Royal Hair Wing Coachman / Wolf – dry fly
Royal Hair Wing Coachman / Wolf - dry fly Great as an indicator when fishing a nymph. Also fished as a grasshopper in summer. A good ant imitation on lakes. Easily seen, readily taken. A great stream fly. Hook: size 12 – 16 Tail: golden pheasant tippet Body: peacock hurl, segmented by red floss silk Hackle: ginger cock Wing: traditionally calf tail is used, we like to use white antron as it’s sparse, doesn’t absorb water and it sparkles
Great Lake Beetle – dry fly
Great Lake Beetle - dry fly A good floater, highly visible. Works well when gum beetles are present on Great Lake, and of course other waters. Hook: size 12 Body: black deer hair or black cock hackle trim Wing: dyed orange upright Hackle: dyed orange cock
Brown Dun – Dry Fly
Brown Dun - Dry Fly The full adult brown dun mayfly can be good when the fish are genuinely on the top. It can be greased up to hang low in the water and is also useful as an emerger. Hook: size 12 Tail: ginger cock fibres Body: brown seals fur, or similar Wing: speckled hen Palmer & Hackle: ginger cock
Black Smut – Dry Fly
Black Smut - Dry Fly Fished in the film during a chironomid hatch, with the upper hackles greased, often very productive! It's only tied half way down thereabouts on the hook shank, so as to give a sparse silhouette, yet maintain a reasonable size hook strength. I found it works well when any small black stuff is around on the water, like caenid, chironomid, ants. Hook: size 16 Tail: elongated black cock squirrel fibres Body: tied short with black silk, 2/3 of the shank length Hackle: few turns of dark olive or black cock (grizzle optional)
Black Beetle – Dry Fly
Black Beetle - Dry Fly In Tasmania there are great numbers of beetles throughout the whole season. The cockchafers, tea tree and soldier beetles, the black click beetle, and many others. This is a good generic beetle, dry fly imitation. This fly could stand alongside the Red Tag. Hook: size 8 - 1 Body: dark palmer cock hackle, tied in from the tail to head. Some clipping, especially under and over the hackle, is required. Wing Case: black raffia or dark or black duck wing is pulled over the whole lot from tail to head, before the last hackle is tied on. Hackle: dark [...]
Palmered Red Spinner Dry Fly
Palmered Red Spinner - Dry Fly The Palmered Red Spinner (or variant of the Macquarie Red) fly shows up well in the water as a good attracter when the Red Spinner are in numbers on the wing. This fly was made famous by Max Christensen on the Macquarie Red Spinner (Atalophlebia Australis) Hook: size 12 Tail: ginger fibres from the longer, broader hackles of the cape Body: red seals fur Thorax: black silk Hackle: palmered ginger tied through, stout ginger at front
Early season on Four Springs
Four Springs. After a couple of short drifts and no action, we moved further across the lake and spotted a wind lane. Kylie kept in touch with a slow retrieve to get a solid hookup on her first Tasmanian brown trout.
Hard fighting wild trout
Between Christmas and new year, warm breezy conditions put a number of beetles on Great Lake, and coupled with a nice cloud cover, lead to good surface activity. Harry and Jim twitched large hopper style dry flies to land a number of fine, hard fighting brown and rainbow trout.
Hunting wild browns on Great Lake
Carey was on the hunt for wild browns in bright conditions on Great Lake. Big bushy flies are drawing the Great Lake fish up in the absence of any significant beetle hatches. Most essential is allowing them to take the offering and begin descending. Carey locked up on this wild brown in a wind protected bay, not far from shore.
Penstock Lagoon, early summer
We were on Penstock Lagoon, in Tasmania's central highlands, working from the shore during a very modest dun hatch. Jonathan's controlled, accurate casting with an emerger mayfly pattern, on a relatively short line, to risers that came within reach, produced tow outstanding brown trout for the session.