Western Lakes walk — Jayden Donohue

Western Lakes

Day walk with Jayden Donohue

Generally, a 2:30 am alarm is something most people cringe at but when I know I’m having a day in the western lakes I don’t seem to mind at all. It takes an hour and a half walk into the first lake so setting off early is essential. I always like to think I’m going hiking not fishing because the fish part is not always guaranteed.

The Plan

Once I have decided to go on a day trip into the Western lakes, I always try to put a plan together as to where I will fish and how I might spend the day. Many hours can be lost fishing every lake or tarn you come across so I only fish the ones I have chosen for the day, otherwise, I would never get to my final destination in one day.

Midge Hatches

fishing is tough, I sometimes get lucky blind searching submerged boulders with a tiny midge fly early in the morning, it’s always a surprise when a trout eats the tiny fly I have presented and my rod loads up under its weight. I often find fish amongst submerged boulders so they are always worth a few blind casts if you have the time to do so. If you’re lucky enough, one might come up and sip down your tiny fly, making your day before it has really got started.

Decisions

When I have reached my chosen destination, I will try to make the correct decision as to which way I might fish around the lake and what areas would be worth looking at. Wind direction and speed, water levels and the position of the sun are all taken into consideration. If there is low light, I will walk along the shoreline of the shallow margins of a lake in hope of finding fish feeding in close to the bank, or even tailing trout waving their golden dorsal and caudal fins in full view, out of the water. Early starts to ensure the most opportunities for the days hike.

As I walk the shoreline with the sun at my back, I find a fish moving straight towards me, I take a few gentle steps back and wait for the fish to swim past. Once I’m out of sight, I start to chase the fish down from behind until I’m in the perfect position to make a cast. With a fine 4lb tippet and a size 16 parachute dun. I make the cast from behind the fish, delivering the fly just a couple of feet in front and to the right (offshore) of the fish’s shoulder. The fish barely deviates from its initial course slowly cruising over to suck the dun down. I wait until I see the head go back underwater, wait 3 seconds before lifting the rod to get the perfect hook set, it instantly takes off, jumps and peels off plenty of line. Fighting the fish lightly on a 4lb tippet, I soon have a respectful 3lb female brown trout laying in my net. I get great pleasure catching these fish but it’s just as good releasing them.

There is one thing that will always get the adrenaline pumping, the tiger snake. The largest snakes I’ve seen have all been on the Tasmanian Central Plateau. I like to be extra cautious around the edges of the lakes and tarns as this is where I mostly encounter them. They are usually ground-dwelling, but they can swim with ease. When you don’t accidentally get within biting range, these snakes are an absolute delight to see in the wild. The tiger snakes are highly venomous, the venom contains a blood clotting agent and a nerve paralyser, making them potentially fatal to humans.

Walking into a Mayfly Hatch

Moving along the lake with the sun now high in the sky black mayfly spinners start to fall, so I change my fly to a size 16 black spinner parachute style. It doesn’t take me long to find two browns picking off some black spinners in a calm pocket working around a partially submerged rock. I kneel behind some cover and watch them carefully, taking my time and trying not to rush the cast. I presented the fly in front of the larger fish and it comes up without hesitation and engulfed the fly, it turned, so I quickly lifted my rod to set the hook but my line came back slack. I had ruined that chance as both fish were spooked. Missing a fish is a huge heartbreak for any fly fisher. Doing almost everything right, finding the fish, making the perfect cast, fooling the fish and getting the eat only to mess up setting the hook. Fortunately, the good out ways the bad and it’s what fuels me to keep coming back hunting trout.

Only a few short kilometres later I stopped to have some lunch on a high bank. I could see most of the bay from my high vantage point as I sit back and enjoy my packet of noodles and tuna cooked in a jet boil. Almost instantly I could see a good size fish working a beat out in the middle of the bay. I kept a close eye on the fish while I finish my lunch which at this point had almost come within my casting range. I wait until the fish turns so I can haul the longest cast I possibly can, my cast fell short but luckily the fish must’ve sensed the spinner lightly hit the water. The fish wastes no time swimming over to the fly, eating it without hesitation. This time I make no mistakes with setting the hook, this fish was coming to the net. After a solid fight, another gorgeous looking 3 ½ lb female brown was landed. I took a quick photo and put her back into the water to continue eating mayflies. Chasing midge feeders as the sun begins to rise

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Soon after that, I moved to a big fish lake with the hope of maybe scoring a trophy trout while the bite was hot. I covered plenty of water on this lake and sat on several high banks in the hope of seeing a decent fish feeding. Unfortunately, I was unable to find that big brown in the limited time available. I decided to continue and start to make my way back. I was lucky enough to find a few more 2-3 lb fish feeding along a shoreline whilst walking out. The first one come straight up and ate the mayfly imitation. I waited and struck but I’d broken it off. The line may have been damaged from a previous fish, I should’ve kept an eye on my leader to look for abrasions and checked my knots because losing a fish to a snapped line hurts as much as missing one. After fixing my leader, I continued on. Coming up behind a decent size boulder, I spotted two decent buck browns chasing each other for the feeding rights of a calm crystal-clear deep pocket, loaded with black spinners. The larger male fish won the right to feed on the mayflies. My next cast was another perfect shot, the fish raised its head slowly and ate the fly. I set the hook, this fish was one of the best fighters I’ve had all day taking me straight to the backing in very little time. I was starting to wonder if I would actually land this fish but I managed to bring him to the net in the end. After that fish, I struggled with refusal after refusal, unable to get another eat so I decided to pack up and start the walkout, happy.

It is days like these that draw fly fishers of all ages into the Western Lakes and it’s what got me so addicted to sight fishing with a dry fly. Catching beautiful brown trout on a fly that I have tied myself, is the cherry on top. Blue sky days and brown trout, what more could you want!

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