark with one fly still in its mouth and the second fly trailing behind all the while showing everyone how big he was!

Great place to visit

With the reopening of trout season, Penstock will be high on my must-visit places this season. Regardless of whether you have a boat or not, it is such a great place to fish. There’s plenty of access and lots of big fish, what more could a fly fisher ask for!

Penstock is known for its oversized rainbows as well.

Watch the water carefully for browns eating duns and get your flies to the fish quickly.

Scouting for Scallops

One of Tasmania’s gems - well worth the effort

Grant Wilson

Tasmanians have been stuffing scallops into pies, and then into their mouths since the early 1800s. But first, a diver needs to stuff them into a catch bag. There is a joke about SCUBA diving that teenage boys love, and teenage girls roll their eyes at. “Why do SCUBA divers fall backwards out of the boat”? I ask my nieces and nephew. “Because if they fell forwards, they would still be in the boat.” The reaction was as predicted. On a beautiful day in early July, as I stare over the side of the boat and a mate drops the anchor, I wonder to myself if I should fall forward this time. In the lead-up to this trip, we had a string of frosts, minus two and three-degree types of frosts. The sounder was giving me a surface temp of 10 degrees, but I was more concerned about what was down deeper. No SCUBA diving isn’t a glamorous sport; picture four dadbod

types flailing around in their undies trying to squeeze into wetsuits. Hairy backs, smelly feet and plenty of plumber’s crack. It takes a bit of time to get all the SCUBA gear organized and strapped to your body, in fact, my entire kit weighs in at 45Kgs. Sitting on the gunnel and waiting my turn to enter the water, feeling exhausted from fighting with my wetsuit and carrying enough lead to build a keel. So, it is a relief to finally fall backwards off that boat and be neutrally buoyant.

Going deep to get the goods

As I hit the water, my 9mm semidry suit does a great job of holding the icy water at bay, apart from the few holes from where the dog chewed it once. Good gloves, a hood, mask and boots complete the outfit as far as being protected from the water goes. To sink to

the bottom we need some help, and that help comes in the form of lead and steel. A belt full of lead, a steel air cylinder and a bit more lead in the pockets of my (BC) buoyancy compensator vest for good luck and you would think I’d sink like a stone. Nope, that just gets us neutral buoyancy. The perfect balance of sinking and floating. A big breath in and we float, breath all the way out and we’re sinking. Using your lungs to control depth creates a relaxing diving experience. Instead of flapping around burning up precious energy and oxygen, slow your breathing and use your breathing pattern to set the pace of your dive. I’m six feet, well over 100 kilos and prefer eating to exercising, but by letting my breathing set the pace I can get up to an hour out of one air tank.

Kilpatrick served in the half shell are very hard to beat.

Where to find scallops

Sinking through the water column, equalising my ears as I go and making any final adjustments to my gear, I reach the bottom. A quick look at the dive computer tells me I’m at four meters, the water temp is eight degrees, and as I look at my surroundings it is easy to tell I’m not in scallop country. It’s a sandy bottom but has a fair bit of weed and sea grass, so I point my compass North and start swimming across Wedge Bay. White Beach on the Forester Peninsula has become very popular for scallop diving in the last 10 years, with the closure of D’Entrecasteaux Channel due to low scallop numbers I fear Wedge Bay might go the same way. When you have no form of defence, live 100m from the boat ramp and taste delicious you don’t stand much of a chance. On my way to deeper water, I swim past a Giant Spider Crab. At the sevenmetre mark, I start to see holes in the sand, holes where scallops once lived. Another minute or so and I start to see the Horseshoes, the unmistakable shape of a scallop sitting under the sand. It’s the same excitement you get when you see a huge bait ball on the sounder or a trout tailing in the shallows. It’s action time.

I start plucking scallops from the sand like they’re toilet rolls in a pandemic; they’re not going in the catch bag quick enough! I do my best to count out 50 that I’m confident are size and this takes less than 10 minutes. I check my dive instruments and must ask myself why I’ve used so much air, down about 50 bar pressure from where I thought I’d be. Sure, I got excited harvesting those juicy molluscs thinking about all the ways I was going to cook them. Sure, once I got started I threw all controlled breathing out the window. And sure, I did as any good diver is taught – never hold your breath. But still, I’d used a lot of air. Looking at my dive computer and the answer is right in front of me, or above me depending on how you look at it. I was in 17 metres of water, down here everything is being squeezed, most notably your air. At 10 metres deep, you will use twice the air that you would at the surface. I once got very excited trying to get a crayfish out of a hole at 25m deep and sucked my air down so fast I was back at the boat fully dressed and halfway through my lunch before the other divers had even surfaced. To make matters worse I was empty-handed. My advice, stay above 10 metres, it is where all the action and scenery are. Abalone, crayfish, scallops and any number of fish to spear are all in that zone. Not to mention all the colourful seaweed and soft corals, colour fades fast after 10 metres deep. So unless you need to, stay in the fun zone. I’d solved the mystery of the missing air pressure, but I soon forgot about that when I noticed the water temp at six degrees, “that can’t be right” I mumble through my regulator. Giving my dive computer a tap on the screen, like it’s some oldschool barometer hanging in my grandparent’s kitchen and I’m wishing for the digits to change. But nothing does, and that’s when I realize. Crikey, I’m bloody cold. Because not only does the water pressure reduce your air quantity, it reduces the thickness of your wetsuit. My usually warm and comfy wetsuit feels nothing more than a cheap rashie. Time to head to the boat.

Returning to the top

I have no idea where the boat is, and I’m not going to surface here because I know I’m a long way out in the bay. I swam north to get here so the best bet is to aim south and swim back to the four-metre mark and surface then. As I start the swim home, I notice how heavy my catch bag is. It is dragging me into the sand. A quick press of a button and I inflate my BC a little, just to keep me from kicking up silt and make it look a bit less like an injured seal. You don’t want to look like one of those if you can help it (insert jaws theme music). As I come to shallower water everything brightens, more seagrass comes into view and I even stop to play with a baby octopus. I hear a beep coming from my wrist and check to see what is going on, my computer is telling me to have a decompression stop. It’s a three minute stop at the five-metre mark, it allows any nitrogen that might be in your system to be expelled.

If we rushed to the surface the nitrogen can form bubbles and cause decompression sickness. If you think isolating with COVID is bad, imagine a week in a hyperbaric chamber. If I was to swim to the surface after the dive I just had, the chance of getting decompression sickness is low. I have already tried tapping the thing on the screen to check it’s not mistaken once this trip. I know it is not, so I just wait it out. I’m more than happy to listen to the dive computer, mostly because it cost a lot of money and I need to get some value out of it. The minutes pass and it’s a good time to relax and reflect on what was a good dive, it’s a long drive towing a boat from where I live in the southern midlands right to the bottom of the peninsula. Taking a moment to remember that the prize is well and truly worth the effort is a nice way to finish the dive. Times up, so I hit the inflate button on my BC and surface about 40m from the boat.

Heading for the ramp

Remember me talking about SCUBA diving not being a glamorous sport? Well, picture those same four guys back in the boat in their undies. Wringing wet, goosebumps, blue lips and shrinkage that may need medical attention. In the corner there is a pile of wetsuits that smell a lot like a urinal at a dodgy nightclub. What can I say? It’s cold down there. So why on earth would anyone go through all of that when for 30 bucks you can get a plate of scallops and chips and a large glass of beer at the pub? I’ll tell you why.

Imagine inside that shell is a scallop as round as a beer can and so thick you can barely get your chompers over it. Add to that a roe the size of a 16oz sinker and the fact that you have 50 of these things. That’s more than enough reason for a grown man to pee his pants.

Heading back to the boat ramp and we’re intercepted by the Marine Police in their little rubber duck, a quick check of licenses and safety gear then it is onto the scallops. They’re quick to throw the new guy on board and get him counting out the scallops, a bit of friendly banter later and were on our way again. The police were interested in making sure we had enough dive gear for each person on board, harvesting scallops for your mate who is hanging out on the boat is a NO NO even if he is licensed.

Tell tale signs of a scallop bed.

There’s a whole other world under the water.

A perfect Tassie scallop.

Measure your scallops across the widest part of the shell.

All the gear - but please be safe

So, you’ve just purchased a secondhand hookah that old mate dragged out of the back of the shed and let you have for 250 bucks including the dust. You and your mates are now ready to bag out on scallops all winter, what’s stopping you? Well, hopefully, some common sense. It doesn’t matter if you’re diving SCUBA or from a compressor, the first and foremost thing you need is a PADI open water dive accreditation. It makes me very uneasy hearing about mates going thirds in a dive compressor, or Hookah as they’re known, and just jumping in the water and working it out for themselves. Let me run a few scenarios past you. Imagine you are upside down between two large rocks, with your arm shoulder deep in a hole fighting a crayfish. Suddenly you bump your mask, and it fills up with cold salty water. You’re blinded and in a very difficult position. Or what if you are working your way through the shallows looking for abalone, fighting the swell and the kelp. Getting thrown around in this washing machine of rocks and weeds only to find kelp has wrapped around the neck of your dive bottle and you are trapped. Both situations would cause panic in almost anyone. A rapid ascent to the surface, most likely holding your breath. Rupturing your lung, or your ear drum if you’re lucky. Or if you’re trapped in the weeds, thrashing around using up your air in a matter of minutes. To a trained and confident diver, these situations are no more than a small hiccup. A quick clearing of the mask by tilting your head back, pressing your finger between your eyes and blowing your nose has the mask cleared and its back to the crayfish. Or removing your BC underwater, untangling the kelp and you have lost a couple of minutes of diving at best. A

real emergency is finding a rock covered in abalone only to realise you left your dive knife on the deck of the boat.

The correct training gives you the skills and know-how to handle a multitude of situations underwater, I say situations and not problems because they are only problems if you panic. Now you have a new little white card to stick in your wallet along with your Flybuys and all those loyalty cards you can never find when you are at the counter, it’s time to look at the rest of the equipment. Were talking about SCUBA (Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) so to get us started we need a Weight Integrated Buoyancy Compensator (BC). It’s the vest that straps our air cylinder to our back and has pockets to place lead dive weights in to spread the load around instead of it all being on our weight belt. It has a bladder that can be inflated or deflated to compensate for our buoyancy, hence the name, and it has pockets for any accessories. Things like a torch or knife and places to clip catch bags or underwater cameras. Look at it as the chassis of your diving system. On our air cylinder we have the first stage regulator and second stage (mouthpiece), this takes the air from a massive 3000PSI and delivers it to our mouth at ambient pressure. There is also an ‘Octopus” this is your spare hose and mouthpiece should the primary fail. A third hose takes air to our BC and finally is your Submersible Pressure Gauge to check your air pressure.

Under this is your wetsuit, there are three main options. A 2-piece wetsuit made up of pants and a jacket. A semi-dry suit is a one-piece wetsuit with seals on the arms feet and neck to prevent water from getting in. Finally, a dry suit. If you want to use a dry suit then there is another training course for that. Not commonly used by your average recreational divers looking for lunch, mostly commercial divers and the crazy people who like to go down deep. Gloves, boots, a mask and a hood are all essentials along with a set of good fins. A dive belt full of lead weights is the last piece of the puzzle. But like any good hobby, there are enough accessories and upgrades to spend your entire week’s pay on, every week for quite some time. I would recommend a LED torch, catch bag, a knife you can strap to your leg or upper arm and a dive computer - either integrated into your regulator or a wristwatch type. One thing to keep in mind, your air cylinder and regulator needs to be serviced every 12 months.

Future thinking

Things still don’t look good for the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. From 1995 until now, the fishery in the channel has only been open a handful of times, and with special catch and size limits in place when it did open. IMAS (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies) conduct dive and camera surveys of the scallop beds every year or two, and with the current closure being over a decade long you would think the stocks would be on the rebound. But they are just not. Only low densities of scallops are being reported and until the numbers are up and there is a range of size classes distributed throughout the beds, you better look elsewhere. But where you ask. Remember when you were walking along the beach and picked up that scallop shell and tried to skip it across the water? Chances are you threw it in the exact direction of where it came from.

The best thing you can do is get your head under the water and have a look, don’t be scared to use a few bottles of air scouting around on the bottom at your favourite beach. If it’s got a sandy bottom and there’s good tidal flow then give it a shot. I’ve even heard of people getting towed slowly behind the boat with their snorkel on prospecting along the beach. To put it bluntly, White Beach is getting hammered, and it’s going the same way as the Channel I fear. While it’s nice to return to grounds that have been fruitful in the past, I feel the next trip should be on new territory. Just to spread the load.

Ocean to plate

On a lighter note, let’s get these scallops cleaned and cook a few up. You can’t beat YouTube for learning how to tie knots, wire in power points or clean scallops. It’s a one-stop-shop, so all I’ll say is I like the butter knife and spoon method. That goes for wiring in power points as well. Just open the shell with the knife and scoop out the flesh with the spoon, by the time you clean the last one it should all make sense. Be sure to keep a dozen shells, because Scallops Kilpatrick served in the half shell are very hard to beat.

All the necessary items for a successful dive. It can be expensive, but good gear, well understood can be life saving.

Scallops cleaned and ready for cooking.

Northeast Hoodlums

Bumper year on yellowtail kingfish

Damon Sherriff

Yellowtail kingfish are a fantastic sports fish and are highly sought after by anglers all over Tasmania and the rest of the nation. In Tasmania, they have been very hit and miss the last three decades. Back in the eighties, just before I started fishing for kings, Tasmania received some bumper seasons on big kings. Fish over nine kilograms were reasonably common at Low Head, which is at the mouth of the Tamar estuary where I started fishing for kings. The biggest I have seen was caught by local Launceston school teacher Richard Gregory who caught a massive Tamar King of 20kg, he has a mount of it on his wall at Low Head.

Unfortunately, I didn’t start targeting kings until the early nineties in the Tamar and the red hot run of big kings had died off and fishing for them became very hit and miss. Only juvenile fish were turning up each season and you were lucky to catch a fish 65cm in length. Some seasons the kings were very light on the ground and you could count the number of fish caught on both hands for the season taken from the Tamar mouth.

Although the fish were small, I did have quite a bit of success with kings throughout the 1990s. The highlight was probably winning the fishing competition called the Tamar River King Fish Classic in 2000. This competition at the time was Tasmania’s biggest fishing competition with over 500 anglers entering. I was lucky to take out the major prize of $1000 which

was a lot back then, with the heaviest king, which only weighed 2.5 kg. These rats have been turning up each season and not getting any bigger. I spoke to several others about this and they suggested it was because of overfishing the Kingfish on the mainland? I lost interest in Kings in the early 2000s and just concentrated on my Snapper Fishing.

The return of the king

I moved from the banks of the Tamar 7 years ago and moved to Bridport. I’ve mainly been concentrating on my snapper fishing until this summer when I ran into a school of rats while catching snapper bait. They were only smaller fish up to 65 cm but I had a ball catching them on a light rod and a Nomad stick bait. This was the first experience I have had catching kings on lures as all my experience with kings was with slow trolling dead baits, such as squid and garfish. I was surprised by how well they responded to the surface lure. I ended up catching about twenty small fish. I hooked a nice one in about six metres of water and it was a decent rat. My small four-metre tinny drifted out into deeper water while I was fighting the king. When I grabbed my landing net and got sight of the fish, I saw that swimming right behind my king, was two massive dark shadows. The shadows swam right up to the side of my boat and eyeballed me, they were two of the biggest kings I had ever seen alive. My eyes were popping out of my head! They slowly swam back into the depths. I

estimated them to be around 105 to 110 cm.

After experiencing this I started getting keen again. I went home and told my sons and my cousin Andrew Hart of Hook line and Sinker TV show. Andrew has had a lot of experience with bigger kings up in NSW. He was happy to share some tips with me on how to target the larger fish. I returned a few days later on an early predawn session, I planned to catch some live squid and drift over the area where the kings had been. After catching some calamari on first light I headed over to fish. After letting the first one out, it got smashed instantly by a small king. This happened three times over until I was out of live bait. So I just started catching them on the stick bait again. Unfortunately nothing big amongst them.

The next trip was with my youngest son Sam, and we headed out pre-dawn again. We trolled some big hardbodies around for a while, it was a bit quiet until Sam’s rod buckled over and screamed off at a blistering rate, we both knew straight away it was no rat, it did a couple of dogged blistering runs for the pins on the bottom but Sam put the hurt on him and turned his head. 10 minutes went by and we finally got colour. I netted him and it was all over. Sam was absolutely ecstatic. He had landed a beautiful 90 cm northeastern Tasmanian kingfish. We put the fish on ice and decided that the fish would look fantastic on Sammy’s wall. I plan to mount it for him at a later date.

Tasmania’s kingfish fishery is improving every season.

After this, I was really keen to catch one on live bait. Andrew had razed me up with his mainland techniques, so a few days later I got up early before daylight and was on the water bright and early. I headed out and pulled up in a spot where I catch good numbers of slimy mackerel. I threw in my little burley pot, which was full of chicken pellets and tuna oil. I dropped in my sabiki rig spiced up with small pieces of calamari. After a while, the burley trail had started to work, and I noticed a mackerel school under the boat. I started getting bites. I was on! Over the side came three nice slimy’s. I filled my ice box up with fresh salt water and headed straight to the kingfish grounds for the low tide change.

I hooked a fresh Slimy in the back and threw him over the side. I was very excited with anticipation, I knew there was big fish about and was hoping one would respond to the kicking slimy. After a short wait, I saw my rod tip bounce and my line tighten. I flicked the Shimano TLD 15 out of gear and let whatever was attacking the bait take a bit of line. The line started to peel off the reel at a speedy rate, so I whacked the reel in gear and let the rod load up. I was on! After a first blistering run of nearly 60 metres, the big king started to arch out into deeper water. He started to head into a danger zone where a lot of nasty bommies were on the bottom. I was getting very nervous and was waiting for my line to part from the king. Lucky for me the king started to swim back the other way towards the shallows again. I was out of trouble. He swam down deep and started fighting closer to the bottom. But fortunately, the bottom was clear of the reef so I was safe. I finally played the big king up to the side of the boat. Another beautiful northeast king. Not the size of the ones I saw a few days earlier but still a pretty respectable fish anywhere. I got out my landing net and scooped him up. I had finally caught a big kingfish, after all these years, and on a live bait (thanks to Andrew Hart). I laid him on the brag mate and he measured 87 cm. Not quite as long as Sammy’s but still a P.B for me! Well, that’s not the end of the story, over the next month we landed a lot of good Kings on live bait, dead bait and

big hardbody lures. They were all between 80 to 95 cm but unfortunately we never came across any like those first two kings I saw, they were next level!

Best live bait

Definitely, the best live baits were calamari and slimy mackerel. The size did not seem to put the kings off too much. Some of the slimies I used were huge so don’t worry too much about the size.

The rig

I was mainly using a snapper-style running sinker rig with the live baits and used two 7/0 Reedy’s 187 suicide hooks. One snelled to the line which was pinned to the back of the mackerel and the other hook acted like a stinger hook that was not pinned in the bait. The calamari rig I was using was the same except both hooks were pinned in the bait. The snelled hook was pinned through the top of the hood and the other lightly pinned in the head. A three-ounce sinker on the rig was perfect for getting the bait where it needed to be.

The lures

The best lures for the big kings were big hard bodies such as Halco Laser Pro 190s and also 220 Bluewater Deep Divers. The kings surprised me as my trolling speed was not fast. Only about 6kph. I was always told faster was better for kings with lures? Slow seemed to work for us (editors note; the big shallow water kings in South Australia are regularly caught slow trolling live baits and lures)

The outfits

At the start of all this, I was just using my snapper rods spooled up with 10kg monofilament. I ended up losing a couple of decent ones on the bottom so I started using two outfits and that worked really well. Both the rods I was using were Uglystick Bluewater 1.7metre overhead jigging rods rated at 24 kg. The two reels I had matched up to rods were

great old reels I used to use for snapper in the Tamar. A Shimano Triton Lever Drag 15 and a Shimano Charter Special 2000. Both reels are bulletproof and can easily handle big yellowtail. I had both reels spooled up with 10kg Berkeley Fireline. The leader line I was using was Platypus Hard Armour Supple Trace in 24 kg.

Tides

Definitely, low tide and the start of the run-in was the go in the location I was in, but it can vary from spot to spot. You are best not to worry too much about the tide when you are searching for them. Then the next trip just go on the same tide you caught them.

Plan your trip early

The early morning was very good for us, so try to set your alarm clock before daylight. The early bird catches the worm or fish!

Donate your frames for research.

Lastly, make sure you help the Tassie Fish Frame Collection, IMAS at the University of Tasmania is researching Tasmanian kingfish, snapper, King George whiting, striped trumpeter and silver trevally. They need your frames to make a secure future for your favourite species. Frames can be dropped off at participating shops or contact IMAS.

A slimy mackerel drifted across the reef was the undoing of this kingfish by the author.

Calamari is a deadly bait for catching yellowtail kingfish. A sensational mixed bag from the northeast.

A memorable capture for Dylan Weber and crew while on charter (2018).

Gladiator of the Sea

Tasmania’s most prized game fish

Nathan Huizing

Xiphias Gladius, the gladiator of the sea or more commonly known as the broadbill swordfish is a species regarded by many as the pinnacle of game fishing around the world. Here in Tasmania, the swordfish fishery is a relatively new option for the recreational scene and to my knowledge was first tapped into by Leo Miller in 2014 who recognised the potential, put in the effort studying and applying renowned daydropping techniques and before long a dream was realised when he had his first Tasmanian broadbill swordfish on the deck. A fish that busted open a whole new world of opportunities for the state’s game fishing community. The years that followed saw more and more anglers heading out and adding that big tick to their bucket list as Tassie earned its place on the map as a world-class broadbill fishery. The best part is you don’t need a flashy 10m+ boat to be able to chase these fish. Luckily in Tasmania, the continental shelf is only about a 25km run (give or take) from most of the popular boat ramps along the East Coast and given the right weather conditions this fishery is totally accessible for trailer boats around 5m+!

In 2016, two years after the discovery of this fishery I had the privilege to join a crew from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) on several trips throughout summer and autumn trying to satellite tag several swordfish from various sites along the East Coast of TAS. The project certainly saw some success and we managed to tag multiple fish from St.Helens to Eaglehawk Neck including one incredible day with the IFISH crew

managing to get three swordfish boat side in one day! The project was an eye-opening experience for me and was the spark that ignited a new interest and appreciation for a fish that I had previously known very little about.

While onboard with IMAS I met many new faces, one in particular that scarred me for life was that of Locki Nichols’. Jokes aside this is where I first met Locki and got to observe as he displayed his skills and knowledge of deep dropping. It became quite apparent that we both shared a similar passion for fishing and it wasn’t long before a friendship was formed.

Fast forward to the summer of 2017 when I was offered a deckhand position on Locki’s new charter boat the Seawolf. We had some great trips catching everything from tuna to makos as well as various demersal species before we decided it was time to try and tackle our first charter sword. On the 28th of February, Locki had his first booking and we headed out with a fella from NSW by the name of Sam Beattie. From memory, it was only the second or third drop of the day when the arrow squid we had sent down was consumed by something much larger and the Tiagra 80w started singing its song. An intense battle ensued as Sam slowly worked the fish to the surface. A series of very aggressive head shakes had everyone excited and before long we could see the colour under the boat. Eventually, the fish was close enough and the unmistakable profile of the broadbill swordfish showed itself. Locki reached out for the leader and soon had the fish swimming boat side. Sam made the call to release

My first swordfish! (2022)

this fish and after a few happy snaps the hook was removed and we all watched on as this epic fish powered its way back down to the depths. It was high-fives all-around and our first swordfish charter couldn’t have gone any better.

Over the next two seasons, the success continued and the swordfish tally exceeded double digits including one

unbelievable run where we managed to land five fish in five trips! The deckhand gig was an awesome experience and being able to assist and be a part of some very memorable captures for a number of people was an absolute privilege. To add to that, the knowledge of deep dropping I gained along the way was priceless.

Moving forward a few more years (Autumn 2021) and Locki decided to buy himself a trailer boat. An 18ft Alison. A fibreglass half-cab. A smaller boat than we had previously been fishing out of but a fully capable vessel all the same. The first couple of trips we did were spent chasing southern bluefin closer inshore which provided for some great fun as well as a good opportunity for Locki to get a feel for his new investment and it wasn’t long before he proposed the idea that we go and try our luck out wide dropping some baits into the abyss. It was already getting a little late in the season however we spent the remaining days of Autumn and a month into Winter fishing whenever possible. 2021 didn’t boast the most productive of sword seasons as many anglers found it tough and it seemed luck just wasn’t on our side either as we pulled hooks on three fish before positively identifying any of them. The only fish that made it onto the deck from these trips were a handful of big pink ling taken as bycatch on the sword baits and some respectable school-sized bluefin on the jig as we drifted. As the water temperature retreated and Winter really began to set in we decided to cut our losses and wrap it up for the season. Feeling a little defeated but more determined than ever we eagerly awaited the next season.

2022 rolled around and with it came the East Australian Current (EAC) pushing its way down the coastline bringing a variety of great sports fish from kingfish to tuna, makos and most importantly swordfish. Wasting no time, we got organised and headed out for our first trip of the season. Intending to keep our first sword we had decided to go with a double J hook rig as we felt this was our best bet of bringing a fish into the boat and it had certainly worked in the past. A few hours went by and things were looking a little quiet. That was until about 12 pm when we finally had our first enquiry. Some very tell-tale knocks on the rod tip indicative of classic swordfish behaviour occurred as a fish investigated the slimy mackerel we had sent down some 500 metres. For a short period,

the line went completely slack suggesting the fish had picked up the bait and was swimming up through the water column. The call was made to drive off the bait as we wound quickly. Tension soon returned to the line as well as a serious bend in the rod and we were officially tight on our first fish of the season. Locki’s younger brother Sam jumped on the rod and we got him strapped in. About 15 minutes into the fight the fish made a speedy dash for the surface as Sam gave it everything trying to keep some tension in the line. The fish popped up on the surface roughly 80 metres behind the boat as it shook its head again in an attempt to remove its recently acquired lip piercing and unfortunately for us, it did so successfully. While we never got a clear look at the fish but it was definitely doing all the right things. Devastated, we regrouped and got back to soaking another bait, and another one, and another. However, time passed and as we watched the sunset on the horizon we only had a pink ling to show for our efforts.. What we didn’t know at the time was that the next few trips would sadly see a similar fate. Over a series of trips we continued to get connected to some very large fish but as fishing goes sometimes luck just wasn’t on our side and we were left tormented by the ‘ones that got away’ other than a pesky mako that we released.

As peak season approached (AprilMay) a few tweaks were made to our rigs in an attempt to increase our luck. The first was the addition of some lumo Meridian skirts in varying colours we hadn’t yet tried. Colours that we felt made our presentations

more appealing. The second change to the rig was a change that I feel proved most important. We decided to ditch the J-style hooks for a circle hook. The BKK Monster Circle 16/0 was the hook of choice. After rigging the baits with a method that can be found on the Youtube Channel ‘Ultimate Fishing’ we headed back out for redemption on the 25/4/22 - Anzac Day. The day prior had been a big day fishing the Australian Bluefin Championship followed by a bigger night on the tins at the Lufra Hotel. Safe to say I was feeling a little rough as we headed out to the shelf and spent the first few hours of the day battling some serious nausea. As the day went on my condition improved as did the weather and we continued dropping baits while awaiting a tide change due just after midday. Anticipating that this may be the bite time, we rigged up a bait that we had been holding onto especially. The backstrap of a striped tuna. We retrieved the bait from our previous drop, repositioned for our next drift and threw the backstrap over attached to two bricks. The bricks soon made contact with the seafloor and after a couple of aggressive lifts of the rod tip, the breakaway line parted on cue. The rod was placed in the holder and we began the drift. No more than 10 minutes into the drift we witnessed a solid whack through the rod tip and before we could even reach for the rod it began to load with some solid weight. As it was a rather large bait the decision was to quickly knock the reel into free spool and let the fish get the bait down properly as crew member Antony Suttil helped me get the Black Magic Equalizer harness on. Locki proceeded to up the drag and wind into the fish and just like that, we were tight. I got strapped in on the rod as Locki jumped on the wheel. As we slowly drove off the fish I got stuck into winding. The thought of being attached to what could possibly be my first swordfish soon had

One of three swords caught in a day by the IFISH crew off St.Helens as part of the IMAS project (2016).

Tuna back strap inserted into a Meridian blue lumo skirt attached to a BKK Monster Circle hook.

the adrenalin pumping and some shaky legs followed as a result. While there was undoubtedly some weight on the end of the line, there was a lack of headshakes and it just didn’t seem quite right. No more than 10 minutes had passed and we had already gained at least 300 metres of line on this fish with very little activity being felt through the rod the heart began to sink as the consensus onboard was that this was perhaps just another big ling. Regardless I stayed strapped in and continued to winch the dead weight. Before long the topshot began filling up the reel meaning we weren’t too far off meeting this creature of the deep. I reckon we only had about 50 metres of line left to go and all hope seemed lost when all of a sudden a series of BIG lunges caught me off guard! A short burst of power saw some line come off the reel signalling to us that this was no ling. Antony quickly chucked a pair of gloves on as Locki readied the gaffs. The fish that had seemingly only just woken up decided to race for the surface as

I wound as fast as I could to stay connected. All of a sudden a large dark shape appeared only 20 metres away from the boat and as it edged closer the iridescent bronze and purple colours of a swordfish greeted our eyes! Antony latched onto the leader and the fish was soon within reach. I took a couple of steps back as Locki came in and took a swing with the gaff and in it went closely followed by a second gaff and just like that the fish was secured. A seriously euphoric moment for the whole crew with high-fives and hugs all around. A long time coming - my very first swordfish, a fish that I’d

dreamt of since my introduction to them over 7 years ago was finally in front of me. On top of that, it was the first sword in Locki’s new boat. Spirits were high and after a few happy snaps, we cracked some stubbies and headed for home in some glass-out conditions. A day I’ll never forget and yet another reason I’ll always remember that special date. Being able to go out on the water and experience moments like that with good mates truly makes you appreciate those who put their lives on the line for this country all those years ago.

New TARFish website OUT NOW!

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.

Big pink ling. A common bycatch when deep dropping (2021).

A lit up sword ready for release while on charter (2017).

TO FLY FISH

Top quality Airflo outfit and FREE lesson - $460

Beginners often don’t know where to start on their fly fishing journey. Essential Flyfisher have addressed that by including a FREE lesson with this Flyfishing Outfit.

It is budget priced, but does not compromise on quality. This kit includes a quality Airflo rod, alloy reel and good quality line - all matched by professional to ensure you will have good gear and a good experience. It is backed up by the Essential Flyfisher and should you need help anytime, they will be there for you. Rods come in a cordura tube for protection.

It is available in 5 and 6 weights, but if that doesn’t mean anything to you don’t worry. The good folks at Essential will explain it all.

Shipping is FREE. Buy instore, phone to order 03 63318944 or shop online at: www.essentialflyfisher.com.au

Courses are conducted regularly near Launceston and run 10am to 3pm. Juniors must be accompanied by an adult.

Gone Fishing Charters

RECREATIONAL SEA FISHERIES NEWS

Flathead Fishery Update

Flathead are often considered the backbone of the Tasmanian recreational fishery and account for 70% of all recreational fish caught each year. Most of the 100,000 or so people who go fishing in Tasmania started out catching flathead. The most recent General Fishing Survey showed that recreational fishers in Tasmania keep over 700,000 flathead every year, most of which are sand flathead.

Recreational fishers take around 98% of the total statewide harvest of sand flathead. The remaining 2% is taken by commercial fishers. This is split between the commercial ‘hook and line’ fishery and the Danish seine fishery, which operates within 1-3 nautical miles offshore. The Danish seine fishery mainly targets sand flathead and tiger flathead. The commercial tiger flathead catch is around 72 % of the total state catch for this species.

The state of the fishery

Concerns about the health of the Tasmanian sand flathead fishery have increased in recent years. Research by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) indicates low numbers of legal sized flathead, with strong evidence of growth overfishing – this occurs when fish are caught before they have reached their growth potential. Research also indicates that current levels of fishing pressure are likely to cause recruitment overfishing – this occurs when the level of fishing reduces the number of fish that grow to legal size.

Recreational fishers have expressed concerns about declining sand flathead catches over the past couple of decades. A better understanding of this decline emerged in 2012 through a flathead monitoring program undertaken by IMAS. Since then, the fishery has been classified as ‘Depleting’, which led to changes to recreational size and bag limits in 2015. While there were early signs of improvement, the fishery remains depleting and requires a further reduction in total catch.

What are we doing about this?

Last year, as part of the Recreational Sea Fishing Strategy, the Tasmanian Government committed $250,000 for the Flathead for the Future program. Under the program, a recovery plan will be developed to restore the health of the sand flathead fishery. Feeding the recovery plan are a range of initiatives including:

Snapshot from IMAS Scalefish Assessment 2019/20

Sand flathead (above): Stock status = Depleting Tiger flathead (below): Stock status = Sustainable

• Continued regional monitoring of sand flathead length, sex and age around Tasmania. This will help us understand regional differences in fishery health and how regional populations are connected.

• Research of recreational flathead fishers to help develop more acceptable management settings and increase the effectiveness of responsible fishing initiatives.

• A harvest strategy to manage flathead stocks more reflexively.

• New ways to engage with and provide information to recreational fishers.

Based on our increasing concerns for the sand flathead fishery, we will draft a recovery plan that sets out actions to return the fishery to sustainable levels. This will include reviewing catch limits and increasing outreach activities about responsible flathead fishing. Any subsequent rule proposals would undergo public consultation by March 2023 and potential changes could take effect in November 2023.

What can fishers do to help flathead stocks?

Other than complying with bag and size limits, there are many ways recreational fishers can fish more

responsibly and limit their impact on flathead stocks. These include:

• Only taking what you need for a feed – limit your catch, don’t catch your limit.

• Not using flathead for bait, whether they are undersized or legal sized.

• Using a de-hooker or wet hands when releasing fish.

• Targeting other species to relieve some of the fishing pressure on sand flathead.

• Fishing away from popular areas where fishing pressure is greatest.

If you would like to chat with us about flathead or any other Tasmanian fisheries, please come and see us at Agfest in August. We will have a range of products including de-hookers and rulers to help you fish more sustainably.

Need more information?

• Download the Tasmanian Sea Fishing Guide app

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

• Phone: 1300 720 647 or 03 6165 3233

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

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.