Fly fishing

Catching up on posts from the season... Ed came back to Tassie for a few days for some more fly fishing adventures with us. This was late season, on Four Springs, a lowland lake. On this day mayfly were popping off in pockets here and there and a few fish were cashing in on the opportunity. Well presented emerger mayfly patterns resulted in a number of good hookups, and keeping a cool head throughout the action, Ed had no trouble bringing the fish to the net safely.        

Catching up on posts from the season.... It was in January and Christopher and Harry enjoyed three days of very clear skies and light winds. Low flows in some cases on the central plateau required a stealthy approach and high levels of patience to get the opportunities for these wild brown trout to eat the fly. Harry is pretty happy with this beautiful wild brown trout from a lake in the Nineteen Lagoons, on Tasmania's Central Plateau   Harry with a lovely wild brown from the Nineteen Lagoons region   Wading one of the many [...]

It was late April, and armed with a 3 weight rod and a grasshopper I set off for an afternoon fish on a stream no wider than a kitchen table. This small creek winds its way through the northern midlands. Once upon a time it was known as Penny Royal Creek. Occasionally we do come across some surprisingly good specimens. This fish was caught again and released by another angler a week later.

On this particular day earlier in April, it was hard to find enough mayfly on the surface or find any fish even looking for them. The tactic here was to find bust ups of small smelt spraying on the surface and the signs of charging trout. We hang in on the zone until they show again, then cast. Mark is pretty happy with this wild brown trout.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A mild to warm day and light winds, yet the water temperature was very cool as the water had spent the previous few days rising. We used small dry flies and small, unweighted nymph in this short session. This pic shows Fred creeping up on just a few fish sipping gently in calm conditions.