Learning to fly fish
Fly Fishing workshops start off with a chat about trout foods such as fish, snails, and insects etc., that are part of the trout's diet, and the flies we use to imitate them. We show you how to make those imitations move on or in the water. Participants get an overview of fly fishing gear, how to use it, how to present a fly. For beginners, casting instruction and practice starts on the grass, and then we add water! Our workshops are ideal for beginners, as well as those who would like to hone their existing skills. If learning to [...]
Late spring on Four Springs
After some particularly warm to hot, clear bright days the number of mayfly hatching and spinners returning to lay eggs have dropped off on Four Springs Lake. However there were enough insects showing in small pockets to get a few fish picking off these mayfly. Pictured is one nice brownie at 48 cm. Part way through the fight the hook became dislodged and caught the adipose fin leading to a long and drawn out dramatic battle. We enjoyed homemade fish and chips for dinner. The fly I used was a possum fur emerger. Image: Gary France
Life Cycle of the Tasmanian Mayfly
In Tasmania, developing a sense around what trout foods are available, where and when, increases the chances for success. Mayfly are in full swing from September/October on the lakes and rivers of the lowlands. The highlands follows a little later due to its altitude and climate. These mayfly hatches continue through to around March, peaking again on the lowlands through to the end of April and the season's close. Altitude plays a major role along with water and air temperature; changing light conditions, i.e. cloud cover; and wind and climate. Nymph The Nymph Nymphs live in the water [...]
Brothers in arms
Gary and his brother Colin spent some time on Four Springs one day during October. Bright blue sky and very calm, flat conditions with very few duns hatching, but spinner scattered over the water laying their eggs. Very exciting fishing, tracking these quality fish that move around and are hard to predict. Good mayfly spinner imitations and accurate fly placement will undo these fish. The black spinner fly pictured emphasises the long tails, sparse quill body, and minimal hackle. The hook is a size 12, and strong enough wire to handle these wild browns around the 2kg mark. The wing [...]
Great trout fishing in wet conditions
With three years of La Nina and other climatic factors, Australia has been swept with intense flooding across the eastern seaboard, extending right down into Tasmania. This has affected many of our waterways, including dramatic flood events on our northern and lowland river systems. Pictured here is the access to the central plateau via Poatina. Following a landslide, this shows the road after some clearing work and will take some time to be fully repaired. Fortunately we still have other access points to the central plateau, and on the upside many of these waters are reaching new high ground water [...]
Early September in Tassie’s northern lowlands
Water temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, and no sign of any real surface activity or insects. A bright clear day, so we adopted wet flies and worked on different retrieves, which undid a few fish, mainly close to shore. This fish is showing a recovery from some cormorant damage, has maintained condition and pulled strongly.
First time on fly for fishing mates
Dave with his wild brown trout Darryl and Dave had a couple of days learning to fly fish in Tassie. We included a lot of focus on line control, casting techniques, an overview of fly fishing. Putting their new skills into practice, Darryl and Dave both landed 2 nice fish. Darryl with his wild brown trout
Trout Territory fly fishing tours in Tasmania
Got a minute? That's all you need to check out this great little video about Trout Territory! Gary talks about Tasmania's beautiful trout fishery and how we can help anglers have a great time when they come fishing with us. This gorgeous video is filmed by IdeasbanQ as part of Tourism Australia's #NECIAUS program. Thank you Merel, Billie-Jo, and Dennis for your fabulous assistance!
Honeymoon on the fly
Newlyweds Tyler and Nicole have a go at fly fishing while on their honeymoon in Tasmania. Tyler and Nicole both caught on to casting and line control techniques rather quickly. This wild brown trout came to a wet fly. We were working on the fringes of deep areas to find fish that weren't really interested in looking up in these bright conditions. Here we were using a 2 fly rig with a bead-head weighted wet fly on the point. The fish missed one fly and caught the other fly behind the dorsal fin. Fish hooked this way are much harder [...]
Is fly fishing on your list?
Is fly fishing on your list of things to try? On our guided tours we'll teach you the basics of fly casting, fly selection, how to find the trout, how to make your fly behave so it looks good enough to eat (to a trout!) and much more! At the end of the day you'll have some new skills and quite possibly a new passion. Any time of year is a good time to learn! Peter and Kristine came this past January to learn fly fishing, and while there were some challenging conditions in Tassie’s highlands, they didn't let the [...]