Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 069 2007 August

Issue 69 August - September 2007

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Dan Clifton caught this 10 lb 8 oz trout at the Trevallyn tailrace near Launceston. See the full report on page 6.

• Trevallyn’s monster trout • Tasmania’s most popular trout lures • Simple soft plastics • Early season locations • Czech nymphing • Cockroaching for trout • Jan’s flies • Great Lake • Boats and boating • World Fly Fishing Championship report

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My Say As the trout season was approaching I often heard a seemingly random number expressed. ’28 to go’, ’15 to go’ and other similar remarks. Of course it was anglers doing the countdown of the number of sleeps before the trout season opened.

It is a bit odd really because there is plenty of good trout fishing to be had over winter if you are keen. This was demonstrated to me when I received two fishing reports regarding some fantastic winter reports about Great Lake. These were from two of our writers, Jamie Harris and Craig Rist.

You can read, and learn, from their stories in this issue.

I really enjoyed Craig’s report about fishing with cockroaches when he revisits his youth.

When he started fishing as a lad it was important to catch fish. This is what kept him keen and got him ‘hooked’ on fishing. Later on, the amount of fish become less important to most anglers, but as Craig points out, at the start of one’s fishing life, it is really vital to catch fish. In these days of fly fishing, lure fishing, soft plastics and everything artificial, bait seems out of favor, but it the very thing that most anglers start out with, and as a youngster what a joy it is to have something slimy wiggling at the end of your line. And you will find he segued from bait to fly beautifully.

You will enjoy Craig’s story and hopefully get a lesson from it.

I know we will get complaints that there is no saltwater fishing in this issue. We have no excuses, because anglers get so wound up about the trout

season, we have given them heaps. Even the subscribers prize is unashamedly for trout fishers.

So wait until next issue and we will be back with some good salty stuff.

Joe Riley has a really good story about Czech nymphing and there is a story by Greg Woods about fishing with soft plastics the most basic way.

Joe Riley finished ninth in the World Fly Fishing Championships and Greg has done very well in bream tournaments, leading Australian comps and qualifying for the last two National titles. Learn from these two.

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Lastly, this is one of our biggest issues ever.

When you consider our pages are more than A3 in size we have the equivalent of 96 pages of A4.

That is a massive effort in Tasmania. It is made possible by the fantastic support of advertisers.

So don’t just read the stories, read the ads and support the advertisers. They make it possible and we thank them.

The five winners of the Platypus line competition from last issue are: Ron Bezzant, R Deeks, Roger Krupa, Tyson Clarke and Bill Campbell.

We are running it again. So if you want to win some fabulous Platypus line, find the Platypus logos and send us a note telling us what pages they are on.

Make sure you include your contact details.

Mike Stevens

Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Published by Michael Stevens PO Box 7504, Launceston, 7250.

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CONTENTS

Inland and Marine fishery news 4 Trevallyn’s monster trout - Dan Clifton 4 Five minutes with Muz Wilson - Peter Hayes 8 Simple soft plastic techniques - Greg Woods 9 Boat revival - Tim Anderson 10 Tasmania’s most popular trout lure - Leroy Tirant 12 Czech nymphing - Joe Riley 14 Cockroaching for trout - Craig Rist 16 Great Lake in Winter - Jamie Harris 18 Around the Central Highlands 21 World Fly Fishing Championship report - Joe Riley

22 Fishing and boating directory 27 Classifieds and subscriptions 28 Gunns pulp mill questions - Jon Bryan 32 Reviews 34 Early season locations - Shane Flude 37 Boats 39 Jan’s flies - Jan Spencer 42 Walking and fishing in comfort - Quenton Higgs 45

Fishing News - Page 3

Inland Fisheries News Angler Alert about Didymo

The 2007-08 angling season starts this Saturday 4 August with the opening of all brown trout waters. It promises to be another bumper season with the widespread stockings of waters by the Inland Fisheries Service.

On a cautionary note, however, all anglers should be aware of the need to protect Tasmania’s inland fishery from environmental impacts, particularly the transfer of pests and diseases.

Concern has been heightened recently with the threat of the introduction to Australia of Didymo, or Rock Snot as it is also known. This pest alga, which is common in the Northern Hemisphere, was discovered recently in New Zealand, where it has spread

rapidly between waterways in the South Island and is causing a major environmental problem.

Since it takes only a single drop of water to spread the microscopic Didymo cells, wet or damp fishing gear is a primary vector for the transfer of this highly invasive and destructive pest to Australia.

Anglers returning home to Australia or visiting from overseas are now required to declare any used fishing equipment upon entry. In addition, it is recommended that anglers treat all their fishing gear with a hot disinfectant solution before reuse in Tasmanian waters.

In preparation for the season opening on Saturday, it’s a good time to check that your fishing equipment is not only in good working order but is also clean. The Inland Fisheries Service recommends that you treat all equipment by soaking it in a hot water (higher than 45 degrees Celsius) solution of 2% household disinfectant or bleach for at least 30 minutes.

Don’t take our world-class disease free inland fishery for granted!

Anglers Alliance Tasmania

Southern Independent Representative Tasmania’s peak fresh water licensed anglers association seeks expressions of interest from licensed independent anglers to join the AAT general Committee.

Applicants must reside in the 62 telephone district and should not be affiliated with any angling club or association as this position is to represent unattached independent anglers.

The position is honorary and there are four or five meetings per year. Day to day running is conducted by our executive

officer through an executive and the general Committee has input and is kept informed through email.

Applicants should have a good general knowledge of Tasmania’s fresh water fishery and have an eagerness to contribute to its sustainability and progress. Email availability is essential.

Applications should be in writing to eo@anglersalliance.org.au or PO Box262 Sorell 7172 or call Richard Dax on 0417 591 289 for further details.

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Position Vacant Website Manager

Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News has a vacancy for a web page manager.

Our new (ish) website www.tasfish.com is just in the first stages and needs plenty of work. We have heaps of stories and ideas to add to it, but are very busy just running the publishing side of the business.

It is only very part time and occasional, but it is all fishing and fun. You can

work from home, so location is not an issue.

If you are a fishing nut, have a deep understanding of the web and would like to develop our web page email Mike Stevens at fishn@bigpond.net.au and tell us why you should have the job.

Recreational Marine Fisheries News August 2007 Last Month of the Cray Season

It is the last month for rock lobster fishing with the recreational fishing season for male rock lobster closing at the end of this month, 31 August. The female rock lobster season has been closed since the end of April.

Following the end of the season your next chance to catch a cray will be when the season re-opens on Saturday 3 November 2007.

Female rock lobster are easily distinguished from males by the large swimmerets under their tails, which are used to hold the eggs, and the small nipper claw on their rear legs.

The season closures are designed to protect female rock lobster during the breeding season and all rock lobster while they are moulting. Moulting or soft-shelled rock lobster can be easily damaged by measuring and handling so it is important that no fishing activity occurs during this perilous part of their lifecycle. Soft-shelled rock lobster are poor eating as the flesh is watery.

As the animals recover from their moulting, the flesh quality quickly recovers.

The seasons applying to rock lobster also apply to giant crabs, which are sometimes caught in rock lobster pots in deep water.

We get a lot of questions through the season on the regulations for rock lobster.

Here are the answers to some of the more common ones.

• A recreational licence is required with a personal bag limit of 5 rock lobster per day and a possession limit of up to 10 lobster.

• Fishers must be 10 years of age or older to hold a rock lobster licence.

• The licence holder must personally set and retrieve the licensed equipment. You can’t set or pull someone else’s gear for them.

• Fishers are not permitted to possess female rock lobsters that are ‘berried’ (carrying eggs), or to remove the eggs, at any time of the year.

• All rock lobster that are kept must be marked by either removing the central tail flap or punching a 1cm hole in it. This must be done within 5 minutes of landing the rock lobster. It is illegal to return a marked rock lobster to the water.

• Fishers are not permitted to have a lobster pot in the water for more than 48 hours at a time. If you have set gear and feel that you cannot safely retrieve it within the time available, call Fishwatch on 0427 655 557 and give the details of your licence and the location of the gear.

• At the beginning of the rock lobster season, fishers can set pots after noon on the day before the season starts but can only retrieve them after midnight.

• Divers can only take rock lobster by hand – the use of lassoes, hooks and spears is illegal.

• Fishers are only permitted to have one dismembered rock lobster on board (for eating) and this counts towards the daily bag limit even if it was not caught that day.

If you have any queries about the rules or licences, you can contact us on the recreational fishing line (03) 6233 7042 or find more information on our website www. fishing.tas.gov.au. You can also help protect rock lobster stocks by reporting any potential illegal fishing activities to Fishwatch on 0427 655 557.

Rock Lobster Translocation Research While out fishing you might have seen rock lobster marked with either a pink, white or yellow research tag. Rock lobster marked with a pink or white tag are part of a rock lobster translocation trial being run by the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute (TAFI). This trial has seen rock lobster moved from deep water to shallow water on the north-west, east and south coasts.

By moving the more plentiful, palecoloured deep water rock lobster to shallower water it is hoped that they will become redder (which is important for the commercial fishery) and grow and reproduce quicker than they would have in the colder deep water.

Deep water rock lobster have been moved from waters near Maatsuyker Island to eight shallow water sites. About 2000 rock lobster have been relocated to each site.

The early results of this research are promising with survival rates being high, growth increasing and colour changing from pale to red within six months. It is hoped that the long term benefits of translocation will be higher catches, more large rock lobster and higher egg production.

So keep an eye out for rock lobster marked with research tags and you could win a great prize in the tag return lotto. If you find a tagged rock lobster, record the area and date of capture, sex, carapace length and tag number and call the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute on (03) 6227 7280.

Need more information?

For information on recreational sea fishing: • call the Recreational Sea Fishing Line on (03) 6233 7042; or • visit www.fishing.tas.gov.au

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www.daiwafishing.com.au Fishing News - Page 5

Trevallyn tailrace monster trout As the open season on trout waters arrives there will many keen anglers heading to the highlands to catch the first of the hungry, post spawn, browns.

With the winter well underway and some heavy frosts often covering the ground, I find myself keeping my trout fishing close to home. It is great to get home to a warm house, shower, warm meal and I really like my own bed.

But I have discovered that you don’t have to go to them there hills to find gold. Last season I decided to concentrate on the local area around Launceston; targeting sea runners and resident brownies.

I found it a bit tough to start with, but after a few days of scouting about the banks on the last hour of light, I started to find places where fish were feeding on whitebait and elvers I had located several good places, including my old favorite haunt for big fish, the Trevallyn tailrace. Then I had to work out the keys to success. Many different types of plastics were thrown into the schools of bait fish and exploding trout - often just metres from my feet.

The best success was with soft plastic lures and Berkley Gulp products seemed the best of these for me. I am sure you can catch them on any lure if it is presented to them when they are hungry, but I will say that Gulps are my choice of weapon against the brutal brownies at the tailrace.

My main point is that finding feeding fish in places such as the tailrace is essential.

Fishing where this is some kind of obvious action boosts the confidence. Occasionally you may be rewarded with a fish of a life time such as the 10 lb 8 oz sea runner I nabbed last year on a chartreuse Berkley Gulp minnow.

If I didn’t find feeding fish then I seemed to be wasting my time, either they were not feeding or they were somewhere else.

I spent many days on various banks up to my knees in mud looking for a sign of a fish, and when I found one that was feeding I would persist cast constantly in that area.

I would watch closely for its movements, which direction it was coming from when it was attacking the bait schools, then I would work hard in front of them keeping it close to the bottom and slow retrieves.

This persistence and method would usually come up trumps. Interestingly, fishing the soft plastic low and slow was more effective than on the top—even though that’s where I could see the fish.

Things that I look out for when locating feeding fish, are signs such as feeding cormorants which seem have large feeding brownies close by.

I find that cormorants love to gorge themselves on the same baitfish that excites the big trout into making themselves known.

Signs such as nervous baitfish, as well as bait schools skipping across the surface, bow waves on the surface, and swirling in the water are all great indicators of fish looking for food. I have noticed large fish will often porpoise like a dolphin when cruising the edge in the bait school.

Tactics

How to fish the tailrace is completely up to the person, but it is almost essential to have thigh waders and a vest to carry things. The shoreline is very muddy and you don’t want get yourself or your gear covered in mud.

Also I like to fish mid tide as it is rising, this give you some time on the hard rocky bottom to walk the edge and spot where the bait is hanging, and also to have a look at the bottom so you can check out the snags and other structures.

Sea runners get more active as the water rises and gets close to the grass. At this time I will often see the fish begin to move.

Smaller trout will go around chasing the schools of bait into the grass line and pushing the school hard into the shore, once all the hard work seems to be done, larger predators such as the double figure brownies begin to show up making large swirls and splashes as they feed.

Fishing for sea runners and even resident fish in the tailrace is not like any other type of trout fishing. They do not have their own little piece of water that they hang in, so if you see a fish move on the surface by the time you put a cast into that spot the fish is probably 50 metres away, but they do have a tendency to

Riverside Trevally Tailrace

North Esk River

Launceston South Esk River

Fishing News - Page 6

First Basin

Author Dan Clifton with his best to date of ten pounds eight ounces. push their food into certain places, these are the areas you need to locate on the day and work them constantly so when the fish come through your plastic is in the zone.

Tackle

As I said earlier I prefer to use Berkley Gulps, and the Chartreuse 3” minnow is my all time favourite I found that bright colours such as this seem to work best on the trout in these waters where there was a bit of turbidity in the water.

Normally in turbid water I would go a darker lure to create a silhouette effect, but as these hungry trout were mainly feeding on white bait I found the colour variation on the chart gulp minnow to be a perfect match in the water.

Also other Gulp minnows worked well such as nuclear chicken, and pearl, I also had luck on Berkley Gulp natural sandworms.

When using Gulp sandworms in the tailrace you will catch a variety of other species as bycatch, most of them are just a pest at the time but, I did have lots of fun catching Australian salmon up to 30

cm, mullet, and very larger redfin perch on around 5 lb while I was waiting for the trout to fire up.

The best rod to use is a rod designed for soft plastic fishing and all good tackle stores will point you in the right direction. The most important thing in a reel is a smooth drag system, the fish in the tailrace are by far the hardest fighting trout I have encountered, they are real power houses and they will use the substantial current to there advantage. My two largest fish last year taking most of my line before pulling up.

You will also need to tire them completely.

DO NOT try to land them when they are green they will break you off at your feet. Seeing a fish so close at the shore is most disheartening when it comes free as they are often trophy size.

Other things I would strongly suggest is to carry a landing net, I use a small landing net with a magnetic clip on it so I can have easy access to the net when required.

I like to use 3 lb – 4 lb braid with a 7 foot 6 lb flurocarbon leader. I find the flurocarbon leader great it the tailrace because it has good abrasion resistance and it is supposed to be

Tom McIntyre with another good brownie of seven pounds, nine ounces prior to release.

The author took this nice rainbow below the Trevallyn Dam, just near the old Duck Reach power station.

close to invisible. I am not sure about that, but it is certainly less visible than the braid.

After you fish the tailrace you will understand how the bank is quite abrasive on your leaders.

Where to fish

I have included a mud map of the shore line that I fished last season. It has some spots where I caught fish and places I also regularly spotted good fish feeding, these are indicated by the fish symbol, It also shows where I fished from and the direction in which I would cast. You can cast in the entire area around where you are standing and in fact I suggest you do. However, I have indicated a direction where the majority I think your major attention should be focused.

The last thing on the mud map is the current lines. These are obvious once you are at the tailrace and they change quite often depending on which turbine is being used. It also gives you an indication of the areas to cast. As you can see I am either casting hard into the current, similar to normal river fishing or casting in behind the current where the bait take refuge out of the flow.

Below is a list of things you might require to fish the local area for trout using plastics.

Once again I hope my article was informative and educational to those who are trying a different approach to their fishing techniques, and are willing to put in a few hours for a fish of a life time.

Dan Clifton

Checklist

Thigh or chest waders (recommended) Landing Net Flurocarbon Leader: 6 lb or 8 lb Braided Line: 3 lb - 4lb Soft Plastics: Berkley Gulp 3� or 4� minnow in Nuclear Chicken, Chartreuse, Pearl or Smelt. (these are my choices) Quality Jig heads size 1 or 1/0 Camera ( To prove it to your mates!!!)

Sunscreen, hat, polarized sunglasses Optional fly vest, lip gripper, braid scissors for tying leaders etc.

Fishing News - Page 7

Five minutes with Muz Wilson - the River Gnome

Muz Wilson is perhaps Australia’s best know fly tier and more importantly he is one of the most innovative fly designers on the planet.

Recently while Muz was visiting Tasmania and participating at a fly fishing workshop at our Cressy facility Mike Stevens was able to identify the importance of this man and his contribution to fly fishing. Mike has asked me to pen a few words about this remarkable individual.

In the industry and among his friends they call him the ‘River Gnome.’ Muz looks, and behaves like I would imagine one to behave. Anyway he certainly has my children convinced.

One evening late in the season there were six good anglers fishing on Brumbys Creek. The fishing was slow. We all returned to the lodge just after dark and someone who had not gone out asked how we went.

My 7 year old son Lachlan immediately replied that the River Gnome was the only one to catch one. Lachie said it with such conviction that his 5 YO sister Maddie followed on with ‘yeah he caught it on his Fuzzle Fly and he lost 4 others’.

They really believe he is a gnome.

Muz knows fish, I mean really knows fish and there is much we can learn from hanging out with him. That evening was a good example. I think he had a total of 7 fish come to his fly while the remaining 5 anglers had 1. I personally don’t think it was as much about the fly as his method of fishing it. Muz explained to me and the kids that you must do a musical tune retrieve. I can tell you he is right and more about the tunes later.

As I understand it my mate Nick Voce taught Muz to tie flies some 20 years back. Nick met him in a tackle store at Camperdown and struck up what has turned out to be a lifelong friendship. His fishing skills were originally honed in Victorian waterways and he probably knows more about catching bream on fly than anyone else in the country.

Muz is an intelligent little gnome. He is educated and has many life experiences. Most obvious to me is his passion for fishing and all things related, his generous spirit and his lateral thinking skills. It is a combination of these assets that have enabled him to be a leading edge fly designer.

Muz played with hooks and feathers, and everything else he could get his hands on, for three days at Cressy. I really mean he played, it is play to Muz nothing more, nothing less.

I was in awe of his technical tying skills. I lost count of the number of original patterns he has developed and his uncanny ability to develop new tying techniques for obscure materials is amazing. If you ever get a chance to see the Gnome at play you should seize it.

Some of the developments he is responsible for that spring to mind are: Development of the SLF material and the BMS fly Rolling furs and other materials in see through waterproof tape to make Damsel and stick caddis bodies.

Taking the UK based booby pattern and turning it into a yabbie for mainland Australian lakes.

Developing the Fuzzle Bugger which in my opinion is a huge improvement on what was considered one of the world’s greatest flies a Woolly Bugger.

Upside down minnows that are snag proof and the Hammerhead bream flies.

There is a new upside down foam and cdc dun that is revolutionary and I know it will sort out thousands of Highland mayfly feeding trout next season.

Keep an eye out for Muz, his fly patterns and his tying materials. There is much to learn from him.

All time favorite fly:

Stick Caddis, because of the memorable fish it has caught and the type of fishing it is used for—ambushing or hunting—setting a trap and watching it unfold.

If you only had one day left to fish:

Mongolia, to catch Taimen. They are 6 foot long fish that eat dry flies in rivers.

Most inspirational angler:

Blimey ! Ohhh ! A really tough question.

I like reading Geirach and Randall Kauffman for stuff he has done. Wulff is the pioneer of everything. Morse and Weigall. Bill Beck is an absolute vulture and Jim Allen would be another inspiration. What I like about Jim is he is not too technical—just get it out there. David Scholes—I can relate to stuff about Northern Tasmania rivers and flood plain fishing like here in Western Victoria.

First fish:

On a fly—a little rainbow out of Bullen Merri on a Black Matuka.

First memorable fish was a one kilo brown from the Hopkins River, sneaking along, working pools with a very small Red and Black Matuka on 12 hook. I had bought it from Ray Long in Geelong.

Peter Hayes

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Fishing News - Page 8

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Simple soft plastics techniques All this talk about soft plastics. “I would like to try them, but they all say I need a 2-5 kg fast tapered rod, special and expensive 2500 size reels, braided line, fluorocarbon leader material and jig heads in 10 different weights. It sounds all to hard and expensive, and what happens if I don’t like it”.

Well, you don’t need all that stuff just to try it. It can cost under ten bucks for a packet or two of pre-rigged plastics. If you are keen check out how you can give it a try. And hey! A packet of plastics costs about the same as bait and most don’t smell at all. You’ve gotta love that.

Here is good way to start

Go to your local tackle store and buy a couple of packets of pre-rigged soft plastics in 50mm to 75mm sizes, and in styles of minnow stick baits, sardine shaped, plastic fish and curly tail, these are a great starting point. Ask for suggestions from the tackle store assistant. If they aren’t helpful, go to another store.

There are plenty of brands on the market like Firebaits, Storm, Tsunami and Bonzo to name a few. These plastics have a weight built into them ready to go. These pre-rigged soft plastics will swim straight out of the packet in a nice and straight line.

Next grab your favourite spinning rod with your favourite mono line up to 15lb or a light boat rod 6 to 8 foot, or what ever you use for casting lures.

For trout

Any basic spinning rod and reel will suffice to try your hand at the soft plastic revolution. Of course, like any sport or discipline you can go on to better and more expensive gear if you want.

You are at your favourite lake, dam or river, Tie on the pre-rigged soft plastic lure to your mono line, I like to tie a uni knot but your usual knot will do.

Before casting let out about 1 to 1.5 metres of line and dunk the lure A fly fishing club turned ‘plastic’ for a winter weekend at St Helens. into the water — watch the lure sink and take note of the action and the way the lure swims down in the water. A straight tailed lure will rod tip pointed to the lure, and instead of a gentle lift of the not have much movement. Jig the lure up and down. Now rod tip lift it up quickly to 12 O’clock then wind up the slack you have brought it to life. If it is a curly tailed lure you will in the line pointing the rod tip to the lure and repeat. After a see the tail work as it sinks. Now jig this one up and down couple of rips slow to a gentle lift and a strike can occur. with the rod and you will be amazed at how it swims. Now move the rod to one side dragging the lure along in the water For the saltwater and watch it swim. Now do it again but this time jig it up and Australian salmon down as well as dragging it along. Now you can see what the The fish are boiling. Cast your lure into the fish and just lure does in relation to how you move the rod. let it sink, pause for a few seconds then if there is no strike You can start fishing now. Cast out into a fishy looking lift the rod tip to 12 O’clock then drop the rod tip towards area or even into the open water. the water and wind in a few meters of line then lift again then Most pre-rigged soft plastics weight systems or inbuilt repeat. Quite often the bigger fish are under the boiling fish. sinker systems are heavy so they sink quickly, so if you are If there are still no strikes cast into the fish and hold the rod in a snaggy area start your retrieve soon after the lure hits tip at 10 O’clock and wind fast enough so that the lure sits the water. on top and looks like a bait fish trying to escape.

Try and start in a depth of 2 to 3 metres of water.

Flathead Retrieve If you are fishing out of a boat choose an area preferably Start by taking up the slack with the rod pointing towards where there is a sandy bottom. Tie a pre-rigged soft plastic where the lure hit the water. Just lift the tip of the rod up to to your line and drop it over the side until it hits the bottom.

12 O’clock point it back to the water and wind up the slack Sit your rod in the rod holder or hold onto your handline, as the rod goes down and then repeat. Try to watch your lure sit back and watch the tip of your as the boat drifts along. come into view as quite often fish will follow the lure to the If there is are flathead about, and on the bite, you will soon surface. If you see a fish following you can just let the lure know about it. Flathead are suckers for soft plastics, and the sink. The fish will usually follow and a hook up can be the best part about it is you don’t normally have to do anything result or the fish is spoked as it spots you. to get them to bite.

I have caught a lot of fish with just over one metre or so of line in the water and jigging the lure beside the boat when Conclusion on soft plastics the fish follow the lure in.

There are no must do retrieves so spice it up to find the Another basic retrieve is to try to cast out the lure and let one that suits you that time as next time it will most likely it sink, as it is sinking take up the slack in your line with the change to something else.

The main thing is that these soft plastic lures catch a lot of fish so don’t give up trying, also try to find someone who is successful and ask them to teach you or ask if they will go fishing with you.

The biggest mistake people make when fishing with soft plastics is to fish them too fast, so if you are not catching anything slow it down, increase the pause time between retrieves or change your style.

The pre-rigged soft plastics can be trolled with great results, the benefit of trolling pre-rigged soft plastics is that they will swim straight and not spin. Anyway trolling is another story.

Another thing to warn you about, you may catch a lot more fish and you will become hooked and you will want to take it to the next level.

Remember only to only keep what you need for a feed. It feels good when you can say you caught 18-21-30 fish but only kept a few to eat.

Angela Woods

Silver trevally love plastics and they are not too fussy about brand or style. Cheap lures work just as well as expensive ones.

Fishing News - Page 9

Kustom Werkz

How one man (actually more like 10) turned his old boat into a new offshore dream rig.

of the boat and fully laminated with woven roven and not one ounce of bog! The fuel tank was pinned into position and full bulk heads positioned at the cabin wall and aft flood tank positions.

After the glass encapsulated under floor was completed (at about the 10 month mark) and the boat was removed from the trailer and placed onto a set of stands. This allowed full under hull access and the trailer to be removed and undergo several months of fabrication, galvanizing, re wire and rebuild.

The results were pleasing and should see the life of the trailer extended at least 8–10 years.

Foolish thoughts

Out with the old in with the new

Looking at the front page of this publication I noted that the word boating was smaller and not so prevalent in title. Boating goes hand in hand with fishing and as such it is my intention to try and make this carry a little more weight.

Like the title of this article I may have been a little silly at the beginning of a boat rebuild project in August 2005. It all started after a ride in a custom built boat which was later described by my wife as “like a ride at the show”. The boat of course was “Terminator” and when asked “can ours be like this” the seed was planted firmly in my mind.

So after a visit to Bunnings where I purchased a diamond saw blade pack for the 4” grinder for the massive outlay of $12.90 (On special), I set about stripping the boat down and beginning the saw work.

I also set about collecting every receipt for the boat so I could add it up later on, however after filling past capacity an A4 envelope, I decided that losing some receipts was well in my interests. I mistakenly thought that I could have it all completed for the following game season…wrong!!!

Looking back the project was well worth the time and money spent, 2 eye injuries, 8 lacerations, multiple abrasions, multiple bruises, stiff neck, 4 destroyed power tools, crushed fingers and ever looming threat of divorce. Not to mention the project coming in opposing waves of labor and financial intensity.

To get the ball rolling I started to collect items for the project well before using them and this included pre- making moulds which I had fabricated from galvanized tin sheet or made myself from MDF. The glass products were purchased from “The Fiberglass Shop” in Hobart and they were happy to give advice as were the many brains I picked during the project, like Arnie (builder of “Aqua naught” a.k.a “Master Baiter”; “Shockwave” & “Aquadizziac”). I also sought advice from Ian LEALE (builder of “Terminator”) and input from tradesmen at the local fiberglass works. All of these boat names are familiar to those whom frequent the game fishing circles from Burnie to Hobart (particularly St Helens).

The cut

After locating a suitable shed (an old disused service station) and stripping “Serial Killer” it was time for the first cut. Being a little apprehensive about carving into $30K of boat. Mason gladly started the grinder, and I vividly remember his smiling eyes as he ran the diamond wheel down the gunnels and around the side of my boat.

The boat was opened up like a chip bag and the floor removed via circular saw, as was later the front deck, and cabin. This made a large floppy 22ft dingy so to maintain the hull form it was left on the trailer until the under floor rebuild was complete. The inner transom was removed and all delaminated, cracked or damaged glass was ground out.

The condition of the under floor on this boat was eye opening considering it had done little work and one outer stringer was taken out with a good kick. Under the toilet was particularly nasty and resulted in both the vacuum cleaner and my foot appearing on the outside of the boat from within.

The only parts not replaced were the tops of the bunks and the anchor well bulkhead, (6 month mark)!

Funny how this small narrative in the article makes 19 months of hard work, blood sweat and tears seem so quick and easy, however after 480 kg of resin, 7 sheets construction ply, 6 full boxes of matt, 1 x roll 600 woven roven, 20 kg gel coat and 20 kg of flow coat and 60 litres acetone, 10 litres of high build primer, 12 liters Poly U 400 paint and countless other disposable materials, the project was near complete.

Weight is best for the sea however it is a fine line between strength and too much weight. I was very anal in the building of this boat and spent much longer on it than I could have by capping every part and making sure all was the best it could be.

With the under floor complete and raised it was time to start the decks and cabin. The gunnel sides were moulded and placed in situ. A full well and rear mould was screwed in place on the boat then the whole rear removed as one and glassed together upside down off the boat. After completion this was later screwed into place on the boat and tied in with glass before the screws removed and presto a new deck. (14 month mark) The cabin, (which I carried into the boat on my back) was placed using MDF the same height as the floor as was the front deck. A bow sprit was added and tin used to make a mould to fill in the missing parts. The cabin walls, parcel trays, etc and sides were glassed in and then the old flow coat “keyed” and entire interior flow coated. (I lost a few good clumps of hair on this process) and after a disaster with the speckle finish had to grind same out and do a 2nd time!!!

The whole boat was rubbed back primed, rubbed back and painted. I then fabricated a much higher window template from MDF and sent same to Alfab in Melbourne for the custom windows.

The stainless frames were fabricated while a wooden internal frame was used to hold the roof up. After fit out, (and several re-sprays to some areas) the end product came to fruition at about the 19 month mark and approximately $13K(ish) price bracket. Was it all worth it?, does my bum look big in this?... hell yes!

So what I hear you say? Well, with such a large boom in bream fishing and custom boats that make the mouth water and command an amount of shock and awe, I intend to give the budget conscious a little help to making a custom bullet of their own. During the “Serial Killer” project I also acquired “Maybe”, a 4.8 meter Pride Mariner for a small yet princely sum and intend to do a step by step process of a rebuild for the readers to follow.

This boat will be at the light but strong end of the scale as it will mostly be used on only choppy or flat waters. The boat will be a bream sports fishing platform built to take a triple figure engine requiring the use of some form of face shield and large kahunas to operate, however money, the wife factor and opportunity will probably come into play and limit power to just under twice the current 55hp (to about 90hp).

Stay tuned and watch this space over the following months for the start of project “B”.

Tim ANDERSON

Serial Killer before the diamond saw.

The hook

I must thank those who helped and sacrificed time to help with this project; namely Mason Paull (Template and Human fork lift), Darren Burr (Glass Work Guru), Kevin Whitwam (Welder Extraordinaire), Glenn Kuys (Premium painter) and the many others whom supplied time, equipment, material or knowledge.

Part way.

No turning back

The end result of glass and wood removal was to such an extent that I could lift the rear of the hull off the trailer on my own. During the process I found the best tool for removing old glass off stringers, the floor and bulk heads was a couple of old axe heads. These were belted in between the layers with a large hammer. This significantly cut down on grinder work.

The hull was cleaned down to the woven roven glass of the original hull before addition of bulkheads and stringers.

The bulk heads and stringers were redesigned to sit on the main strakes and the fuel tank repositioned lower and forward in mid ship. The main stringers were laminated with stiffeners and joined to the outer stringers with the use of wing type bulk heads. Both stringers are securely joined to the transom which was completed to the full size of the rear Fishing News - Page 10

The reward of time, patience, good mates and an understanding wife.

Fishing News - Page 11

Tasmania’s Most Popular Lures

From left: Ashley 14 spinner, Berkley Bass Minnow, Rapala, Tassie Devil, Celta, Stroke Pro, Squidgie.

An unbiased and truthful analysis An interesting discussion took place in my shop a couple of weeks ago between a group of anglers trying to determine what are Tasmania’s most used and most popular trout lures.

This had obviously been spurred on by something they had read somewhere, and a healthy debate now ensued as different opinions were expressed. Listening to these anglers it had me thinking what are the most popular lures used in Tasmania? As we all have our own differing opinions I decided to speak directly to the people that know. I spoke to tackle store owners and staff from around the state to find what their biggest sellers are for trout fishing. After all I thought if we based this argument on actual sales the facts couldn’t be argued. I decided when asking the question I would lump all lures of all forms, shapes and sizes into the equation so we could get the bigger picture.

Most of these lures have been around for a while now, but it was interesting to note how soft plastics are now playing a major role in our fishing practices. These are some of the results.

Tassie Tackle and outdoor Ashley spinners, Rapalas, Tassie Devils, Berkley 3” Minnows.

Rodney Howard made comment that Ashleys in color 14D were probably still his number one seller but Bass Minnows in 3” Pumpkinseed were fast becoming a lure of choice for many anglers. And Rapalas in Perch or Brook trout colors.

Tamar Marine

Bigfin Sportsfishing

Loftys, Strike Pros, Daiwa Shiners, Berkley Bass Minnows, Celtas.

Ashley’s, Rapala’s, Strike Pro’s, Berkley Bass Minnows, Tassie Devils.

John Dennis made mention that anglers are starting to buy more premium lures and want better trebles etc, but soft plastics are fast taking over.

I noted that Squidgies were still in the mix but suspending hard bodies such as the Strike Pros that sell for approx. $12 in stores statewide are becoming more and more popular as anglers start understanding the advantage of using a suspending lure, especially now they come standard with Owner hooks and rings.

Spot On The Fishing Connection Rapalas, Berkley Bass Minnows, Tassie Devils, Squidgies, Halco RMGs. Steve said that he found lures were almost changing year to year with what was popular. This was because as anglers tried new things and found new lures that worked the word would get out pretty quick.

Doogun Tackle.

Lofty’s, Ashley’s, Berkley Bass Minnow’s, Squidgies, Tassie Devils.

Alan Said that Celta’s were also still a top seller but soft plastics were becoming more and more popular at his store.

Eastern Shore Tassie Devils, Wonder Wobblers, Rapala, Celta’s, Pegron Minnows.

After speaking to Mark I thought it was interesting to note that this was the only store that listed two metal wobbler style lures.

Got One Ashley’s, Celta’s, Cobra style, Squidgies, Wonder Wobbler.

Ron McBain found that the old favorites were definitely his top selling lures and that hard bodies were more popular than plastics.

So what do we have?

Well it goes without saying that the Ashley 14D is still by far the most popular lure in Tasmania but there is changing of the old guard with soft plastics getting more and more sales as each season passes.

1. Ashley 14D Green/Gold with red dots 2. Berkley Bass Minnow 3” Pumpkinseed 3. Rapala F7 Perch or new Brook trout color 4. Tassie Devils in no particular color 5. Squidgies in Gary Glitter color

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Fishing News - Page 13

Czech Nymphing — ideal for Tasmania’s trout Competition fly fishing has been one of the driving forces in the advancement of fly fishing techniques in Australia over the past couple of decades. Loch Style fly fishing was largely brought to Tasmania by visiting competition anglers and has been widely accepted as a deadly way to fish by locals keen to improve their catch rates. Changes of fishing regulations in Tasmania to allow the use of 3 flies on a leader came about largely as a result of the international competitions also allowing the use of 3 flies.

While the more noted advances have been in relation to lake fishing there are some techniques used by competition anglers on Australian rivers which are just as deadly on trout as they are on grayling in the rivers of Europe, one of these is Czech nymphing. Now you might think that Czech nymphing originated in the Czech Republic, but it was the Polish team who used this technique in a European competition in 1984, to win. The Czechs took the deadly technique on board and have since developed and modified it for their own use further developing patterns for nymphs which are now generically known as Czech nymphs.

Best of all this way of nymphing lets you catch trout in fast turbulent water, literally at your feet. It fills a void left by traditional river techniques allowing you to effectively fish water which is restrictive to good dry fly or nymph under dry techniques, that being rapids and heavy turbulent pocket water, from half a metre to 1.5 metres deep.

The aim of Czech nymphing is to drift a nymph along the bottom of the river, exactly where most fish hold. When a fish takes one of the flies the leader will pause or pull straight, this is the time to strike.

Drop in and see Ron McBain.

With 30 years in the industry Ron can you you the best advice.

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Only a small trout, but a big prize when fishing in a World Championship. The author took this ‘Czech Nymphing’.

A selection of flies from the authors fly box. These are easily tied or can be bought in good fly shops.

Conventional bead head nymph can also be used.

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New colours now available

The set up

Rod: A light soft action rod is ideal, 2 to 4 weight in a length appropriate to the size water you are fishing. The average 9 ft rod will do fine, however shorter rods are suitable for smaller streams. The reason for using a soft action rod is for reading the line for takes as you drift the nymphs past your body, I will explain this a bit further shortly.

Line: A floating line is all that is required, you will usually have no more than a few metres of line out of the tip of the rod, however the lines should be a highly visible colour such as peach or bright green. Alternatively you can use a fluorescent braided loop connection to add visibility to the end of the fly line. Double taper lines are recommended for river fishing and Czech nymphing is no exception.

Leader: The leader is a critical element in the set up. Using a self tied tapered leader assists in turnover when casting, however you can use a straight leader using as fine a tippet as possible for the conditions you are fishing. For example if you need to fish an extremely heavy nymph in fast deep water use 8 lb or if you are fishing shallow clear runs with light nymphs reduce to 4 lb. A two or three fly leader can be used, here are a couple of examples; Example 1: A two fly leader.

The leader should be 1.75 m to the point (second) fly.

The dropper should be about 50 cm above the point and the dropper should be relatively short no more than 10 cm.

Where to place the heaviest nymph is a matter of personal preference some prefer point, I prefer the dropper.

Example 2: A three fly leader.

This is essentially the same as the first rig, however a 50 cm tippet is placed at the end of the previous leader. Again the droppers should be no more than 10 cm long, the heaviest fly should be placed in the middle of this leader to keep all of the flies close to the bottom while on the drift.

Flies: Czech nymphs are basically grub style nymphs tied with a lead under body. This can be formed with lead wire in various diameters, lead sheet or the new moulded lead body hooks. (The Partridge hooks I reviewed in a recent issue of TFBN). They have a dubbed body and a skin over the top of the nymph, usually segmented with a monofilament rib.

You don't have to try and source these flies if you don't tie for yourself. Most good fly fishing shops stock a range of tungsten bead head nymphs in various sizes, which work well for this style of fishing. In fact any of your favorite bead head nymphs will work well provided you have a variety of weights to match to the water you are fishing.

Jonothan Stagg tries Czech Nymphing. As can be seen a short line and a lot of concentration is needed. a fish has taken the flies without giving a visible sign or you feeling the take due to a slack line. The other effect this has is to pull the flies clear of the water for the next cast. Then simply repeat the lob of the flies into the next swim you choose for them.

This is quick effective fishing that will allow you to cover water thoroughly searching for fish. This is also exciting fishing as you will pull trout from under your rod tip, trout that you normally would have trouble catching unless they were willing to quickly come to a dry fly through the deeper turbulent water that you are fishing.

Czech nymphing in Tasmania

While Czech nymphing originated in European rivers which abound with grayling trout are also a very good species to target. Freestone rivers with fast runs, pockets and broken water are all ideal as you can readily approach holding water without spooking trout. Tasmania has plenty of water suitable for this type of nymphing, rivers like the Tyenna and Derwent, North Esk, St Patricks and upper Meander and Mersey Rivers all have ideal stretches of water.

Early season when rivers are running slightly high, or when a fresh is coming through after a good rain are ideal times to fish this style of nymphing. If the water is a bit discoloured try using a brighter coloured nymph such as a pink czech nymph in the set up. This oddly coloured fly is quite effective at times.

This technique will also work right through the season in the right water such as I've described.

Variations to Czech nymphing

Once you've got a feel for standard Czech nymphing, this set up and technique can be adapted to short line upstream and also short line down and across. The fundamentals are the same, it is all about contact with the flies so takes are visible while maintaining a natural swim of the nymphs.

Czech nymphing fills yet another gap in the successful anglers portfolio of techniques. The take of a good size trout right under your rod tip and the resulting chaos as he rips into the current angry at the fact he has been hoodwinked is a just reward for the practice and patience spent in learning this style of nymph fishing in rivers. With a new season kicking off now is the perfect time to try Czech Nymphing.

Joe Riley

Fishing the nymphs

Casting is not exactly high tech with this type of fishing.

All you need to do is lob the flies in front of you out at the tip of the rod with your arm extended, this is about a 45 degree angle upstream. The flies are then allowed to sink quickly for a moment before you bring the rod across your body downstream to a point where the flies are about 1 metre downstream from you. If you are doing it perfectly the flies should drift naturally with the current ducking and lifting in the eddies and currents near the bottom. If the heaviest fly is hitting the bottom, bounces will show on the leader, while a take should appear as a pause or visible pull on the line. If you suspect a take strike immediately with a strong upward flick of the wrist.

The important aspect of drifting the nymphs is to keep contact with the nymphs. Too little contact will result in takes not being seen and too much contact will result in an unnatural drift and refusals. Judgment is required (and comes with practice)as to moving the rod at the correct pace so that the flies are drifting naturally with a light curve in the line back to the rod.

Once you reach a point where the flies are about a metre below you slowly raise the rod as this lifts the nymphs away from the bottom, this action will very often induce a take from a fish following the nymphs. If no take is felt after lifting for a foot or so, give a strike with the wrist to complete the swim.

It is important to do this every time as it is very possible that

If you are ‘Czech Nymphing’ perfectly the flies should drift naturally with the current ducking and lifting in the eddies and currents near the bottom. This is a close and personal technique with very short casts.

Diagram courtesy of Czech Nymph - Karel Krivanec.

Fishing News - Page 15

Winter cockroaching Don’t scoff and think this story is a bit lightweight and simple. Craig Rist is a skilful and diverse angler and he revisits his fishing with this delightful piece.

The important lesson here is the importance of catching fish when you are young. Many beginning anglers lose interest because they don’t catch fish. Enjoy this story for what it is - a lesson in diversity.

You might remember Craig’s last story was about fishing Weipa - the next might be mako shark on fly. (Ed)

Twenty-two years ago at the age of 14 I received my first fly rod and started to learn how to fly fish.

At the same time I was shown how productive a cockroach fished with a fly rod could be. The method is simple, but very effective.

One of the best things about fishing a cockroach is there’s not too many choices you have to make when you’re starting out, other than what water you want to fish. Unlike the bewildering task of selecting one of the many flies or lures available when you’re first introduced to these types of trout fishing. Trout will take a cockroach in lakes and rivers all year round and in all conditions. On those rare occasions that a trout refuses a cockroach, you can move to another location or change the line and try your hand at fly fishing.

Fishing a cockroach with a fly rod in my early days gave me some useful fishing skills that I adopted while learning to fly fish. Firstly it proved that casting a long way was not necessary to catch trout. It also taught me how to stalk and locate trout using polarized sunglasses and the basic mechanics of how to play out a fish using a fly rod and reel.

Most importantly though it allowed me to catch fish fairly easily at a time when I was new to trout fishing. This kept me interested in trout fishing and willing to learn new things.

Early in July this year I decided to re-live my early days and see if trout would take a cockroach in the middle of winter. Arriving at Great Lake about mid-morning, with a moderate south westerly blowing I decided to give the eastern shore a go, hoping their might be a couple of fish feeding amongst the stirred up water. Winding on about 16 ft of 8 pound line over my fly line, after joining it to my tippet, I attached a bare hook and a cockroach. I waded out to my knees searching for any signs of fish with the aid of polarized sunglasses. With no obvious signs, I located any under water structures such as logs, large rocks or depressions that may hold fish. I waded the shore fishing the water in front of me with several casts before moving along 8 ft or so and repeating the process. As I slowly retrieved the line I felt a tap through the line as a fish took the cockroach. For 3 or 4 seconds I let the fish take the loose coils of line from my hand before holding the line tight and lifting the rod into a sold fish. After a short fight a brown of around 2 pounds came to the net. I removed the hook from the corner of the mouth releasing him back into the water.

An hour had past with no signs of any fish, when the line started to pick up speed as a fish took the cockroach as it was sinking. Again a delayed strike lead to another sold hookup, but this time the fish gained its freedom after wrapping the line around a nearby rock, breaking the line in the process. That being my last cockroach, I removed the 8 pound line I had attached to my fly line tippet earlier and tied on one of my cockroach flies. Besides introducing a couple of false casts to deliver the fly I fished the cockroach fly in much the same way.

Some might shudder at the thought of cockroaches, but trout love them.

The author with a nice Winter brownie from Great Lake

Another couple of hours had past and I was beginning to wonder if these flies still worked. As I retrieved the fly and it started to come into view I saw a green shape looming up behind the fly. I stopped the fly and watched the white blink of the trout’s mouth open and close indicating it had just taken the fly. I paused briefly and set the hook. The fish rolled with a flash of red and powered off into deeper water followed by a jump. Still connected, I eventually steered it away from the rocks and logs, slipping the net under a nice rainbow. The next hour produced another brown, followed by a change in the weather as snow proceeded to fall.

It was time for me to head home. It was good to see that a trout’s appetite for cockroaches hadn’t changed and was still as strong as ever.

The natural or imitation both work on a fly rod.

Method

Any fly rod and reel loaded with 8 to 12 pound line and a number 4 bait saver hook. You can add the monofilament over the top of the flyline. Strip off about 16 ft of line in loops in your line hand, as you would with a fly line. Cast out the cockroach with one smooth action let it sink to the depth you want to fish and then begin to slowly retrieve it back in long slow pulls, looping the line back in your line hand. A fish will either take the cockroach as it is sinking or on the retrieve. Let the fish take line for 3 or 4 seconds before setting the hook.

Fishing gear

Cockroaches can be found in woodpiles or stacked timber and under old logs. If cockroaches are scarce, mudeyes and large grasshoppers fished in the same way can be very affective as well.

Any fly rod and reel from a 4 weight to an 8 weight can be used.

Use a good line with low memory such as Maxima from 8 to 12 pounds to wind over your fly line or onto a separate reel. Bearing in mind that heavier lines tend to tangle less and are easier to manage.

Bait saver hooks will keep the cockroach lying straight on the hook while casting and retrieving.

Waders will help you get close enough for a cast and polarized sunglasses will add the visual aspect to your fishing by helping to locate fish and underwater structures.

Warm clothing such as thermals, including thermal gloves and quality wet weather gear can make the difference between an enjoyable day’s fishing, or a miserable one.

Fooled.

Craig Rist A good productive shore on Great Lake.

Fishing News - Page 16

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17 Wilson Street Burnie Ph: 6431 5039 Fax: 6432 4039 20/7/07- 4:34:16 Fishing News PagePM 17

Great Lake is great in winter

The Great Lake to many is a cold, barren, windswept place, almost void of any life apart from the odd roo or two.

To me it’s become my number one trout fishing destination.

Three or four years ago Arthurs Lake would have been my first choice but since the Inland Fishery’s good management of fish stocks in the lake, the quality and size has improved no end. For those who don’t know, the IFC has been removing some of the brown trout from Great Lake and restocking the waterways with these adult fish. Then replacing these with thousands of rainbow trout fry and fingerlings.

Over the years the rainbows have always fared better than their brown cousins, and are probably more suited to the deep, cold waters of Great Lake. Some ten years ago, if you caught ten browns, five of them would look not unlike barracouta! Out of the other five, maybe three would be nice fish. Nowdays you will rarely catch a poor brown from the lake. And by mid-season, almost all are as fat as mud!

Rainbows tend to feed on slightly different areas than the browns and you will catch more ‘bows’ in the deeper open water, but higher in the water column and under windlanes.

The browns are doing so much better now simply because there are less of them competing for the food supply. The extra rainbows in the lake won’t bother them because the ‘bows’ will be out in their usual haunts doing their own thing.

I also believe the low water levels make for better fishing.

Although, like everyone else, I would like to see the lake rise, if only to access a few more boat ramps around the lake.

The low levels mean more sunlight penetrating the depths, promoting weed growth. Look at Arthurs for instance, mostly a much shallower lake, there are weedbeds almost everywhere, Creating an endless food supply for a huge population of

The author is rugged up for some hot action. trout. Now I am certainly no trout expert. These are only my theorys and many may argue but it’s surely not rocket science either. The Great Lake to me is much easier to read than Arthurs. The food and therefore the fish seem to be more concentrated in certain areas. Yes there are many barren all but fishless shores around the lake. Look for the signs, and I don’t mean the kind that say ‘Good Fishing Here’ because you won’t find any! Look for the big rocky points that have the huge boulders jutting out of deep water. Chances are that under the surface will look the same. The big holes and crevices are the perfect place for trout to hunt galaxia, shrimp and other crustaceans. Learn to read your sounder. Adjust the sensitivity and zoom so you can distinguish weed beds

from otherwise flat rocky bottom. You may not actually see many fish on your sounder. Because you are only fishing in around three to six metres of water, a sounder can only give you a narrow picture. If it looks like a fishy bottom the will be there! Now you have found your fishy spot, all you have to do is catch them. And there is no better way than with soft plastics. As a kid I was bought up fishing the Great Lake the traditional way of bottom fishing with wattle grubs, spinning the windy shores and slow trolling flatfish.

We progressed from there to using closed-faced reels casting wood grubs, working them slowly back in. This method in particular was and still is very effective just about anywhere. Soft Plastics though are a huge step forward again.

Superb browns and rainbows are a satifying reward from Great Lake.

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Fishing News - Page 18

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The main reason they work so well is not only the fact that they look and feel so natural. But they allow you (with practice) to fish the whole water column on every single cast. You simply can’t do that with a grub or spinner. Buying a few Plastics is also a whole lot easier than cutting grubs out of trees also!

It’s all about odds. Because you are working on area so much more effectively, you are bound to get it past ones nose. And when you do, they can’t resist!

Unlike spinners and grubs when you will often have fish follow right to your feet. I can’t remember this ever happening with plastics. They always have a go, even on bright days.

You can fish plastics with your old glass spin rod and mono line but the specialized S.P. graphite rods matched with 1500 – 2500 size thread lines and 4 -8 lb braid five so much more feel and control. I use a 6 – 8 lb Flourocarbon leader of about 3 metres. Flourocarbon has a tough outer layer and is for more abrasion resistant than mono line. The long leader allows for the odd breakoff rather than starting with a shorter leader and having to retie a new leader after every snag and breakoff. Remember to check your leader after every fish as even the best Flouro isn’t immune to a trouts sharp teeth. My no. 1 choice of plastics for Great Lake are 60mm Squidgey fish in Gary Glitter on either a round 2 or 3 gram Squidgey jighead or a T-T 1/8 ounce jighead. My second choice being Berkley 3 inch minnows in Pumpkinseed with the same T-T head.

The Beehives at the southern end of the lake can be very productive with the steep drop-off.

If you would rather target a Rainbow fog or the same size Squidgeys in the brighter Neon or Killer Tomato colours.

Techniques are not too complicated and when the fish are feeding hard, a simple wind and pause is all that is needed. The length of the pause obviously varies with different depths. In say 4 metres, I would have 2 to 3 quick winds then pause for 3 to 4 seconds. If the fish are being difficult, try a lighter jighead and slow the pause and retrieve a bit, throwing in a few single or double rod lifts, all the while watching your line for that telltale ‘zip’ and ‘bang’ a quick lift of the rod and you’re on. On the day of the fish in the picture (Friday, July 6th) I was actually heading to Brushy Lagoon but something made me turn off Awesome power with the choice at Deloraine and head up the mountain.

I put in at the Boundary Bay ramp at of 4.7L V8 petrol or 4.2L turbo 8am and headed straight for Kangaroo diesel.

Islands, two small islands out in the Towing capacity to 3500kg* middle of nowhere. From there across to McClannachans Island. Then fish my way round the Beehives and back to the ramp by 2pm. I finished the day with 16 fish, 9 ‘keepers’ and 7 released. Just 2 rainbow amongst them, one of which I put back also. Most fish were in superb condition considering the time of year (just after spawning). I broke one nice Overlander Magazine ‘Best Medium 4WD fish off and only missed one other that Wagon’ for the three years in a row bit the tail off my Squidgey! When they are not feeding so well you will often miss 4L V6 petrol, 3L turbo diesel. as many fish as you hook. So yes I had a Towing capacity to 2500kg* good day. Let’s hope we get some good rain and snow soon to bring the lake up.

Maybe the increase in licence fees will go towards constructing some new low water boat ramps? I hope my experiences might help those unfamiliar with the lake and its potential. It truly is one of Tassies Great Lakes!

Get in - or get out of the way Jamie Harris

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80 Hobart Road, Kings Meadows Phone 63 444 000 www.brucestevenson.com.au Fishing News - Page 19

Central Highlands Tasmania s s e n r e d l i W & y t i n e r Se

Relax in style and comfort on the shores of Great Lake at Miena Now Relax in style and comfort on the open 12 shores of Great Lake at Miena months of Central Highlands Lodge is the most central fishing lodge

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Central Highlands Lodge is the most central to the famous fisheries of the Western Lakes Penstock and Little Pine lagoons.

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Central Highlands Lodge is the most central fishing lodge • Licensed cafe, bar and restaurant with comfor to the famous fisheries of the Western Lakes, Arthurs Lake, Restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and dinner breakfast Sept till April only). We cater for in-ho Penstock and Little Pine lagoons.

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Fishing News - Page 20

Phone on www.tarraleah.com 6289 3222 Phone: 6289 Tarraleah 0111 Web:

St Clair Bradys and Central Highlands R e g Tr a v e r s h a i l e d f o r m Queenstown and has fished the Lake St Clair and Brady’s region lakes since he was a lad in the 1950’s. Few would know this area as well. Tasmanian Fishing & Boating news caught up with him to have a yarn about the “good ol’ days” and today, fishing these lakes early in the season.

TFBN: Tell us about the first big trout you caught?

RT: My dad and friends used to fish the Gordon River a lot and I can vividly remember when I was 12 years old catching a 12lb. brownie about 5 miles upstream form the mouth. I guess this is when I was really hooked on trout fishing and it was from there that I started fishing Lake St Clair. More specifically we’d fish what is known as the St Clair lagoon on eastern shore up to the top small weir.

TFBN: What sort of gear were you using at that stage?

RT: Like most youngsters of my age interested in fishing I was reasonably proficient with a spinning rod and the reel I had was a Fleuger. I also did a bit of bait fishing as did a lot of anglers at that time. It was when I was twelve that I was given a cane fly rod, the brand slips the memory but it was coupled with a Hardy Royal reel that I still have. Numerous rainbows that were caught, many falling to tadpole and black-ant patterns. At times there were “acres upon acres of rising fish” and sometimes they’d bite whereas another day no matter what you threw at them they would treat it with distain. After a good days fishing we’d call into Mr Dalco’s pub at Derwent Bridge.

I’d have to wait in the car but occasionally I’d cadge a rum.

This was the only pub and accommodation in the area at that time but of course now it’s a different story and anglers can combine a bit of comfort with their fishing.

TFBN: St Clair is a beautiful lake, what other sections do you like?

RT: At least twice a year I like to fish the northern end where the Narcissus River enters the lake. I load my little 3.9 Quintrex Trophy at Cynthia Bay and hug the shore to reach the north end of the lake to make camp on the flat across the river. A word of caution, a north westerly can jump up pretty quickly and it can be dangerous water so it’s a wise idea to keep an eye on the weather. Having said that, there is great fishing across the grassy flats to the east, particularly where a substantial creek runs a good channel quite a way into the lake. There are heaps of fish in this area, probably too many and this keeps the size down to an average of around 2lbs. Good fishing extends down the eastern shore to Mt Ida and we have experienced exceptional days using orange and yellow spinners. Another warning, I have never seen so many blowflies in one spot!

Opposite in the top western corner, hard under Mount Olympus early season trout will fall to any green coloured wet. As the weather warms the rainbows and browns will snavel anything off the surface.

TFBN: What about walking to fishing spots?

RT: St Clair fishing is so good it’s hard to go past it but for those that want to combine a bit of exercise there are spots relatively close that are rarely fished. One reasonably easy day walk is to Shadow and Forgotten Lakes two hours walk from Cynthia Bay. It is a moderate climb ascending 200 odd metres but the views and fishing are well worth the effort. Shadow Lake have rainbows while Forgotten has brown trout and both will readily take Sloane’s Sunset wet early on then eagerly sup black ants and emergers

Lake St Clair

A quiet corner at Bradys Lake.

as things warm up a tad. The best fish I have seen from Forgotten was a nine ponder and on one occasion from Shadow I landed five three to five ponders in ten minutes.

It was a bit of a chuckle as I accompanied a group of bush walker friends on this trip and when we made camp I said to the group leader “I’ll slip down to the lake a catch supper while you light the fire”. (before fuel stoves only) He was flabbergasted when I returned dropped the fish down and said “I suppose you want me to do the fire and cook them as well”! These are the most beautiful small lakes with great camping spots so I can thoroughly recommend an overnight. Another lake well worth a visit is Petrarch and this has a good head of browns.

TFBN: I’ll bet there are plenty of other stories that tickle your fancy?

RT: Yep, many of these waters contain huge fish and at one particular spot that I’m sworn to secrecy about my mate and I had landed nine fish all between six and nine pounds. Had put his rod down with the line at full cast to help me net another. Big mistake! We heard a rattle and a clatter, turned around to see his much loved Sage rod and reel bouncing over the stern then plane across the top of the water, I’m not joking, for three boat lengths before disappearing. It was a good fish that then ran out the full backing before busting free. We found the floating line some three hours later and it was one relieved angler when we were able to retrieve his gear from the depths.

TFBN: I understand you also like Laughing Jack Lagoon?

RT: Talking of big fish, Laughing Jack, for whatever reason contains exceptionally strong, hard fighters. I suspect it has something to do with the fluctuating levels of the lake and that those fish that survive and of good hardy stock. The lake runs west to east with a fairly basic launching facility at the eastern end. I prefer to fish the far western corner, a beautiful spot, great water and if conditions are right you can fasten on to brownies 6 – 7lbs.

This water only contains brown trout and again early in the season best flies are Wigram's Robin, Black/red Matuka or a Woolly Bugger. I find best conditions are when the level is about two metres below full. Retrieving a boat after a westerly comes in can be a bit of a nuisance.

TFBN: Summing up then what six flies would you use in this region?

RT: With the chilly conditions that we are experiencing at present I will definitely be concentrating my effort below the surface and reckon that if you use any of the following you have a good chance of success.

Mrs Simpson Wigram’s Robin Black & Red Matuka Yeti Sloanes Sunset fly Woolly Bugger (black or olive green) I wish you well for safe and productive fishing this season! Reg.

An ice-age glacier carved Lake St Clair, the deepest in Australia. It’s surrounded by primeval rainforest and towering mountain peaks. You may want to just walk and walk and walk on tracks along the lake shores and through the forest. You’ll meet wallabies, wombats and echidnas. You’ll hear birds, but find it harder to see them in the trees. You’ll renew your acquaintance with the spirit of nature. Pit your wits against the wily trout lurking in the lakes and rivers. There’s guidance available for the inexperienced. Picnic on the lakeside beaches. Take a cruise on the lake. A restaurant, a shop, a Park Ranger all make life on the lake easy. After dinner, perhaps your catch of the day, cooked on a barbecue, take a stroll with your torch into the forest. Commune with the animals before retreating to your cosy accommodation.

Lake St.Clair Wilderness Resort promises you a truly unique wilderness experience. Right on the shore of Australia’s deepest freshwater lake, the resort is far more than a place to rest your head. It is the main activity centre for the entire area.

The resort hub includes a gourmet restaurant, café, bar, convenience store. The ferry that meets the famous Overland Track also leaves from here. To keep you on track, the National Parks Visitors Centre is right next door. And don’t forget to say hello to your nearest neighbours – the Pademelons and Bennett’s Wallabies.

Fish, hike, cruise, climb or just relax at the resort.

The choice is yours.

Nestled amongst the trees, the self-contained loft style cabins provide you with the perfect hideaway. With a choice of gas or log fireplaces, the two bedroom cabins can comfortably accommodate up to five people.

Tarraleah Tasmania’s Ultimate Fishing Retreat

Take the wild Brown trout challenge, or fish for magnificent fighting Rainbows and feisty Atlantic Salmon. Tarraleah is the perfect freshwater fishing base, located in the heart of Tasmania’s Central Highlands.

The region is home to countless lakes, rivers and streams, where you can walk, wade, kayak or boat with stunning scenery the backdrop to screaming reels.

Join the fly tying workshops and let professional guides take you to the best locations. The pro-tackle Loomis fishing store will ensure you have everything for the big catch.

The Lodge at Tarraleah is Australia’s only Loomis accredited boutique Lodge. Luxury Travel Magazine has listed The Lodge as “One of the 20 Most Luxurious Fishing Lodges in the World.” Condé Nast Traveller has listed The Lodge in the “Top 65 Best New Hotels in the World.”

Fly fishing paradise by day and indulgence by night.

The Lodge boasts nine spa guest rooms, library, bar, 100 malts in the whisky cabinet, 300 wines in the cellar, Wildside Restaurant and a cliff-top hot tub.

The 300-acre Tarraleah estate also offers fully equipped and self-contained art-deco Cottages and modern en-suite studio rooms with loft bedrooms in the former School. There is also a contemporary café, cosy tavern, village store and an activities centre.

Partners and families are well catered for with plenty of activities on offer including walking, mountain biking, lake kayaking, 4WD tours and Tasmania’s highest golf course which adjoins the estate. All equipment is available for hire from Adventure Tarraleah.

Tarraleah is a scenic 2-hour drive from Hobart, Launceston or the Devonport ferry terminal. Tarraleah

– “Walk on the Wild Side”. www.tarraleah.com

Places to stay Tarraleah Central Highlands Lodge Wilderness Resort

Ph: 62 890 111 Ph: 62 598 179 Ph: 62 891 137 Fishing News - Page 21

Australia performs well in the 2007 World Fly Fishing Championships In May this year the Australian Fly Fishing Team departed our shores to contest the 27th World Fly Fishing Championships in Kemi, Finland. Joe Riley recounts the experience.

The road to get there started with State Championships in 2005 from which the qualifiers competed in the 2005 Australian Fly Fishing Championships in Tasmania. The team was selected from the top 15 finishers from this championship and included 2 Tasmanian competitors, Jonothan Stagg of Relbia who won the competition and myself, Joe Riley, who got the bronze medal, both being members of the Van Dieman Fly Fishers Club in Launceston. The other competitors in the competition were Max Vereshaka and Stuart Rees from Victoria and Scott Tucker and Chris Dawson from the ACT, (Chris being the reserve angler). Tasmania was also represented with the Team Captain Jim Davis and Brian McCullagh as Manager, both members of the Hobart Fly Tyers Club, which made four of the 8 member squad Tasmanians.

Fly Fish Australia is the governing body for competition fly fishing in this country and has a goal of Australia consistently achieving a top 10 status for teams in World Championships.

In recent years Australian teams have struggled to achieve this goal, so the team was selected in early 2006, plans were hatched and the work began to achieve a great result in the big rivers of Europe where grayling are the main target species, and specialised techniques are used to good effect in catching them.

For me this plan involved a big change in the fly fishing I normally do, a lot less flying up to the lakes with the tinnie, it was river fishing at every opportunity. Fishing with Jonothan Stagg all of the local rivers around Launceston as well as trips to Hobart to fish the Tyenna and Derwent whenever a chance arose. River fishing concentrating on dry fly, short line or Czech nymphing and to a lesser extent nymph under dry, trying to catch as many fish as possible from a self imposed stretch of river.

The team management Jim Davis and Brian McCullagh worked on travel plans, costings, arranging guides, research of the venues and local flies. Included in the plans for this competition was attendance at a Czech Nymphing course in the region of Bohemia in the Czech Republic prior to arrival in Finland for practice prior to the event.

Czech Republic On the 29th of May it was time to fly, Launceston, Melbourne, Singapore, Frankfurt, Linz. Twenty three hours flying time, plus stop overs. At Linz we picked up a hire van and drove to the site for the Czech Nymphing course, the Hotel Rhuze on the banks of the Vlatava River in Rozemberg.

The aim of attending this course was to, hopefully, gain a thorough insight into the method of nymph fishing known as Czech Nymphing. Jiri Klima who is Captain of the Czech Team and regarded by many as being one of the best river fishermen in the world, was the main instructor.

Fishing the rivers in the vicinity of Rozemberg was a bit of a culture shock. At home if you see another angler on a river you keep driving for a couple of kilometres to the next piece of river. In the Czech Republic there are anglers everywhere, but that's not even the start of it, the main pass time in the Czech Republic is canoeing and rafting. In a days fishing you could have anything up to 300 canoes come past you, in front of you, behind you and nearly run over you. In reality though all of this activity does not affect the fishing.

Brown trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, grayling and a few coarse fish like chub and dace all came to the nymphs while the frenetic activity of other fishermen and canoeists was going on all around you.

The learning that was achieved from Jiri Klima and the course as a whole was not great. Some of us had already been fishing this style previously, but what we did learn was about attention to detail. Weights of nymph patterns to obtain precise depths while fishing, leader lengths to assist maintaining contact with the flies and fishing water methodically so you cover all potential holding water was drummed in. Learning to read the water, as to where fish would be holding, are all fundamental issues that we all knew, but we learned even more about during the course.

Fishing News - Page 22

The Australian Team had a goal of finishing in the top ten. They finished a creditable ninth.

Back row: Max Vereshaka, Joe Riley, Chris Dawson, Stuart Rees, Brian McCullagh Front row: Jonothan Stagg, Jiri Klima (Czech Team Captain) Scott Tucker.

In my ‘on water’ session with Jiri Klima, he started me on a seam in the river where a side current and a main current met.

I started Czech Nymphing it as methodically as I thought I could, after all I didn't want to appear like some rank amateur from the other side of the world. Jiri was telling me ‘good, good’, in broken English and offering me a few pointers as I went. I was getting a few plucks and dropped a couple of fish, so he stepped in behind me and fished over where I had just covered and it took him less than two minutes to pull a Grayling right out from behind me! That really hurt.

Some good practice was had in the five days we spent at Rozemberg and we estimate the team caught somewhere in the vicinity of 1000 fish. It wasn't just the fishing though, the Czech Republic is a beautiful country with friendly people and is very cheap to travel to as it is not yet linked to the Euro.

Accommodation and food prices were great, a 500ml stein of a magnificent local lager costs about 28-30 Crown which roughly equates to $1.20 Australian, a meal for the evening will cost about $10 - $15 for two courses. The scenery which was so lush and the architecture which included castles and beautiful old houses on cobble stone roads all made the stay memorable.

Our accommodation was our guide Kalle's summer house, the Finland equivalent to a very nice Tasmanian shack. A timber cabin by a lake complete with Sauna and 24 hour a day sunshine. We were that far North that the sun does not set in Summer!

Kalle Auramaa is a competition angler in Finland and had done his homework well prior to our arrival. The competition river the Simojoki was still running high and was not fishing well, so he took us to his family shack to practice the Kuusinki and the Kitka rivers. We had already got a good taste for the fishing while in the Czech Republic, so in Finland we hit the ground running. Here the fishing was nearly all grayling, and lots of them. Czech Nymphing was far and away the best technique, with most days resulting in everyone getting around 30 grayling varying in size from 20cm to 35cm average.

The practice was great and the beautiful big rivers of Finland provided a real challenge, attempting to wade across the heavy flows in preparation for the competition. Some of the highlights of the practice included a wild moose crossing

Finland Tuesday 5 June, early start for the drive to the airport and three flights to arrive at Kemi in Finland.

We were greeted by our guide and a further 4 hour trip in the van to where we had planned unofficial practice, a long day.

Tasmanian angler Joe Riley was the leading angler after session 4, he blanked the last session, but still managed a fantastic 9th in the world. This automatically qualifies Joe for a place in the next Australian team.

the Kitka river just below Max Vereshaka, this thing was like a draught horse on steroids, absolutely huge. Eating local cuisine Kalle prepared for us including smoked grayling, moose and caribou, and having an evening sauna and a swim in the lake which had only had the ice melt about a month before we arrived in Finland.

One day we decided to travel to the official practice water on the upper Simojoki. At this stage we were used to catching heaps of fish on secluded water so when we arrived at the stretch of river which was about 1.5km long, and had at least 30 anglers practicing on it, we got a reminder of how tough things may have really been. As a team we only accounted for 4 grayling, however Kalle our guide caught another 3 on his own. As far as we could tell though the other teams only caught a hand full of fish so there was no real cause for concern.

As there were stocked rainbows on a lake in the competition we decided to travel to a lake where similar fish were stocked for some practice. It was not a particularly memorable experience. When you are used to Arthurs Lake with wild browns acting like wild fish do, it is an absolute change in technique to chase freshly stocked rainbow trout.

These fish live their life in a pen and not like stocking done in Australia where fingerling and yearling fish are released to grow on, these fish are released anywhere between 2 ½ to 4 lb in size. They are used to living in a cage so open water appears to terrify them, they swim around in circles, hugging the bank and stick to an area close to where they are being released.

These fish do not know anything about attacking prey items as they only know how to feed on pellets. We all caught fish, fishing slow and deep in one corner there was no rhyme or reason to flies as the fish didn't really know what they were eating. Not what I would ever describe as good fishing.

The time at Kalle's shack was as a whole another good experience which was preparing us for the actual competition.

It's not all cheese and crackers though and it is easy to forget how fortunate we are in Tasmania and Australia as a whole for the fishing opportunities we have. Licences for Finland cost 12 Euros a day (approx $20 Australian), they are individual to rivers so if you don't plan in advance which river you want to fish you can't head out until you stop and buy a licence.

After a week of $20 a day, a $61 full season all waters licence in Tasmania seems great value.

Competition Time Unofficial practice was over and the team moved to the hotel for official practice prior to the competition which was now only a few days away. We checked into the hotel Cumulus at Kemi on Tuesday the 12th of June. That evening there was a welcome dinner and lots of talk between old acquaintances from various teams, guarded discussions about practice and the general concerns that the fishing was going to be hard, based on the practice beats everyone had been on.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday each had an official practice session in preparation for the main event. This is where you board the official buses and go to the various practice beats, so the organisers can make sure logistically things are OK and competitors can practice if they still need to. A lot of teams such as the French and Czechs duck out on this practice as they have worked out what they are doing and don't want other teams watching them fish. The official practice was hard, most of the rivers had been given an absolute flogging so it was more a case of having a look at the sort of water we were likely to be fishing on each beat, rather than serious fishing.

The one piece of water everyone wanted to fish in practice was Lake Veitsiluoto. The lake had been closed to everyone for well over a month so no one other than the Finland team really knew much about it. A small section of the lake was made available for practice and yes, those stocked rainbows proved to be about all there was to catch, apart from redfin perch and the occasional pike.

Once again the rainbows were all caught hard against the bank, this time in shallow bays and once again they were all 2 ½ plus pound recently stocked fish. The thing that was going to stand out about the lake was that each boat was to have oarsmen and if the wind was not blowing each boat could be moved on the oars while fishing, by no means ideal for a fair competition. This issue was raised by some teams and was promptly dismissed by the organisers.

So after an official opening ceremony, numerous captains meetings to sort out issues, official practice and other functions it was time for the competition. The afternoon before the

first session was spent, tying leaders, cleaning lines, checking gear and tying flies. We had narrowed our list of flies down, however everyone seemed to have gained confidence in a few patterns that they were comfortable with. We had a final team meeting and got ready for the first session, full of anticipation and high hopes for a good result.

Session 1 For the sessions everyone in the team was separated into their group of 23 anglers and traveled to their respective venues, I was off to Sector 3. My beat was about 150 metres long and about 50 metres wide, there were good rapids in sections on the beat and these were the areas to concentrate on for grayling. One hour of Czech Nymphing through some of the best water and not a touch, I was just beginning to get those nagging thoughts that maybe I was doing it wrong when I had a strong take out of a deep pocket beside a big boulder. A beautiful big grayling came up in the current and into the net, measured at 38 cm, I was on the board.

Fishing is always interesting with mixed with canoeists

With renewed confidence I attacked the rest of the beat and finished the three hour session with 4 grayling all mid 30 cm. I thought I'd done OK, but wasn't sure, the Italian on the beat above me had caught 7 and the best was the Frenchman Yann Caleri who caught 11 fish, I ended up 5th for the session. Word filtered back that there were blanks on most sectors and it turned out that there were 34 out of the 115 competitors that blanked.

After session one, Max Vereshaka had done well with a 3rd, I had a 5th, Scott Tucker had an 8th. Australia was placed 7th overall.

Session 2 Session 2 was on Sector 1, the upper region of the Simojoki. On arrival I was introduced to my controller who told me that the English angler Simon Robinson had caught 10 fish. We walked to the beat and it was a stark contrast to session 1. This beat was no more than 75 metres long, about 25 metres wide and full of cascading rapids ideal for Grayling. Through broken English Peterie my controller was able to tell me that the English angler had not been able to wade through the rapids down the middle of the river, so I was full of confidence that this could be the beat that could see me get a good result, provided I could get through the middle of the river to the untouched water on the far bank.

The session started and it didn't take long, three casts and I got my first Grayling. I didn't need to go far, in fact I was still on the bank covering water out to where I wanted to step into the bottom run so I could work my way upstream, Czech Nymphing was again the technique. I was consistently catching fish during the session, but I could also see that Yann was doing the same, I saw him land a big brown trout as well just to add a bit more pressure. There were a couple of highlights for the session, one was the look on the controllers face, and to him no doubt the look on mine, as I got washed away by the current as I was trying to come back across the river with a small grayling in the net. Although I got a bit wet, I regained my footing and made it back with a 20 cm grayling, smack dab on the minimum size for a scoring fish. (I actually think the controller gave me points for effort and entertainment with my swim down the river). Another was a grayling I caught that was 23 cm and had two very distinctive cormorant marks on it, I got this fish in the first twenty minutes and then again in the last hour from exactly the same spot.

I finished the session with 12 fish, including Mr cormorant mark—scored twice, and one last fish right on the bell. I found out Yann who had been taking plenty of fish to the controller caught 11, and no one had bettered that. I had won my session by the narrowest of margins—the 20 cm grayling that caused me a swim down the river got me in front. Max Vereshaka got a 3rd again and Scott Tucker got a 7th .

After session 2, Australia had two anglers in the top 10, Max in 4th and myself in 6th. As a team we had moved up to 5th place and were right in the hunt.

Even the smallest legal fish can be a valuable catch.

Session 3 Day two of the competition was only one session, after leaving on the bus at 7 am and getting back to the hotel for dinner at 11 pm the previous day, a single session was a welcome relief. I had Sector 2 and once again hopes were high as both anglers had caught fish, 11 and 9 respectively on the beat the previous day and had each scored well.

The beat was a cross between my first two, It was about 120 metres long and about 35 metres wide. There were two good areas—a lovely rapid at the top of the beat and some more good rapids down at the bottom. My controller kindly told me that both of the previous anglers had caught all of their fish at the top of the beat and had not fished the bottom end. I started at the top of the beat as did the previous anglers and soon found out why they hadn't moved.

From the middle of the beat to the far bank was some lovely pocket water with good structure and it was full of fish.

In the first 2 hours I managed to get 13 grayling, all Czech Nymphing. I then went to the bottom of the beat and got another 3, as well as losing a big fish which broke me off about 3 seconds after I set the hook in a chest deep run. There were some stocked browns in the river over 40 cm, however this thing, for the short time I had it on had massive weight and was more likely to have been an Atlantic salmon as they were running through the river at that time.

I finished the session with 16 fish and another session win, Max Vereshaka was still on fire, he got a 2nd, and Jonothan Stagg got 14th in his group. As a team we slipped one spot to 6th but were still in a very good position, even still in with a chance of a medal. As individuals we still had two anglers in the top 10, Max in 4th and I had moved just in front of him to third.

After three sessions it was apparent that the stumbling block for us was not the rivers, but the lake. Stuart Rees and Jonothan Stagg had managed to get fish on the lake but scored Continued on page 26........

Fishing News - Page 23

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Fishing News - Page 24

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Fishing News - Page 25

poorly both ending up with 17ths. Scott Tucker had blanked the lake, and on the last day Max and I who up until then had a dream run were yet to go there.

Session 4 Day 3 for me started on the hardest section of the river, Sector 4. This was the lowest and therefore biggest section of the river and had proved a real challenge to most competitors.

I knew that a few fish had come off my beat, twos and threes so I was still confident I could catch. When I got to the beat I knew there was a challenge ahead, this piece of water was 250 metres long and about 60 metres wide and there was good pieces of structure everywhere through it. There was a good three hours fishing just to go through the best water in it once!

The session started and so did the casting, about every 15 seconds for two hours solid and not a touch. That's about 480 casts watching for a little tweak on the leader that could make your year or or completely crush you depending on whether you have kept your focus or not. I had fished the best water maybe only had a couple of little tugs but still nothing definite in the way of a fish. Towards the tail of the beat on the far bank there were a couple of individual boulders creating pockets in an otherwise featureless glide. I was staring at a

blank and 23 points against the team when under the side of the second boulder my leader straightened, I set the hook and was in. Not a little grayling this time but a brown trout about 3 lb, my heart rate tripled as this thing took off downstream. I was already on the cut off point for the beat and was not allowed to go further down so I had to play the fish back to me. After several pathetic nervous attempts to net the fish I finally managed to slide it into the net and off to the controller, a 46cm stockie brown trout, once again taken Czech Nymphing.

That was the first and last take for the three hour session. Fortunately for me the brown was the biggest of the single fish caught so I still ranked well, 6th for my group. My mate Yann, who had a beat that no fish had been caught on for the competition did what the French always do, caught a fish, so he was still right in the hunt.

On the way to session 5 at the lunch stop I bumped into Max who was coming from the lake. Max had blanked, unfortunately he had seven fish on, probably more than any other competitor in his group but every one had come off, four of them at the net.

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In the 4th session Stuart Rees got a 4th, I got a 6th and Jonothan Stagg got a 14th, Australia was still holding 6th position and we were still in touch with the team medals. Unbeknown to me I had progressed to 1st individually and only needed to catch fish on the lake to be in the individual medals. So close were the scores that Max had slid from 4th to 18th with his blank.

Session 5 Lake Veitsiluoto. The boats all headed out from the start point to where the fish had all been caught during the competition ‘In the bay with the bright orange bench seat’, probably where they'd been dumped out of the truck.

Our plan had been to move to where fish were caught as they were schooled up, in the early sessions this was a great plan. Unfortunately in the last session, the fish had seen that many flies that by the time one was hooked the others scattered. Individual fish were caught here and there, the Finnish angler in the group used his local knowledge wisely and caught 3 fish. Yann did the French thing again and caught 2 fish, and despite everything I threw hard in against the bank I didn't even get a pluck. So with three hours in a boat my

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Some waters were big, broily and hard work. delusions of grandeur were over. I figured I had slid right out of the back door and would be lucky to end up in the top 20 individually.

With the exception of Stuart Rees the 5th session could only be described as a disaster for Australia. Stuart had a session win landing 7 fish in his group on the river, while everyone else blanked. The mood was somewhat quiet that afternoon while we waited for the final results to be posted.

Sure that Australia had slid out of the top 10 on the back of the last session.

As it was later that evening the results were quite so gloomy. French 1st, Czech Republic 2nd Finland 3rd. Australia 9th and achieving the goal of reclaiming a top 10 position in the world. Much to my surprise I managed a top 10 individual finish ending up 9th. Stuart Rees came from middle of the field to finish 30th and Max 33rd.

Lessons Learned.

From a competition perspective we learned a great deal from attending the 2007 World Championships.

• Australia can match it with the more professional teams on the rivers of Europe providing the right practice is obtained prior to the event.

• While we fish lakes and are generally regarded as very good lake fishermen, stocked rainbows are a creature all to themselves. Australia only managed 2 x 17th and 3 x blanks on the lake which is very costly at the World level of competition.

• Time spent in practice is crucial in gaining the confidence needed to compete at any level of competition.

The French team all fish at least 100 days per season, while the State sponsored Czech team have to fish every day. While this is not possible for us mere mortals practice on rivers at home will still prepare you well for this sort of fishing. Attention to detail and developing methodical fishing practices makes for success.

The French are renowned for their skill at the World Fly Fishing Championships, they have won the last 3 world championships and four of their 5 anglers finished in the top 10 at this competition. When speaking to the members of the their team after the event and asking them what sets them aside, the response was pretty simple. At home they only practice hard fishing, so when you have to go onto a beat where no fish are caught it is that sort of practice that lets you find that one fish.

Australia attending the World Championships and the anglers continuing to learn valuable lessons in fly fishing only make for better fishermen here in Australia as a whole. Czech Nymphing is a very enjoyable way to fish a river and the techniques are relatively easy to adopt providing you can pick up the basics. Hopefully more fly fishermen here will learn these techniques and also consider giving competition fishing a go.

The camaraderie you get and the improving you can do in your personal fly fishing is good reward for the time spent fishing 140InvermayRoad a competition.

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Vandieman Seaman boats Proplate custom boats, Boat repairs Propellor repairs Mark Tapsell 424 Hobart Road, L’ton Ph 6343 3341

Petrol, diesel, air, ice, gas bottle refills.

Full range groceries, magazines and papers.

Ph 6259 8149

Cnr.MarlboroughandGreatLakeHighways.

BURNIE MARINE Services • Over 30 years experience on all types of motors • Approved insurance repairer to boats and motors • Propellor rebuild and refurbishing • Repairs of all types - including skegs etc.

• Contact: Cyril Stevens Phone 6431 3082 Fax 6431 1255

Relax at Miena

Now open 12 months of the year

CentralHighlandsLodgeiscentraltothe WesternLakes,ArthursLake,PenstockandLittle Pinelagoons.•Guidedtoursavailabletosurroundingareas.

•Eveningeco-spotlightingtours.•Licensedcafe,barand restaurantwithcomfortableandaffordableaccommodation.

Restaurantopenforbreakfast,lunchanddinnersevendaysper week.(OpenforbreakfastSepttillAprilonly).•Wecaterfor in-house conferences and functions.

•Brushuponyourfishingskillswithsomeadvicefromour experts.Privatefishinglake.•Hireoneofourprofessional fishingguides,completewithequipment,transportandapicnic lunch.•Discountsforfishingclubmembers.Fishinglicences, flies, maps, ice and gas.

Under new ownership and management.

Ph 03 62 598 179

Email:highlandslodge@bigpond.com www. centralhighlandslodge.com.au

Georges Bay Marine

GO TROUT TROPPO

Flykatch Quill #5/6 fly reels $35 Flykatch Variant #6/7 fly reels $52 9’ Flyfishing Combo’s (incl. line & backing) $117.50 #5/6 & 6/7 Surecatch fly rods $49 Full selection of fresh & saltwater flys.

9’ Mason knotless tapered leaders $0.80 Tag end trimmers $2 Surecatch freshwater spinning combo’s.Full range of Mac’s freshwater lures. Buy any Fly fishing combo and receive a free casting lesson.

Comeinandcheckoutournew freshwatersectionTasmanHighway, StHelensorphoneuson63762800

St Helens Your every need catered for • Eight en-suite cabins • Convenience store • Hot takeaways • Groceries • Newspapers • Fuel and oil • Bait and tackle • Boat parking • Boat and car wash

Hillcrest Tourist Park & Mini Market 100 Chimney Heights Rd. 63763 298

Fishing News - Page 27

St Helens Bayside Inn A beautiful location on the bay • • • •

54 Rooms Conference/Convention Facilities Restaurant Swimming Pool

15% off

accommodation and complimentary bottle of sparkling wine when dining in our bistro (with this coupon)

2 Cecilia St., St Helens 7216 6376 1466 www.baysideinn.com.au

St Helens BIG4 CARAVAN PARK Special fishing & boating offer:

Scamander Beach Resort Hotel

• Stay 4 nights pay for 3 • Complimentary continental breakfast • 20% discount on Johno’s quicky 4WD tours

• Idyllic river/beach views

Facilities include: • 20 Cabins • 38 Powered sites for caravanners and campers • 2 Ensuite sites • Boat parking area • An extensive non-powered camping area equivalent to approximately 40 sites

• 60 Rooms

Penelope Street St Helens 7216 Ph. 03 63761290 www.sthelenscp.com.au

• Superb fishing, beach or offshore • Al la carte dining • Double, twin or single accommodation • Meeting room facilities

Tasman Highway, Scamander Tas 7215 Ph. 03 6372 5255 email: sbrhreservations@yahoo.com.au

• 60 rooms • 30 standard (two double beds facing garden and pool area) • 30 king spa (one king size bed, corner spa, facing Georges Bay, a shing mecca) • Heated swimming pool • Natural lagoon • A la carte restaurant • Outdoor deck • On the Bay Restaurant for casual dining • Tour booking facilities at reception

1 Quail St, St Helens PH 63761999 www.tidalwaters.com.au reservations@tidalwaters.com.au

Free Classifieds Advertisements of a non-commercial nature, to current subscribers of Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News, are free and can be inserted for two issues. Cost for commecial and non subscribers remains at $11 and must be pre-paid.

Wanted Old Japanese swords, WWII or older.

Must be authentic. Phone 0417 543 815

De Havilland Topper Mariner 8hp, trailer rego to 8/07, plus extras. $1900 ono Phone 6267 4659

RL Winston Fly Rod BoronII 8ft 6in AFTM#4 fast taper, light Approx 80grm) yet powerful.

Beautiful green rod, unused.

Reluctant sale. Bargain at $700 neg. Phone 6234 2456.

13 foot Quintrex 25 hp Evinrude fresh water use only, screen, fwd controls, fish finder, safety gear, spares Goes well $2500 o.n.o. Ph 0427936604

Port Sorell Marine Second Hand Boat 435 Savage with 30hp 4 stroke Mercury (near new) $10,500 16ft Lukey Ski Boat American Import 1960 $1,800 435 Quintrex Hornet Boat & Trailer only $7,300 400 Bass Elite Stacer with 20hp 4 stroke Honda motor $9,000

Furuno GPS/WASS Navigator GP-32 Near new condition, ready to go. $150 Ph 0407 843 485

Wanted Tasmanian Metal Fishing Club Badges Phone 0418585310 or email dannymur1@bigpond.com

4.1m black Poly Craft • Front and rear casting platform • Loads of storage • Live well • Lowrance x47 sounder • Low hours • Quiet on the water • Only 15 months old • Loads of Extras included • Electric Minn Kota trolling motor • Dual 135A batteries • Rod holders • Centre console • 30 hp Tohatsu This is a trout fisherman’s delight, the poly craft is an exceptionally stable, indestructible quiet boat that is a joy to fish out of. With its front and rear casting platform it is ideal for plastics fishing, fly fishing or just fishing in general.

WIN the Pontoon float tube on the cover

New as is $15 500 asking $11 900.

So be quick and get ready for the opening of the trout season and I might even throw in some fishing gear. Ph Nick on 0400 02 66 88.

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Subscribe, Back Issues: Just fill in the form, or send your details as below.

Fax to 03 6331 1278 or post to Stevens Publishing, PO Box 7504, Launceston, 7250 or email details to fishn@bigpond.net.au Classifieds - FREE for subscribers Name;__________________________________________________________Address;____________________________ __________________________________________________________Postcode;____________Phone________________ Advertising payment: ___ $11. Attach details by Fax, email or post.

Subscriptions:___ $24; 1 year. ___ $48; 2 years. Back issues; $3.95 each - Issue No req’d.____________ Payment by; ____ Bankcard ____ MasterCard ____ Visa ____ Cheque ____ Money Order Credit Card __ __ __ __ / __ __ __ __ / __ __ __ __ / __ __ __ __ Exp. date __ __ /__ __ Total amount; ______ From issue no. ____ Fishing News - Page 28

Why OptiMax outboards ®

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Mercury OptiMax ® direct-fuel-injection (DFI) 2-stroke engines are ultra-clean and fuel-efficient like 4-strokes, but are better suited to many new boats and to repower old ones...

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Fishing News - Page 29

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CHARTINGANEWCOURSE Fishing News - Page 30

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Fishing News - Page 31

Gunns Pulp Mill Questions Question: How much effluent will be released into Bass Strait?

Answer: About 70 000 tonnes of liquid effluent will be released into Bass Strait each day. Yes - that is 70 000 tonnes. Each day.

There's a pulp mill at Boyer that has been operating for years. Why worry about a new one?

The pulp mill at Boyer does not use chlorinebased chemical bleaching process and can not be compared to the proposed Kraft mill that will produce a range of harmful chemical by-products.

So what might be in the effluent from the proposed pulp mill that we need to worry about?

A major concern is the range of chemical by-products of the bleaching process will be released including persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as furans and dioxins.

Yes, but why worry?

Persistent organic pollutants are long lasting substances that tend to accumulate in marine life and can biomagnify as they pass through the food chain.

Are persistent organic pollutants such as dioxins really that bad?

Yes. Google is your friend. There is even an international treaty (Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants) that aims to limit emissions of these substances because they are so persistent and harmful to the environment.

Has there been testing of these emissions to ensure they are safe for the environment?

Toxicity testing has been carried out on effluent from pulp mills that has been presented as being comparable to the proposed mill.

However, toxicity testing investigated only acute effects. Longest exposure during testing was 96 hours. The toxicity testing did not investigate subchronic or chronic effects, bioaccumulation, endocrine disruption, genotoxicity or immunotoxicity.

The toxicity testing for the integrated impact statement (IIS) was carried out using static tests. Effluent was not renewed as might be expected to occur in Bass Strait. A flow through testing process would be more applicable.

The only toxicity testing carried out for this integrated impact statement was by exposure to effluent. However, experiments combining pulp mill effluent exposure with dietary exposure indicate that exposing fish only to pulp mill effluent may result in the impacts of effluent to be underestimated.

The effluent from the proposed mill can be expected to pollute Bass Strait for at least 30 years, so subchronic and chronic toxicity testing, and an investigation of

bioaccumulation are of particular interest.

It is reasonable to expect that effects of the effluent will; be related to the duration of the exposure.

No tests for sediment toxicity were performed and no tests for fish residue with appropriate detection sensitivity were performed.

No definitive list of toxins in the effluent used for testing has been provided and there are questions about whether the test effluent is even representative of the effluent that will be produced by the proposed mill. The SWECO PIC report's suggested additional testing does not adequately address these issues.

Anything else in the effluent that we should worry about?

Resin acids are a group of chemicals that will be in the pulp mill effluent but have been largely ignored by the assessment process so far. Resin acids cause cancer and genetic abnormalities in aquatic life. They can accumulate in sediments and contaminate fish and may be produced at higher rates in an ECF pulp mill than a mill that uses chlorine bleaching.

Where do these pollutants go once they leave the outfall and enter Bass Strait?

No one really knows. Hydrological modelling is incomplete. The type of modelling appears to be reasonable but it is based on just 2 months of data. Validation of the model in Bass Strait did not even identify the significant currents that regularly occur around the point of discharge or the normal range of sea and weather conditions.

Toxicity testing was short term and data on bioaccumulation and/or movement of contaminants in the marine ecosystem or environment of Bass Strait is not available.

The toxic components of the effluent will be highly diluted in the effluent, so what's the problem?

POPs can accumulate in the environment even if they are present in effluent at very low concentrations. The concentration in effluent is less important than the absolute quantity that will be released and what happens to it one it gets into the environment.

Remember that about 70 000 tonnes of effluent will be dumped into Bass Strait every day for at least 30 years. A low concentration can still lead to significant pollution problems over time.

What happens to dioxins once they enter Bass Strait?

That's a g ood question. Dioxins are hydrophobic which means that these substances tend to attach themselves to sediment. Contaminated sediment can settle on the bottom or float around in the water column. It can also be absorbed or ingested by a variety of organisms and enter the food chain. Dioxins can bioaccumulate and biomagnify and have toxic effects. There is not enough data to be able to predict where these substances may end up in Bass Strait.

Why should I care if Bass Strait is polluted?

Bass Strait and the Tamar Estuary are important for recreation. If you go fishing

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Fishing News - Page 32 BRP804_TPAd_V1.indd 1

18/7/07 4:47:03 PM

or diving it is nice to be able to eat what you catch or have interesting things to look at.

But there are guidelines that control the pulp mill emissions, so that's all right then?

Even if you accept that the guidelines are OK, many are given as a range of emissions over a period of time, it is hard to measure or enforce an average level of dioxin emissions for example.

You can imagine how effective speed limits would be if you were caught speeding, and were then able to argue that although you were doing 120 kph in the 60 zone, but you had stopped at the last set of lights for a couple of minutes and were therefore, on average, not exceeding the speed limit.

It would make policing impossible. That approach will make enforcing pulp mill emissions very difficult, if not impossible.

What is seafood tainting?

Seafood tainting is considered to have occurred if there is any change in food flavour, or if there is an unusual odour to the food.

The Gunns integrated impact statement states that the proposed mill will "virtually eliminate" the substances responsible for this problem, but goes on to support the RPDC requirement of taint testing.

The SWECO PIC report has been completed and everything is alright isn't it?

This report seems to have a very narrow scope. The question this report was asked to answer was:

Can the pulp mill meet the environmental guidelines?

A much more useful question would have been: W ill the pulp mill meet the environmental guidelines?

An even more useful question would have been: Will emissions from the proposed pulp mill cause unacceptable levels of pollution?

In fact, even in response to the first question, the report indicates many areas where the mill will not meet guidelines. One relevant to the marine environment is that the hydrological modelling is deficient.

Shortcomings in emissions management are supposed to be addressed by a permit system. This simply shifts the decision making process away from public scrutiny.

Will there be monitoring to see if there is a problem?

Details are lacking even at this late stage of the development process. According to the integrated impact statement, a monitoring program for persistent organic pollutants is supposed to be developed between Gunns and the Tasmanian Government at a later date. Not details have been released for public scrutiny.

To a marine biologist, the fur seals at Tenth Island are an obvious species to monitor.

Tenth Island is near the outfall as they are at the top of the food chain and are likely to suffer the consequences of any significant bioaccumulation or biomagnification of

Live in Weekend Fly Fishing Workshops

These live in workshops are based at our comfortable 20 bed convention centre on the banks of Brumbys Creek, with a purpose built casting pool right next to the centre.

This is a superb location for a fly fishing weekend getaway. We invite you to come along and have some fun with like- minded people while you gain a lifelong benefit from this experience. Your skills will be

Can I trust the Tasmanian Government to get it right?

You already know the answer to that.

This article was written by Jon Bryan at the request of the Editor. Jon is a member of the Tasmanian Conservation Trust.

If you have unanswered concerns regarding the proposed Gunns Pulp Mill contact your State or Federal Member of Parliament or your Legislative Councillor.

What is the Tasmanian Conservation Trust?

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust is a voluntary non-profit organisation working on conservation issues, especially those that directly affect Tasmania.

The TCT was formed in 1968 to ensure that land, water and other resources are used with wisdom and foresight, and that competing demands for these are resolved in a rational and environmentally responsible manner. It aims to foster and assist in the conservation of flora, fauna and important natural, archaeological and cultural features of Tasmania.

The Trust has over 400 members and an elected council oversees its operations, while day-to-day activities and executive decisions are managed by the Director, Michael Lynch, located in Hobart.

Most employees are part-time but contribute voluntary time as well. They bring a great deal of experience, dedication and enthusiasm to a vital and demanding area of work. The TCT also hosts the Tasmanian coordinators of the National Threatened Species Network and the Marine and Coastal Community Network.

The TCT welcomes volunteer workers and new members, and will always try to assist anyone with concerns relating to the environment.

You can help protect our unique island by becoming a member, participating in working groups and donating time or money to our campaigns.

Contact Details: Tasmanian Conservation Trust 102 Bathurst Street, Hobart, Tasmania 7000 AUSTRALIA Phone: (03) 62343552 E-mail: tct@southcom.com.au

Tasmanian Trout Expo - Cressy

Hayes on Brumbys

Learn to fly fish, brush up your skills or learn advanced techniques.

Whatever your level these workshops are designed to inspire, entertain and educate. You can spend many years learning fly fishing skills - or you can fast track.

persistent organic pollutants. They can act the same way as a canary in a coal mine and detect problems that result from pulp mill pollution.

The Tasmanian Government's own submission to the RPDC indicates that there are serious shortcomings in the way the risk to seals was assessed by the integrated impact assessment. There is no suggestion that contamination in seals may be used as early warning device and no proposed monitoring program. There does not appear to be any useful guarantee that if problems are detected that anything will be done about them or that compensation will occur.

It appears the potential concerns and uncertainty about impacts on seals and, in particular, cetaceans such as dolphins may make it impossible for the Commonwealth Government to approve the pulp mill under its own Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Sat 25 & Sun 26 August Held at

improved enormously as will your enjoyment of the sport.

As the key instructor Peter Hayes has been the National Casting Champion a total of 10 times in addition to winning the National Fly Fishing Championship. Additionally, Peter’s knowledge gained from a lifetime of casting and fishing, plus twelve years of guiding experience in the highlands and lowland rivers is bound to rub off on all participants. Peter has run casting clinics for many years in Australia and New Zealand.

Course cost is $400 per person and covers tuition, accommodation and meals. Places are limited and always fill quickly.

Stay on Packages

As participants of our courses you may choose to stay on and take advantage of our facility on the edge of Brumbys Creek. The fishing here can be sensational (see the article in the FlyLife magazine, issue 45).

Should you choose to stay on after the Sunday the bed and breakfast cost is $65/person /night. You can self cater your evening meals or go out to the local hotels or restaurants.

Workshop dates Beginner/intermediate Fly Fishing and Casting weekend 13, 14 October Intermediate/advanced Fly Fishing and Casting weekend 10, 11 November For more information or to book your place contact Peter on 0409 944 699 Email: hayes@flyfishtasmania.com.au

Cressy District High School and Brumbys Creek

Showcase for trout Heaps of Exhibitors Fashion parades by the Students of the Cressy District High School Fly tying demonstrations DVD Video screenings Book stalls All terrain bikes, boats, kayaks, outboard motors and more.

Food Court TASTE OF TROUT TASTE OF WINE. TAGGED TROUT Fishing Competition at BRUMBYS CREEK Major prize of $10 000 29 other prizes for a total in excess of $3 000 Arts Competition with prizes of $2700 HUGE RAFFLE - Fishing kayak valued at $1500 plus 18 other prizes Free bus between venues For more information

Email: tastroutexpo@tasmail.com www.tasmaniantroutexpo.com.au President: George Marsh, Phone: 03 63975003 email: geo.marsh@bigpond.com Secretary: Fiona Dewar, Phone: 0417975006 email: gary@troutterritory.com.au Fishing News - Page 33

designed to clip securely onto the brim of your favourite hat or cap and to remain there permanently for easy access in emergency or other situations.

This ingenious product is powered by two lithium coin cell batteries, which yield 48 hours of continuous white light. “Nite Owl” incorporates three super-bright LED bulbs capable of over 10,000 hours of light and weighs just 35 grams … and the best part is the first set of batteries comes with the unit.

For more details on this excellent Internationally Patented product, contact Paul Ellis Agencies on 63433266.

New Nitro traveller rod 6 piece.

‘007’ TRAVELLER 6’6” 6-Pce 2-4Kg - $379.95 In its carry-case, the 007 measures just 415mm (16.5”) long. Featuring our precision butt over tip ferrule technology, which allows a smooth flawless taper providing a multi piece rod with a 1-piece action. This 6’6” 6-piece is easily slipped into a backpack or suitcase – even under the car seat! This rod is ideal for hikers, kayakers and poachers or those anglers who travel often and are finding the current airport difficulties of oversized luggage an unnecessary hassle to the start of a trip. With ‘007’ Traveller there’s no longer an excuse to be without a rod. The 007 Traveller is perfectly suited for lure and bait casting for trout, bream, bass, flathead and natives.

Visit www.innovatorrods.com for your closest participating stockist.

NEW Night Owl distributor announced

Paul Ellis Agencies has recently become the Tasmanian wholesaler of the innovative “Nite Owl” LED caplight - the perfect light source for whenever ‘hands-free’ illumination is required for fishing, camping, boating, trade work or those chores around the home or workshop. The unit is

Like the Slick Rigs the first one can be tied on with no rigging and you are fishing straight away. These will probably be under $7 so check them out.

Norstream Yankee Net

Squidgy Slick Rigs

These have been around for a while in bigger sizes, but there has not been anything suitable for Tassie trout though – until now. Just released are some new 65mm Slick Rigs.

These are pre-rigged and ready to tie on and fish.

Pre-rigging does take away a lot of the issues for anglers not comfortable about rigging soft plastics. In fact some just don’t want to bother – they just want to fish. See the story on page 9 about that. I am certainly one of those, and when fishing for Australian salmon and other fish that don’t need much finessing like the flathead, pike etc I love this style of lure.

The 65 mm Squidgy Slick Rigs come in packets of seven, with five colours – all pre-rigged and retail for about $9.

Gone Fishing Charters

• East coast estuary and bay • Bream, salmon, garfish, flathead, mullet and squid • Specialising in BIG BREAM • Soft plastics, lures, flies and bait • 5.8 metre sportfishing boat.

Gone Fishing Charters - St Helens MichaelHaley63761553or0419353041 mhaleycharters@bigpond.com www.breamfishing.com.au

Squidgy Stealth Prawns

I am excited by these. They look perfect for Tasmania and perfect for some of Tasmania’s estuary species – especially bream. There is a bream competition coming up in September and I will have a few of these in my kit.

T h e S t e a l t h Pr a w n s come in 50 mm, with one already rigged and three spare bodies. There are five colours ranging from pink to wasabi, and some delicious natural colours.

My mate Rod Clarkson brings these in. He had some previously that were a bit heavy. These are new for 07/08 and are much lighter. They are a bit hard to describe but are generally a PVC coated mesh. By design this make them virtually hookless.

This design makes cleaning easy, which has become a real issue in relation to the didymo problems in NZ. The mesh is also fish friendly and doesn’t damage the fish. Nets are available with 6 kg scales built in, non-weigh net and as retro fit bags on their own.

Arthurs Lake Webcam Opens

Tasmania’s anglers will soon have an online window to Arthurs Lake through a web camera going live within weeks.

An initiative of Anglers Alliance Tasmania, the webcam will provide images of the lake and boat ramp, enabling anglers from around the State to check conditions on and off the water from their home before they make the trip.

The Arthurs Lake online initiative received seed funding under the Australian Government’s Recreational Fishing Community Grants Programme last year. It has also won support from Transend Networks, Inland Fisheries Service and Hydro Tasmania AAT executive officer Richard Dax said the project was a great achievement for the Alliance and its partner organisations, and said the fishing community would enjoy free access to the images.

“The Arthurs webcam shows what can be achieved for Tasmanian freshwater anglers when everyone works together,’’ Mr Dax said.

“Weather forecasts can only tell you so much. A webcam puts you in the picture no matter where you live.

“Anglers can check wind strength and direction, skies, the lake level, snow cover and even the traffic at the boat ramp.’’

Coastview Business Development Manager Robert Winter said the project was progressing well despite technical difficulties.

“We had quite a few technical issues to contend with, which led us to utilise wireless technology to deliver the images to our servers,’’ Mr Winter said.

“Once it’s commissioned this web cam will be an integral part of our Tasmanian webcam network – one of the longest running in Australia.’’

When the webcamera goes live, the images from Arthurs Lake will be shared by all project partners: • Anglers Alliance - www.anglersalliance.org.au; • the Inland Fisheries Service – www.ifs.tas.gov.au; • Hydro Tasmania – www.hydro.com.au; • Transend Networks – www.transend.com.au; and • Coastview Enterprises – www.coastview.com.au The AAT is the peak body for freshwater anglers in Tasmania and includes representatives of the Southern Tasmanian Licensed Anglers Assoc., the Northern Tasmanian Fisheries Assoc., the Tasmanian Fly Fishing Assoc., the Australian Fishing Tackle Assoc. and Trout Guides and Lodges Tas. The Arthurs Lake webcam is expected to go online soon. Stay tuned for a launch update and further details on online access.

Win this fabulous Pontoon float tube just by subscribing to Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News. Go to page 28. Drawn September - announced in October issue.

Fishing News - Page 34

TABS TERRITORY PRO

Side and Centre console

Perfect for trout, bream, estuary and lake. 4.85 metre in stock now.

Available in 4.65, 4.85 (above), 5.1, 5.45, 5.7, 6, 6.5 metre

Sole Tasmanian Agent

Winston Ascent

Exceptionalperformanceatanaffordableprice.Smooth,fastaction8’3-weight to 9’ 8-weight. Unconditional lifetime warranty.

All rods 4 piece - from $350

Winston Vapor

Truehighperformancefortheconfidentangler,thesefastactionrodsarelight, butveryresponsive.Whenyouneeddistancethisistherodtohaveinyour hand.7’6”3-weightto9’10-weight.Unconditionallifetimewarranty.Allrods 4 piece - from $550 Quality fishing equipment, licences, live bait, accessories, waders, flies, lures, clothing and more. Owners Allan and Sue Davey.

Open 7 days a week during the fishing season

All Plate Aluminium Side Rails Bow Rails Stainless Steel Bow Roller Side Pocket Port Side Front Casting Deck Rear Casting Deck Splash Well Battery Tray Navigation Lights Stern Light Bilge Pump Battery Box Isolator Switch Transducer Bracket Control Panel Spray Chines Cross Bollards (2) Cleat on Front Deck (1) Seats Deluxe Folding (2) Seat Positions (4) Painted White Hull & Striped

Rod Holders Plastic (4) Fibreglass Live Bait Tank (Plumbed) Underfloor Fuel Tank & Sender Unit Hatches Carpeted Both Sides Full Carpeted Wooden Floor Sub Carpeted Floors Switch Panel 4 Way Extra Large Anchor Well Carpeted Under Floor Flotation Fully Welded Gunnel & Side Decks Double Bow Eye Talk to Peter or Dale about full features and the best price.

2-stroke 2-300hp 4-stroke 2.5-350hp

24 Gleadow St Launceston 6334 3118

GPX General Presentation Taper “Since 1947, I’ve tried every fly line that has come around, and Mastery Series GPX is simply the best.”

- Lefty Kreh * The ultimate all-purpose line, with a taper designed to handle a large spectrum of flies and conditions * Provides excellent versatility for presenting dries, nymphs, and streamers * Made half-size heavier to more fully load fast-action graphite rods.

WF taper characteristics: * Medium front taper with slightly oversized tip for high floatation and strong delivery DT taper characteristics: * Same taper characteristics in a DT design.

Check all the specs @ www.scientificanglers.com

Contact 03 9899 0034 for your closest Mastery dealer stockist.

Fishing News - Page 35

If it can be caught... you’ll catch it with Shimano.

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Matched with TCurve Tournament rods and Beastmaster Dyneema line, these Shimano reels are unbeatable.

ANTI-RUST BEARINGS

Fishing News - Page 36

www.shimanofish.com.au

Some great early season locations Well it’s that time of year again, the opening of the brown trout season, time to check your old gear and stock up on some new. Now the only problem is deciding which location to hear for.

Here is a list of places that may help to narrow down your choice for the first few months of the season.

1. Mersey River

The Mersey can offer reliable sea run trout fishing in the tidal reaches. Hot spots are the back river and Bell’s Parade weir at Latrobe.

Preferred local method is cast and retrieve at night on a freshly caught galaxia or tiddly.

Spinning with minnow-style lures is popular during the day. Fly anglers should concentrate on whitebait and shrimp patterns with the incoming tide, the last two hours before high tide is best.

When the river is in flood, a condition that sees the end of sea trouting for a while, the flooded grassy areas upstream can produce nice bags of smallish riverfish for the patient worm angler.

2. Forth

The Forth is more heavily regulated for Hydro than the Mersey and as such does not suffer the same sudden flood conditions. Sea trout fishing using all methods can produce well from opening day. The area between the Bass Highway and the Forth River weir being the most popular locations with easy access to many shores.

Locals have now secured many large fish in recent years by using sandies or roach set on the bottom. As the whitebait move up the estuary they start to congregate below the weir, making this a real hot spot in the river.

It takes several months for the whitebait to make their way upstream before they are blocked by their last obstacle on the river, the Paloona Dam. It pays to monitor this location closely and start fishing when the bait arrives.

3. Lake Barrington

Although open all year round, Barrington offers a reliable early season water, particularly for boat anglers. With deep clear shores and ever-calm water, Barrington is a perfect spot to try out new trolling techniques and give the boat a run after the winter break.

It offers the chance of catching reasonable numbers of browns, rainbows and atlantic salmon to all fishing methods.

When levels are high or with the lake filling, the grassy edges and bays at the lake Barrington Rowing Course are superb.

Any stirred up flooded shoreline is worthy of a cast with wet fly or a small minnow lure.

Rapalas CD5 work well in the rainbow or brown trout patterns.

4. Cethana

Next lake upstream from Barrington, Lake Cethana is often overlooked by anglers.

Shore fishing is basically restricted to several bays around the Lorinna area, but these are the most reliable and productive areas on the lake.

Again, high or rising water levels produce the best bags.

Fishing from a boat with wet fly or spinning with small rapalas around the flooded timbered shorelines near Lorinna produce great results.

Hot spots include the first creek mouth at Lorinna and for trolling enthusiasts the odd monster brownie has been pulled from the Dove River arm several kilometres upstream.

Locals have produced their biggest fish by set rod night fishing with small fresh blackfish.

5. Arthurs Lake

In the early months of the season Arthurs often produces well for all forms of bait anglers. As levels have remained quite low over the winter months excellent flood fishing may results if there are heavy spring rains.

Fishing soft plastics has become quite popular in Tasmania and Arthurs Lake has been a standout location for this method.

The entrance to Jonah Bay and the morass area are prime spots.

Fish a Garry Glitter 65mm Squidgie on a three gram jig head in 20 feet of water and hang on.

6. Lake Echo

I have fished Lake Echo numerous times and consider it one of the best waters in the State. It fishes well using all methods from opening day and improves through the early months of the season. Levels have been very low for the past several years but this seems to have only increased the catch rate. The last few years has seen some enormous numbers of rainbows introduced; they have certainly improved the strike rate with some specimens now reaching four pounds. continued over........

Bridges Bros.

Opening Season Specials

Redington

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Fly Tiers Benchside Reference (Leeson/Schollmeyer) $99.95 Australia’s Best Trout Flies (Crosse/Sloane) $35 Australian Fly Patterns (Peter Coulson) $35

Lamson Reels (Discontinued models) Velocity #6 $280 Lightspeed #6 $350 Lightspeed #8 $399 Current models in stock

Watersnake Electric Motors 34 LB $229 44 LB $259 54 LB $299

Shimano Catana Spin Rods 6’ 6” and 7’ $39.95

Huge range of fly fishing and fly tying gear.

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71 Bathurst St. Hobart Ph 6234 3791 Fishing News - Page 37

The lower levels have drastically reduced the shore fishing options, so a boat on this lake is essential. The new boat ramp on the south western shore has increased access and boating numbers on Echo have increased. At 40 square kilometres however there is still a lot of water between patrons. Be warned, the waters on Echo can become very rough at little notice and extreme care should be taken when crossing the lake.

The preferred method by locals and author alike is trolling and spinning. The secret lure is the rapala CD7 in perch and brook trout patterns, but a stop/start method whilst spinning or trolling is imperative. If you find the fishing slow using rapalas it may be the trolling speed is to slow so speed up and compare the results.

The preferred locations are the north-western bays and timbered northern shores.

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These patterns do look similar to the native galaxia you Despite a very cold winter and almost record low lake will recover from the trout stomachs on these windy days. levels, Great Lake has fished extremely well all year and Seventeen from one male fish is my record. The rainbow trout should continue to do so. With the exception of Canal Bay, pattern has also recently proven effective, perhaps due to the Great Lake is open all year round however you may find you large numbers of small rainbows which have been stocked have the lake all to yourself during winter. On a recent trip into the lake over the last few years.

The rainbow trout have thrived in Great Lake and are the temperature was zero on arrival and reached a balmy two now up to 6 pound in weight, and are usually in superb degrees – the water temperature was four degrees. I wore condition. three layers of thermals and fleece, neoprene waders and a Wet fly fishing the wave-swept shores with a smelt pattern gortex hat and jacket. that resembles the native galaxia can be very effective. A The 12 trout up to 3 ½ pound I claimed on soft plastics from the Beehives certainly made up for the winter weather. stripping basket is handy as the waves will wash the line around Spinning with rapalas from around the shores is a highly every second rock and when a three pounder grabs your fly proven method, again with the cd7 size.(You have probably you don’t need any snags at your feet.

Preferred locations at Great Lake include any shore guessed by now that I just love rapalas.) Great Lake trout that is wind-swept and relatively deep. As Great Lake is seem to prefer the minnow and hot mustard muddler patterns. predominantly affected by westerly and north-westerly weather I have found the most productive shorelines to be along the southern and southeastern section. The entire headland of McLanahans Point can produce but a 4wd is needed to bounce your way out there. The southern-most corner of the old Arch Dam is always worth a couple of casts.

Do not be put off by the overlymuddy water, if the Rapala can still be seen in two feet of water you will still be in business and the fish seem to strike harder.

Regardless of which water you choose I’m sure most anglers will be keen to head out and wet a line somewhere to start the season.

Don’t be deterred by freezing and foul early season weather as the DEALER OF THE YEAR initial months can provide some of the best trout fishing for the year. Just remember this is Tasmania so if you don’t like the weather come back in ten minutes. www.channelmarine.net | ph (03) 6267 1456 Shane Flude

7. Great Lake

2005

10 Gemalla Road, Margate TAS

|

GTfour Rods

It is ten years ago when Vision made our first Extreme waders. Today Extreme is a classic in the Vision wader family. It is known for ultimate quality at a great price.

We have used Entrant® breathable membrane from Toray Ltd. Japan since the start. Every time Toray has made new developments in Entrant® it has been moved to Extremes. There’s no year we would not tune up our world famous classic Extreme waders. For this year we have added new YKK™ lightweight braces and the Vision design NoSeam™ leg cut as well a Storm™ waterproof front zipper for ultimate comfort. This makes getting in and out of the Extreme wader much easier as well as being handy when nature calls.

• Entrant® HB breathable membrane • Waterproofing 20 700 mm. water pillar measured after 100 wash cycles • Breathing ability 20 000 g. / m2 / 24h.

• Triple-ply laminate with tough, thorn resistant Taslan nylon outer • Six-ply reinforcement from knee to ankle • Built-in gravel guards with elastic fitting around boot collar • Adjustable web braces and side straps • Easily worn at waist height • 2 x D-rings • Internal mesh pocket with zipper closure • Curved cut profile for perfect fit • Neoprene feet shaped left/right

Last year was our first one with the new GTfour series. For us it was a long development process to be sure we really offer something truly new. GTfour has been a great success pleasing anglers and casting professionals all over the world! This series is destined to become an angling classic.

• Mid Flex / Fast Action • T-40 graphite blanks • TiGold® super hard single guides • TiCH® frame TiGold® ring stripper guides • Machined nickel silver plated reel seats with maple wood inserts on 3-6 class rods • Fully machined Vision design aluminum reel seats on 7-8 class rods • High quality cork handles • Epoxy coated wrappings • Black Cordura rod tube with dividers included

Vision fly fishing products are distributed by Clarkson Imports and available from good tackle stores.

Fishing News - Page 38

PRESS RELEASE

ET JOINS BRP’s TEAM OF STAR PERFORMERS

BRP, a world leader in power sports with leading brands in its line-up such as Evinrude E-TEC™, Sea-Doo™ and Can-Am™, has crowned an exciting year of innovation and impressive growth by welcoming Andrew “ET” Ettingshausen to the team at BRP Australia.

As host and executive producer of the hugely successful Escape With ET (now into it’s eighth season on Network Ten), ET provides a well established TV presence and a high profile sporting and fishing personality that suits BRP’s stable of brands.

TROPHY Walkaround 2052 Review

The Trophy 2052 has been on the Australian market for some time. It is a 'walkaround the cab' configuration and features a wide path that allows one to walk foot-over-foot rather than shuffle. The rebate widens at the bow so there is plenty of room to move around if manually handling the ground tackle.

This boat has a tinted hatch in the roof of the cabin, which serves as a ventilator. Although safely fenced by a high stainless steel bowrail that extends back to the aft level of the cab, an electric winch should be a priority on the options list if you will be bottom fishing at anchor. As tested, the anchor well was too small for an offshore grappling anchor, so a rail-mounted tube should also be on the wish list if you need to carry a spare.

TAKE A WALK

Walkaround capability is a serious advantage for the offshore sportsfisher, especially those that are dealing with multiple hook-ups on pelagics such as sailfish and marlin.

Such a configuration does have a downside in that it eats into cabin space. Transit around the bow for an angler with a loaded stand-up rod will not be a problem. A rebate in the brow of the cabin roof had press studs for the installation of a cushion to park yourself, should you be relegated to pulling the pick on the high seas or need a rest during an epic battle.

The bar work that supported the hard top was about 50mm in diameter with a smart, silver anodised finish. The top itself was large enough to cover the helm area and plenty of quality bar work offered safety grabs for those behind the seats when underway or when moving around the outside of the cabin. A rocket launcher was part of this feature but, post purchase, a semi-permanent awning had been fixed to the rear of the hard top, making it difficult to access the rods while standing in the cockpit. Incorporated under the hard top, a wide compartment with a clear hatch offered dry stowage and room for radios if you want to open up the helm area.

FISH FRIENDLY

A raised livebait tank is part of the inner cabin liner and is also the base on which the pedestal for the helm seat is fixed. The plumbing for this and the removable deckwash hose is mounted on the inner liner. The lid of the bait tank is the step up to the walkaround path. Having the bait tank remote from the coamings poses a couple of issues. Usually

ET himself, is set for an exciting year with his recent investment into the recently developed Groote Eylandt. Famed for its pristine waters and 50 species of fish, Australia’s third biggest island which is situated in the Gulf of Carpentaria is paradise found for the world’s anglers. ET’s new 24 guest Escape Sportfishing Lodge compliments the adjacent 5 star Dugong Beach Resort and ensures the world’s anglers can enjoy their paradise found in supreme comfort.

The importance of official support and endorsement from a well respected fisherman and businessman such as ET is not lost on BRP Asia Pacific General Manager Gregoire Dupont: “We’re delighted that Andrew wants to be powered

by Evinrude and Sea-Doo on the water, and Can-Am ATV quadbikes when on land. Having someone like ET stand behind the technical innovation and environmental integrity of our brands makes us all very proud and humbled”, beamed Gregoire. “He’s a passionate and very successful guy who likes what he sees in our products.”

ET explains that it was the progress made by Evinrude E-TEC engines that sparked his interest initially and drew him to BRP. “It’s never been much of a secret that Evinrude twostroke technology outperforms the four-stroke alternatives for torque, acceleration and top-line speed. And with a couple of hundred fewer parts they will obviously win on durability,

you will have hook in hand when foraging for a livebait which means trace line will be extending across the cockpit back to the rod in a gunwalemounted rodholder. The option of a bait tank in the transom bulkhead would be a good idea.

Opposite the helm, the swivel passenger seat is mounted on a small bench, under which a removable icebox is secured. This type of cold stowage is finding favour among bluewater anglers.

The Trophy features a sill due to the fact the deck area is on the same level throughout, and the sill keeps water out of the cabin. The upper part of the opening is recessed deep into the dash top, making it easy to enter and exit without crouching too much. The latch here is very neat and sturdy.

Inside the cabin, a plumbed, portable toilet capable of being pumped out at the dock or manually drained on shore, sits under the overhanging foredeck mould. Two adults could sit on the berths and, with the infill that stows in the void between the cabin liner and the hull installed, two could catch a nap between hot bites. The removable table that fits to the floor is also stored between the hull and the cabin liner. This void is also a good place to mount rods with their tip sections in the gap, out of harm's way.

HELM

The dash is very busy and a large Raymarine radar/GPS chartplotter/depthsounder unit was gimbal-mounted and a fascia to recess a large single unit flush to the dash is available.

Another bonus for the serious offshore angler is the crowned cockpit deck which allows incoming water, blood and guts to drain away to the sides, into the gutter surrounding the port and starboard kill tanks where it can exit astern through tubular scuppers.

The inboard engine box is under one square metre in surface area and allows plenty of room either side for an angler to stand. The engine box does, though, restrict one from standing at a centrally-mounted bait station on the transom bulkhead, but it is still accessible from each aft corner.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

Over the stern, a small step out with hand rails features on the starboard side and trim tabs were fitted. At idle speed travelling

quality and reliability. The clincher for me though, was the breakthrough on emissions and the fact that they’re the only two-stroke DI engine with a 3–star rating across the whole range.”

Ettingshausen added “now that E-TEC is clean and quiet as well, the evolution from four-stroke to two-stroke engines was complete for me.” “Sustainable fishing is the only option for a place like Groote Eylandt. That’s our goal up there and if I can be powered around that wilderness cleanly and quietly by an E-TEC then I’m a happy fisherman” reasoned ET. Such an endorsement from the former Rugby League speedster with the clean image and reputation for environmental sensitivity is big for E-TEC and welcomed by Duncan Knight, BRP Australia’s Marketing Manager. “ET was renowned for showing the opposition a clean pair of heels as a Shark in his footy days. E-TEC plans to show the four-stroke engine brigade a similarly clean pair of heels!” quipped Duncan.

Duncan explains that what excites BRP as much as anything is the opportunity to further strengthen the relationship with ET’s other brands of choice. “We’ve always had a lot of mutual respect for brands like Haines Hunter, Toyota, Lowrance, Sportsfish Australia and Shimano. ET’s presence will only cement our relationship with and support for these strong marine names.”

“We’re all predicting big things this year for our line-up of leading power sports brands” enthuses Duncan. “These are really exciting times for Evinrude E-TEC and BRP, especially when you’re in the company of a guy like ET”.

ahead, the boat proved to be more responsive and direct at the helm with the trim tabs set for bow-down attitude. Without the tabs in play the boat tended to oversteer at slow troll speed.

Steering when pushing astern was exceptional and the boat's high coamings on the transom would make it a winner when backing into swell and chop.

TROPHY 2052

HOW MUCH? Price as tested: $90,000 Options fitted: Rocket launcher, half awning, clears, GPS/ sounder, radar, 1.7L Turbo Diesel (Petrol standard) Priced from: $83,790 on trailer GENERAL Material: Fibreglass Length overall: 7.26m Beam: 2.46m Deadrise: 19 degrees Weight: 2.324 tonnes CAPACITIES Fuel: 322lt People: 8 Rec/max HP: 220hp Hull warranty: 10 years SUPPLIED BY Tasmania Seadoo & Marine Centre 21 Wellington Street Longford TAS 7301 Telephone: (03) 6391 - 1543.

Email: cauchistar@bigpond.com.au Website: www.trophyfishing.com.au Fishing News - Page 39

Tasmanian Trout Expo, Cressy Sat 25 & Sun 26 August

The Tasmanian Trout Expo is an event for all, from the very young to the older generation and all in between. It is an event to promote our Beautiful State, Tasmania, as the Fishing Capital of Australia, Cressy as the Gateway to Trout Fishing Paradise, and where and how and when to go Trout Fishing in Tasmania.

T he Expo w i l l be held i n t he g rou nds of the Cressy District High School and will showcase the products needed to thoroughly enjoy t he exper ience of f ish i ng for t rout.

There will be plenty of exhibitors with every aspect of fishing covered, from rods and reels, to soft plastics, line and lures suiting all types of fishing, lure, spinning, f ly to name a few.

In the Stadium there will also be fashion parades by the Students of the Cressy District High School, fly tying demonstrations, DVD Video screenings on all types of fishing and book stalls to browse for that hard to find fishing book.

Outside on the Oval will be more exhibitors with the products needed to go on that fishing trip, from camping needs to all terrain bikes, boats, kayaks, outboard motors and more.

A food Court will also be provided to help keep everybody Happy and well fed.

Charter boat gamefishing survey ends Prizes for the Lucky Questionnaire Competition for the Tasmanian Charterboat Gamefishing Survey were drawn on Friday July 13. The winner of the $1000 voucher from Spot On Fishing Connection was Chris Miller of Sandy Bay. A $500 voucher was also awarded to the charterboat operator who distributed the lucky questionnaire - Linden Chipman from Precision Charters.

In recognition of the great work undertaken by charterboat operators in conducting this survey, Stuart Nicholls from Personalised Sea Charters and Lionel Peters from Keen Angler Charters were each awarded with two bottles of premium Tasmanian wine. Stuart and Lionel distributed the highest number of questionnaires at Eaglehawk Neck and St Helens, respectively.

The Charterboat Survey has been running since the beginning of the gamefishing season. Charterboat operators, from Flinders Island to Southport, participated by handing out questionnaires to anglers after gamefishing trips. Questionnaires were supplied with pre-paid self-addressed envelopes and asked anglers about their fishing trips (ie catch details, expenditure and satisfaction) plus general gamefishing questions relating to their participation, motivations, opinions and demographics.

Overall, we were pleased with the response of both anglers

A feature at this year's Expo food court will be the TASTE OF TROUT which will also include a TASTE OF WINE. At the nearby BRUMBYS CREEK there will be a Fishing Competition with a Major draw of a $10.000 TAGGED TROUT and there will also be 29 other prizes to try for totaling in excess of $3000.

At the School there will also be an Arts Competition in the Big Fish Arcade, with Prizes totaling in excess of $2700.

A HUGE RAFFLE is also being conducted with the first prize being a fully fitted fishing kayak valued at $1500 donated by Sea Doo marine of Longford. There are also 18 other prizes to be won.

Tickets are now avai lable at, Cressy Newsagency; Wil l iams Ser vice Stat ion; The R i ng wood Hotel Cressy; Doo- Gu n Tack le Longford; Longford Newsagency; Sea Doo Marine Longford; Downtown Tackle, Charles St Launceston; Got One, Kings Meadows; Meadow Mews Pharmacy; Mel and Mary Rowlands, Campbell Town.

A free bus is also being provided to take patrons from Venue to Venue. Come and Enjoy the Country Hospitality of the Expo and also try your luck at the Fishing Competition.

and charter boat operators to the Charterboat Survey. The majority of Tasmania’s charter operators were involved and approximately 200 questionnaires were returned to us by anglers.

The survey is one part of a PhD study on the socioeconomics of the Tasmanian gamefishery that is funded by the University of Tasmania and the Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW). The results of the Charterboat survey will assist us in learning about the social and economic importance of gamefishing to Tasmanian anglers and to Tasmanian coastal communities.

The other two survey components of the gamefishing study – a mail questionnaire sent through MAST last year and a phone/diary survey of gamefishers that has just been completed – will also address these objectives. The results from all three survey components may be used to assist management and policy formulation relating to recreational fisher’s access to gamefish stocks. When available, a summary of the results of the project will be published in later editions of Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News. More detailed results will also be made available upon request.

We would like to thank everybody who participated in the survey – both anglers and charterboat operators. We are aware of the time involved and appreciate your efforts.

Though the prizes have already been drawn, we encourage people who have not returned their questionnaires to still do so and thus contribute to a better understanding of our unique fishery. If you would like to know more about the project, please call Sven Frijlink on 62657310.

AAT Wins Australian Tourism Development Grant The Minister for Australian Small Business and Tourism the Hon. Fran Bailey recently announced the success of an application by AAT for implementation funding for the marketing phase of Tasmania’s Recreational Fishing Development Plan.

This grant awarded through AusIndustry and with arrangements in place with State partnerships will enable the marketing plan to come to fruition over the next two years.

This is very exciting new and provides the opportunity of further improving the sustainability of Tasmania’s fishing resource

Hydro Tasmania begins Improvements at Penstock Lagoon Hydro Tasmania in partnership with the IFS and AAT and assisted by a group of angler volunteers recently began access improvements surrounding this prime fishery.

Old and degraded tracks were

Fishing News - Page 40

and AAT is indebted to AusIndustry for their continued confidence in Tasmania’s state wide fishing plans.

Anglers are reminded that the full plan is available at www.anglersalliance.org.au and comments are always welcome.

AAT ‘s success and ability in winning competitive grant funding has formed the basis for partnerships with local and State Government bodies which is enabling angler assistance to the Inland Fisheries Service to enhance and sustain Tasmania’s fishery into the future.

closed and vehicular access improved along designated entry trails. In addition there were improvements made to the boat ramp and channel markers together with track and boundary markers and interpretative signage.

The plan is ongoing over the next year including observation of future boating needs and anglers should

appreciate the improvements costing well over $120,000 which the Hydro have expended for the good and enjoyment of all.

All users of Penstock are encouraged to channel comments and suggestions through AAT and ensure that all improvements made are respected and maintained.

4CASH

FISH

The Inland Fisheries Service is offering licensed anglers $6,000 in the ‘Fish 4 Cash’ promotion as an added incentive to go fishing during the 2007-08 season.

Over the first six months of the season, six tagged fish will be released into waters around the State.

Each fish is worth $1,000 cash to the angler who returns the tag together with the whole fish and current licence details to the Service before the end of July 2008. The tag is distinguishable by colour and labelling from others used by the Service for routine fisheries work.

Details of the timing and exact location of each fish release will be published in Angler News and on the Service website (www.ifs.tas.gov. au) along with the latest results of the competition.

Inland Fisheries Stocking Report Over recent years, the Inland Fisheries Service has made the stocking of public waters around the State a priority – and this year is no exception. The main aim is to meet the needs of today’s angling community, specifically to enhance the diversity of fishing experiences available in Tasmania.

Po p u l a r s t o cke d wa t e r s a r e C r a i g b o u r n e D a m , L a ke Meadowbank, Brushy Lagoon, Lake Barrington and Trevallyn Dam, as well as accessible waters in the Bradys chain and at Four Springs Lagoon, Pet and Guide Dams, and Curries River Dam. These waters will receive a variety of species over the coming season including trophy Atlantic salmon supplied by commercial hatcheries; adult wild brown trout transferred from Great Lake; and adult rainbow and brook trout from wild and domestic sources. These stockings are in addition to the regular annual stocking program run by the Service, using fish grown from wild trout eggs that have been harvested and grown out to fry and fingerlings.

LAKE Carters Bruisers Botsford Four Springs Flowerdale River Inglis River Rocky Penstock Duncan Lynch Second Lagoon Barrington Brushy Paget Mersey River Kara Bradys Beaconsfield - Bruins Brumbys Creek Bradys Leake Barrington Bradys Great Bronte Four Springs Curries Pawleena

The new hatchery facility at the Service’s head office at New Norfolk, which has been planned to compliment production from the Salmon Ponds hatchery, came on line just prior to this year’s harvest.

The new recirculating water system adopted in the new hatchery will enable the Service to grow fish to older stages of development, thus increasing survival rates once these fish are restocked. The new hatchery, therefore, will not only increase the Service’s capacity to produce stock but it will also increase stocking effectiveness.

The State’s premier wild trout waters – those that have self-sustaining populations of trout and are rarely, if ever stocked – include Arthurs Lake, Great Lake, and Little Pine, Penstock and Bronte Lagoons. These waters should also fish well again this year despite less than perfect water levels and conditions in some lakes. Results from last year’s creel survey indicate the highest recorded catch rate at Arthurs Lake in the past five years, and this water is likely to continue its run as Tasmania’s most popular fishing location this year.

NUMBER SPECIES WEIGHT (mm) 360 Brown 1130 99 Brown 1130 296 Brown 1130 900 Brown 1130 500 Brown 1130 293 Brown 1130 100 Brown 1130 490 Brown 1130 50 Brown 1130 50 Brown 1130 50 Brown 1130 550 Salmon 1500 340 Salmon 1500 35 Brown 1130 500 Brown 1130 294 Brown 1130 1600 Brown 1130 70 Rainbow 20 100 Brown 1130 6000 Brook 350 8000 Brook 40 40 Salmon 8000 40 Salmon 8000 5333 Rainbow 11.3 15000 Rainbow 11 6750 Brown 20 5000 Brown 20 100 Brown 700

Fishing News - Page 41

Jan’s Flies Jan Spencer

Time really does rush by. Here we go again into a new trout fishing season. I have spent some of the colder weeks on our furthest most shores doing some tropical fishing catching many saltwater species it’s just great to get rid of the ice off ones bones.

Hopefully in this new season coming we will get some flood waters creating some really good backwater fishing. I realised the other day when reading an article written by the famous Dick Wigram about backwater fishing, that nothing has changed since 1932 when he wrote the column “Those Backwaters’ in Tasmania’s Weekly Courier.

Dick failed to mention what flies he would have used but my guess would be a Brown Nymph, Nymbeet, Yeti or a Green Matuka.

These were some of his favourite wet flies. Hope this gives a great start to the new season.

Check out all the details at seajayboats.com.au

SEA JAY 4.55m Escape Sports

YamahaMotorFinanceavailabletoapprovedcustomers.

Comeandseeourstaffforagreatdeal.

The Escape and Escape Sports are an all round pleasure craft for our estuaries and lakes. The Escape is fitted with a wide range of options to tempt any boating enthusiast. The Escape Sports includes a Side Console which further enhances this model. The Escape models are available in three lengths, with the 4.55 featuring the Sure Trac reverse chine hull that gives stability, soft riding and efficiency.

Fishing News - Page 42

www.easternshoremarine.com.au 14 McIntyre St, Mornington

Ph: 6244 1163

Yamaha Unveils New V8 F350 in Australia

A stunning display of marine outboard dominance has unfolded with Yamaha’s new F350 V8 outboard now officially launched in Australia. The new Yamaha F350 delivers unprecedented power to weight performance from the world’s first V8 production outboard engine.

The new Yamaha F350 is the first four stroke outboard motor to utilise a V8 powerhead. With a displacement of 5,330 cm3, the 32 Valve DOHC V8 engine delivers a maximum power output of 257.4 kW (350 hp) at the prop shaft, which is the highest horsepower rating for an outboard motor in the world today.

“We knew Australian boaters would really appreciate the power and performance of our new V8 outboard,” said Brett Hampson, National Sales and Marketing Manager for Marine Products at Yamaha Motor Australia.

“This new model is a huge boost for the Australian market and now boat manufacturers and boaters alike have a realistic power alternative to the traditional sterndrive system. This is great news for boaters who demand both outboard power and a big offshore hull.”

The massive power and torque of the F350 ensures a big boost in speed, acceleration and performance. Larger multihull boats will appreciate the torque advantage of a V8 engine when moving several tonnes of hull onto the plane with a 45% increase in thrust than a conventional 250hp 4-stroke outboard.

Variable Camshaft Timing is again utilised to give the F350 more torque at low and mid-range rpm. Also increasing power, the In-Bank Dual Exhaust with Power Surge Chambers is used to relieve pressure in the exhaust ports. A larger gear shaft is also adopted for greatly increased strength plus an automatic rpm synchronization function can be employed for multi-engine use (up to 3 engines).

Unlike any other design profile in the Yamaha line-up, the new-look F350 commands attention. The sleek outboard profile efficiently stores the 60° V8 engine under a cowling that features twin breather vents more akin to a world super bike design. It is simply stunning.

Durability is further enhanced with forged motor mounts and an oversized mounting bracket to minimise noise and vibration. To accommodate the increased displacement, a larger thermostat, large-capacity water pump and dualcourse coolant supply system are adopted to improve cooling capacity.

An exclusive new-design drain system has also been developed inside the cowling to quickly drain away any water that gets inside the cowling and reduce the amount of water intrusion to one-tenth that of conventional outboards.

In keeping with strict environmental emission regulations, the Yamaha F350 qualifies as a 3-star rating under the 2008 emissions standards of the California Air Resource Board (CARB).

Yamaha outboards are available through an Australiawide network of authorised Yamaha outboard dealers. The Yamaha range comprises trusty and dependable two stroke models from 2hp to 200hp, High Pressure Direct Injection VMAX models from 150hp to 200hp and low emission fuel efficient four stroke models from 2.5hp to the world’s largest production outboard- the 350hp V8 Yamaha F350.

F350 SPECIFICATIONS

Block configuration V8 60 degree Displacement 5.3 Litre (5330 cc) (325 ci) Prop shaft horsepower 350 @ 5500 rpm Cylinder heads DOHC, 32 valve with Variable Camshaft Timing (VCT) Compression 9.6:1 Full Throttle RPM range 5000 – 6000 Fuel induction Sequential multi-point Electronic Fuel Injection Fuel type Regular Unleaded (Minimum Pump Octane 89) Exhaust In-bank dual exhaust with Power Surge Chambers Intake Electronic throttle valve with 8 individual long intake tracks Ignition system 32-bit ECM with integrated coil-in-cap ignition design

Alternator Output 50A (40A @ 1000rpm) Lubrication Wet Sump Gear ratio 1.73:1 Controls Command Link® Digital Electronic Controls Multiple outboard synchronization Auto sync throttle control with twin and triple applications Tr o l l i n g t h r o t t l e adjustment +/- 50 rpm increments (600 - 1000 rpm range) via Digital Network Gauges Weight 25” shaft / 804 lbs C.A.R.B. 3 – Star

8kg Salmon stocked at Barrington and Bradys Friday 29 June 40 Atlantic salmon at 8 kg were

stocked into Lake Barrington and 40 at the same size into Bradys Lake. These big fish will no doubt create some excitement early in the season.

Check out all the details at trailcraft.com.au

YamahaMotorFinanceavailabletoapprovedcustomers.

Comeandseeourstaffforagreatdeal.

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Trailcraft have designed an all purpose v-nose style with a raised forward casting platform.

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Another bonus we’re sure you will love is all of our Profish series are made from 3mm sides and 4mm bottom plate aluminium.

Length: 4.85m Length Overall: 5.25m Beam: 2.20m Weight: 495kg Depth (Floor to Gunwale): 600mm Boat Length on Trailer inc Motor: 6.35m

Boat Height on Trailer: 2.15m Maximum Persons: 5 Maximum Load: 660kg Recommended Hp: 50hp Maximum Hp: 80hp Maximum Primary Motor Weight: 175kg

www.easternshoremarine.com.au 14 McIntyre St, Mornington

Ph: 6244 1163

Fishing News - Page 43

530C

Bar Crusher 530C Trim Tabs YamahaF100EFI4Stroke Digital Gauges Kill Tank Live Bait Tank Rocket Launcher

560C

Rod Holders Bait Board Nav Lights Bilge Pump Twin Batteries

StepThroughTransom Dive/Swim Ladder FoldingGasStrutRoof with Clears EasyTowBrakedTrailer

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560WR

Barcrusher 560C

Bait Board StepThroughTransom Nav Lights Dive/Swim Ladder Suzuki DF140 EFI 4 Stroke Bilge Pump FoldingGasStrutRoofwith Kill Tank Twin Batteries clears Live Bait Tank SkiPole,VHFRadioEasytowtandembraked Rocket Launcher 150L Fuel Tank Trailer Trim Tabs HydraulicSteering$53990 Rod Holders

Barcrusher 560WR Bait Board

FrontCastingPlatform FullWalkAroundDesign Nav Lights StepThroughTransom Dive/Swim Ladder SuzukiDF115EFI4Stroke Bilge Pump Kill Tank Twin Batteries Folding Roof VHF Radio Ski Pole Live Bait Tank 150L Fuel Tank Easy Tow Tandem Rocket Launcher HydraulicSteering Braked Trailer Trim Tabs Ice Box Seats Rod Holders $51990

640C

Why you should consider a BARCRUSHER Barcrusher 640C Demo Bilge Pump

Out Riggers YamahaF200EFI4Stroke(20hrs) Step Through Transom LawrenceSounder/GPS Kill Tank Dive/Swim Ladder 300L Fuel Tank Live Bait Tank FoldingGasStrutRoofwithClears Hydraulic Steering Rocket Launcher Twin Batteries Normal Retail $73317 Trim Tabs Ski Pole Demo Discount-$5327 Rod Holders VHF Radio Your Price Bait Board EasyTowTandemBrakedTrailer $67990 Nav Lights

640HT

BarCrusherBoatsarewithoutadoubtthemost amazinghullsonthemarket.Headstraightoninto roughseasandtheseboatswillamazeyouwith nobanging,jarringorslammingthatyougetwith most hulls on the market.

ToughplatealloyBarCrusherboatsusecutting edgedesign,sotheyarehightechratherthan low tech.

Look at the features: Smootherridethananyaluminiumboatand comparabletoglassboats.Strongplate aluminiumconstruction(5mm&4mm)Hull constructionuses6fullyweldedandfolded stringersrunningforeandaftwhicharefully weldedtothebottomplateprovidingincredible strength and rigidity.

Lighttotowbehindvehiclewithlowtowing capacity.

Innovativefoldinggasstrutroof,thatcanbefolded intoboatforstorageinshedswithlowheight.

Deeper“v”thananyotheraluminiumboatofits typeinAustralia.Waterballastsystemprovides exceptional stability at rest.

Superb following sea performance.

Windscreensaretoughenedglassforlonglife and good visibility.

Largefronthatchforeasyaccesstotheanchor.

Thedecktreadfloorisfullysealedtoprovide aneffectivesecondsealedbottominthe boat.

Nounderfloorspacestotrapsmells,oldbait andtackle.Theentireinsideoftheboats canbehosedoutwithfreshwaterfor effective and fast cleaning.

Allhullscomewithstandardfeatureslike: Large kill tanks, live bait tanks, solid rearaccessladder,dualbatterysystem, foldingrearseat,rodholders,stepthrough transom,swimplatform,navlights,anchor light,burleybucket&muncher,storage pockets,clearbowlfuelfilter,plusahostof otherstandardfeaturesthatareoptionson most boats.

Weinviteyoutoacloseinspectionofthese remarkableboats.Thenyoucandecide what boat is for you.

Trout to Tuna

Barcrusher 640 Hard Top Bait Board

Lock Up Cabin Titanium Pearl Paint 2 x DF140EFI 4 Stroke Suzukis Nav Lights Bilge Pump Anchor Light 300L Fuel Tank Step Through Transom Hydraulic Steering Lowrance Sounder/GPS Dive/Swim Ladder 27mhz Radio Kill Tank Deck Wash EasyTowtandembrakedtrailer Live Bait Tank with4wheeldiscsandalloywheels Rocket Launcher Twin Batteries Ski Pole Itsimplydoesn’tgetanybetter Trim Tabs than this VHF Radio Rod Holders

$99975

Fishing News - Page 44

We’ve got a boat for you Bass Highway, Somerset, Burnie, TAS 7320 Phone: 64 352 200 Email: anthony@coastal-marine.com.au

Walking and Fishing in Comfort It doesn’t happen a lot, but occasionally I encounter someone on the track and you get the remark “gee, you’re carrying a big heavy pack there”. I guess this can be interpreted as one of two things: a. you’re carrying more than you need or, b. you must be out for a long time. I’m never sure how to take it but I do know that when I am walking I like to be comfortable.

If that means carrying a bit more weight then so be it!

Unlike suburbia if you’re in the Tassie bush where one minute can be warm sunshine and next a freezing blizzard you should be, no, must be well equipped. Situations like this put true meaning into Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs ie. you need the basics of shelter and warmth before you can enjoy other pleasantries eg. fishing/photography, that contribute to well being.

With this and the aforementioned comment in mind I’ll tell what, in my opinion, you need to pack to have a comfortable walking/fishing expedition whether an overnight or longer duration. There are no shortcuts and with a bit of experience you can keep the weight to a minimum.

Rucksack

It’s great to have a comfortable rucksack to carry your gear. Mine is 75 litres and you need all of this capacity for overnighters to be safe, not sorry. Some packs have a lower zippered compartment for easy stowage and quick access to gear like a sleeping bag but they can leak if going through deep water. Additionally a waterproof pack liner is great in the wet or if you have to swim. I prefer the one piece top load canvas pack, as canvas is more waterproof and durable.

Look for generous outside, rear and top pockets. Side pockets can be a problem when scrub bashing. Ensure the harness is correctly fitted - your outdoor shop will help.

Shelter

Several huts dotted about the Central Highlands seem like paradise at times when there is a bunk free. But I always carry a two-man tent and lightness depends on the thickness of your wallet. All reputable outdoor shops in Tassie carry a wide choice of four season tents weighing from around 2.5 kilos upward and priced to $900. My tent weighs three kilos including pegs and poles. I like to carry a light weight fly 2.5m x 2.5 for a ‘kitchen’ shelter – great if you’re stuck in a tent for hours in the pouring rain. A space blanket to insulate and protect the tent floor is also handy for first aid. Super down sleeping bags (-5C will suit most Tassie conditions, but temperature ratings are not gospel so seek advice) are compact and light and combined with a silk liner and ¾ length sleeping mat you are fairly sure of getting a reasonable nights sleep. Try for all up weight pack plus tent/shelter 10 kgs.

It is a good idea to buy a multi pitch tent; i.e. the inner and outer skin pitch at the same time, or can be pitched inner first. Although single skin tents are light they are cold and a build up of condensation drips on you.

Warmth i.e. efficient clothing

Cotton clothing - singlets, shirts, jeans etc can be OK in hot weather but pretty horrible in the wet and cold and can be dangerous as they don’t dry out. You should use dedicated walking gear. Thermal gear is lightweight and gives a great safety margin. Don’t pack more clothing than you need to handle wet weather. Good outdoor shops can advise you on dress layers and its worth talking to their staff and other walkers. Learn from successive trips too!

So what should be included? This is definitely personal choice but I wear a pair of budgie smugglers and if it’s cold, top and bottom polypropylene thermals. I pack spare thermals that take little space. Long polypropylene trousers have zip off legs so they can become shorts for warm weather and staying below the waist I wear thick woollen socks and chuck

Don’t forget to stop and enjoy the view. a couple of extra pairs in. High grade technical socks are much better.

For my liking, after a day of walking though water there is nothing worse than getting up next day to wet boots and wet socks. With dry socks your body temperature will quickly warm the inside of the boot. Make sure you purchase good sturdy boots, preferably single piece full grain leather uppers that will provide sole and ankle support. Some bush walkers wear sneakers but I reckon why risk an ankle injury when miles from nowhere. Again there is heaps of choice but I prefer the Gortex lined boot that assists in drawing moisture away from my feet thus keeping them warmer.

Get your boots professionally fitted and make sure your boots are not too small. This is a mistake many people make.

Trekking through the wet highland heath will quickly saturate trousers below the knees and water will gravitate into your boots. Canvas gaiters really help and they also offer good protection from leaches and snakes.

Above the waist I wear a long sleeve nylon shirt and in cooler weather a polar fleece, no zip. If the weather comes in a ¾ length breathable jacket that is zippered with Velcro front seal and waist draw string will provide much needed protection from chilling winds. Make sure the jacket has a generous hood with a flexible peak that helps to keep the weather off your face or in my case my specs! A fleece beanie and good gloves are essential.

Other gear.

Enroute type gear, map, compass (GPS great when navigation is tough) sunglasses, sun-block, insecticide, waterbottle and a first aid kit will add to your comfort. Most small first aid kits do not contain bandages suitable for treating snake bite so I always carry two additional four inch rolls and keep them easily accessible for this eventuality. Hopefully it won’t happen! A plastic trowel slipped in the side pocket is handy for digging! Once I’ve made camp it’s bliss to relax in gear other than the stuff I’ve been in all day so I include a pair of fleece track pants, a down vest to go over a thermal top and light weight shoes. Pack tally thus far 15kgs.

Tucker.

Specialised pre-packed trekking meals are readily available but they can be expensive, although a full meal can cost under $9. If you can afford it go for it! Supermarkets have heaps of

dehydrated product from vegs to fruit to meat so check these out. Beware of salt content and also take note that freeze dried food has a much higher nutrient content than most dehydrated food. I have met walkers who make it their hobby to make all their own dried food and this would be the most economical if you have the dedication. Design a menu for the duration plus an extra day. I prefer to separate tucker into bags for breakfast, lunch and dinner as they easily recognisable and can tuck more easily into ever decreasing space. A few treats e.g. fresh onion, fruit bars, nuts etc. are great for the spirits, speaking of which, a wee dram of brandy added to dried apple and custard is special. Remember you will need plate, cup, utensils, pans, stove and fuel to enjoy gourmet meals! A fuel stove is essential.

If cooking after dark some lighting is pretty handy and there is a range available; the latest LED head lamps are fantastic allowing hands free cooking. For three days I reckon my food will weigh around five kilos; tally now 20kgs.

Health and well being

This is the really good part, in my case heaps of hopefully very productive fly fishing. It is only really enjoyable in the knowledge that shelter, warmth and food have been well taken care of. After-all, this is what we’ve taken all the trouble for.

Whilst it’s not about the Central Highlands I love the following verse about well being and the good stuff we like about our sport: The King’s white road is troubless Summons calling day by day I prefer the Cocksfoot Track The easy vagrant way.

O’er the rolling paddocks By the rush of golden gorse The river leads it’s lover Down the ripples of it’s course.

Afoot the wash of waders Aloft the haze veiled blue The heart it needeth nothing The cast falls clean and true.

Oh carol of the running reel Oh flash of mottled back Who will walk the King’s white road And who the Cocksfoot Track?

Anon. continued next page......

Fishing News - Page 45

I reckon this beautifully sums up just why we like to combine our walking with our fishing but the very nature of the distant and pristine places dictates we can’t take all our tackle.

Fishing gear

A four or six piece 5# rod in a tube container is easily stowed on the side of your pack and I take only one reel, a fly vest with minimum equipment and flies, camera and binoculars. Waders are a must but they are always cause a quandary. I’ve considered several options but always fall back to thigh waders with a built in boot. They weigh too much but if you opt for breathable waders with a stocking foot you then have to carry wading boots; the weight is similar. The other option is to wet wade in your walking boots and I find that’s uncomfortable. Fishing gear weighs 3.5kgs the waders taking up a massive 2kgs.

So there you have it, what I like to pack for a comfortable trek, all up weight around 25kgs and summarised below. Again I stress this is my opinion but if you use this as a guide and take advice from outdoor shop staff you will be on the right track. Enjoy your walking and fishing! Perhaps we’ll catch up for a yarn at Lake Halkyard, Ball or Youd.

The rewards come and they are often sweeter after a walk to your favorite water.

Quenton Higgs

Converting to Centre or Side Console It seems the dream of most Aussie fishermen, at some stage, is to own a centre console. In my time working in the marine industry, the amount of people I assisted in turning their open tiller steer tinnie into a centre or side console amazes me. There are, however, a few points to consider before you start cutting and drilling your prized possession, I will briefly touch on the aspects that may have the most impact on your final decision.

I have been tempted a couple of times to fit a side console to my trusty old Brooker, as it spends a lot of time trolling the local creeks, but the modifications would cost just as much as the rig is worth. To assist in trolling I fitted a Minn Kota Autopilot bow mount that has since made life a lot easier. Also, my old Merc has throttle and gear shift on the tiller handle and this is a huge advantage when both crabbing and trolling lures as you can control speed and direction with one hand whilst setting hooks or grabbing the float with the other.

Pro’s & Con’s?

Firstly, ensure your original hull warrants the amount of money you are about to spend. If you wish to fish further offshore fitting a centre console will not improve hull seaworthiness, your money may be better spent on upgrading your rig in the more distant future. Certainly running 20km’s is more comfortable holding on to a steering wheel rather than a tiller, but if the weather turns nasty, it’s always better to have an additional two foot of LOA rather than a shorter hull with a centre or side console.

Secondly, take the time and effort to visit a marine fabricator or your local marine dealer and draw on their knowledge and skills. When standing steer a centre console you need to have a secure platform to plant your feet, as bare aluminium can be very dangerous when wet. It is also

Fishing News - Page 46

imperative to have a securely mounted steering platform as there is a lot of force put through a console, especially if you are two up at the console when travelling. Those with experience will be able to guide you on a variety of issues including the height the floor can be safely built. This will greatly depend on the height of the gunnels and may require a partial floor, rather than a full floor extending between the chine’s. If you are going to remove a thwart seat to create more room, or use an existing thwart as a console mount, they can guide you should the hull require additional reinforcing and how best to distribute the weight positioning of fuel tanks, batteries etc.

Prefabricated side consoles make updating the standard tinnie easier.

Thirdly, when converting to remote steering everyone wants the convenience of an electric start.

Depending on your brand of motor the pricing of this may come as a shock as you can expect to pay anywhere from $600.00 to in excess of $1600.00 for a electric start kit, . Add to this that many standard electric start outboards will come with hydraulic tilt at least, so a repower may weigh into the equation.

The other and much cheaper option is to keep the rope start and fit a remote mounted kill switch on the console.

Last but not least consoles will impede on the existing floor space. I have a good mate who has been forced to change to folding crab pots since the addition of a steering wheel to their beloved craft. Not that this is a problem, (he borrowed mine for about 3 months until the cunning kit was re-established) but it was another

unexpected outlay that was not taken into consideration when budgeting.

Where to Start?

In this hypothetical situation, let’s assume that your local marine dealer has fitted a false floor to your existing rig. You will first need to decide on the style and height of the centre console you require. There are a range of consoles available off the show room floor in either polyethylene or alloy, available with or without windscreens (hinged folding screens are available) and in a variety of heights and widths.

When considering your choice of console take into account the mount position for your steering helm and control box. Steering manufactures such as Teleflex Marine offer tilt steering helms that pivot through an arc of 48 degrees in increments of 5 degrees, but if you can get the angle right in the first place you are saving dollars in the long run. Expect to pay around the $250.00 mark for a base model Teleflex Marine rotary steering kit with minimal length cable and anywhere from $30.00 for a suitable steering wheel. To view other models inn the Teleflex marine range visit www.bla.com.au.

box to the gear and throttle linkages are two sheathed cables, the job of these cables is to relay the movement from the control handle to that of the outboard. Where engines differentiate is whether they require the cable to push or pull, to operate the throttle and gear linkages, again some control boxes can be adjusted to change their operation and others can not.

Most engine manufacturers will supply their steering and remote control attachment kits together, these will vary in price from around $100.00 - $200.00. When ordering, ask your local dealer about the style of control cable that will suit your engine/control box and order these at the same time.

Attention also needs to be paid to the mount style and operation mode of the control box, advice from your local marine dealer is essential on How to measure this and the cable attachment kit for control cables OUTBOARD your outboard. In basic configuration OUTBOARD control boxes will vary from top or binnacle mount (expect to pay more for these) and side mount (start from approx $270.00). The side mount MEASURE CABLE PATH, ADD 600MM FOR LOOP may be designed to attach to the & ROUND UP TO THE NEXT CABLE LENGTH MEASURE CABLE PATH, ADD 600MM FOR LOOP (250MM OR 1 FOOT INCREMENTS) left or right hand side of the console & ROUND UP TO THE NEXT CABLE LENGTH (250MM OR 1 FOOT INCREMENTS) (some can be inverted) so this needs INBOARD AND STERNDRIVE to be considered when purchasing INBOARD or AND STERNDRIVE Whether you are fitting a side or fabricating your console. centre console, route your control and The other point to consider is the Sant Marine centre console. Can be steering cables simultaneously, along operating action of specific engine fitted with windscreen. with any additional wiring such as a linkages in relation to the control box MEASURE CABLE PATH AND ROUND UP TO THE Pre-drilled for steering helm. kill switch orLENGTH electric start wiring etc.

NEXT CABLE (250MM OR 1 FOOT INCREMENTS) they require. Connecting the control If you are fitting a centre console and MEASURE CABLE PATH AND ROUND UP TO THE running the cabling the floor, NEXT CABLE LENGTH (250MMunder OR 1 FOOT INCREMENTS) How to Measure Steering Cables utilise loom tube or a similar product as inevitably the wear of steering and Measure cable routing path from wheel centre line to engine connection as follows: control cables will eventuate from the A = Centre line of wheel to gunwale (or deck, if routed downward) continual movement against the hull B = Dash to transom and reinforcing. For side consoles, C = Gunwale to centre line of cable connection at centred tiller rigging through transom flange mount For cable installations through the engine tilt tube - Add A, B and C + 150mm, then round up to and hosing is also available giving a the next size. Order that length cable. professional finish to the installation.

For cable mounted to transom, splashwell or stringer - Add A, B and C, then subtract 150mm and round up to the next size. Order that length cable.

Y

ROTARY

C A B

Flange and hosing provide professional finish for every job.

My check list

Rucksack with waterproof liner Two-man tent (all season), Light weight fly Space blanket Down sleeping bag to suit conditions Thermarest (3/4 or equiv) Bathers Thermal underwear x 2 sets Trousers, zippered Thick woollen socks x 3 pair Gaiters Boots Nylon LS shirt x 2 Polar fleece ¾ breathable jacket Fleece beanie Gloves Map in plastic bag/case Compass (GPS optional) EPIRB (where assessed risk is high) Sunglasses Sunblock Insecticide Water bottle (and bladder) First Aid kit – incl plaster, gauze, strips, paracetamol Two 4” bandages Down vest Track pants nylon Camp shoes Food (design a menu for the duration) Plates, cup, utensils and stove & fuel Head light Matches (in film container) Fuel lighter Sharp penknife Plastic trowel and WC paper in plastic bag.

Fly rod (6 piece), Reel Vest with small selection of equipment and flies Waders Camera Binoculars

Black Wolf 75L Rucksack Mountain Ash 75L Rucksack features adjustable cryofit harness, 600D polyweave fabric, colour selection.

A good tent will last for many years. Whilst a reasonable tent can be inexpensive these days quality does show in the better brands. And as price goes up the weight tends to come down.

A lightweight fly adds extra protection for your tent and can be used as a kitchen shelter as well.

Coleman Hiking Tent

An affordable 2 person hiking tent, the Epsilon 2 weighs just 2.6 kg and features minidiamond ripstop fabric.

Only $199

Only $169

Columbia zip off trousers Challenger convertible pants, zip off leg to convert to shorts, hip and cargo pockets UPF 30+ thermal nylon

Only $89.95 Everwarm thermal underwear Long sleeve tops and long johns in heaps of colours, sizes S-2XL

NOLTE 8x21 Binoculars Compact binoculars includes case and strap.

Recta Compass Swiss made quality Recta compass at a great price.

$19.95

$19.95 Roman Lightweight ¾ Moon Mats A top quality mat featuring non-slip top and puncture resistant bottom. Compact and light weight.

Sporks The most useful utensil you can buy. Ultralight, versatile spoon, knife and fork all in one.

$3.70 each

$84.95 Coleman 5 L.E.D. Head Torch High efficiency LED head torch with 4 variable brightness settings, tilt adjust and weather resistant.

$39.95

$39.95 Black wolf ventura goretex jacket Three quarter length jacket, three layer heavy duty gortex guaranteed to keep you dry, superb breathability for ultimate comfort. $449

Europa down sleeping bag Roman quality down sleeping bag rated to –50C. 700 grams of loft and weighs only 1.3 kg.

$179

ALLGOODS

Hitec vista waterproof boots Features waterproof nubuck leather upper and lightweight moulded sole, to suit men and women

$179

Sorry some items are not available at all stores but may be placed on overnight order.

Launceston 71-79 York St 6331 36 44

Tent City Launceston 60 Elizabeth St 6331 3644

Devonport 6 Formby Rd 6424 7099

Glenorchy 15/352 Main Rd

(opp. Elwick Hotel)

6272 1122 Fishing News - Page 47

YAMAHA MOTOR FINANCE

EVERY INDUSTRY HAS A LEADER

MARINE SUPREMACY

• V8 5.3 litre 60° • 32 Valve with Variable Camshaft Timing - Quad Cam • Multipoint Electronic Fuel Injection • Digital Electronic Throttle Control • Digital Fuel Management

WORLD’S

ST PRODUCTION 4-STROKE V8 OUTBOARD

heart of Your Boat

The

Visit the Yamaha website to find your local Yamaha dealer:

WWW.YAMAHA-MOTOR.COM.AU

Print Post approved; PP 702512 00027

Issue 69 August - September 2007

Dan Clifton caught this 10 lb 8 oz trout at the Trevallyn tailrace near Launceston. See the full report on page 6.

$3.95

WIN this $550 pontoon oat tube

See page 34

• Trevallyn’s monster trout • Tasmania’s most popular trout lures • Simple soft plastics • Early season locations • Czech nymphing • Cockroaching for trout • Jan’s flies • Great Lake • Boats and boating • World Fly Fishing Championship report