North East Lagoon Trout

Browns and rainbows - prepare yourself

Jonty Krushka

Areas to Target

The coastal lagoons of northeast Tasmania are home to some fairly large trout. They are relatively shallow, warm, heavily vegetated and absolutely brimming with food sources, which results in very fast-growing trout. The feeding habits and size of the trout in these systems can make for some very visual and entertaining fishing at certain times of the year. It is not uncommon to watch fish of over five pounds almost beaching themselves chasing Galaxia, having said this they can often be very difficult to catch. There are brown and rainbow trout in these lagoons but I spend the majority of my time chasing browns in the shallows.

Most are closed now, but they are great early season places to try.

Depending on the water level these systems can be fished from the shore, kayak or a boat. Generally, if the water levels are low or the wind is blowing a gale, I will opt for wading and when water levels rise and wading becomes difficult I’ll bring out the kayak. Most areas in these lagoons will produce fish but there are a few that will often produce more than others. Similar to trout in most systems these fish love to hang around any areas which provide an ambush spot for them. Any banks or flats that have a steeper drop-off into deeper water than the majority of edges will often hold fish. I have found that trout often like to cruise in the deeper water until they find a school of bait and then launch an attack into the shallows. This is especially the case for shallow sandy edges with steep drop-offs. Points and weed edges are also great spots especially if they are surrounded by deeper water. The very backs of shallow bays also hold fish. They seem to use these bays to herd baitfish into and then smash through them when they have nowhere left to go. The time of year, time of day, weather and what the fish are feeding on will often dictate where the fish are found so it pays to move about and try and find actively feeding fish as each day can be completely different.

Soft Plastics

Over the past few years, the lure I have caught the majority of my fish on has been a BaitJunk- ie 2.5-inch minnow in copper flash, rigged on a 1/12th-ounce jig head with a size 1 or 1/0 hook. In particularly windy conditions or when the fish seem to be on the deeper weed edges, I will change this up to a 1/8th-ounce jig head. This helps with casting distance a little but most importantly helps to keep the plastic in the water and tracking straight. On some occasions when fish have been feeding in super shallow, weedy areas a 1/16th-ounce jig head is a better choice. Other soft plastic colours that have worked well in the BaitJunkie range include pearl gudgeon, ayu and black & gold. I will often change over to black & gold when the water is dirty or once the sun has set. Any paddle tail soft plastics will work well but I find the BaitJunkies have great action (especially at a really slow speed), great resilience and a great range of colours. I haven’t used the BaitJunkie jig heads a lot but so far, they seem to be as good as they claim to be. I prefer to fish soft plastics due to their cast-ability and versatility. A plastic on a 1/12th ounce jig head can be fished effectively in almost no water right down the deepest parts of these lagoons. They are also less prone to picking up weed and even when they do the tail of a plastic still swims fine with a bit of weed on the head but the action of a hard body minnow is normally ruined by a bit of weed. When I begin fishing, I like to cast at about 45 degrees to the shore so that I’m covering different depths whilst also covering a bit of bank. Once I have found where the fish are feeding, I will try to focus on this depth by casting parallel to the shore in this depth range. My favourite retrieve for soft plastics is just a slow constant roll. Sometimes a change of pace or a short pause can get a bite when they are not committing. www.tarfish.org

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Other Lures

When the conditions are right and the soft plastic isn’t getting the bites, a changeup can get results. My go-to hardbody minnow is a shallow Cranka minnow in either the smelt or jollytail colours. I fish these with a similar retrieve to a plastic. I have found diving hardbody minnows to be easier to use when fishing parallel to a weed edge or drop off in a constant depth compared to fishing areas with a large depth change. Another lure I have caught some nice fish on is the Biwaa s-trout 90mm swimbait. This lure is surprisingly weedless and given its slow sink rate, it is easy to fish in very shallow weedy areas. Again, a slow roll is my retrieve of choice with this lure. When the fish are feeding aggressively late in the evening one of my favourite lures to tie on is the Tiemco lonesome sweeper. This is a jointed surface lure that results in some awesome bust-ups. However, I have found the hook-up rate isn’t that great. I generally fish this lure over weed beds in less than a metre of water. Sometimes when the bite is really tough or the fish are locked in on insects a small nymph-style plastic such as the Strike Tiger nymph or a small hand-tied jig can get a bite. I generally fish these with short sharp hops on a very slow wind.

The gear I use when fishing these areas is a pretty standard spin setup. When fishing from the shore and being restricted to one setup I will opt for a 6’8” 2-4 lb BKCustom rod matched up with a 2500 size Daiwa Certate. Although this is a fairly light rod and the fish can often be fairly large there isn’t a lot of hard structure and you don’t often need to steer the fish away from anything. I have the reel spooled up with 6lb Sunline Xplasma asagai. I have found this braid to be very easy to manage especially in really windy conditions which is a massive bonus. It also ties great knots, casts well and is plenty strong enough. I then attach a few metres of 5lb or 6lb leader via an FG knot. My leaders of choice are the Sunline shooter fc sniper invisible and the Daiwa Xlink. When fishing from the kayak and having the ability to carry multiple outfits I usually pack three. Two of the setups mentioned above, one with a plastic and one with a hardbody and also a slightly heavier outfit with a swimbait tied on. This rod is a 6-14lb, 7’ BKCustom matched up with a 2500size reel. This heavier rod makes punching a heavier lure into the wind much easier. On this outfit, I usually run a 6lb or 8lb leader.

Time Of Year

The time of year, time of day and weather conditions can have a huge impact on how the fish behave in these systems. Generally, my favourite times to fish here are the last 6 weeks of the season and from the beginning of the season until the end of November. Being quite shallow and only a few metres above sea level these lagoons heat up quite fast and can get fairly hot. I have seen the water temperature at 22 degrees at end of November. Once the temps get this high I have found the fish become much harder to catch especially during daylight hours. They also become more focused on insects and less interested in the Galaxia during the warmer months. When conditions are warm, I’ve found slowing down and fishing deeper can sometimes get results.

Conditions

I have found the best weather conditions for fishing out here are the worst conditions you could imagine. The windier, colder and more overcast/rainy the better. Fishing in these conditions is a little less important early in the season but as it begins to warm it becomes more of a factor. The time of day is the same. Early in the season, it is not as important but once it begins to warm up periods of low light definitely pro- duce more fish. For some reason, I have found evenings to be more successful than early mornings with the short period between sunset and last light sometimes producing multiple bites after hours of nothing.

I have found the weather and time of day tend to counter each other as well, so if it’s a windy overcast day they will still bite throughout the day but if it’s calm and sunny, periods of low light are best. When you get a windy overcast evening, this is usually when the fish feed most aggressively. Early in the season fishing the lee or windswept shores doesn’t seem to matter too much but once the water warms, I actually prefer to fish the lee shores. My theory with this is that the prevailing wind pushes the warm surface waters towards one side and draws up cooler deeper waters to the surface on the lee shore. It also makes casting much easier when fishing off the bank. As for water clarity, it often fluctuates a lot depending on weather conditions. It is generally quite clear in these systems but strong winds can cause it to become murky easily. Once the water warms algal growth can sometimes proliferate and cause the water to take on a murky green appearance. Overall to have the best chance of catching a few quality fish I would plan a trip early or late in the season on an overcast windy afternoon/ evening and focus my efforts around points and weed edges. Even when the conditions are perfect the fishing can still be quite tough. In these situations, the best tactic is to just keep on casting. I have lost count of the number of trips I have gone fishless for three hours and then caught three fish over 4lb in less than an hour without changing any gear or locations. A lot of the time it is just a matter of having enough casts that eventually you pull your lure across the nose of a hungry fish.