Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 094 2011 October by Tasmanian Fishing

Issue 94 October - November 2011

Print Post approved; PP 702512 00027

Tasmaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Most Popular Lures Revealed Lake Plimsoll - Brook Trout Chasing Sea Runners Prime Time Bream Little Swanport Back to Basics Tailing Trout Great Lake Kayaks

Gavin Hicks writes about tailing trout - page 18. Read about this and more exciting fishing news inside.

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26 39

My Say I love fishing small streams, but early in the trout season it is usually difficult with too much water. That has been the same again this year. However, rising water has certainly been of benefit at other waters. Great Lake has been extraordinary with seemingly every fish feeding on the shore. I have heard of some catches of 30 to over 50 fish between two anglers during a short day session. A lot of these fish are in poor condition, and this does seem to be dependent on location somewhat. I don’t know why this is the case, but I don’t think fish feeding on worms or grubs flushed out by rising waters does much for the condition of the fish. Conversely it seems, as the lake has risen, many of these fish have moved off the deeper isopod and amphipod (shrimp) beds that are super food for trout. I am not sure if the poor condition

Lake Plimsoll - Brook trout action — Todd Lambert

Evening Rise - An after work delight — Peter Broomhall

Back to Basics – River trout on lures — Tom Crawford

Prime time Bream — Matt Byrne

Chasing Tails — Gavin Hicks

Great Lake - Beehives from a kayak — Michal Rybka

Tasmania’s Most Popular Lures — Mike Stevens

Timber Kayak Build — Peter Dutton

Jan’s Flies — Jan Spencer

Fly Leaders for Rivers — Daniel Hackett

World Fly Fishing Championship - and tips — Joe Riley

Little Swanport - Kayak destination — Craig Vertigan

Sea-run Trout - Mysteries revealed — Christopher Bassano 43 Marine Fishery News

Inland Fisheries Service News

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of some fish is anything to worry about or not. Maybe they are just old fish. Arthurs Lake is at its highest level ever and many anglers are wondering if there will be reasonable dun hatches this year. Let’s hope so. The last days of September saw dun hatches start at Four Springs with a flurry of trout activity accompanying it. Brook trout have been the flavour on the early season and there is a great story on page four. Kayak fishing is still on the rise and there are a couple of stories on that subject in this issue. Also thanks to our readers. If you think magazines are dead our last issue was the biggest seller ever. Our website www.tasfish.com is also attracting large numbers. It now hosts the Arthurs Lake webcam as well. Check it out. Mike Stevens

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Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News

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Fishing News - Page 3

Lake Plimsoll Todd Lambert

Brook trout action

ake Plimsoll is a “brook trout only fishery” located near the heart of our rugged West Coast. It is also water that many of Tasmania’s angling fraternity would have heard about, but seemingly only a small minority have ever taken up the challenge to explore at any great length. Is it a wasted effort or is it just a very well kept secret by those in the know? Todd Lambert, along with two of his mates, Dale Howard and son Trevor, spent some time there recently and in this article, he attempts to shed some light on this fantastic fishery that seemingly “ flies under the radar” to so many of us.

How to get there Situated roughly between Tullah and Rosebery, Lake Plimsoll can be accessed via an alternative road that heads to Queenstown called the Anthony Road (Route B28). Signage along this road is excellent and so you shouldn’t have any trouble locating Lake Plimsoll once you are in this area.

Lake Plimsoll The Lake itself is probably similar in size to that of Lake Leake; it mainly consists of steep rocky shorelines with the remainder being that of a swamped button grass plain.

Lake Plimsoll is one of only a few places where a brook trout can be caught in Tasmania. Its water is tannin stained (like all the lakes in this region) but it would still lend itself to polarising given the right conditions, especially at the southern end of the Lake where it is quite shallow.

Selina (which are situated nearby) and Clarence Lagoon.

The surrounding landscape is very exposed and can go from being “picture postcard perfect” one minute to “an Antarctic blizzard” the next. It is also quite common to feel the whole gamut of weather conditions in any one day, as was witnessed by us at our recent outing here.

One of the reasons brook trout survive here is that they prefer the colder temperatures and like to feed when the water is 10 degrees or less, they also find it hard to compete against the brown and rainbow trout. Plimsoll along with the “select fisheries” just mentioned are ideal environments for them in as much as they have the best of both worlds with the cooler climate and little, if any, competition for food.

Lake Plimsoll is one of only a few Tasmanian waterways that contain exclusive populations of brook trout, the others being Lake Rolleston, Lake

There is also a large population of galaxids that thrive here and they seem to be the mainstay of the brook trout’s diet along with frogs and mudeyes.

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Formed in 1993, Plimsoll receives stockings on a bi-annual basis and although spawning is said to occur here, it is reliant on both domestic and wild domestic diploid stock to sustain its recruitment.

Brook trout facts and methods Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are not actually a trout; they are a species of char originating from the east coast of Northern America. They were first introduced into Tasmanian waters in May 1883 and were placed throughout our various lake and river systems. Lake Leake in the north of Tasmania was the first location to successfully maintain stocks of brook trout but the introduction of rainbow trout into this water as well, saw the decline of this unique species. The daily bag limit for Plimsoll is 5 fish per day with a minimum size of 220 mm, but due to the delicate nature of this water, catch and release is encouraged. All methods, bait, lure and fly are permitted here. Brook trout love deep water and the “Plimsoll locals” tend to school near the rocky shores that are found close to any inflow, in fact any deep looking hole is worth a cast or two. We have found they feed in two modes, “on or off” and there is no in-between. If you are lucky enough to be present when brookies are on, catching your bag is a mere formality, on other occasions, you could fish all day without even a seeing a trace of a fish and one could be forgiven for thinking there were none in the lake! The word “persistence” is one that brook trout anglers need to know and understand very well in order to achieve consistent success. On our most recent visit here, and when cleaning a couple of Plimsoll brooks, we found they all had at least one large Galaxid in their stomach contents. As these baitfish are so large, it is unlikely they would seek any more food until it was all digested, how long that takes, I wouldn’t know, but it would explain their on and off again feeding patterns. It would also explain why they take a soft plastic so hard and with very little warning; as the jig head is often the only thing you will see sticking out of their mouths, such is the aggression of the strike. When hooking one of these fish, you may think you have hooked a snag until feeling that familiar throb of a fish on the end of the line; they are not a strong fighting fish by nature and tend to come to the net quite easily. Tasmania 100k. Copyright © State of Tasmania,Base Data and Raster images from the LIST (www.thelist.tas.gov.au)

This three kilo brookie was caught on a trolled lure from a kayak.

Fly Fishing As fly fishermen and fly tiers, we continually search for the best fly for the particular situation, sometimes we find one that works and other times it doesn’t; for brook trout, I don’t think it matters, however, they do seem to love yellow and orange, so as long as you incorporate that in your fly or lure, you’re in with as good a chance as any for a hook up. Fish with an intermediate fly line, vary your retrieves and bring a healthy dose of perseverance with you. Although not witnessing it myself, I am told by the locals that in the warmer months, there are, at times, healthy rises to terrestrials such as mudeyes and beetles, so dry fly fishing is a possibility.

Todd Lambert get a result at Plimsoll.

Soft Plastics Although not orange or yellow in colour, the Purple Ghost” and “Translucent Moss” from The Yep lures 5 1/2 inch series will catch brook trout as they tick all the boxes in regard to matching the hatch. These plastics replicate the size of the local Galaxiad extremely well. www.memory-map.com

Brookies love gaudy flies.

Maps courtesy of Tasmap. Situated between Tullah and Rosebery, Lake Plimsoll is accessed via the Anthony Road (Route B28)

There are plenty of plastics to match the bait. Fishing News - Page 5

Plimsoll is a lovely place to fish from a kayak. bright colours. Your basic 4 pound braid and six pound leader set up is all that is needed.

Trevor Howard with a brookie on a Yep Red Rascal Other plastics that will bring you success are the Yep Red Rascal and the Squidgy 60mm Neon Silvertail. The big advantage with fishing plastics is that you can adjust your depth with a simple jig head weight change and need not bother about “ sink rates” as you would using your fly lines. The same applies for soft plastics as it does for fly fishing, use

Final Tips Fish in close to the banks, outside any inflows and along the dam wall area. If you catch one, work the area extensively, as they seem to school together and you will more than likely catch others in a very short timeframe.

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If you see any cormorants on the water, head straight over to them and fish that area, (this worked well for us on our last visit). To finish, here is probably the most important tip, persevere and never give up, as with brook trout, your luck can change dramatically in a matter of minutes. The reward for persistence will be one of the most beautiful fish you have ever seen. Lake Plimsoll, a truly magnificent and underrated fishery, why not give it a go? Todd Lambert

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Evening Rise

...an after work delight

Peter Broomhall

fter a short drive from home I pulled into the parking area I frequently use adjacent to a bridge spanning the Mersey River, my old friend. The first priority, as always, was to walk onto the bridge to have a look at the river conditions. This revealed that things were looking good with the late afternoon sun revealing a mixture of mayfly spinners and white caddis in the air above the rippling river in the soft October light. The mayfly spinners were especially noticeable with the sun glinting through their iridescent wings as they danced en-masse. Swallows, fantails and wrens were also on the wing taking advantage of the easy meal on offer. A splash or two in the river below indicated that another predator had noticed the insects as well! After momentarily soaking in this scene I then began hurriedly piecing together my trusty 2wt Sage fly rod, loaded pockets with boxes of flies and tippet material, and then hot footed it off upstream to a favourite run that I knew from previous experiences would be just perfect this evening given these ideal conditions. Arriving at the rippled water at the tail of the pool I quickly noted that the rise was already underway with small trout ranging from fingerlings up to slightly more respectable half pounders were throwing themselves out of the water in what looked to be sheer joy at the multitude of spinners and caddis that were on the wing. Further upstream in the smoother tail water a few slower slurps signalled that bigger trout were also starting to hone in on the coming feast. A smattering of mayfly duns were also noticed drifting downstream like little sailboats before making their first clumsy attempts at flying off to safety amongst the surrounding trees. Some didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it! Stepping out into the river and slowly edging my way across the slippery shingle bed I lined myself up downstream of a massive log that had floated down in a big flood a few years earlier and wedged itself in the shallow water. Since that time this log had created a perfect diversion on the relatively swift river current at the pools tail. This upwelling created a couple of bubble lines that were now a favourite feeding area for many of the wily brown trout that called this particular pool home.

A beautiful evening on the Mersey.

Soon after taking up my position a splashy rise only a short cast above me indicated my first chance at success. It took a few casts to get the Fast Water Dun, a favourite fly pattern for the evening fishing with it being great representation of either a mayfly dun or a caddis, into the bubble line before the feisty little brown took it with gusto. After lifting the rod with maybe a little too much force (I sometimes get a little trigger happy with the first few of the session!) I found with some surprise a solid weight on the rod. These little river browns always give a great showing in the fast current on the light rods. After a short but nonetheless spectacular battle the chunky pounder was slid into my waiting hand. After quickly admiring the superb colouration and condition of the trout, (this being the rule rather than the exception with the Mersey browns in recent times), he was slid back into the cool clear river water and freedom. This scene was repeated quite a few more times as I slowly worked up to the big log in the fading light. Most accurate casts to the visibly feeding trout had been rewarded with solid takes and as an added bonus the average size of the browns had also increased as I worked up further out of

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Fishing News - Page 7

the broken water into the true glide of the pool. As in most trout waters the best and biggest trout always occupy the prime feeding locations. After targeting, hooking and landing a few that would have been in excess of two pounds, a good size in this particular area of the Mersey, the darkness had almost completely descended like a cloak on the river valley. The bird life feasting on the abundant insects had long since been replaced by nocturnal bats flitting about above the rivers surface. Deciding that the dozen or more trout that had fallen victim to the FW Dun was more than enough (I would have been happy with one!) I wound up the loose line and readied myself to inch my way back across the thigh deep current to the safety of the grassy paddock bordering the left bank of the pool. But wait, what was that sound out in darkness. A couple of hearty slurps were able to be heard in the inky darkness over near the right hand bank directly adjacent. Was it a platypus, a water rat or something else? Definitely time for one more cast! This time it had to be entirely by intuition. Not sure of the distance required I shot out a cast and then listened intently with it being impossible to see the progress of the fly. Visualizing the progress of the fly down the current I somehow sensed that it was in the strike zone. A barely audible â&#x20AC;&#x153;plipâ&#x20AC;? radiated out of the darkness and I lifted the rod gently in response albeit more in hope than with confidence. This gentle tightening was responded to with a massive pull on the rod and as equally as big a splash. The little Vision fly reel with just a clicker drag system started losing line at an alarming rate as the big trout headed off upstream no doubt to its lair under the bank somewhere. Somehow by palming the spool I managed to turn the trout it before its intended destination and after a couple of lunges it angled out across the river and then using the current to its advantage ended up holding station below me. All the while I also edged across the river and after a few more nervous moments was able to put the finishing touches to the titanic battle from dry land. As the trout rolled at my feet I put the torch light on him and was amazed to see a big hook jawed male brown trout in the five pound class in his absolute prime. This was a true Mersey River trophy and a trout that I will never forget throughout my fishing days. I only have to close my eyes to again see him in all his glory. Oh how I hope that he is still in the pool somewhere marauding the galaxias and shrimp population.

Where The scenes described above can be achieved on virtually any of the major river systems in Tasmania. We are certainly blessed with a multitude of superb locations where it is still rare to find another angler in your chosen spot. If you do arrive to find another vehicle it is a simple matter to drive up to the next access point. Rivers that I have enjoyed particular success on have been the before mentioned Mersey River and the nearby Leven River. Both of these waterways have good access and many, many suitable locations to look for rising trout as darkness starts to descend. Specific locations I look for are the tails of large pools just above the broken water. I try to time my arrival at this area just as darkness is descending as this is the time that the rise usually reaches its crescendo. Quite often though, if I have a bit of time to spare before the peak fishing period I will begin by fishing up through the broken water below the pools first. Some bonus fish can be taken this way either by indicator nymphing or fishing likely locations with dries before the real stuff starts.

Insects come back to life from late September and the trout are there to greet them. Fishing News - Page 8

Ideal runs for late evening fishing will have some aspect facing in a westerly direction. This way you can use the afterglow of the setting sun to assist in spotting rises well after other areas are blanketed in darkness. Unfortunately the large brown described above is a rarity in Tassieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rivers and streams but the high numbers of lesser sized trout generally more than

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compensate for this. Most anglers that spend a lot of time on the rivers and get to know their secrets will come into contact with a few of these trophies throughout the course of a season

And when.. During late September and into October, given favourable weather conditions, an evening recce on the rivers will rarely fail to find steadily rising trout. During this period the river and its inhabitants really seems to come to life, effectively throwing off the doldrums of winter. As the river water starts to warm up the mayfly and caddis start to hatch in great numbers and the predators are never far behind. A bonus in October is the advent of Daylight Saving time will generally give you enough time to get home from work (you know that thing most of us have to do when we are not fishing!) have a leisurely meal with the family and then head off to wash away the pressures of the working day. I have found over the years that the Mersey River generally fires earlier than the Leven River. For me that is a great situation as I can target the Mersey first of all and when the fishing starts to drop off the Leven becomes a viable option. During late

This superbly conditioned trout was released.

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Fishing News - Page 9

September and throughout October you will find me on the banks of the Mersey on most suitable evenings. Spring floods will generally slow the fishing but it usually does not take too much time to recover after these events.

Evening insects Insects that trigger late afternoon and evening rises on Tasmanian rivers and streams are most commonly varieties of caddis or mayflies. The little white caddis that flutters around overhanging foliage along our streams generally does not provide reliable fishing opportunities. Sure enough the little trout love jumping out to try and catch these caddis on the wing but this is usually the extent of the fishing opportunity. The caddis variety that does provide great sport is the drab grey or brown insect that fills the air above the streams as darkness descends on calm evenings. Trout take these, both as they are popping to the surface during their hatching phase and then again as they become trapped in the water film as they dip to lay their eggs after mating.

Last light and time to tie another fly on.

Mayflies also cause some intense surface feeding activity on the streams during springtime evenings. Similar to the caddis flies they are taken by trout during the dun or hatching phase and then again as spent spinners that have fallen to the river surface exhausted after mating. Trout taking duns are commonly hurried or splashy in their rise forms as they know that they have a limited time to capture the dun before it flies off to freedom but trout taking spent spinners are the exact opposite. These rise forms are painstakingly slow as the trout just know that they have all the time in the world to sip the mayfly from the surface, particularly if you find them in the slower back eddies.

Gear – Keep it light! My favourite rods for this type of fishing are what it generally referred to as “twig” fly rods. Up until very recently I have been using a 7’10” Sage 2wt fly rod. While these rods are not made for distance casting loading them with a weight forward line will make them deadly accurate weapons for casting up to 10 or 15 metres. If I had to make a choice, especially on the rivers, I would take accuracy over distance every single time. They are simply superb rods for throwing flies into tight spots under overhanging streamside vegetation. Another bonus with the light rods is that it turns the battles with average sized river trout into something much more enjoyable. The lighter rod evens the odds for the trout somewhat. The way that the fly rod bends right from the cork is exhilarating to say the very least. With saying that though I have been lucky enough to land a number of trout around the four pound mark on the little 2wt.

A few of the author’s favourite flies. Fishing News - Page 10

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A word of warning for those that have not fished with twig rods before, just one cast might just have you hooked (as well as the trout!). I have just finished building myself a 7’10” 000wt Sage for the coming season. Stay tuned!! Generally fly rods in the 9’ length and 4-5 wt range are suitable for dry fishing on the rivers and streams. Tapered leaders of 9’ to 12’ are standard with a 3 or 4lb tippet. Maxima Ultragreen is my personal favourite tippet material as I have found that it has an exceptional knot strength for its diameter and is rare to break a fish off. Another useful item in line with the “keep it light” doctrine is the lanyard necklace. This item can be used to hold vital streamside items such as nippers, floatant, tweezers/ hook pliers, spools of tippet material and even a small fly box close and handy without the unnecessary weight and constraint of the traditional vest. These items are becoming more and more popular in recent times. Another great thing about them is you could get the kids to make you one as a craft project!

Favourite flies Most of my close fishing friends probably would not believe that my list of favourite fly patterns for this type of fishing do not have a hint of foam in them. Dan Hackett’s great little pattern, the Fastwater Dun, has become a staple in my flybox for the spring months, especially in regard to the evening rise. As indicated above, it’s combination of CDC, Hares Ear dubbing with a little UV dubbing mixed in and the deer hair wing make it a very good representation of the caddis and also the mayfly duns that are common in the locations that I fish. Other reliable fly patterns for this type of fishing are the very simple to tie F-Fly, the Shaving Brush, especially in the curved body configuration and also the Elk Hair Caddis. Any of these flies in a variety of colours and sizes from large 10’s down to 16 or 18’s will cover most evening rise situations. Black Spinners, Royal Wulffs and Parachute Adams are also worth their spot in your box. As darkness falls the Black Muddler Minnow will always earn its keep.

Summary There is certainly something about the late afternoon light on the rivers that is good for the soul. Even if the trout aren’t playing the game it is simply refreshing for the mind and spirit being out at this time of day taking in the sights and sounds of the river. For example the screech of the possum high up in the trees bordering the river, the flickering wings of a passing bat, the swirl of an inquisitive platypus in the glassy stream surface and maybe, just maybe the splash of a sizeable river trout on the end of your line. Peter Broomhall

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Fishing News - Page 11 4/10/11 2:53 PM

Back to Basics Tom Crawford

River trout on lures

asmania has some of beautiful rivers from small slow flowing waters to large rivers such as the Huon and Derwent. In this article we are going to take it back to the basics and explain the different lures and techniques for catching trout in these waters. Despite your level of experience our streams offer fabulous lure fishing. You need to expect that one minute you will be fishing deep pools and 20 metres further down the river you might only have half a metre of water. The lures you use need to take this into account. I find the ideal way to fish most rivers is to wade upstream; this method in theory allows you stay behind the trout that are generally always facing upstream into the current. As you proceed up the river you need to look for patches of still water and any cover that trout may be hiding in. For example over hanging branches or submerged logs. These often still parts of the river can hold multiple fish. Trout are never far from cover of some sort, so keep that in mind. Overhanging banks are a prime hidey hole.

Where river fishing will vary from lakes is that often you may not make a cast for 20 metre stretch of water, instead moving quietly through that stretch to reach a particular still piece of water. You will often need to make less casts but more accurate.

Lures I like There are myriad of different lures that can be used so I will mention a few that have stood the test of time. Celtas – These blade style lures have been around for many years and their fast moving action often pulls trout out for a look. They require a steady slow retrieve with out to much pausing and rod tip action. Soft plastics – There are many brands but the most popular for Tasmanian streams are as follows. Berkley – Most people know this iconic brand and their TTail minnows are certainly responsible for many trout. The 2.5” in Black n Gold and Pearl Olive seem to be the most consistent. Yep – Only on the market for the last few years Tasmanian lure brand Yep has become one of the leading trout soft plastics in the state. Yep’s paddle tails in Red Rascal and Black and Gold would be my suggestions. Rapala – Rapala lures have stood the test of time and their F3 Brown trout is one of my favorite bibbed lures on trout. It has a great action and great colour pattern. With the F standing for floating this little but deadly lure will allow you to fish around structure and let your lure float up slowly away from snags.

Fishing News - Page 12

There are many lures on the market for this style of fishing and with the big influx of premium hard body lures from Japan and other countries we are spoilt for choice. If you do decide to splash out and buy an upmarket lure my suggestion would be a Nories Lay Down Minnow. A bit more costly but a great investment.

Line By now most of us have had the opportunity to have a look at braided lines. Some love it, some hate it. Either way it’s here to stay and for this sort of fishing I would recommend any braid around 5lb. Personally I like 5lb Power pro but most brands will be fine. When using braid always use a leader and in crystal clear rivers I like to use a long leader of approximately 4lb and 2-3 metres in length. This may seem long but trust me it is worth it. Also make sure your leader is made of Fluorocarbon. I have been asked time and time again can I just use Mono leaders and of course you can but this is why I prefer fluorocarbon. One of the main advantages of fluorocarbon is its near invisibility when it is submerged under water. Fluorocarbon line is extremely close to the light refractive index of water so it is virtually invisible when submerged. This fact alone makes this line very useful in situations that have a clear water environment.

Rod and reel As far as a rod and reel setup goes any lightweight outfit will do. There are some great budget priced outfits on the market today. When buying an outfit for this style of fishing try a graphite 6’ rod with a reel in the size ranges 1000 – 2000. A good price point to start at is around $100 and you will get a good serviceable outfit for that. You can pay less, but it is unwise to spend too little. Or you can go as high as $1500. The best times of year are often at the start of the trout season in August and in the warmer summer months. August is often good as many of the trout have not seen a lure for quite some time as the season had been closed and are often harder to scare. The summer months offer some great fishing and for the main reason that this is when the trout feed heavily on insect due to all the hatches from the warm weather. How ever all though the trout may be feeding and moving often they can be hard to get on a lure as they focused on the surface taking insects. This is where fly fishing can be a better option. But more on fly fishing in another article.

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The Meander River is a great lure fishing water - plenty fish and very good access.

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Small streams such as this are perfect to start on with small lures. Try squashing your barbs as well. It makes releasing small fish much easier.

Atomic hard body lures from $12 The Uni or Grinner knot is great for attaching lures.

Some popular rivers Tyenna – The Tyenna river is situated approximately an hour north west of Hobart. This river was stocked in 1870 and ever since then has produced some great fishing.

There are many other rivers but these are favourites.

The Tyenna runs into the Derwent and this huge waterway has many kilometres that can be fished from the shore.

In conclusion Tasmania’s rivers offer great fishing and are well worth a go. As mentioned above the ‘Angler Access’ program gives you a lot of options for fishing our rivers. Most tackle stores have these brochures that will help you get on the water.

Brumbys Creek – Brumbys Creek is situated 40 minutes south of Launceston near Cressy. Brumby’s had 3 weirs that were constructed to slow the water flow from Poatina power station.

I hope you can give it a go over the next couple of month’s leading into summer. If you have any more questions please feel free to contact me on the number below.

South Esk - From the top to the bottom the South Esk is a great river for lure fishers. Meander - Since the headwaters were dammed the Meander has a more regulated flow. It seems this has been a real bonus to the fishery and with good access through the ‘Angler Access’ program it is one of the best.

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Fishing News - Page 13

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Prime TimeSpring Bream time options Matt Byrne

ith the cold and wet winter days now behind us, as we move into the peak of spring, we can look forward to some truly spectacular fishing ahead. As Matt Byrne details here, mid-late spring is the prime time to hit our popular coastal estuaries and rivers in search of our iconic sport fishing species – the southern black bream. Mid to late spring is the time that all keen Tasmanian sports fishers eagerly await. This period marks some slightly better weather and the annual spawning cycle of the southern black bream and this means that our coastal estuaries, rivers and creeks literally teem with schools of these big bronzed hard fighting machines. Although all of these same estuaries, rivers and creeks hold viable numbers of bream throughout the year, the spring period indeed could be considered prime time purely based on the sheer volume of fish and also the increased size range of fish available. The first task ahead is choice of location and while there are endless opportunities in this regard, we have chosen here to focus on four productive and easily accessible locations with those being the Swan River, Little Swanport River, Upper Derwent River and Browns River. The second task ahead is of course choice of tackle, lures and techniques. The first part of this question is quite easily answered by saying that your favourite trout spinning outfit consisting of a 6’6 -7ft light spin stick, 1500 – 2000 threadline reel and 4-6lb fireline and 6lb fluorocarbon leader is perfect for just about most situations. Ultra light gear is definitely an option but if going with that approach be prepared to lose a lot of fish in the process as you attempt to steer these strong fish away from oyster leases, rocks, submerged trees, weed etc. Arguably of most importance is the final part of the question in terms of dealing with lure selection and techniques and as these strategies are indeed often location specific, this will be addressed for each scenario below.

There are many productive areas on the Swan River. This view is near the mouth.

Swan River The Swan River is located near the East Coast town of Swansea and is a very diverse and fish - rich river system. The river is essentially divided into three parts consisting of the river mouth and open river flats near Dolphin Sands (access via Dolphin Sands Rd, off Swan River Rd) the middle reaches not far from the Swansea township (access off Swan River Rd) and the upper reaches (access off Boathouse Rd). Great bank fishing access is available at any of the above locations but not surprisingly a boat delivers the best and most efficient way of exploring all sections the river and of course assists in finding the larger concentrations of fish more easily. Boat launching is available off both Dolphin Sands Rd and Swan River Rd. In the vicinity of the river mouth and flats area , there are some real hotspots for targeting schooling bream in open water. Although this area is essentially quite shallow, there are a series of deeper channels of water running between the prolific weed growth and the bream frequent these areas. Simply drifting these areas in your boat and keeping a keen eye out with a good pair of polaroid glasses will see you locating these schools. In these scenarios, lure presentation can either take the form of a natural soft plastic such as a Squidgy wriggler (Avocado colour) or GULP camo sandworm fished on a 1/16th jig head on the drop, or a small and slim profiled hardbody such as a Daiwa Presso or Stiffy minnow cast well ahead of the fish and twitched

The upper Swan River boat ramp. in front. The reaction of the fish on the day will be one of extremes in terms of either aggression or hesitation, so be prepared to tailor your approach to the behaviour of the fish on the day. If the open water fish are proving a bit challenging (and be aware that they can be!) then move back into some structure and fish in the vicinity of the various oyster leases and weed beds. Again, it can be a toss up between soft plastic approaches or hardbody lures. As these fish tend to be more aggressive in striking lures out of the structure, for excitement try a hardbody minnow such as those mentioned above as there is nothing quite like feeling that initial strike from a freight train that then attempts to head for cover! For a change of scenery and style of fishing, you may choose to fish the middle to upper reaches of the Swan River. The river environment in these locations tends to be quite deep right from very hard up on the banks and as such, I favour slow lift and drop fishing of soft plastic lures. Slow working a GULP turtleback worm in watermelon colour or a GULP sandworm in either natural or camo colours is a very good method in targeting bream in these

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Fishing News - Page 15

Upper Derwent bream caught on a Rapala. A small Swan River bream. sections of the Swan River. As with most other forms of soft plastic fishing, it is a good idea to mix up your retrieve and if fishing with the above plastics definitely allow plenty of time for ‘the drop’ before commencing your retrieve again, as fish will not hesitate in picking these natural looking plastics up off the bottom. I have found that the middle to upper reaches of the Swan can fish better towards the end of October and into November. By this time, there are also a host of other species that have entered and made their way up the system including hard fighting Silver Trevally, Australian Salmon and even Tailor. If you are actively targeting bream in the Swan River then you will inevitably connect with these additional species and if things are slow they can indeed be a welcomed by-catch.

Little Swanport River The Little Swanport River is located on the East Coast between Swansea and Triabunna and much like the Swan River, offers a very diverse bream fishery in some wonderful surrounds. This river could be considered very much a trophy bream fishery as there are some outstanding fish to be found throughout this river. Although ‘weighing a dead bream’ wouldn’t be condoned these days for

obvious reasons and none other than the fact we are now much better educated, a keen bait fisherman that knew this river well and fished it religiously managed to pull a bream from the Little Swanport some 10 years ago that weighed in at a massive 6.75lb. Not sure what that equates to in centimetres but you get the picture of what this river is capable of producing nonetheless! The lower reaches of the Little Swanport River in the vicinity of Saltworks Rd, provides for boat access allowing for both flats style fishing and also fishing amongst structure consisting of Oyster leases and small rocky points etc. A boat is essential in order to fish the full potential of the area and like the lower Swan River, enjoy the best of the sight fishing opportunities. Hardbody lures work very well here and recommended lures to evoke a strike from these bream include bladed vibes and minnows, give the lures a try and you will not be disappointed. If your style of fishing is more tailored to walking the banks and casting to bream holding in submerged snags and rock ledges then fishing upstream from the Tasman Highway bridge on the Little Swanport River is for you. This area is one of my favourites and I have polaroided (not necessarily caught!) some of the largest bream I have personally seen anywhere in Tasmania. I prefer to fish the section of river between the bridge and ‘flat rock’ (located just upstream) with fairly natural soft plastics, fished finesse with ultra light jig heads. Approach is very important here and simply strolling the bank without taking some caution is sure to result in ‘spooking’ a lot of bream here. Stay up high on the banks near the tree line and take time to polaroid and observe structure in the water before attempting any casts.

Bream guru, Pat Sullivan with a Little Swanport bream. Fishing News - Page 16

Soft plastics of choice here are Squidgy wrigglers in Avocado or my

personal favourite a watermelon GULP turtleback worm – be prepared to experiment but just think natural plastics. I rarely use hardbodies in this section of river, purely because I have again found these fish to be quite ‘spooky’ on occasions and prefer the finesse approach delivered by soft plastic fishing to be the best bet. Make sure that your gear is up to standard in this river and especially that you check your leader regularly for any abrasions. These fish fight hard and dirty and in some cases you will need to apply a bit of pressure in order to turn them away from the snags, not to mention the very real chance of connecting with a real trophy fish.

Upper Derwent River There has obviously been a lot written about the bream fishing potential throughout the Derwent River system. It is again such a diverse fishery that is a consistent producer of great bream. The section of river that deserves particular mention for the mid to late spring period is the area of river between the Bridgewater Bridge and the Ski club just below the Norske Skog Paper Mill. The rush-lined banks of this entire area of river provide perfect habitat and ambush points for bream and with an increase in fish inhabiting this area over spring, the fishing can be excellent. A boat is essential for this style of fishing, in order drift parallel to the banks and cast and retrieve along the drop offs. While a number of the above mentioned lures in the other locations will take fish in this area also, I have done surprisingly well on a bibbed 5-7cm Rapala minnows in Brown Trout pattern. As for plastics, a 3 inch Gulp Minnow in Smelt colour fished on either a 1/16th or 1/8th jig head really is just about all you need and if you had to buy just one plastic then that would be it! In terms of notable drop offs, give the few small points in and around ‘Lime Kiln’ point (including those on the opposite side of the river) a try, there is some old structure in these locations in the form of old standing and submerged pylons. The current moves around these points and the fish appear more than happy to wait here in ambush. Use a soft plastic here on a 1/8th jig head for best results in order to get down to the strike zone. For those prepared to experiment catching bream on the fly, then there may be no better place to try. I have managed a few bream on fly in this area and while obviously not claiming to be an expert

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at this form of fishing, consider this to be a very satisfying form of fishing – nothing pulls harder than a bream on fly gear. I have settled on using a 6 or 7 weight set up in conjunction with an intermediate line or floating line and extra long leader, alternating depending on water depth and tide movement. As far as flies go, I have tried all the noted ‘bream flies’ like BMS and shrimp patterns etc but have had best success on a very standard # 8 weighted streamer style wet consisting of a dyed light brown rabbit fur strip with a combined orange seals fur/ synthetic glister body. This fly works equally well on the Trout here also and no doubt is taken as a rough resemblance to the local Whitebait. A slow and standard ‘Trout’ strip and pause retrieve seems to work just fine. The added advantage of fishing the Upper Derwent at this time of year is of course the abundance of both resident and sea-run trout, with the whitebait runs well and truly in full swing. I remember a particular outing to this area in early October 2010 targeting bream, where the tally at the end of the day was 6 bream to 41cm, 2 resident browns and 3 sea-runners ranging from 1 – 3lb. There aren’t too many rivers in Tasmania where you can enjoy the best of both worlds.

Browns River bream at the golf course.

The Derwent River literally is a paradise for keen sport fishers at this time of year and judging by the interest from both locals and mainlanders alike, I would now suggest is no longer the underrated fishery it may have been a few years ago!

Browns River The other Prime Time bream location particularly for southern based anglers is Browns River situated right in the heart of Kingston. Perhaps not the cleanest waterway in Tassie but as we know, this means little to southern black bream! Of late, this river has been dishing up some real surprises in terms of the size of fish available and the quality of the lure fishing options present.

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Browns is a shore-based fishery that is easily accessible both by foot and vehicle right from the bridge at the river mouth to the golf course and beyond. The access road from the Esplanade connecting through to Balmoral Rd, follows the length of the river, meaning there is no scrub bashing involved here. The river is surprisingly deep, contains a lot of drop offs and is very conducive to fishing hardbodies in the form of blades and vibes, bibbed minnows as well as soft plastics. Virtually all of the river is fishable and I would advise anglers to utilise similar techniques and lures to those mentioned for the Upper Swan, Derwent and of course Little Swanport Rivers. Alternating between hardbody lures and soft plastics, varying jig head sizes and varying retrieves and lifts and drops of the rod is the best way to find what works on any given day.

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Time to explore the options The above has focussed on just but a snapshot of bream fishing options for the coming months. There are a smorgasboard of other rivers and Creeks including the Ansons River, Scamander River, Prosser River, Bream Creek, Huon River, Lune River etc etc where there is no better time than the present to get out there in search of big southern black bream. If you are still looking for excuses and need more incentive, In the case of the southern rivers you have the peak of the whitebait runs occurring which means that resident and sea run trout are a very common by-catch (if you choose to call them that!) Finally, we have the best and most diverse bream fishery in Australia and these fish are our saltwater sport fishing icon, so please enjoy the moment from the best fighting fish there is pound for pound, take some photos and return them to the water to complete their very important spawning mission.

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Fishing News - Page 17 23/06/11 8:53 AM

Chasing Tails

...then get up early

Gavin Hicks

umbling around in the dark I finally found the mobile phone and switched off the alarm. The 3wt was set up with a new fly (I like to have a brand new fly on at the start of each fishing trip. It makes no difference to catch rates, only in my head!) and the contents of the pack checked last night. Now its time to get out of bed, have the usual hot Milo and put the waders on. That is of course after the warm thermal layers have gone on. If you want to catch tailing brown trout in the shallow lake margins you have to be on the water at first light, and to a lesser extent last light. Generally when the sun gets up and conditions become to bright the trout will move out of the shallows for the safety of deeper water. If you are lucky and get dull overcast weather the fish can ‘tail’ all day. Some people say that tailing only refers to fish that are feeding nose down on the bottom of a lake bed, virtually straight up and down in the water column, with their tails waving above the surface. Personally I like to refer to any fish in shallow water that could have a tail, a fin or even half its back protruding as tailing.

Little Pine Lagoon My first memories of Little Pine Lagoon consist of staying there in one of the old waterfront shacks with my grandfather as kids and playing in the snow. It would snow so much my dad would have to dig a track out to the main road, with our help of course for pop’s old pink HQ sedan. Whilst I wasn’t a fisherman then (but I sure wish I was) I didn’t realise at the time but a love affair had begun. It wasn’t until many years later that I would be lucky enough to have my first trip there with a fly rod. Whilst being world renowned as a premier mayfly water, for me the real attraction of The Pine, as it has become known is the tailing fish that frequent the lagoons

shallows. The best time of year to find to consistent action with these fish is from around mid September onward and into early December, which is when the duns generally start to fire up. Personally I like to target the Little Pine tailers right from the first morning of the season. In fact over the last few years it has become a tradition to go there at daybreak on opening morning, crack a Boags can to celebrate and then go fishing. Most would be well aware that these tailers have gained a reputation for being a touch on the fussy side, one section of shoreline even gaining the name The Untouchables. When wandering this section of the back shore watch out for the fish that calls the bottom corner home. He will gladly give you a wave and then move on!

a week in the highlands just after opening. We had been on the receiving end of some prolonged cold weather and all the tailing shores around were either partially or completely frozen over. Little Pine was no exception but we decided to give it a look anyway, we had a week to kill after all. We weren’t surprised to find a lot of ice as we headed up the back shore on that first morning, but we were surprised to find fish tailing about between the ice and the shoreline in pockets of thawed out water. They were obviously only there for one reason because they pounced on anything and everything we threw at them. The fishing lasted for nearly the whole week until the ice started to disappear with hardly another angler in sight. Obviously put off by the frozen shallows.

I have found the tailers at the start of the season to be generally more forgiving than their mates that hone in on the usual diet of small scuds and the like as the season progresses. I have had some good morning sessions there even in extreme cold conditions. A few seasons back we were lucky enough to have

A beautiful brownie taken in very shallow water.

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Fishing News - Page 18

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On another occasion the lake was spilling and the water was backed right up in the scrub. The fish were everywhere feeding on drowned corby grubs. We were managing to fool the odd one, but for the amount of fish showing we were not at all happy with the hook up rate. After a close inspection of these grubs it was back to the shack to try and match the hatch. We came up with a few variations but the most successful was a small woolly worm pattern made out of red/yellow variegated chenille with a brown tail and a head built out of maroon thread. The head seemed to act as a trigger because the ones without the coloured head were not as well received. Just when you think you have the killer pattern for The Pine fish they will go cold turkey on it and drive you to your wits end. A couple of years back Bob Duncombe was kind enough to give me a scud pattern he was using with great success. I brought the necessary materials and tied a few up. That year later in the season there were a lot of fish in the shallows and every one I presented Bobs scud to pounced all over it like it was going to be their last meal. I don’t keep very many fish through a season, maybe half a dozen. So for a couple of them it was their last meal. That fly also brought about an encounter with what is still the best fish I have came across in the shallows at Little Pine. I was standing in a little bay up the western shore when I seen this fish working down towards me. Straight away I knew from the distance between the tail and dorsal fin, which were both quite visible it was a good fish. I got into a good spot to cast and when the time was right landed the little scud pattern right in his path. As soon as it hit the water the fish’s body language changed and he came straight over and scooped it off the bottom.

If you remain very still fish often don’t see you. When the greased up section of my leader started to slide across the water behind the fish I stood up and set the hook. The fish, which I estimated at between 5 and 6 pounds did exactly what was expected and left the shallows with the afterburners well and truly lit. The only problem being I hadn’t noticed the fly line had wrapped around the reel seat of the rod. After about two seconds the line came up tight on the seat and let go. I swear I saw a fish swimming around later with its head bent at right angles, must have been it!. Since that encounter I have hardly taken a fish on that pattern. Like I said just when you think you have them worked out.

Gear and Tackle Tailing fish can be successfully targeted using a variety of different fly gear. Rods in the 4 weight range and nine feet in length would have to be the most popular. The big advantage of these is that they can also be used for all the other fishing you are likely to encounter on the central plateau. My current favourite set up for targeting this type of fishing is an 8 foot 3 weight rod. I prefer to use weight forward lines over double tapers for this type of fishing, but it is really only a matter of personal preference and what you get used to fishing with in my opinion.

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The Gary Loomis Connection

Almost 3 decades ago, Gary Loomis founded G.Loomis® and quickly attracted the attention and admiration of the world’s most discerning anglers. Throughout the evolution of carbon fiber rod design, Gary distinguished himself as the Master. After selling G.Loomis®, in 1997, Gary dedicated his efforts to protecting and rehabilitating fisheries of the Pacific Northwest. Gary is no longer affiliated with G.Loomis®, but his desire to “build the best rods available” remains. He has agreed to share his unparalleled design skills and understanding of modern technology and materials with Temple Fork Outfitters to develop a new generation of Affordable High Performance rods. Gary is committed to increasing participation in fishing and protecting natural resources for future generations. He believes that TFO’s Affordable – High Performance approach forms a great base for this growth. ‘Working with TFO allows me to put high-quality rods in the hands of potential anglers that otherwise would not have access to this kind of gear. It is these new anglers that, through their enjoyment of the sport, will help us protect our threatened fisheries.’ ~ Gary Loomis.

For over 50 Years, as an outdoor writer and fly fishing instructor, Lefty Kreh has touched more lives and converted more people to fly fishing than anyone ever has, or ever likely will. He has truly been a servant to the Fly Fishing community having given selflessly with his teaching skills, innovations and humor; adding immeasurably to the level of enjoyment and satisfaction that many of us have experienced from the sport of fly fishing. Lefty’s writing career began part time in 1952 with a newspaper outdoor column and has progressed to include articles in many of the major outdoor publications and fly fishing periodicals. He has authored, collaborated on, or contributed to over 20 books. Some of the most Used locally by trout guide Ken Orr notable and most recent are: Fly Fishing in Salt ‘I have tested and used hundreds of rods over my Water, Fishing the Flats, Lefty’s Little Library, Lefty career, when I tested TFO’s BVK range in Denver Kreh’s Longer Fly Casting, Lefty Kreh’s Ultimate last year they jumped out as the best value for Guide to Fly Fishing, Lefty Kreh’s Presenting the money rod I have ever used. I am currently using Fly and Basic Fly Fishing: All the Skills and Gear the BVKs as my personal fishing rods.’ You Need to Get Started. His DVDs include: Lessons with Lefty, and The BVK model Line Length Pieces Weight RRP Best of Lefty’s Tips, and his Superb BVK reels from $346 DVD on casting, Lefty Kreh on TF 03 80-4B 3 8’ 4 2.4 oz $310 Precision machined from bar stock aluminum and at Fly Casting, is arguably, the TF 04 86-4B 4 8’6” 4 2.7 oz $310 home in both fresh and salt waters. Maintenance free best around. TF 04 10-4B 4 10’ 4 $332 silky smooth drag system Delrin/Stainless stacked discs. There is an old view of fly TF 05 86-4B 5 8’6” 4 2.8 oz $310 fishing that has circulated Model # Dia. Wt. Capacity 20# around the sport fishing BVK SLA I 3.30” 4.6 oz. WF4F + 75 TF 05 90-4B 5 9’ 4 2.9 oz $310 community for too many BVK SLA II 3.75” 4.9 oz. WF6F + 200 TF 05 90-5B 5 9’ 5+tube $378 years that fly fishing is an BVK SLA III 4.10” 5.2 oz. WF8F + 205 5 10’ 4 $332 “elitist” sport. This view, which TF 05 10-4B has long been troublesome TF 06 90-4B 6 9’ 4 3 oz $310 for Lefty, has been TF 06 90-5B 6 9’ 5+tube $310 perpetuated, in large part, by TF 06 91-4B# 6 9’ 4 salt $332 the fact that fly fishing gear 6 9’6” 4 $345 was very expensive. Through TF 06 96-4B the vision and efforts of TF 07 90-4B 7 9’ 4 3.1 oz $344 TFO and other companies, TF 07 96-4B 7 9’6” 4 $345 a big out-lay of cash is no TF 07 10-4B 7 10’ 4 $332 longer required. Lefty is now the lead member of TF 08 90-4B 8 9’ 4 3.2 oz $344 the Temple Fork Outfitters TF 08 90-5B 8 9’ 5+tube $413 rod-design team where he TF 09 90-4B 9 9’ 4 4.3 oz $344 Distributed by is a key contributor to the EJ TODD and TF 10 90-4B 10 9’ 4 4.5 oz $344 TFO mission to build high available from all performance rods at an TF 12 90-4B 12 9’ 4 $345 good tackle stores. affordable price. #Saltwater rod with fighting butt and Full Wells grip. Fishing News - Page 20

www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

As far as leaders go I like to use shop brought 9 foot tapered leaders finishing in around 8 pound tip, to give a bit thicker butt section for better turnover and then I add my own piece of 4-6 pound tippet to that. Diameter and length determined by water levels and conditions at the time. I have limited my fly selection (god help me) down to carrying two C&F Designs fly boxes. The biggest one is loaded with dry flies and all my scud, nymph, beetle and stick caddis type patterns. The smaller one carries generic wet fly patterns - woolly worms, fur flies, fuzzle buggers etc. Of course in amongst the generalist patterns are a few ‘secret’ killer patterns that every fly-fisherman is developing at some time or another. You know the ones I mean, you have to hide behind a bush when tying them on so the fish don’t see you! All my gear is currently being housed in a day pack, having gone away from the traditional fly vest for the time being. The pack enables me to carry my fishing gear, warm/ wet weather gear, camera gear etc all together. I like to carry the most used fly box and some floatant in my jacket pocket, some line cutters on a lanyard around my neck. All that is left to do is clip the weigh net onto the outside of the pack and you are good to go. If you happen to forget half the gear I have mentioned can you be sure to remember the two most important items, neck warmer/balaclava and a pair of good gloves. At least if there are no fish showing you can curl up nice and warm in a sag somewhere!.

Where to go I have barely even scratched the surface on places you can go to chase tailing fish. Little Pine getting

the first mention as it is one of my favourite places to fish. If you venture into the Nineteen Lagoons area there are countless spots to try. You could no better than try the marshes at Ada Lagoon, Double Lagoon and Lake Kay just for starters. Then of course there are the tailers that feature along the rocky shores of First Lagoon, Chipmans and Carter Lakes chasing snails to name a few. That is without even heading further out into the more remote Western Lakes area. Of course you could always head in the other direction and drop in on Bronte Lagoon for a look. When you finish there you could have a crack at the frog feeders at St.Clair Lagoon or duck over and have a look at Lake King William for a change of scenery. Of course lets not forget Arthurs Lake now that it is on the road to recovery. It really is just a matter of picking out some likely looking lakes and then jumping into your car and heading out there for a look.

A few good flies.

Time to finish The real attractor in chasing these tailing fish is the visual aspect of it all. Seeing the fish a few metres away from you with half of their backs exposed really is a sight to behold. So when you are planning that next fishing trip set the alarm nice and early, then park yourself on a nice shallow lake edge somewhere. When you see and land that first tailing fish

Sometimes it is just a waiting game. you will have hooked more than you realise, I guarantee it. Now as I sit in the shack finishing this story the howling gale that has been blowing for the last four days is looking like it’s finally dying out. With all the higher water about I think its finally time to

go and chase some of the Great Lake tailers, but that is another story. See you on the water somewhere, bright and early. Gavin Hicks.

With excellent rainfall, reinvigorated fisheries, improved access and a bigger choice of quality fishing spots the incentives to sign up are bigger than ever this season. Renew or buy your angling licence online at www.ifs.tas.gov.au or visit your nearest tackle store or Service Tasmania shop.

www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

0011

How big are tHe incentives to go trout fisHing tHis season?

Fishing News - Page 21

Great Lake

The Bee Hives - in Stealth Mode

Michal Rybka

he Great Lake is one of my favourite places to fish for trout in Tassie. It supports a large population of both rainbow and brown trout and the vast size of the lake means means that I can hunt for these trout with very few interruptions.

Aside from the health and environmental benefits; the biggest advantage in using a kayak as a fishing platform would have to be the fact that you can fish places that boats normally can’t access. You can launch a kayak from practically any accessible shore and you can get in to areas silently and undetected.

Winter fishing at the lake has been good to me this year; however, many of the fish that I have caught have been in poor or ‘slabby’ condition and Approx. 38km to Deloraine have not put up much of a fight. Catching a brown trout that is half asleep and resembles an eel is not my idea of fun. No doubt the availability of food has a lot to do with this.

When fishing, I always read the sounder first. Rather than using it to look for fish, I instead use it to locate the bottom and look for anything that might look ‘fishy’. Weed-beds, drop-offs and sunken timber all support life and they are easy to find once you know how to read your sounder.

e Whitehors

Sh alf or mo e o

Bay

Find these, and you will often find the fish. I do most of my fishing using a Hobie ‘Outback’ kayak, which has been set up for that purpose. Bee Hive Point Protect our Water s This type of kayak is perfectly designed for fishing. STAT E FO R E ST The pedal powered ‘mirage drive’ system means (see map below) Lake Levelsneeding to juggle your rodLOCATION Recreational anglers have a responsib that you can fish without A favourite place of mine to fish at the Great fisheries resources for the benefit of and the paddle.1039m Using your legs for propulsion also Lake is ‘Bee Hive Point’, commonly known amongst future generations. means more power through the(FSL) water. It also means Full Supply Level With the arrival of spring bringing some more anglers as the ‘Bee Hives’.• You only need to look Do not bring live or dead fish, fish k Breona that you can move about with much less effort. LAUNCESTON an favourable weather and many inland water levels B at the photos to see where theaquatic plants into Tasmania. name originates. Dogger 1022m Surprisingly, it can easily be operated in around half GREAT at all time highs – Great Lake being no Little exception LAKEThe large walls of ‘hive’ like Lake rock formations extend • Do not bring used fishing gear or Doctors 17m Below FSL is a paddle attached to a metre of water. While there – now is the time to getPoint fishing. With more Bay food upwards from the water. Theyrecreational equipment that may are almost vertical the side, it usually only comes out during launching available, a lot of the trout previously mentionedGrassy water into Tasmania. Check, clean in some places and the view can sometimes be a Weed Beds HOBART Bay will start putting on some serious girth. With better HYDROand landing. equipment before entering Tasma little overwhelming from a kayak although eith lake LAND • writing Do not transfer any freshwater fi condition comes increased energy, which translates The Hobie also has an excellent rudder system. levels so high at the time of they are now Alanvale CSteering E NT R A L is easy, with the controls at your fingertips. I invertebrates or plants between i into lots of excitement for an angler such as myself! mostly underwater. Bay P L AT E AU HYDRO • Check your boat, trailer, waders a W E ST E R N T I E R S have modified the rudder on my mine, fitting a largerGR ECAT E RVAT ION As most enthusiasts know, these fish will naturallyC O NS O NSE RVAT I O N LAND N AREA and other pests that should not b AREA sailing rudder. This has effectively decreased the become more active Brandum as the water temperatures Cider Park 0 1 2km moving between waters. Bay turning time, adding to the kayaks already excellent Bay increase. The best time of the year to target trout • Do not use willow (which is a pla manoeuvrability. The rudder can also be set to hold is now; soBrandum let me explain how I go about catching PUB L IC as it has the ability to propagate f RESERVE your course – a valuable feature whenSandbanks trawling them. Middle Brandum Bay • Do not drive vehicles over expos lures. To Launceston

The Stealthy Approach

The other non-standard addition, and perhaps the most valuable, is a sounder. With thepumphouse transducer installed totally snag-free inside the hull, and the breakwater display unit on a removable RAM mount bracket, HYDRO I have found it to be very user-friendly. You have LAND the same equipment as you would have in a boat, with the only difference being that the unit runs off a G rechargeable R E AT alarm battery. small,

South Brandum

Kayak fishing is a fast growing sport in Australia. Brownie Bay NTboth R A L young It is suitableC Efor and old. It is generally PL ATE AU inexpensive and there are many benefits. In addition C ON S E RVAT IO N REA to the health Abenefits of engaging is someReynolds exercise, Island you are also doing your bit for the environment. Reynolds Many inland waters in this State also prohibit the use Neck of powered boats, particularly in conservation areas, Helen Island a so a kayak is a great choice.

RA IN BOW P T C ON SE RVATION A RE A

Liawenee HYDRO LAND

Bay

Duck Point Bay

Boundary Bay

LAKES LAND

LAKE

HIGH

Petrol Tourist information Public telephone

One Tree Point Gin Point

Shore ys

PU BLIC RE SE RVE

Beehives Point

Bay Miena Dam

Swan Bay

Tods Corner

HYDRO LAND

PRIVATE PROPERTY

To Bronte

Haddens Bay

CROW N LAND

Miena

Shannon Lagoon

G R EAT LA K E C O NSE RVAT I O N AREA Tods Corner

Becketts

rle

B11

Shoobridge Island

MacLanachans Point Island

HYDRO A kayak is a great way to fish, but take care. LAND

Scenic lookout

HYDRO LAND

DudSea ls Bay Sh o

HYDRO LAND

CROWN LAN D

Telephone Bay

COUNCIL L AND

Approx. 56km to Bothwell

Fishing News - Page 22

Fire management regulations and warn at all times. No fires are permitted on Lake.

Accommodation

Low Lake Level Boat Launching

Beehives Point

www.tasmap.tas.gov.au

Camp ground Toilets

Christmas Bay

Camerons Lagoon

Boat ramp ROAD

PRIVATE PROPERTY

Burneys Island Muddy

Duck Point

HYDRO LAND

Camping and caravanning is only to be camping ground at Miena. Other camp Jonah Bay and Pump House Bay (Arth and Little Pine Lagoons.

Symbols Clarks Point Island

IFS Field Station

• Keep to formed tracks • Do not litter • Respect private land – if in doubt • Shooting is prohibited Great Lake at lower level. • No fires on the lake shore • Do not fell trees

Recreational Use

HYDRO LAND

Elizabeth Bay

Bay

ROAD

L IAWEN E E CO N SERVAT IO N AR E A

Howells Bank (submerged)

Canal

A IN

Rainbow Point

cana

Parks and Wildlife Field Station

Cramps Bay

HYDRO LAND

GR E AT LA K E C O NSE RVAT I O N AREA B51

To Western Lakes

PRIVATE PROPERTY

CROWN LAND

Howells Neck

Howells Neck Island

Beehive Point with

Cramps Bay

C ROW N LAND

Access Rules

www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

Arthurs Lake

The majority of the shore at the ‘Bee Hives’ is made up of several deep drop-offs. These can be as deep as six or more metres, depending on water levels in the lake. I have found Great Lake Paragalaxias that there are several weedbeds located deep and hard up againstReport theseany rock walls.fish There unusual captures or al themany Inlandlarge Fisheries are also rockService. shelves located just under the surface, and within close proximity of Report illegal activities to: the walls. A hazard for boats, Bushwatch 1800 333 000 these are easily reached using a kayak.

Get amongst the trout with the range of boats from

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4.40 Tropic

4.55 Magnum with Yamaha 40HP, Dunbier Trailer B.M.T package $15,990. Finance $81 P/W*

The “Magnum” as the name suggests, offers you a roomy and tough dinghy, with high sides and wide beams being features of this model. This range features varied floor layouts and wide side decks fitted standard to 4.85 and over. A reverse chine hull known as the Sure Trac is available in 4.55, 4.85, 5.35 and 6.0 models. This design gives enhanced hull performance.

3.70 Nomad 3.2 Nomad Boat ONLY $2,450 3.5 Nomad Boat ONLY $2,600 3.7 Nomad Boat ONLY $2,925 4.4 Allrounder 3.7 Nomad, Yamaha 15HP $5,791. Finance $32 P/W* 4.4 Nomad with Suzuki 30HP and Dunbier Trailer 4.4 Allrounder with Suzuki 30HP, Dunbier Trailer $10,790. Finance $61 P/W* Traverse the waterways and have an adventure this weekend B.M.T package $12,990 Finance $73 P/W* in a Sea Jay Nomad. In choosing a “Nomad” you have the benefits of a stable platform at rest with a smooth and dry ride while motoring. Available in six hull sizes with our smaller well suited to car topping.

4.20 Magnum X Pack

4.4Magnum X Pack 4.20 Magnum X Pack with Suzuki 30HP, Dunbier Trailer. B.M.T package $10,990 Finance $62 P/W* 4.4Magnum X Pack with Suzuki 30HP, Dunbier Trailer B.M.T package $11,990 Finance $68 P/W*

Trying to find a Boat to suit many different estuary applications can be tough; however our “Allrounder” models have made this choice easy. A full open floor creates a copious amount of room that carries fishing rods & tackle, crab pots, nets and camping gear with room to spare. An Anchorwell and long side pocket allows for even more storage with a Sounder Mount Plate also fitted for extra convenience. Topped off with wide side decks for strength (and a place to fit rod holders), many Seat Pedestal positions and a rear step & rail for ease of entry, the Allrounder is more than capable to suit your fishing needs.

4.4 Discovery Sports 4.4 Discovery Sports with Yamaha 40HP, Dunbier Trailer B.M.T package $21,990. Finance $110 P/W*

The Discovery Sports has a Side Console fitted which gives you Are you after a basic dinghy layout with just a touch more a model slightly varied from the Discovery, together with a few style that sets you apart from the rest? How about structurally additional features that will impress the “Sports Fisherman. stronger to give you that extra peace of mind? Perhaps *The weekly repayments shown are based on a consumer loan a couple of extra features that makes boating that much for 5 years at an interest rate of 8.99% pa for Yamaha powered BMT and 11.99 % pa for Suzuki powered BMT . Finance to easier? If so, then look no further. Low Bow Rails, large Rear approved customers. Fees and charges apply. Comparison rate Step and Rail, Wide Side Decks, Switch Panel and Navigation is 12.52 % pa and is based on a secured consumer loan of $30,000 for 5 years. Further conditions apply. Light Plates (ready for an accessory pre rig) and Transducer Bracket are all standard features on this already impressive Dinghy

4.55 Tropic 4.40 Tropic with Yamaha 40HP, Dunbier Trailer, B.M.T package $18,990. Finance $96 P/W* 4.55 Tropic with Yamaha 60HP, Dunbier trailer, B.M.T package $24,990. Finance $124 P/W* The Tropic may be standard as a centre or side console, whichever meets your preference. The console is fitted to the rear to give room for those heavy eskies or your camping gear. Other features of this model are very practical for the angler. This model features a reverse chine and is standard as unpainted however may be painted as an option

4.2 Territory 4.2 Territory with Suzuki 30HP, Dunbier Trailer. B.M.T package $12,990. Finance $73 P/W* If quietly flicking lures in and around snags or fly fishing is more your kind of fun, then the Territory is for you. The Territory features a full front cast platform with two hatches and a tank rack to neatly stow away your fuel tank. A minn kota plate and battery rack are also standard, ready for when you want to take your fishing to the next level

4.55 Escape Sports 4.55 Escape Sports with Yamaha 40HP, Dunbier Trailer, B.M.T package $24,990. Finance $124 P/W*

When looking at the already feature packed Escape range of Boats, one could be forgiven in thinking that nothing else could be done to improve on it. Not resting on our laurels, we added a Side Console, thus creating the Escape Sports. Having a Side Console creates many benefits such as room to house your Sounder, GPS and Radio, protection from the elements whilst traveling and easier control of the Boat (as novice boaties find tiller steer more difficult to master). Perhaps the greatest benefit is the power rating on all the Sports models have been increased by 10hp, truly making them the “Sports” models of the Escape range.

For the full range of Sea Jay boats visit www.seajayboats.com.au View these boats and more at Cnr Fairlands Dr & Bass Hwy, Somerset Burnie TAS, 7320 Phone: 6435 2200 E:anthony@coastal-marine.com.au W:www.coastal-marine.com.au

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Fishing News - Page 23

Hobie fitted out with all mod cons including a fish finder.

A nice brownie taken in very cold conditions. is either a ‘paddle tail’ or ‘grub’ style. These types of plastics feature an inbuilt tail-action and require little to no user input; unlike other types, like stick or flick baits, which require user input to create action. Soft plastic grubs and t-tails are a perfect option for fishing the Bee Hives due to their enticing action.

To get there, I launch my Hobie at the Swan Bay boat ramp. The boat ramp means no twisted ankles carrying a kayak over the rocky shoreline of the lake. From there, it’s an easy 10 minute pedal across the bay to the opposite shore. The easy part depends on conditions of course. Once you have reached the opposite shore, follow it out of the Bay and you will find the Bee Hives – they are easy to recognise!

I start off by flicking these soft plastics directly at the face of the rock wall. I then let the plastic sink down the face of the wall. If you are using the soft plastic style that I have recommended, you will get some excellent action during the drop. There are weed beds at the bottom and trout will often lay there in wait.

Yak Fishing Tactics In my opinion, there is only one way to fish the ‘Bee Hives’ from a kayak, and that is hard up against them. Target the weed-beds, drop-offs and submerged rock shelves that I have described. Being in a kayak, you will be able to get right up close without the worry of smacking your boat into the jagged rock face.

There are many soft plastics that will get you good results. This fish was taken on a Strike Tiger grub, but don’t limit yourself - hard boby and metal blades will work as well. Shimano TLD 50 Beastmaster Combo

$499

It is important, during the drop, to keep in touch with your lure. If you have too much slack in your line, you may miss any takes. There is a fine line between just enough slack and too much tension. It takes practice, but watching the line for any sudden movement will help you to identify any takes. I have often caught trout like this without even feeling the strike through the line or rod.

Anyone that knows me will know that I am a selfconfessed soft plastic addict. With the vast array of brands available on tackle store shelves today, there is certainly a lot to choose from. The best type of plastic I have found to fish in these circumstances

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Fishing News - Page 24

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If you are not getting any takes, try a few short, but subtle twitches of your rod tip. This will give the plastic more action as it makes its way down the wall. The key is to be very gentle in your execution. Avoid sudden, hard or jerky movements that can scare away your target. Just a short, subdued, flick of your rod tip every few seconds can do wonders when things are quiet. Another tactic at the ‘Bee Hives’ is to target the shallow submerged rock ledges. If you wear a good pair of polaroid sunglasses, you will find them easily. Approach slowly while still keeping some distance between you and the ledges. Cast your plastic directly onto the rock, as if you were throwing food on a plate for the trout. Let it sink briefly and proceed with a few short and gentle twitches of your rod tip. You are aiming to make the plastic ‘hop’ slowly along the surface of the rock. I have pulled many fish from these ledges using such a method. Many of them have been in only a metre or so of water. Most importantly, the key to any of these tactics is the visibility of your fishing line. You must remember that the trout that lay in wait in those weed beds have a lot of time to assess your offering. Using a good-quality low-visibility line is the first step in ensuring that the trout are not spooked. I use 4lb Berkley Crystal Fireline - the breaking strength of this stuff is incredible and usually almost double to the rating on the packet. It is still visible enough on the surface to detect any strikes, while remaining fairly neutral under the surface.

Kayak Safety With a kayak being even more vulnerable in rough weather conditions, it is important not to forget safety. Before going to the Great Lake, I always check the weather several times. If you are deciding whether to go, remember that conditions are invariably worse up the top! Invest in a good quality PFD and dress appropriately. Take gloves, warm clothes and always pack your wet-weathers. The water temperature at the Great Lake can get down to single figures, so if you do happen to fall in, your body temperature will drop very rapidly. Take a mate with you, or if you are going by yourself, fish close to the shoreline. Always take a change of clothes tucked away in a dry bag and have some food stored on-board, along with a thermos containing a hot drink. It’s a good idea to take a mobile phone in a waterproof pouch, but reception out there can be unreliable. I always pack a couple of marine flares for good measure. With the Great Lake Hotel and several shacks close by, the chances of someone seeing a flare are better than your chances of finding reception. Finally - don’t take any unnecessary risks.

Berkley T Tail, Strike Tiger Grub, Strike Tiger Nymph, Berkley Bulky Hawg.

Michal Rybka

Self S erv Guide icing to the Storm rider r an on ou r web ge Save $ site. $$

If you are one who prefers to use brightly coloured braid as a main line, then make sure you use at least a rod length of good quality fluorocarbon leader. Tie your leader on using a strong leader knot connection – the ‘slim beauty’ is a personal favourite of mine. Just google ‘slim beauty knot’ or go to www. netknots.com and it even has animated instructions.

Soft Plastic Lure Selection

STORM RIDER

There are hundreds of different soft plastics brands including the American ‘Berkley’ and the Tasmanian ‘Strike Tiger’ which offer good options for plastics that have a built-in tail action - great for this style of fishing. The 2.5 inch Berkley ‘black n gold’ T-tail and the 3 inch Strike Tiger ‘black n gold’ curl tail grub, are both good. Drop one of these down the wall of the ‘hives’ and see what happens!

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I normally rig either of these plastics on a bullet style jighead. I have found that a 1/12 weight with a 1/0 hook size is a good all-rounder. Of course you could go lighter to a 1/16 weight (which I sometimes do when conditions are calm). Also, the lighter you go, the more time the lure has on the drop. Besides paddle tail and grub type plastics, you can also try an insect type presentation, particularly as the weather begins to warm up. A good alternative lure, is a Berkley ‘bulky hawg’ plastic. If you want to go even smaller in your presentation, then try a one inch Strike Tiger soft plastic ‘nymph’. Both of these lures can be fished light and very slowly, in much the same way that I have described with the paddle tails and grubs. I have concentrated on soft plastics in my selection because I can personally vouch for the results. However, I am sure that good results could also be achieved by using sinking hard-body style lures and blades. Experimenting with the lures that you are comfortable fishing with is the best way to find out what works at the ‘Bee Hives’.

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Fishing News - Page 25

Tasmania’s most popular lures Berkley - black/gold TTail

e recently conducted an online survey from our website www.tasfish.com asking about preferences of lures in fresh water. The results are below. This is not anything scientific and does not take into account tackle store sales, but rather just reflects answers from our questions - and these were only to people who subscribe to . We also asked a few other questions about flies, boat ownership, popular fishing methods and more. We won’t look at anything more than method and popular lures in this issue though.

Survey questions. My most popular fishing method is - Bait, lure or fly? Favourite lure. Brand and colour (or number). Lure fishing method: Troll or spin? Do you fish mostly: Lake or river?

Most popular fishing method is. Lure: 54% Fly: 30% Bait: 16%

Lure fishers: Spin: 67% Troll: 33%

Preferred fishery: Lake: 59% River: 41% Fishing News - Page 26

Where Tasmanians once fished with just a few lures it is no longer the case. The range and diversity used by anglers now is really extensive, and whilst a few traditional lures still popped up such as Ashley spinners (#14 in particular), Celtas and Wonder Wobblers the style of lures that came out on top was very similar in nymbers between cobra style lures and soft plastics. Trollers are the main users of cobra style lures and non-trollers, spinners or more correctly lure casters are mostly using soft plastics and hard body lures. Some troll soft plastics of course and they are good catchers of fish and of course plenty of anglers troll hard body lures. Lure fishers these days are generally much more sophisticated anglers and go to great lengths to find the ‘magic bullet’.

Squidgy - Gary Glitter 60 mm Fish

Yep - black/gold Flapper

Ashley - #14 spinner

Tassie Devil - red nose Brown Bomber

Cobras In cobras there were many different colours - and three different manufacturers (Wigston, Lofty and Tillins), but the colour that seemed to be in front was mainly green with gold, black or brown.

Tassie Devil - Frog

As far as manufacturer goes the most nominated cobra was a Tassie Devil by Wigston Lures and they got three times as many votes as the other cobra style lure makers. Cobras have been the mainstay for trout trollers for many years and as well as being

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Rapala F7 - brown trout

6.99%

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Fishing News - Page 27

very productive they are inexpensive. Regular retail prices are around $5.50, but you will find plenty under $5. Cobra manufacturers have hundreds of colours between them and they all seem to have 50 or 60 different colours each. Occasionally a colour become redundant, but then a new one comes along. Despite no animal I know of that trout predate on being bright pink it is the biggest selling colour overall. But that being said, as mentioned earlier the traditional green/gold/brown/red combination is the what you’d have in your tackle box.

Plastics Soft plastics were huge in this survey and without doubt the Black and Gold T Tail by Berkley was number one in plastics, next was Squidgy 60mm Fish in Garry Glitter colour and then Berkley’s Pumpkinseed Minnow and Grub. Other plastics which were significant were the local Tasmanian Yeps in colours Red Rascal and Black Gold Flappers. Plastics are pretty good value as well with packets ranging from about $9 to $12 and numbers in the packets ranging from 6 plastics to 12 - depending on the size of the lure. Heads to go with these are $7 to $8 and numbers in the packet depend on size and weight of the head, but 5 to 6 heads seems about the average.

Hard body (bibbed) lures The most popular bibbed lures by far were Rapala and these scored the most individual votes for a manufacturer. Sizes were mostly 5 and 7 cm and both Brown Trout and Rainbow trout the favourite colours. Count Downs (CD) and Floaters (F) were both on a par and whilst the Husky Jerk and X-Rap is popular the new Flat Raps were starting to appear as favourites. It is interesting to note that Rapala are just redoing the popular Spotted Dog in CD5 and F7 in

Hard Body lures are still very effective, but they do have stiff competition from soft plastics. an exclusive run for Australia. I believe the one off run of these sold out to tackle stores as soon as they were announced. If you are after a few it would be wise to get around your favourite tackle stores now and try and secure a few. There are a lot of really trendy hard body lures these days as well and they seem to be as much a fashion item as they are a fishing lure. Lures such as Marias, Nories, Jackalls, Megabass and Daiwa all make superb lures but anglers get very fickle when it comes to these top end lures. Marias, like Rapala are priced well under $20, but some of the other go

well over $35 and some up to nearly $50. I don’t know about you, but $40 for a trout/bream lure is well up there. But I suppose if you can buy the best of something and it is only $40 perhaps it is okay and I do love the fact that there are anglers that only want the best. So, if you had to have one of each - soft plastic, cobra and hard body lures it would probably be a Berkley T/Tail in Black/Gold, Tassie Devil #48 and Rapala Spotted Dog F7. Mike Stevens

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Fishing News - Page 28

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Kayak build Peter Dutton

Timber and technology combine

wenty odd years ago whilst the International Rowing Course was being built at Lake Barrington I watched a man come down to the lake with his fibre glass sit in kayak and set up and paddle out across to the western side of the lake and start fishing. I can’t honestly remember if he was spinning or fly fishing but he did catch fish. I can remember looking up from the job I was doing and keeping an eye out on how he did and can remember watching trout jump and splash around his kayak. I never managed to talk to this man but said then that that was a magic thing and that I would like to do that one day. In the last few years I have managed to do just that. After using a Perception Flow for some early trips I realised that this style of kayak might be affordable and fun in the surf or going down rivers like the lower stretch of the Mersey River from Kimberly down, but it’s not the best to do the greater distances required when fishing lakes and even inshore work in Bass Strait and its estuaries. I started to look at what was available by reading several on-line forums and articles in fishing magazines. I then came up with a wish list of desirable features that I would like:

site that was set up by a designer of stitch andgGlue Kayaks. Jem Watercraft. http://www.jemwatercraft. com has a great site and yet another forum where builders of his boats can post information on how they went about building one of his designs. After reading about several different designs I decided to build two of his Wadefish kayaks.

building my fishing craft. First it was a matter of lofting out the plans from the paper sheets to the 8 x 4 sheets of ply. This took a fair bit of measuring and re measuring to basically get a series of points on the sheet of ply and then drawing a line between them. Once this was done you then cut the pieces out.

The Wadefish filled all the criteria bar the last one, foot powered propulsion. Knowing what the internet is like I searched further and from another site where a man in the USA had designed a drive well for a Hobie Mirage Drive to fit a similar stitch and glue kayak. So that was it I now had all the plans to make up what I hope will be a suitable kayak to fish from. I did some pricing of the materials required to build a kayak and worked out that I could build two craft for the price of one of the top of the line Hobie craft including their Mirage Drive.

Due to the length of the kayak there are two pieces per panel that must be butt joined. These pieces are then glued together with epoxy and a wood flour mix. First each piece is glued to its mate in the very middle length ways.

All the parts were acquired locally from Supply and the Boat Shack in Devonport and Tamar Marine in Launcestone. It was now just a small matter of

Then starting in the centre you simply join the port and starboard sides together with stiches of copper wire or zip ties through some small holes you have drilled along the length. You continue this proces with each panel until you reach the gunnel and you now have a boat shaped object not flat sheets of ply any more. Then is a process of gluing the peices together with small sections of the same epoxy and wood flour glue until the whole kayak is glued

• A ‘sit on’ kayak • A stable platform with some length for speed and easy tracking. • Light enough to lift onto my car. • Rudder for extra manoeuvrability. • Plenty of rod holders. • Possibly some form of foot powered propulsion, (you can’t paddle with a rod in your hand). I ended up like a lot of people and was thinking the only way to get something that fitted the bill would be one of the Hobie range of kayaks with a Mirage Drive. The other thing on the list was I need two, one for me and one for my 16 year old daughter. The price of the Hobies was making this a dear proposition. Being an internet junkie I went searching for other options. I ended up finding a web

Marking out is slow, but it is vital to get it correct. Then it is a simple matter of cutting out the strips.

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Fishing News - Page 29

together except for a small gap where each stitch is. Once the glue has set you can then cut out all the stiches and fill the gap up with glue. Then you can flip it over and glue the panels up from the inside to ensure good strong joint. Now it’s a matter of sheathing the whole hull with fibre glass and epoxy to give the hull strength. Now you have a hull it’s time to start on the top decks, seat box and wet well. This process was a lot slower on my build as I was also working out how to fit the drive well into this kayak. The second kayak was heaps easier to build as I had already worked it out. All these parts were fabricated in the same way and fitted into the hull and fibre glassed in. The whole kayak then gets a couple more coats of epoxy to fill up all the voids in the weave of the fibre glass. Then comes the scary part as you cut nice big holes in your freshly finished kayak to fit access hatches and rod holders etc. I ended up with a large timber hatch in the bow section of the kayak that holds the Mirage Drive with comfort if I need to pull the drive out whilst out on a river if it gets too shallow. A 200mm PVC one in the stern that I have never used yet, a 100mm PVC one behind the seat with a water resistant bag in it for keys and mobile phone etc. Then a 150mm one in front of the seat for drink bottles, lunch etc. I have also fitted 6 rod holders, 4 behind the seat for storage of rods and nets etc. Then 2 up forward to hold the rods whilst trolling. When researching what I needed from a kayak I also read a lot about people being turned over in the surf coming back in from a day’s fishing and snapping off their rods as they hit the bottom. So I also managed to fit a rod tubes up either side of the kayak which allows me to slide a rod in each side out of the way and protect them if I use the kayak from a beach. These tubes have also been a magic for transporting the rods whilst travelling to the fishing spot in the car as they are tucked away nice safe out of sight and already in the kayak when you get to the desired destination.

Once the whole kayak is fitted out it’s a couple of coats of marine grade varnish to UV protect the epoxy and then take it fishing. I will admit to using both the kayaks I built before they were both completely finished. Also they still need a little work, like a better seat as the seating position when pedaling is different to when you are paddling but I think I have seen another page on the internet showing me a way out of that problem as well. It took my spare time about three months to build two kayaks and some of that time was when I was on holidays. Building a kayak isn’t a short term project but a very interesting one and one I would do again and I am trying to talk my wife into letting me build one for her but so far she is happy using the Perception Flows that we have. Now for fishing. I have to date had three serious attempts fishing from my kayak. The first was in the mouth of the Mersey River after Australian salmon and flathead. The day went reasonably well and I came home with a feed for the family. Whilst I was fishing one of the Spirit of Tasmanias left port on their summer double run and she puts up a very large wake when you are sitting at water level but the Wadefish punched its bow through the wave without any problems. The second trip was in the lower region of the Rubicon where I had caught the big blue spotted flathead before but didn’t have any luck at all. The next trip I managed was to the place that started it all, Lake Barrington. I get a rostered day off work once a month and put a message up on a local kayaking forum that I was looking for someone to go with and managed a

Top: Hull is stitched together and pulled into shape with copper wire or plastic zip ties. A small gap is maintained between the sheets by inserting small strips of wood. These joints are then epoxy filled and when set the ‘stitches’ can be removed. Above: Tape is applied to the inside to contain the epoxy that is applied from the outside. This is then rmoved and work can start sheathing the whole kayak in fibreglass. Once this is done fitout can start. Left: Completing the fitout. The compartment for the ‘Mirage Drive’ can be seen as can the handy rod compartment tubes. couple of takers. The day was cool but calm and we set off from the rowing course and headed up river to the camping ground and beyond. Whilst up in the top reaches of the lake I managed our only hook up for the day and managed to catch Fishing News - Page 30

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a 800mm long Atlantic Salmon on a Lady Bug Tassie Devil. So after 20 odd years I was back to what I wanted to do and all I need to do now is more of it. Peter Dutton

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Fishing News - Page 31

Jan’s Flies Jan Spencer

ecently I demonstrated some fly-tying at a very well attended Fly Fishing Skills Seminar and never has it been more evident that to become really good at anything takes persistence, hard work and practice, practice and more practice. One has to eat, sleep and breathe the desired objective whether it is fishing, fly-tying or lawn bowls. At the seminar, I was asked to tie with CDC. Having written about this fly-tying material previously, it only seems of late that this fly-tying material has taken on. To explain CDC, ‘cul de canard’, is a feather from waterbirds, mostly ducks. CDC feathers are located around the oil preen gland which is near the backside

of the bird. CDC feathers are not impregnated with oil, they have an oil coating which comes and is distributed by the bird in their preening. Beside the oil on this feather, the large number of barbules increases the floating ability. The shape of the barbules trap air which certainly makes the floating action of a fly very good. These feathers vary in length and shape so depending on what the fly may be as to what part of the feather may be chosen. For example, there is a small CDC feather known as a puff so if tying a caddis I would gather four feathers and stack them on top of one another, gather them in and over the desired body for the wing. It is very simple and effective. Longer barbules

can be used for tails as there is plenty of wriggle there. Some tiers use CDC feathers gathered together to form a post for parachute flies. Not so long ago, Ross Pullin at Essential Fly Fisher in Launceston introduced me to some “Henry’s Fork Hackle”. This CDC makes a really good substitute for normal hackle. In this column there are some great shots of three really good flies tied with CDC puffs for wings, CDC hackle and CDC barbules for tails. Give this material a try. You will be surprised with its abilities.

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Fly Leaders Daniel Hackett

River leaders simplified

eaders are the important connection between the flyline and the fly, but are often overlooked in terms of how they affect the presentation and movement of the fly, and overall fishing success. So here are a few tips for getting the most out of your leader, and the rest of your fly fishing equipment as a result.

Leader types Leaders are the section of monofilament or fluorocarbon line that attach to your flyline on one end, and the fly on the other. Their lengths vary to suit the purpose, from about 6 foot to 12 foot (leaders are usually measured in units of feet and inches), and the common breaking strains for trout range from 4lbs to 8lb. The most common leaders, and by far the best, are knotless tapered leaders that start out thick at the butt end, and end up thin at the tip end. As an example, a 6lb tapered leader from Orvis starts out at .61mm thick at the butt end, and 0.18mm thick at the tip end. The reasoning for this is exactly the same as that behind flyline tapers: both are tapered to help the energy travel down the line, helping to unroll the leader and fly, neatly and powerfully. There are other variations on leaders. The first are still tapered leaders, with the difference that they are ‘knotted’ and made from a series of differing diameter lines. These are usually custom or hometied leaders, and often present the fly beautifully. The pit-fall are the knots that join the sections, which can catch the rest of the leader on bad casts, and create more drag on long drifts. These tangles can be a nightmare, and make it harder to learn and fish. The second variation on leader set-ups is a ‘level’ leader: a leader created from a single piece of nontapered monofilament. These provide no casting benefit to the angler, are horrible in the wind, and defeat the purpose of having a nicely tapered flyline. They are useable, but they just serve to handicap the set-up. They have their place – on lakes, fishing down-wind - especially from a boat, or when fishing wets, but I’d limit it to that.

Slow and Still: Slow and still pools require longer and finer tapers. Photo by Greg French. tippet is important as overall presentation can be manipulated by lengthening or shortening the tippet. As an example, a tippet that lands too hard for a tiny dry fly can be manipulated to deliver a softer landing by simply extending the tippet by two or more feet. Finally, the breaking strain is important. When tapered leaders are made, they are extruded into length and taper. Whilst the tolerances are quite accurate, the result is not exact and I find that the very end of the leader can be less than the stated breaking strain. To ensure that things go to plan, I usually discard the last 6 inches of each new leader. To this I like to add about 1 foot of my preferred tippet – either 5.5lb in Rio or Orvis, or 4lb Maxima Ultragreen, which is much thicker for its breaking strain. Fluorocarbon is another alternative leader and tippet material, and has useful properties that include a higher density which results in a faster sink rate, and lower stretch for better take detection.

There is an adverse property to fluorocarbon though: discarded fluorocarbon lasts more than one hundred times longer as compared with monofilament, before it breaks down. With the environment in mind, I avoid fluorocarbon.

Different leaders for different jobs The leader is a part of the fly fishing set-up that you change to suit the conditions. As an example, my leader for Brumbys Creek and long drifts with small dry flies is totally different to my ‘hopper fishing leader. On Brumbys I like a long and supple leader, which presents the fly gently, and with enough slack to allow for nice long drifts, without drag. My favourite are the 9 foot Maxima tapered leaders (6lb / 4X), with the Chameleon butt-end for stiffness, and ultragreen tip-end for suppleness. I like to trim 6 inches off the tip of the new leader, and add 2 feet of straight 4lb maxima. By adding 2 feet or so of straight 4lb tippet, the taper is leveled out to provide for a gentle presentation.

Parts of the leader Each fly fishing leader has a few key components: The butt-end, the taper, the tippet and the breaking strain. The butt-end is the thickest part of the leader, and connects to the flyline with a loop-to-loop connection or nail-knot. This part of the leader determines how much force the butt of the leader will turnover with. A thick butt will turn over big flies, or into big winds, whilst a thin butt will turn over flies with more of a gentle presentation. The taper itself is important, as it helps to determine the overall presentation. A fast taper from thick to thin will turnover the fly quickly and forcefully, whilst a longer or slower taper (such as those found on 12 foot leaders as opposed to 9 foot leaders) will turn over the fly with more precision and delicacy. The tip end of the leader (known as the tippet) dictates the breaking strain, and can be added to with tippet material. Apart from breaking strain, the

Fastwater: Riffles and faster sections of rivers can be fished with standard leaders, but greasing the butt-end can help with longer drifts and easier pick-ups.

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Fishing News - Page 33

For joining tippets to leaders, a threeturn surgeon’s knot is the easiest and most reliable method. Blood knot to blood knot is popular, but is hard to do, especially with cold hands. If you have trouble with either of these knots, feel free to drop by our flyshop and I can help you out.

Tools for the job I like to have a few tools with me to help manage my leader and fly changes. The first are nippers. They’re simple things, they save ruining teeth when cutting leaders, and they make it easier to clear the eye of the fly, should it need it. Choose a clipper with a stainless steel or tungsten-carbide nipper edge, and the addition of a needle for clearing clogged hook eyes is a great idea. Dr Slick make a good nipper with a file and hook-eye pin, or combination forceps / scissors / pin.

Hopper: Thick and fast-tapering leaders are best for fishing big hoppers into the wind. For ‘hopper fishing by contrast, I like a heavier leader such as an Orvis Super Strong, this time in 8.5lb / 3X. By choosing a heavier breaking strain, I’m getting a thicker butt-end on the tapered leader. This enables the leader to easily turn over big size 8 dry flies with a pronounced splat on landing, which is the perfect hopper presentation. If the fish are proving a bit shy, once again we can lengthen the leader with a small section of tippet–perhaps a bit of 5lb Maxima this time.

Leader and tippet knots There are only two knots you need to know when starting out. The first is a nail-knot, easily performed with an Terry Sutton style Innovator or Orvis nail knot tool. This knot joins the butt-end of the leader to the flyline, and is my preferred way to connect a leader. The alternative is to join the two with a loopto-loop connection, as most modern flylines come with welded loops built-in.

When fishing I like to make sure that the butt-end of my leader is greased with floatant, so it floats nice and high to avoid pulling the fly under, and helps with line pick-ups. There’s plenty of products to achieve this. Conversely, many anglers like to sink their tippet to help avoid shine off the line, and Snake River Mud from Loon is the best I’ve used for this. So there you have it, a run down on leaders for river fishing. Leaders are important, and learning to manipulate your set-up to suit your fishing can make things easier, and help to catch more trout. Daniel Hackett

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World Fly Fishing Championships

and roll or when they are ‘skull dragged’ towards the angler across the surface, this includes towards being netted. The second is when fish get downstream and place vastly increased pressure on the leader and hook from the weight of water now on them; however we’ll cover this latter issue in a second.

Italy 2011

he World Fly Fishing Championships have been run and won again, the venue this year was in the Northern area of Italy at the foot of the Dolomite ranges. The Australian team competed hard but were only able to manage 13th place, this year slipping out of the top 10 teams in world rankings. Personal highlights for me were catching my first ‘marble trout’ a sub species of brown trout which is quite silver in colour with a marbled pattern but no typical brown trout spots. Also catching beautifully marked small wild brown trout, brook trout and working on techniques to catch fish out of apparently unproductive water such as shin deep featureless streams and fast steep gradient heavy runs.

Lessons learned that all can use As usual lessons were learnt not only in techniques but also in the value of capitalising on opportunities, in particular the importance of not losing fish which can score valuable points and elevate both the individual and team up the leader board to the top of the rankings. I’d like to share some of the things I learned. Playing fish to minimise losing them is a real skill, it has different skill sets for lakes and rivers due to their different characteristics but with common elements that are applicable to both. Rivers are challenging and present circumstances that put the risk of loss firmly in favour of the fish if they are not played properly.

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Hooking fish – The importance of contact and a good hook set cannot be over stated. A direct strike with good contact will drive a hook home well and ensure deep penetration of the hook. This does not mean a hard strike; in fact striking hard with the whole arm is slow and problematic. Fishing short range to fish with good contact and a direct ‘wrist’ strike from a high rod position is the most effective Minimum 9 colour photos way to get a good hook set.

Fishing at close range – Approaching and positioning yourself at close range to fish has several advantages. After striking having a line from the rod tip to the fish Unlimited changes more to the vertical than diagonal angle keeps the leader and fly line clear of the water, this reduces drag and subsequent additional pressure on the leader and fly due to the movement of the water flowing Reach over 275,000 downstream. This angle also provides potential buyers* control over the direction the fish wants to go and allows the rod to play it’s part as a buffer to pressure more effectively, the lower the rod the less it can bend and compensate for pressure on the hook and leader. Having a high rod allows bend as pressure comes onto the leader but also gives the angler time to lower the rod momentarily where absorb *Nielsennecessary Online Site Census to - August 2011 and control a run from the fish. Immediately the run is brought under control the rod should be raised again to the high position ready to absorb any subsequent runs.

The hook can be set even on the smallest of trout without pulling them to the surface or out of the water when done correctly. The direct contact wrist strike will set a hook quickly and efficiently, the travel of the rod tip in this strike is minimised and the leverage on the fish at the strike is therefore controlled. When an arm strike occurs generally from a horizontal position the arc of the travel of the rod is huge, the hook set to the trout is slow and the continuing lift of the rod once the hook is set is exaggerated and results in pulling the fish to the surface. Here’s a quick exercise, take a rod and hold it out between a 30 and 45 degree upward angle from your body, now strike with your wrist only, see that there is a quick reaction from the rod and secondly that the distance the rod tip travels is controlled. Now take the rod to a normal holding position somewhere near horizontal and strike by

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Keep the fish in the water – This is a skill that takes practice, although there needs to be a firm hook set when a trout takes the fly the hook needs to be set in a way to avoid the fish breaching the surface. From my experience the majority of fish are lost in two circumstances, first when they breach the surface, either when struck hard on the take and pulled through the surface, when they come clear of the water

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Fishing News - Page 35

List of features

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te 1

1 e t Voote 1 V Janet Janet

LAMBERT LAMBERT

For Councillor Northern Midlands Council

for Councillor, Northern Midlands Council for Councillor, Northern Midlands Council

Contact Janet today: 0418 555 643 • jtlambert@bigpond.com Printed and Authorised by 2 Devon Hills Road, Devon Hills TAS 7300

Contact Janet: 0418 555 643 • jtlambert@bigpond.com

Janet supports... Better services Better roads Saving our schools & Saving our towns!

Hello, my name is Janet Lambert and I am asking for your No1 vote to Northern Midlands Council. Hello, my name is Janet Lambert and I am asking for your No1 vote to My husband Todd and I are happily raising our three children here and I Northern Midlands Council. want to do all I can to secure our community’s long-term future. My husband Todd and I are happily raising our three children here and I My passion ensuring prospers. want to do all is I can to secureour our region community’s long-term future. If elected to serve you on Northern Midlands Council I will work hard to My passion is ensuring our region prospers. achieve: If elected to serve you on Northern Midlands Council I will work hard to achieve: BETTER infrastructure via the $7.7 million capital works program; COMPLETION of the bikeways & trails study; BETTER infrastructure via the $7.7 million capital works program; COMMON-SENSE town planning that cuts red tape and delays; COMPLETION of the bikeways & trails study; VICTORY for schools in their campaign to stay open; COMMON-SENSE town planning that red heritage tape andtowns, delays; TOURISM growth by encouraging stopscuts in our VICTORY for schools in their campaign to stay open; not drive-throughs; TOURISM by encouraging stops in our heritage towns, MORE ruralgrowth and remote day care services; not drive-throughs; SOLUTIONS to traffic issues at the entrance to Devon Hills; and, MORE rural and remote day care services; ESTABLISHMENT of a community disaster relief trust fund. SOLUTIONS to traffic issues at the entrance to Devon Hills; and, ESTABLISHMENT of a community disaster relief trust fund. I am really passionate about our region and if elected I will always listen and work hard—and I promise not to disappear after the election! I am really passionate about our region and if elected I will always listen If you’d like someoneIon councilnot who’ll work tirelessly and be accessible, and work hard—and promise to disappear after the election! Vote 1 Janet Lambert. If you’d like someone on council who’ll work tirelessly and be accessible, Yours Vote 1 sincerely Janet Lambert.

Janneett Ja

Yours sincerely PS: Please take the time to vote—it’s important that your voice is heard! PS: Please take the time to vote—it’s important that your voice is heard! Janet is an active member of the Northern Midlands community and has served as a member and volunteer with: Janet is an and active member of the Northern Midlands Perth Devon Hills district/residents committees; community and has served as a member and volunteer with: Neighbourhood Watch; Perth and Devon Hills district/residents committees; the Longford Revival Festival; Neighbourhood Watch; the newly formed Australian Fly Fishing Museum the Longfordand, Revival Festival; committee; the formed Australian Fishing Museum the newly Longford Fishing Club andFly Tasmanian Trout Expo. committee; and,

Authorised by Janet Lambert

the Longford Fishing Club and Tasmanian Trout Expo. 2 Devon Hills Road, Devon Hills TAS 7300 Fishing News - Page 36

lifting the arm through a near 90 degree arc. This strike is slower and the arc of travel for the rod tip is greatly increased with a subsequent loss of efficiency. Now to the second point - Avoiding Downstream Pressure – Allowing the fish to go or stay downstream of you is probably the greatest of the sins which leads to lost fish in a river. When a trout is hooked in an upstream position the water pressure on the trout works in favour of the angler. The trout is expanding energy not only against the angler but also working upstream against the current and the pressure applied through the leader to the fish. Once a fish goes downstream or is hooked downstream of you the tables are turned in favour of the fish. The weight of water on the fish downstream multiplies the amount of weight being placed on the leader and hook, this results in greater pressure on the hook in the mouth of the trout and if not controlled often results in the hook pulling free. The further downstream a fish gets the higher the proportional amount of weight is placed on the hook in order to pull free. There isn’t an angler out there who hasn’t hooked a good trout in a river only to have it take off downstream tearing line off the reel only to lead to the inevitable ‘pop’ of the fly as the trout continues its long racing run to freedom. The answer to this problem is relatively simple, as soon as the trout heads towards a downstream angle get below it yourself. If it gets below you chase it and stay as close as possible until you can get below it and regain control. If you are near to the fish also lead the fish out of the main current into side seams or the eddy created by your own legs in the current where there is decreased pressure on the fish, of course keep your legs together when doing this as it is embarrassing when a nice trout makes a dash to freedom between your legs. If the fish goes into a pocket behind a rock and is not likely to get snagged allow the fish to stay there while you work your way below it. Attempt to keep the fish in the slower water until you can get below it and regain the initiative, a word of warning though, slippery rocks and unsure footings on rivers can make this a dangerous exercise, be careful and remember not many fish are worth a broken ankle! Lakes: The same principles apply to trout on lakes however there are differing opinions between many anglers as to how to play trout on a lake. Most anglers will agree that trout are lost when coming through the surface or come free of the water at range before a good line angle can control the trout via the rod. Once again gently pressure the trout to gain and keep control. Sometimes in deep water you can place the rod down into the water to prevent the trout breaching the surface, however there are risks in doing this. You have less control on the position of the fish in the water on a vertical plane the trout can still go deeper or to the surface easier with a horizontal line than it can with a vertical one. I personally only prefer to play small fish on a horizontal line with the rod tip in the water. When actually playing the trout keep gentle pressure on the fish, enough to keep control but not enough to have to really force the fish around, unless it is absolutely necessary to avoid obvious snags etc. Lead the fish with sideways pressure away from obvious problems like weed beds, rocks, snags etc, but do it early to avoid problems arising. When a trout takes the fly and the hook is set immediately take the rod to a high position to get the line free of the water. This naturally occurs with a floating line and leader, however sinking lines create issues as a trout will come through the surface after being hooked and the weight of the line still in the water will cause the trout to ‘flip’ over, this regularly pulls a hook free and you should avoid letting this happen more than once when the trout is first hooked. Careful attention to playing fish is very important, we all drop fish but the losses can be minimised significantly when attention is payed to these rules. It may not be too important on a recreational basis when playing run of the mill fish, however every now and then when a big beefy trout comes along, the practice will pay off and he will be brought to the net. Joe Riley

• Janet inspects flood damage to the William Street Reserve in Perth. • Janet inspects flood damage to the

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Fishing News - Page 37

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5/10/11 10:39 AM

Little Swanport Craig Vertigan

ittle Swanport is about one hour from Hobart and a little less than half way between Triabunna and Swansea. It is probably my number one saltwater kayak fishing spot. The reasons for that include:

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• Proximity to Hobart, • Excellent range of fish species – bream, salmon, trevally, flathead, whiting and more, • Limited boat traffic, • Varied array of structures to fish – shallow weedy mudflats, rocky shores, deep channels, sand flats and oyster racks, • Smallness of the system – allowing you to peddle/paddle to different shores with different structure quite easily and cover a substantial amount of the water, • Bream can be caught right from the boat ramp all the way up to the river, • Protected waterway. There are two places you can launch a kayak at Little Swanport. Either at the public boat ramp at the mouth of the estuary or into the river above the bridge at the small camping area there. It is a bit tricky launching here, but if there are a couple of you and you use a rope then it is quite manageable. A launch at the river is good for an early morning session after camping. But the short distance further to the

Easy access, good protection and great fishing make Little Swanport and ideal kayak destination. boat ramp is rewarded with easier launching and just as much chance of getting into some good fish soon after launching. Either way we have found bream and salmon from top to bottom of the estuary. One thing that becomes quickly apparent when kayaking in Little Swanport is that the tide rips very hard in the main channels. This can cause problems when fishing from a traditional paddle kayak. A Hobie Mirage Drive kayak easily negates this factor though. You can peddle to keep station in the main current and

toss lures quite effectively. In the main channels I usually fish a soft plastic such as a gulp fry or sandworm on a jig from 1/16th to 1/6th ounce to get it down towards the bottom. Most of the trevally I’ve caught from there came from fishing this style in the fast flowing water. Anywhere that tide rips hard seems to be the best feeding grounds for trevally, you just need to make sure you can get your offering down to them without too much weight so that you can still impart realistic movement into the lure.

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Fishing News - Page 39

One of the other great places to concentrate your efforts is along the edge of these channels. Just a short paddle down from the boat ramp there is a small island that has the main channel going to one side of it and a slower running channel around the back to the north. On this northern side of the island it has some rocky edges with patches of mud and sand. This is also another awesome spot to work a soft plastic down deep and slow. Also vibes, blades and deep diving hard bodies all work along these edges. The current isn’t so intense here so you can relax and really fish the area thoroughly. On one mid winter trip I managed 15 plus bream from the back of that little island, with a few trevally and salmon thrown in for good measure. There are still plenty of options for fishing away from the strong tidal influence. Beyond this small island there is a large island in the middle of estuary. From here all the way to the river mouth there is a mixture of shallow weedy flats and rocky shores that are a bit deeper. Both areas hold good fish but my preference has to be for the adrenalin pumping action of sight fishing the flats. This is especially exciting when you fish surface lures such as poppers and walk the dog style lures. When the conditions are right at Little Swanport the bream will come from a long distance away in shallow water of about half a metre to track down your offering. They send out big bow waves as they chase it down. The tricky bit that we have learnt the hard way is that these fish are not silly like the salmon and will often suck the lure down half a dozen times before they eventually decide to suck it all the way into their mouths. If a fish takes it straight away you can usually call it for a salmon, although the odd hungry bream will take it on the first go. This surface fishing technique is intense! For you will see many more fish attacking your lure than you will actually hook up. It’s real heart in your mouth stuff as you see a bow wave and then slurps and sucks at the lure watching it get pulled under, sometimes even hearing a big smack as they suck the

Oyster racks hold some huge bream.

There are plenty of nice shores to pull up on for a break.

water down. But you have to tell yourself to wait for the feeling of weight at the end of your line. Even then you’ll miss a few when you feel a solid weight and strike only to lose the fish in a second. But when it does happen it is pure magic as you’ve been watching, waiting and willing the fish to take and then finally bang it takes it and runs full bore out towards deeper water making the drag on your reel scream. That’s the kind of thing that keeps me wanting to go fishing. It can be a toss up as to whether to fish these flats from a boat or from a kayak. Both have their advantages. In the boat you can see better and you can cover ground faster. But then of course the bream can see you better too. We’ve had plenty of examples of that, when you go to pump out a long cast only to spook off half a dozen fish close to the boat. In the kayaks we don’t have that problem and can sneak right up close to them. If they aren’t in the mood for a surface bite then shallow running hard bodies in the weedy shallows are the way to go. Lures

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Fishing News - Page 40

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such as a Daiwa Presso, Ecogear MW72F or MX48F and Atomic Hardz Shads all work well. You need to pick a lure that will dive to just above the weed and slow roll it or use an occasional pause in your retrieve where you dive it down and then suspend it above the weed for a few seconds. The bream in these weedy spots are suckers for a well worked hard body lure. The only major drama is that you will pick up a lot of weed on your lures and this can be quite frustrating as you feel like you’re picking up weed on just about every cast. But persevere with it, because there’s still plenty of retrieve time before the lure gets weeded up and that’s all you need to get onto some quality bream. Mixed in with these weedy shallows are some old oyster leases, some drowned timber and some rocky reefs. These are all fish holding structures that are well worth putting some extra casts around. On some of the rocky and slightly deeper shores a mid depth diving hard body works well, as does a very slowly worked soft plastic. Some of these spots will drop down to a couple of metres depth quite quickly so you need to get your lure down to the strike zone. At any point you’re also likely to hear a few sploshes and surface feeding commotion from the scattered schools of salmon. I’ve caught them in all weight classes at Little Swanport too, from quarter pounders to six pounders. A big brute of a salmon on light tackle from a kayak in fast flowing current is an experience I can highly recommend. The salmon generally aren’t as fussy as the bream. It’s usually just a matter of making sure your lure is in the zone. Though I did come across a school of big salmon near the little island once that would only take gulp fry or sandworms fished super slow drifted across the bottom. So the key to success is keep trying different lures and different depths and different retrieves until you get the pattern right. Further on up the estuary there are some very tricky weedy shallows that lead into the river. The weed growth is quite thick and lush. Bream hide in those weeds and will come up and gobble a slow wobbling hard body lure worked across the top of the weeds. Finally this article would not be complete without mentioning the large array of oyster racks at the bottom end

of the estuary, just a short paddle from the boat ramp. For many people this would have to be the stand out feature of the whole waterway. There is a network of deep channels funnelling the main current past the racks. Once again a deep soft plastic or a vibe will get bream and trevally out of these channels. In between the racks the water is shallower and here a very lightly weighted soft plastic or a shallow running hard body are my go to lures. Also a surface popper does well around the racks. Make sure you fish this area on the high tide, otherwise your lures will not have enough room above the weeds and the fish have probably gone off the chew and moved back to the deeper channels and holes. You will actually notice a lot of bream moving about between the racks across the sandy shell grit covered channels in the super clear water during summer. With all that Little Swanport has to offer it can be seen as a real smorgasbord. It’s easily navigated from a kayak or a small boat. Fish the racks and the flats on the high tide then fish the channels, deep holes and rocky shores during the low tide. You can stay on the water all day long and still find the fish feeding somewhere at anytime through the tide cycle. There are not many other places in Tassie with this much on offer where you can quickly paddle about from spot to spot on a kayak fishing the different structures. This is why I rate Little Swanport as one of the best kayak fishing venues in the state.

Double hookup on bream - no trouble.

Mystery fish (weed whiting) - no trouble.

Craig Vertigan

Bream on plastics - no trouble.

Australian salmon - no trouble.

Silver trevally - great fun - no trouble.

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Fishing News - Page 41

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Fishing News - Page 42

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5/10/11 10:30 AM

Sea-run Trout

Mysteries unravelled

Christopher Bassano

ea run trout are somewhat of an enigma for many Tasmanian and travelling anglers. Our population are mostly comprised of brown trout which, by definition, choose to live most of their lives at sea. These fish then come into our estuary systems twice a year in order to feed (August – November) and to spawn (April – June). The best time to chase them is during the early months of the season when site fishing is a very real possibility. It all starts in earnest when the Tasmanian whitebait (Lovetti) begin to run up the estuaries towards the fresh water in order to spawn. Their distribution ranges from the far north east across the north and north west, down the west coast and into Hobart. The east coast also has good sea trout fishing but it is very hard to recommend over that which is found elsewhere. Both sea run and resident (slob) trout feed heavily on these small and slender whitebait which darken in colouration as they move further into fresh water reaches. Their colouration can start almost translucent before turning dark grey and culminating in a dark olive. This is magnified in tannin stained water ways as they adapt to their surroundings. A dry August followed by a wet September makes for ideal conditions. Although dry conditions make fish easier to see and follow, bigger trout will make up a smaller percentage of your daily catch. Apart from raging flood, don’t let high water put you off. Whitebait will run into the estuaries and continue towards the fresh water reaches for as long as the water remains brackish. Heavy rain brings a push of fresh water further down the river and this will usually force the whitebait back down the river. If this occurs at the start of the run (August) and continues for a few weeks, the whitebait run can often be poor and almost appear not to have happened. Dribs and drabs of bait will be seen from time to time but unless you are lucky and strike it at exactly the right time, the sea trout year may be a disaster. If on the other hand the rains occur in September, by the time the fresh pushes down the river literally millions of whitebait will have already made their way up the river and into the log jams where they seek refuge. This is where the larger, resident trout live and will feed on them. The bait is then pushed back down the river and the large fish will

follow. Once they reach a ‘salty environment’, they will be met by even more bait pushing up causing a bottle neck effect of bait. This is when we can get a feeding frenzy of sea and slob trout – ideal conditions. This year, the rains have come earlier than we would like and that has made for a slower start than usual, keeping trout and bait further down the estuaries.

Locations and Timing The Derwent River is usually the first to fire up and this year was no exception. Fish can be found from just below the Tasman Bridge near the city centre all the way past New Norfolk and beyond. Before the official season started this season, trout were already being caught in the lower reaches. Rocky points, side channels and back eddies are worth fishing but the usual tell tale sign of bait fish spraying is easily found during calm weather. For the shore based angler, the Derwent provides possibly the best access to good fishing on the south coast. Fast and accurate casts are needed with bait fish patterns that at least resemble the rough shape and colouration of the natural prey. There is no need to fish ‘light’ and a ten to twelve pound flurocarbon tippet is standard. Five to seven weight rods are sufficient although when targeting big fish or when using sinking lines, the heavier option is more practical. The Huon River and those to the south such as the Esperance, Lune, Kermandie, D’Entracasteaux and Catamaran are all good places to look for sea runners through September and October. I have had a few trips down here already this season and at the time of writing, I have found them to be much slower than I would normally find. A boat is handy in most of these rivers but each will have one or two spots where the river can be accessed from the bank. The Huon below Huonville is one such spot. The marshes around Franklin are easily found and fished but waders are needed. A run out tide is perfect as

Well, it’s not a monster, but the next one could be. Sea-run trout are fickle to find and catch, but you should take some time to try. trout ambush bait as they leave the stagnant flow in which they were resting. Picking the right stage of the tide during which to fish will also directly affect your success. A strong out going tide is almost always the best. The speed of the water running down the middle of the river forces the migrating bait to the edges where trout will lie in ambush. The bait uses logs, rocks, bridge poles, eroded banks and anything else that breaks the current to hide from the strong flows and rest. Trout then use these same obstructions to launch fast and explosive attacks on unsuspecting fish. The top of the tide is usually the quietest time as bait can be well up under bushes and totally inaccessible to casting anglers. The bottom of the tide is also a quiet time as no flow allows the bait to move freely up the river and spread out across its width. A rising tide assists the bait in their quest to move up river and more importantly, brings in another fresh run of whitebait with every high tide. Big tides are therefore better than small tides. The Henty river is a great example of this.

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Fishing News - Page 43

under the over hanging trees is a reliable fall back.

The dark, tannin stained, water of the Henty holds plenty of sea-run trout, but of course they are not always easy. The west coast has many tannin stained waterways which have sea runners moving into them from mid October onwards. The Arthur and Pieman rivers have very limited walking access but boat fishermen can make the most of otherwise inaccessible spots. Small craft that draw next to no water can be taken almost right up to the Pieman Dam.

Apart from the mouth of the Arthur River (which can be the main hot spot), a boat is vital. Further south near Strahan, the Gordon River is even more difficult to get to and again, a boat is essential. Trips to this iconic river require large fuel tanks, good weather and long days. The mouth of the river is the major hot spot although casting

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The most well known and productive rivers on the west coast are the Henty and Little Henty. Both of these rivers empty into the ocean just north of Strahan after running through dense forest and then along the beach. The Little Henty runs parallel to the ocean and behind the beach for such a long time that trying to find the point at which enters ocean on foot is hardly worth the effort. The Henty itself is the most accessible of all west coast rivers. There is a boat ramp is right next to the highway bridge or four wheel drives can be driven to the sand dunes at the mouth. A camp site is located at the Henty dunes. First and last light often bring the best action but polaroiding on bright days is surprisingly productive. Although the water is dark brown, trout often feed in inches water out of the main channel. On occasions these fish can seem almost impossible to catch. Don’t let this worry you. Some of the best anglers I know have struggled to catch these fish. There is a good chance that if they ignore your whitebait pattern, they are feeding on sand fleas. These are usually being washed in off the sand as the waves erode the banks. An inert presentation of a small hares ear scud or ‘czech nymph’ pattern might just do the trick! The north east coast doesn’t get frequented by many sea trout fishermen but those who take the time to travel there are rarely disappointed. Driving through Bridport, the Little Forester is difficult to access but well worth the effort. The banks are quite over grown but this ‘pain’ is eased by the size of the white bait runs. I once took a photo off the main road bridge of the largest migration of bait I have seen anywhere at any time. Unfortunately I misplaced it but when I find it, I will get it published!

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The Great Forester River is east of Bridport and divides Barnbougle and the Lost Farm golf courses. The main road bridge provides the best access. A kayak or small raft could be dropped in at the bridge but there really is no need. Almost all of the river can be cast across and the fish are always found close in along the tussock lined banks. The mouth of the river provides poor recruitment and the falling tide after a big high tide is the time to go. I have always found the fish in the Forester to be very willing to eat the fly but large numbers should not be expected. Wind is very common in this part of the world so short, stiff leaders will aid turn over and accuracy. On the north west coast, the Mersey and Forth are the main sea run

Fishing News - Page 44

www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

fisheries. That is not to say that other rivers such as the Rubicon, Franklin, Blyth, Duck, Flowerdale, etc do not have sea runners in them. They are all worth a look! The mouth of the Forth is better known by those wanting to catch Australian salmon but it is very accessible for people chasing sea runners. On the south side of the highway trout regularly feed on whitebait around stands of tea tree and grassy edges. Bank access is reasonable but expect to get frustrated by those moving just out of casting range. A kayak could be worthwhile. Upstream from the town of Forth, a weir stretches across the river forming a barrier past which the white bait can’t get. The whitebait simply bank up below the weir forming what is arguably the best shore based spot for catching sea trout in the state. Unfortunately, the banks between Forth and the weir are rather steep and practically inaccessible. The Mersey River at Bells Parade near Latrobe is a beautiful spot from which many double figure fish have been caught. It is a place of legend. Most of these have been caught by bait fishermen. Down stream from Bells Parade the river splits and although runs and riffles can be found, the big deep holes are where the sea runners are found. Large bream also frequent the water in this area and trying to tempt them into taking your fly is a distraction. Fishing on the North West coast is much better than the rest of Tasmania realise and I suspect that is how the locals like it. I don’t like making these sorts of statements but of all forms of trout fishing, chasing these fish is more suited to the experienced angler. Repeated good casting is the key to success. Even if you can land your fly on a five cent piece at will with a minimum of false casts, don’t expect to catch numbers of fish that will rival those taken during mayfly time. Having said that, if they were easy, they would lose some of the mystique that all anglers feel when chasing these beautiful fish. These fish are the ultimate in trout fishing. They are much harder fighting that their fresh water counterparts and certainly more elusive. At a time of year when snow is often falling on the highlands the lure of sea trout is never stronger. Many of my best clients and good friends travel to Tasmania at this time of year in search of these fish, opting for the colder climate of September and October over the warmth and consistency of a highland summer. Sea trout fishing in Tasmania is nothing short of World Class and I don’t say that lightly. If you were ever going to catch a fish in excess of ten or twenty pounds, now is the time. Unlike almost all other types of fly fishing, sea trout fishing has to be done before December or you will have missed it. Then window of opportunity is now. Don’t miss out and regret it later. Christopher Bassano

River Derwent - River Monster

Thank goodness for big nets - and a good net boy! September 6, 2011 by Philip Weigall

“Here’s a fish you may have heard about. It’s a male brown trout, length 86 cm, girth 60 cm, estimated weight 22 pounds. I caught it indicator nymphing on the freshwater part of the Derwent River, Tasmania (as opposed to the estuary). “I was with my good friend and guide Christopher Bassano, for whom I shall be forever grateful for getting the one net shot right

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with his huge landing net! Can you believe it took a single size 12 bead head Pheasant Tail Nymph – Christopher’s variation which is now of course my favourite fly. It released strongly and it should be there for someone else to catch one day. “Overall it was a pretty amazing story that I’ll tell in full some other time with lots more pics. And for obvious reasons to do with poachers etc, Christopher and I won’t be giving any more detail about where it was caught.” Full story will appear in the February issue (#12) of Flyfisher.

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About Stabicraft Marine

The Invercargill built Stabicraft 2150 Supercab beat a raft of competition to be crowned Australia’s Greatest Alloy Boat 2011. The Stabicraft 2150 Supercab, designed and built in Invercargill, New Zealand, has been named Australia’s Greatest Alloy Boat 2011 by Australian Trailerboat Magazine. It eased out strong competition from Bar Crusher, Surtees, Noble and White Pointer. Wowing the judges with its resolute toughness, clever yet functional layout and exceptional ride, this was the boat that inspired real confidence. A host of glowing comments from the judges included; “outstanding stability at rest,” “quite frankly, a sports car on water” and “superb at top speed, in rough conditions and in all directions.” Victoria-based Trailerboat Magazine Editor,

Based in Invercargill at the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island, commonly known as the Roaring 40’s Stabicraft Marine pioneered positive buoyancy boats, producing its first rigid-hulled aluminium pontoon boat in 1987. Today, Stabicraft Marine is New Zealand’s largest trailer boat manufacturer, and boasts an extensive dealership network of 32 dealers around the world including Australia, New Zealand, North America and New Caledonia.

Tom Prince, said, “We know there’s a school Stabicraft boats are designed and of thought that favours Australian-built boats, manufactured to stringent Coastguardbut our first priority is to tell our readers what approved standards. we judge to be the best boats, regardless of origin.” Each finalist was assessed by ten criteria, Nearly 20 models to choose from - we starting with suitability for fishing, innovation, have a Stabi Craft to suit you. design and layout, quality of finish, handling and ride, and stability at rest. Add in Models ranging from the sensational ergonomics, standard equipment, value for 1530 Fish’r to the award winning money and that indefinable X-Factor, and the 2150 Supercab in stock and ready for total scores reveal the winner. summer boating. For Stabicraft, New Zealand’s largest production boat builder, the 2150 Supercab’s Deegan Marine has been a proud Stabicraft dealer for launch in 2010 has seen the model move nearly a decade. Let us take you boating. quickly to one of the company’s top five sellers.

www.deeganmarine.com.au – Ph: 6425 2238 – 102 Eastlands Drive, Ulverstone – “We Take Tasmania Boating” www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

Fishing News - Page 45

Bag Limits: In the Eastern Region, the daily bag limit is reduced from 5 to 3 rock lobster. There is no change in the Western Region – the daily bag limit remains at 5 rock lobster.

RECREATIONAL SEA FISHERIES NEWS October/November 2011

New Rock Lobster Rules Apply this Season

Never fished for trout, but with your help he can We Need Your Assistance to bring the Christmas Island Bonefish Guides to Australia

ou may or not have heard that Australia /Tasmania is hosting the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships in February 2012. This event has been held on an average of every two years in various Commonwealth countries and, since its inception in 1988, it has had a prime objective to bring Fly Fishers from Commonwealth countries to fish and share their passion of Fly Fishing and camaraderie in an event known as the “Fishing In Friendship” competition. In this coming event there are expressions of interest from 12 different countries with a total of 16 teams. Malcolm Crosse, on behalf of Fly Fish Australia, is the driving force behind the organisation of the event and he is well qualified to make the event a huge success as he has been involved with a number of previous World and Commonwealth Championships. On a recent trip to Christmas Island, Malcolm mentioned that Kiribati as a Commonwealth Country were eligible to field a team. As we all know, the guides on Christmas Island are great fly fishers however none of them have ever fished for trout (neither have the Malaysians but they are sending a team). They saw this as a great opportunity to not only expose representatives to the world of fly fishing but also use the exercise as a way of bring attention to the Bone Fly Fishing Industry of Christmas Island on which so many families of this developing county rely on. The operators of three of the lodges on the Island, Captain Cook, Ikari House and The Villages have all indicated that they would like to be involved and have formed a committee to see if it is possible to send a representative team comprising guides from the three lodges. All going well, the names of the guides selected to make up a possible team are Nareau, Lobu, Ekeuea from Captain Cook, Fishing News - Page 46

English from Ikari House and Neemia, Eketi and Ieru from The Villages. I am sure many of us will have enjoyed their company and benefited from the expertise of these guys on the flats. To give them the opportunity to see outside of Christmas Island and fish for trout would be an experience they would talk about for years to come. To enable these guys to make it to Australia there is a lot of work to be done not the least of which is raising some funds to assist with their trip. We already have some sponsors for fishing equipment and clothing that they will need for the journey. I am asking you as a person who has visited this island and who knows the challenges of the place if you would consider being involved in a fund raising effort to help this team compete at the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships.

New rock lobster rules apply from the opening of the recreational rock lobster season on Saturday 5th November following an extensive review process. The main changes are the division of the state fishing waters into the Eastern and Western Rock Lobster Fishing Regions (see map) and new catch limits for the Eastern Region. All rock lobster fishers are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the new rules before the season opens.

A summary of the changes is below: Fishing Regions: The State, including all islands, has been divided into two rock lobster management regions, the Eastern and Western Fishing Regions (see map overleaf). Eastern Region: includes all State fishing waters and islands eastward of Point Sorell (near Port Sorell) and Whale Head (on the South Coast). This includes Flinders, Bruny, Maria, Schouten and all other islands. Western Region: includes all State fishing waters and islands westward of Point Sorell and Whale Head.

It will cost approximately AUD$4000 per angler to travel and be involved in the event (team consists of 5 anglers plus a captain) and whilst it would be nice to think that some of you out there could sponsor one of your guide friends, my take is that if a lot of us just donated say $100-$200 each we could make this happen. I know that this amount is in some cases just the tip you give these guys. A separate ANZ account has been set up to facilitate and distribute the monies. If you are interested in helping and can contribute contact: niall@learntoflyfish.net with your details. Nial Logan The cut off date for the decision to go ahead with the organisation of the trip for the guys is the 30th of November 2011. If the financial target is not reached and the team does not make it to Australia then all monies will be refunded in full. For those of you who would like to know more about the event all the details are on www.Flyfishaustralia. com.au then go to the CFFC page.

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Possession Limits: In the Eastern Region, the possession limit is reduced from 10 to 6 rock lobster. Fishers will need to prove that they were on an extended fishing trips i.e. fished for more than one day. There is no change in the Western Region or to possessing rock lobster on mainland Tasmania for fishers – the possession limit remains at 10 rock lobster. Possession Limit for Non Fishers: A person without a licence cannot possess more than 2 rock lobster, unless they have a receipt or the rock lobster has a commercial tag. A child under 10 years old cannot possess rock lobster and any rock lobster held by that child are deemed to be in the possession of the supervising adult. No rock lobster can be possessed on the water by non-fishers. Special Rock Lobster Licence: The special rock lobster licence which allows a possession limit of 15 lobsters for a 14 day period is now limited to the Western Region, and the licensee cannot fish for rock lobster in the Eastern Region during the 14 day period of the licence. Boat Limits: A possession limit will now apply on boats. Eastern Region Boat Limit - A maximum of 15 rock lobster for a day trip and 30 for an extended fishing trip. Western Region Boat Limit – A maximum of 25 rock lobster for a day trip and 50 for an extended fishing trip. Boat Gear Limit: A maximum of 5 rock lobster pots and 20 rock lobster rings can be possessed or used from a boat.

Rock Lobster Caufs: Fishers may only use one fish cauf. If a fish cauf is used by more than one person, each fisher’s rock lobster must be placed into separate compartments. Each compartment must be marked with the fishers licence number or unique identification code.

Season Dates 2011/12: Females - from 5 November 2011 to 30 April 2012 Males - from 5 November 2011 to 31 August 2012 Northern Bass Strait: The current biosecurity order in northern Bass Strait, north of the line of latitude 39o 33’S still applies with no rock lobster able to be taken or possessed. Without the biosecurity order, a bag limit of 2 and possession limit of 4 will apply.

Rock lobster pots may now be possessed on state waters from 6am the day before the season opens. However pots may only be set after 1pm on that same day.

Gear Marking; All fishers including aboriginal fishers are required to mark all rock lobster pots and unattended rock lobster rings with their licence number or unique identification code.

Phone: (03) 6233 9072 or 1300 720 647

Fishing Gear used by Divers: The possession of a noose on a vessel (unless it is being used for game fishing) and the possession of a crook when diving is banned.

More information about the new rules: Visit: www.fishing.tas.gov.au

The DPIPWE phone renewal system has become unreliable and is being withdrawn from service. As less than 5% of recreational fishers renew their licence by phone, the cost of purchasing a new phone service could not be justified. DPIPWE understands that the retirement of the phone renewal service may inconvenience some fishers. You are encouraged to plan to the purchase of their licence for this season so your fishing activities aren’t affected, especially if you fish in remote areas. You can either buy or renew your licence in person at Service Tasmania or online at www.fishing.tas. gov.au/licence. You can use an agent (for example, a family member or friend), a person you entrust with your licence renewal details to buy your licence for you.

Need more information? * Get a copy of the Recreational Sea Fishing Guide from Service Tasmania; * visit www.fishing.tas.gov.au; or

Or email: fishing.enquiries@dpipwe.tas.gov.au

* subscribe online to have fishing news information updates emailed.

Sea Fishing Licence Renewal Changes

* Phone 1300 720 647 (local call cost) or 03 6233 7042

The option to renew recreational sea fishing licences by phone will no longer be available to fishers for the upcoming season.

The River Derwent’s fishing boundaries Tasmania’s second longest river (after the South Esk) starts at the outlet of Lake St. Clair and flows nearly 190 km to New Norfolk where the upper reaches of the Derwent estuary starts. The 52 km of estuary to Storm Bay represent the most fished area of the River Derwent not only for trout but for a suite of marine and estuarine species as well. The estuary section of the Derwent flows through the most populated area of Tasmania and therefore gets a lot of angling effort. The estuary contains important jurisdictional boundaries that mark zones in which different angling regulations apply. The regulations governing fishing vary depending on when and where you fish, and what species you are fishing for. The attached map has been prepared to help clarify these rules. Following the review last year of the regulations governing recreational inland fishing, the boundary for the taking of bream (indigenous fish) on the River Derwent was moved downstream to the Bridgewater Bridge. This effectively reduces the number of fishery management boundaries on the Derwent by combining the bream and year round fishing season boundaries to one location. A line extending eastward from the tip of Cadbury Point (also known as Dogshear Point) marks the seaward limit of the Inland Fisheries Service jurisdiction and the start of Marine Resources jurisdiction on the downstream side. Upstream of this point, you must have an angling licence to fish and the waters are under the jurisdiction of the IFS. Downstream of this point to an imaginary line between Store and Dowsings points, the waters are under Marine Resources jurisdiction but you still need a licence to take trout. This zone is unique in Tasmania and is referred to as ‘excepted water’.

Hayes on Brumbys

Casting Classes, Weekend Workshops and Fly Fishing Conclaves Sat 26 Nov: Beginners half day $165 Sun 27 Nov: Inter/advanced day $230 Nov 26/27: Live in Weekend $500 www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

Fishing News - Page 47

Inland Fisheries News October-November 2011 Whitebait Fishing is On Again!

The rivers open this season are: Great Forester River, Little Forester River, Brid River, Tamar River, Derwent River, Huon River, Rubicon River, Don River, Forth River, Leven River, Black River,

The whitebait season is on again and good runs of whitebait have been reported from a number of rivers in the North West. The recreational whitebait fishing season starts on Saturday 1 October and lasts for 6 weeks, closing on Friday 11 November. A whitebait licence, which costs $28, is required for whitebaiting and this can be bought at any Service Tasmania shop and at the following private licence agents: Mountain Designs, Devonport Smithton Sports, Smithton Wells Home Hardware, Latrobe Wigstons Sports, New Norfolk Somerset Newsagency, Somerset Tassie Tackle & Outdoor, Burnie Devonport Boat ‘n Tackle, Devonport Corbs Servo, Turners Beach Bigfin Sports Fishing, Devonport

Duck River, Pieman River, Henty River. Fishing is prohibited 50 m below and 50 m above water gauging weirs on the Rubicon and Duck rivers. Fishing in the vicinity of the Forth River Weir is now permitted following modifications to the weir which has facilitated the passage of whitebait. The regulations governing whitebait fishing equipment – primarily the whitebait net – are quite specific. For instance, no part of the whitebait net, including the opening, should exceed 120 cm in circumference. It cannot be fitted with a funnel, screen, valve or other device that might impede the escape of fish; nor should it have any wings or other structures that may divert fish into the net. The licensee must be within 8 metres of their net, which must carry a tag showing the number of the whitebait licence.

Ultimate Fishing & Outdoors, Ulverstone Forth Village Store, Forth This year, the daily catch limit for whitebait has been increased from 1 kg per day to 2 kg per day, although the overall season possession limit remains unchanged at 10 kg. This change has been introduced to enable fishers to capitalize on peak run periods, which may vary during the season. It was decided as part of a regulatory review of the previous Whitebait Fishery Management Plan 2006-2011, which has now been replaced with a new five year plan. The latest plan continues the management principles established in the earlier plan since these remain relevant. There are no other significant changes except that the Inglis River is now included in the biannual rotational opening schedule.

Setting a whitebait net.

Fishing News - Page 48

Initial surveys of the Break O’Day in 2008 and a follow up survey in 2010, along with angler diary information, showed that the total numbers of trout were very low. In fact, very few of the stocked fish were either caught by anglers or were captured during in-stream surveys. A further survey completed in February of this year also returned very low numbers of both naturally spawned and stocked fish. Over the survey period, just 25 brown trout, both naturally spawned and stocked fish were captured. Of these 25 fish, only 5 had clipped fins, indicating they were from previous stockings. Of these fish, two were of a size to indicate they were from the 2008 stocking while the remaining three were from the 2010 stocking. A surprising result from the survey was the huge head of both large eels and tench present, with almost no smaller size classes apparent. The numbers of redfin perch were lower than expected; however, the abundance of smelt was significant. All trout were in good condition and the growth rates of stocked fish were very good and better than that of trout from natural recruitment. It would appear that the impacts of on-going drought conditions have almost completely decimated the trout population. This impact, in conjunction with a high level of competition and predation by other species, has made it very difficult to build a sustainable population. It is hoped that with continued stocking, a base population can be re-established and when combined with good natural recruitment during favourable wet periods, some detectable improvement in this fishery will occur. The Service intends to continue with its commitment to stocking the Break O’Day River and undertake assessments over the next 3 years.

Fishery assessment - Break O’Day River and Bradys Lake System While good rains and the resulting improvements in stream flows and lake levels dominate our perception of the fishery, the impacts of years of drought still linger on in some of the State’s waters. In those waters that have large populations of other fish species such as redfin perch, eels, tench, and even blackfish, the effects of several years of continuous drought have compounded. A small number of trout waters are now struggling to produce acceptable trout recruitment and the effect is seen in anglers’ creels. Generally, most of the trout fisheries around the State are resilient enough to maintain good recruitment despite the impacts of predation and competition with other species. However, once the impacts of drought conditions are overlayed, the resultant effects of ongoing poor recruitment can have significant impacts and trout populations can be decimated. When this situation occurs, it can be extremely difficult to rebuild a substantial and sustainable trout population, even with high levels of supplementary stocking. Two fisheries that have most likely succumbed to this situation are the Bradys system of lakes and the Break O’Day River. Anglers have reported ongoing diminishing bags at these waters, to a point where it was felt a closer examination was warranted and an assessment for fishery management.

A good catch of fresh whitebait.

that the Service could undertake follow up surveys to examine the prevalence and growth of these stocked fish, along with conducting an assessment of the existing resident trout population. Preliminary observations from these surveys are discussed below and further investigations and analysis of the results are underway.

In the case of the Break O’Day River, the Service has undertaken an ongoing stocking program of around 10,000 brown trout fingerling (weighing approximately 20 g) into key broadwaters during 2008, 2010 and 2011. These fish were marked by clipping the small adipose fin on their back so

Like the Break O’Day River, the Bradys system of lakes has also suffered from extremely low trout numbers. A week long survey conducted in early June this year yielded similar results to those observed in the Break O’Day. A combined survey of the three waters (lakes Bradys and Binney, and Tungatinah Lagoon) resulted in low numbers of brown trout being captured. Very few of these fish were of a large size. Approximately 60 percent were less than 300 mm of which almost 40 percent were less than 200 mm. These size classes tend to match up with the stocking of fish from the Service’s New Norfolk hatchery over the last three years. Just over 10 percent of the brown trout captured were greater than 400 mm, indicating that most of the adult fish stocked into this system have been caught and removed by anglers. No Atlantic salmon were captured and only one brook trout was observed. Rainbow trout approximated fewer than five percent of the catch. Redfin perch were extremely abundant throughout all three waters, with a small number of tench and the native spotted galaxias present. It is hoped that in the short term, the transfer of adult brown trout will help fill the void in the fishery, while smaller fish begin to grow to a catchable size. The stocking of hatchery reared brown trout from wild stock will continue to be an important management tool in the attempt to bring the catch rate up to acceptable levels for this important fishery. It should be noted that these observations and results are preliminary and a more in-depth examination may provide better information and raise specific questions that need further investigation. Ultimately, it may require a change in how the Bradys system of lakes is managed as a fishery.

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IFS stocking with domestic and ‘wild stock’ fish Setting the record straight

he Inland Fisheries Service has implemented a broad program of fisheries development over the last 8 years clearly aimed at improving fisheries for the diverse range of anglers from Tasmania, the mainland and overseas. This has involved a range of elements including infrastructure (directional signs, ramps jetties and roads), information (brochures, website, interpretation signs), negotiated access, water level agreements, updated regulations and targeted stocking. Many of these elements were initiated following the development of the Tasmanian Inland Recreational Fishery Management Plan 2008 -18 and this document continues to guide management of the fishery today. A key marketing strategy has been the development and promotion of the full range of fishing options from the world class wild wilderness fisheries to the put and take fisheries at popular waters. The overall marketing program combined with the fishery development, have been successful in improving the number of anglers participating in the fishery. The total number of anglers recovered from a low of around 22,500 in 2002-03 to around 28,500 in the last four seasons, including near record numbers of full season licence holders. This has been achieved despite a crippling drought, which deepened in the period from 2006 to mid 2009 and placed many fisheries under stress due to low water levels including the regularly fished waters of Arthurs Lake, Woods Lake, Tooms Lake, Lake Leake and Craigbourne dam. A further consequence of the shift of anglers from the eastern fisheries to the West was the steady increase in fishing pressure on waters including Penstock Lagoon, Little Pine Lagoon and the near Western Lakes. A number of stocking initiatives were trialled through the drought years, some successfully others not. The stocking of brook trout into waters containing other salmonid species has clearly not worked, however the hatchery stocking regime at Penstock Lagoon has been a spectacular success. The Service has deliberately taken an adaptive management approach in these stocking programs aimed at evaluating and fine tuning the number and appropriate mix of species at each water. This program has necessarily focused on a limited number of waters since the majority of Tasmanian fisheries sustain healthy populations of wild naturally recruiting brown trout and less commonly wild rainbow trout populations. The Inland Fisheries Service, Inland Fisheries Commission and its predecessors have historically stocked a range of fisheries with stock from the Salmon Ponds or other recreational hatcheries. These fish have been on-grown to various sizes

from fry to fingerlings or even yearlings largely depending on the prevailing environmental conditions experienced by the hatchery. In later years the only remaining hatchery was the Salmon Ponds hatchery and this increasingly suffered from poor water flows and high water temperatures, making the production of stock very unreliable in size quantity and quality. In undertaking the stocking programs the Service has out of necessity utilised a range of stocks prior to the development of better hatchery facilities in New Norfolk in 2008. The new hatchery is only now meeting its full production capacity. The Service has continually and clearly stated that its primary aim is to produce and stock waters with wild stock fish sourced from wild run spawners (browns and rainbows) originating from Great Lake. The Service promotes these fish as ‘wild stock fish’ and does not seek to portray them as wholly ‘wild fish’. It does not however, accept that these fish are in any way ‘domestic stock’. These hatchery fish are on-grown by the Service only to a size sufficient to optimise their chance of survival in the receiving water. They are captive for 8 to 10 months and are stocked at 1g, 5g, 10g or up to 20g (around 150mm in length) when redfin perch are present. The Service has a policy of using wild stock fish in the Central Highlands and has now met this, except for the Bradys Chain of lakes which received a small number of domestic salmon in 2010. This was a trial stocking and there are no plans to stock this water with salmon in 2011. Similarly with brook trout stocked into Bronte Lagoon in 2009, there is no plan to stock this water with brook trout in 2011. Popular family waters, away from the high country in lowland regions at Brushy Lagoon, Lake Barrington, Lake Meadowbank and Craigbourne dam, will continue to be stocked with a mixture of domestic and wild stock fish for the near future. They are key waters for receiving large Atlantic salmon The importance of maintaining the capacity to produce wild stock fish was highlighted by the breaking of the drought since mid 2009. Since then, the Service has grown and stocked brown trout (unavailable from commercial hatcheries) into Tooms Lake, Craigbourne Dam, Lake Crescent and Lake Dulverton, dramatically speeding the recovery of these fisheries. Several river fisheries

also received supplementary stockings following the devastation of the drought, namely the middle Macquarie, Coal, Clyde and Break O’Day rivers. Wild adult browns have also been used according to the annual stocking program, however their availability was limited by the vagaries of the runs at Great Lake and Arthurs Lake this year. The production of triploid browns and rainbows from the New Norfolk hatchery is now being achieved through the modern set up of incubators and tanks, and the recent investment in a custom made trout triploiding vessel. This hyperbaric chamber was imported from France and is the first of its kind in Australia. Although triploiding is common-place in the industry, no-one else is doing this with ‘wild eggs’ harvested from ‘wild fish’, and certainly not using the iconic Tasmanian wild brown trout. The triploids, which are sterile, tend to grow faster when they reach maturity and having no gonads, they do not spawn and waste energy in reproduction. They provide a new dimension to fisheries particularly those with no capacity for natural recruitment. Far from being a turnoff to the serious angler, the Service has received enthusiastic support from mainstream anglers for fisheries at Four Springs Lake, Curries River Reservoir, Water House Lakes, Brushy Lagoon Lake Crescent and Penstock Lagoon to benefit from these fish. Stocking has been a point of debate in recent times from some sectors of the angling community. It will continue to be an essential fisheries management tool to address fisheries with poor recruitment. Other fisheries that rely on stocking although minor will continue to need supplementation from hatcheries. These include Big Lagoon, Lakes Skinner, Plimsol, Selina and Rolleston, and Pawlena Dam, as well as the popular program of farm dam stocking, particularly in the northern part of the State.

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Fishing News - Page 49

Fishing and Boating Directory Advertise here for $77. Contact Mike Stevens 0418 129949

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Top Service – Top Price Fishing News - Page 50

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The Lufra - close to all the (fishing) action

It is no exaggeration to say the Tasman Peninsula is truly remarkable with possibly the best sport fishing, highest sea cliffs, outstanding diving in giant underwater kelp forests, renowned fine food producers, Australia’s leading convict site and some of country’s best bush walks. Situated at Eaglehawk Neck, and just one hour from Hobart, The Lufra provides relaxed affordable accommodation close to Port Arthur and natural attractions and is ideally located as the base for you to enjoy many activities, sitting as it does at the narrow isthmus which connects the Forestier and Tasman Peninsulas. Visit the Lufra and you’ll share more than a stunning view because the area abounds in many attractions — both natural and made-made — all within easy driving or walking distance. Close to the hotel are several amazing rock formations and attractions - The Blowhole, Tasman Arch, the Devil’s

Kitchen and the Tessellated (or tiled) Pavement. You will be impressed by the drama of these geological wonders, sculpted by Mother Nature over millions of years. A mere 15 minutes south by car the history of Tasmania’s convict past comes alive at the former penal settlement of Port Arthur and other historical sites on the Tasman Peninsula. Nearby you can also indulge in sports and pastimes like deep sea fishing, surfing, and bushwalking, or visit other nearby attractions like wildlife parks and wineries. $59 pp twin share incl. The Lufra Hotel offers comfortable accommodation continental breakfast or in a range of rooms and self-catering units as well as a $65 pp with hotrooms” breakfast. limited number of “fishermen’s at very affordable rates. · 66 Stylish Additional car parkingRooms development allows substantial car and· boat parking. Our licensed restaurant and bistro CBD Location restaurant are complemented by a games/recreation Affordable Rates room, ·TV/lounge area with open fireplace, café/coffee shop and two bars. · Conference Rooms Australian aviation pioneer tourism entrepreneur · FREE Parking · and FREE Movies Sir Reginald Ansett is reputed to have described the Lufra · FREE Fitness Hotel as “the hotel with theRoom best view in the world.” No wonder· there has been an accommodation house on Wireless Broadband the same site for more thanon 150 years. · Three Steps GeorgeThe Lufra Hotel Bar - Restaurant 380Heritage Pirates Bay Drive Eaglehawk Neck www.colonialinn.com.au Toll free 1800 639 532 (03) 6250 3262 www.lufrahotel.com or info@lufrahotel.com

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TASMAP’s Central Tasmania Map and Angling Notes

6-8 WEST TAMAR ROAD, LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA 7250 is an invaluable guide to the world class trout fishing in the PHONE (03) 6331 6188 FAX (03) 63342681 thousands of lakes andOrders tarns located throughout the region. Phone & Mail

welcomed We accept...

in store

It covers most of the Central Plateau, shows all of the lakes, Outside waterfront INGthere FREE ADget TRto how along with launching facilities, our accommodation, HOURS PARKING boating and fishing store. camping fuelPM supplies services.8AM TO 12.30PM MONand TO caravan FRI 8AMareas, TO 5.30 SATand MORNING CLOSED SUN. & PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

The reverse side features detailed notes and maps covering Ph:stories 6331 Fishing News - Page prime fishing lakes. The notes are packed with valuable WWW.TASFISH.COM - Over 850 online.6588 Get the knowledge–get the the fish.

information on regulations, fish types and the best fishing locations and methods.

St Helens

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

It is available online, along with TASMAP’s full range of maps, books and historic charts, at:

www.tasmap.tas.gov.au

Hillcrest Tourist Park & Mini Market 100 Chimney Heights Rd. St Helens 6376 3298

Maps may also be purchased from Service Tasmania outlets and TASMAP agents statewide.

Depar tment of Pr imar y Industr ies and Water

www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

Fishing News - Page 51

Issue 94 October - November 2011

Tasmaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Most Popular Lures Revealed Lake Plimsoll - Brook Trout Chasing Sea Runners Prime Time Bream Little Swanport Back to Basics Tailing Trout Great Lake Kayaks

WWW.TASFISH.COM - 1000 FISHING STORIES

Gavin Hicks writes about tailing trout - page 18. Read about this and more exciting fishing news inside.

Print Post approved; PP 702512 00027