Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Issue 143 2020 November

November 2020 – January 2021

TASMANIAN FISHING and BOATING NEWS — ISSUE 143

Kids and Fishing Leven River Flathead — Facts

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Lure Cranking Techniques

Tasmanian Saltwater with Fly

$5.95

World Champion’s Techniques Jules Stevens with a super Lake Leake brownie.

The Fish That Ruined My Season

World Champion’s Winning Techniques – Part Two — Howard Croston

3

Luring Summer Trout — Nathan Huizing

8

Young Gun Lucas — Lubin Pfeiffer

11

Get Cranking — Jarvis Wall

13

Bottom Dwellers - Offshore Success — Scott Gray

17

Western Lakes Adventure – Tim Feely

23

I Ain’t Leven – Leven River — Casey Pfeiffer

27

Home Waters (salt) When You Can’t Travel — Marty Wells

32

Trout – Increase Your Catch Rate — Craig Rist

37

Trout - Two Techniques For Success — Lubin Pfeiffer

40

Getting - and Keeping Kids in Fishing — Kelly Hunt

48

The Fish That Ruined My Season — Nick Taransky

50

Recreational Marine Fishing News — Talking Flathead

54

Covid19 lockdown in Tasmania has not been so bad.

Outdoors, away from people was a pretty safe place to be - not that Tasmania was ever crowded, but with no incoming visitors social distancing was not too bad. All those that take a regular Winter fishing trip overseas Tourism has taken the biggest hit and it does show how vulnerable any industry can be. But many of the outdoors sports have not been too badly affected. In fact I am told that in USA an extra 10 million freshwater fishing licences have been sold - that is about a 20% increase. Many wholesalers have had trouble getting stock and most outdoor shops have had record trading.

That has also happened in Australia to a certain extent, but it has relied on States being open - and not in lockdown.

We - Tasmanians, have been able to fish and there has been some great sport. The trout season opened with some great catches and waters high on the list have been Four Springs, Leake (see cover shot), Bronte, Little Pine and Penstock Lagoon.

The lake that has had some great reports is Arthurs Lake. This has been a dud lake for a few years now probably due to rapidly fluctuating water levels, but that is another story.

The many shack owners and anglers that have fished it for years will be hopeful that the good reports keep coming over the next few months. The dun hatches are unlikely to be as they were in the 1990s, but caddis and terrestrials should be abundant enough to get fish looking up. Bait fishing and trolling always produced plenty of fish too, but it is unknown if the traditional weed beds are coming back.

Whilst there is no Arthurs Lake story in this magazine edition, I suggest you visit it and try your luck. The fishing may not be the same as it was and your old methods and techniques might need modifying.

The saltwater scene has been very good as well with plenty of squid, flathead and gummys around.

The State Government is currently working on a ten year vision for recreational marine fishing. There

has been opportunities to attend interpretation and discussion meetings and I was very impressed to attend one in Launceston that the Minister, Guy Barnett also attended. It is fantastic to see such interest from a Minister.

Will the direction and strategy satisfy everyone?

Not a hope, but at least there will be some targets and direction for a state where nearly 1 in 4 people have a regular fish.

Our Field Editor - Lubin has done an outstanding job selecting a wide range of stories covering a broad range of fish and fisheries. Read the stories comprehensively even if not your preferred method or fish. There are lesson in every one. There is a good overview of Tasmania’s favourite catch — flathead on page 54 and if you fly fish for trout read the first story

by World ChampionHoward Croston carefully. There are many lesson, tips and flies that work in this story.

Continue to stay safe.

Mike Stevens

Tasmanian Fishing and Boating News Published by Mike Stevens: PO Box 7504, Launceston, 7250.

Mike Stevens – P: 0418 129 949 or E: mike@tasfish.com 0r Field Editor Lubin Pfieffer - editor@tasfish.com Stevens Publishing, ABN 79 095 217 299 All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. Print Post approved; 100003074

Fishing News - Page 2

Mike Stevens talks fishing ABC Statewide Saturday mornings 6.40 a.m.

Subscriptions go to www.tasfish.com, phone Mike 0418 129 949 with your C/C handy or by Paypal to mike@tasfish.com - Two years $48

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My Journey to a World Title

Howard Croston planning his fishing session on the upper Meaner River. All photos courtesy Ben Carden.

World Champion, Howard Croston explains his tips, flies and techniques he used to win the World Fly Fishing Championships in Tasmania December 2019.

S

ession two saw me bound for the Meander River, a medium sized venue with a deceptively powerful flow and clear water, Well populated with wild browns, but not always equally distributed as is the norm in river-based sessions, and particularly apparent in the early season Tasmanian rivers. The draw would play a crucial role in obtaining a good result. My beat was number 4 a good draw as it turned out with around 400m of generally very fishy looking water on a fair gradient that created lots of pocket water over a large substrate bottom. The beat was split about two thirds

of the way up by a high bluff that made the access a bit tricky in places, but as I surveyed the water, I was quite hopeful for a good session.

I had ample time to prepare so spent a good hour walking the beat and formulating a plan, our river fishing practice, although useful had not been on representative waters, both the competition venues of the Meander and the Mersey where fairly unique in terms of size and fish stock. What we had discovered was that the fly was not all that important and as is often the case good watercraft and approach were key.

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Fishing News - Page 3

I set three rods up, the first being my Zephrus Ultralite 9’9” 4# with a WF4 floater and an 11ft Hand tied tapered butt section, this ended in a duo set up consisting of a large indicator sedge and a 3.5mm silver bead quill, the fly was a full bead size too heavy for the water but was the only way I could even hope to anchor my leader and fish effectively in the crazy strong wind.

My second set up being a prototype 10.8ft Nymph rod rated for a 0-2# line with a level euro-nymph style line and a long parallel leader of 0.20 in diameter, ending in a short section of indicator line of 0.17 with a two fly rig of a 3.5mm point fly and a 3mm dropper fly. My third rod was a spare Nymph set up in case I suffered any kind of disaster with my main line of attack.

As the session started, I slipped into the water at the bottom of my beat and started to systematically fish all the prime looking areas with my Double nymph rig to quickly try and assess the opportunity the good-looking water offered.

It quickly became apparent that although the water looked fantastic the fish density was either not as high as I expected or not as well distributed as the water suggested. I struggled for my first take until an accurate cast right under a very low hanging branch into a particularly good-looking pot gave up a nice brown.

The fish was recorded by Ben my controller (another great guy and keen angler) and I reasoned that tight to the banks under and around the heavy deadfall and large rocks that covered the banks may be the way forward. I snipped off my dropper at the knot to improve accuracy, shortened the drop to the point to improve take detection and restarted in the next likely spot, I fished 3 or 4 more good areas under cover for nothing, so back tracked and worked further out into the river covering pots and holes I had missed with a combination of a single heavy nymph or my Duo rod. The next fish took a nymph on the duo but on a downstream drift tight to a big rock. As my second fish was recorded I used the time to take stock, I was well into the first hour and with only two fish and a seemingly low fish population in the beat I needed to re-plan to have any chance of hitting my pre session target of 10 fish plus.

I waded out into the centre of the river and started a faster than usual zig zag pattern across the river, working shallow- deep - shallow again, switching rods depending on the general water type. After 1.45hrs gone I was up to 8 fish with two others dropped.

Comfortable with my recovery so far, I relaxed a little and slipped into a groove that I felt would probably see me reach mid-teens in the three hours with a lot of good looking water still to cover. As the time ticked by good pot after good pot failed to produce fish number 9 , slightly concerned at the sudden slow down I reached the bluff and needed to decide on back tracking or hiking over the hill and covering the last part of the beat that also held a few larger pools. With the decision Fishing News - Page 4

made I dropped down around the bluff and from my higher vantage point realised the water had started to colour slightly, this possibly being the reason for the slowdown in action. I switched my tippet back to a two-fly setup, both black gold bead flash backs as the water clarity had deteriorated further. I started to hit the prime looking water with multiple drifts and a slower progression through the good water than I had earlier in the session. This tactical change paid off and quickly fish number 9, then 10 then 11 came in the last 15 mins of the session from two small areas of particularly good-looking water.

Session over I signed for my last fish and folded my duplicate score card in four and stuffed in my pocket with the one from the day before, hoping to carry some luck. Eleven was less than expected, but certainly not a disaster and that evening placed me 4th in the group and 3rd overall with 5 place points.

That evening as we sat at our team meeting I gave little thought to my personal position, as a Team we had moved into 2nd place – only 1 point behind 1st and 16 points ahead of third. Our conversation that night revolved around holding onto that position as a team.

Day three dawned and I was off to Woods lake, the largest of the lakes in the event and one that was proving tougher than expected. I had good info from my teammates who had fished before me regarding possible areas and I made my call based on the wind, their findings and the maps we had produced ahead of the event. As we motored for the far end of the lake, waterspouts whipped down the middle of the lake and frequent storm force gusts battered the large sturdy aluminium boat of our controller Peter Rasmussen.

I had control and had taken the engine side of the boat putting my Spanish boat partner Julen Aguado on the point, this was a purely tactical decision as it put me closest to the bank side structure and hopefully the prime water of my intended drift.

We motored up wide and slow before cutting in at the top of the wind into the slack edge created by the tree line, as we trimmed the boat, I could see large amounts of weed with odd clear areas. I was rigged with my reliable Di3 sweep, a Magoo on top dropper, dabbler in the middle and a Bitch on point. As we started to drift, I noticed a strip of clearer water on the inside of the main weed line and quickly asked Peter to reverse us further in so I could fish down the “inside” line. As it was session three and fish had been caught late in session two in this area I reasoned that the inside line may have been missed or at least not fished as hard in what was quite an obvious area given the poor wind conditions on the lake.

Within a couple of casts, I had a solid contact and a big brown jumped clear of the water hooked on the top dropper, I played it as hard as possible fearing the weed and let out a shout of relief as it went in the net less than a minute later.

Recorded and released, Peter bumped the boat back in tight as the swirly wind in the relative shelter of the trees was playing havoc with our drift, a few casts later two strips into my retrieve Fish number two nailed the point fly and again went airborne towards the weeds, giving me the same “all or nothing “ option, despite applying maximum pressure this one gave me a few tense minuets around the weeds as it refused to give in, eventually and again with much relief it made the net- a great start to the session .

Then followed probably the most frustrating 3 hours of the event to that point. No matter what we did we could not get that boat to drift even remotely straight.

The wind in our chosen area became so extreme and variable that we managed no more than two casts each before having to reposition sometimes not even one!

We drifted diagonally, backwards, left, right you name it – if I put us close to the bank we were blown into it. If Peter set us up further off we were propelled out towards the middle of the lake.

During the constant battle for boat control Julen managed to level the score at two fish each, both taken as the boat swept his flies round in an arc as we battled the wind, not really a repeatable tactic we could build on.

Suddenly from nowhere a brief window of steady wind appeared and we managed one short drift into the bank, we both had two maybe three offers to the flies from what seemed to be much smaller fish, none of them actually staying hooked but it gave us hope for improving conditions. No sooner had we started our second drift back came the wind and we turned 180 degrees and drifted right into the bank again, fouling the engine. Frustrated, we made the call and ran for the far end of the lake with only 40 mins left.

As we arrived it became apparent it was a mistake, the water had been heavily coloured by a combination of boat traffic and wind that had beaten the water into a mix of weed filled coco, it looked hopeless. We both made speculative casts and immediately both stripped in 3 strands of broken weed each, another cast another 3 strands of broken weed, with time dangerously short and a fairly unimpressive 2 fish each landed, Julen indicated for me to take control of the boat again, for probably our last drift of the session.

Faced with no easy choice I asked Peter to run us as fast as legally possible back to the area we had contacted the smaller fish. As we motored, I retied my cast dropping the streamers down to a size 12 hook and the middle dropper down to a size 14 dabbler.

Peter turned the boat onto the drift and I saw a small fish jump from the water close to the bank. Quickly I stripped more line from the reel to reach it before we again blew out into the lake, two strips in I felt the take but this time the fish stayed hooked, as I stripped

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the line in long smooth pulls with the rod held low to the water I could tell from the resistance and the fairly weak fight that the fish was borderline measurable at the very best, as the fish approached the boat I lifted the rod and swung the small brown over the net, as the fish hit the mesh and the pressure came off the hooks, all three flies blew out of the net.

Peter hunched over the measuring tray trying to get an accurate measurement in the moving boat – the wait was painful but eventually 20.1 cm was announced, and the fish presented in the tray for Julen to check as it was so close.

Signing for the fish I quickly started to fish again, two casts later and it was over. Three fish I felt was not enough, again I folded my score card and stuffed in the same pocket, hoping for a break. That night when the results where posted I was pleasantly surprised to see a 7th place finish, my 21cm fish saving me 6 place points.

Little did I know but two days later that 21cm fish would be one of the three most important fish of my life.

The last two sessions.

At the end of day three Team England had slipped to 5th place, although a fall of three places it was a long way from a disaster and still with everything to play for. Individually my 7th place on Woods Lake helped me stay in medal contention and with 12 place points for three sessions fished, I was only trailing bronze by 2 points and Gold by 4 as I sat in 4th place overall.

Session 4, day 4 for my group was the Mersey River and again the draw was a contributing factor to the results with an uneven spread of fish in some areas. For this session, three separate buses were used and anglers sent to the relevant bus by the rough area that they would fish, prior to the actual beat draw being announced.

Over the prior three days it became clear if you where directed to board the first bus you had drawn the higher, more difficult beats in this particular sector and whilst your fate wasn’t sealed it would be an uphill struggle against the lower beats. As I was called and directed towards the first bus in the line my heart sank a little, as did the other 8 anglers who boarded the same bus.

As we sat waiting, I recalled to myself the number of times that I have previously seen “sleeper” beats appear mid competition. “Sleeper beats” are beats that fail to produce a good result in an event until session 4 or even 5, for any number of reasons, including the ability of the anglers who have fished them prior, changing water and weather conditions and even fish movement from one beat to another. As I reassured myself all was not lost the sector judge boarded the bus, shouted “everybody off - wrong bus” and we were directed to the last bus in the line. It was nine relieved anglers that settled in for the drive to the river.

I arrived at my beat having been decanted from the bus into my controller’s car, along with Bernie Maher

Howard drew Beat 4 for the second session on the Meander. the team reserve and stand in Captain. It was a long beat with two areas of good-looking water and a fair amount of “B” water as a fall back. Walk through complete and with a few moving fish spotted I set up 4 rods, The duo, the Single nymph on a level Euro style leader of 0.17 with a 0.12 tippet and two fall back rods of a single dry fly and a double streamer set up – both of these really being last resorts. As I set my gear up I asked Bernie to sit and watch a wide flat at the upper end of the beat for rising fish and to position my Dry Fly rod in a tree close to the best looking water in case I needed to resort to plan B. With thirty mins to go I asked Bernie to watch the flat and only come and get me if the fish became active, as acting captain the only support Bernie can offer is verbal during the actual session. I walked quickly to the end of the beat and settled in, sitting on a large rock at the very end of my beat behind a wall of hard to penetrate brush directly opposite a nice run that marked the end of my beat.

My controller shouted go and I flicked my Duo rig into a perfect mid river seam, a short drift and the dry slid away, I struck and a large brown went airborne hooked on the nymph before it ran down stream out of bounds, a few frantic minuets later, including me fully submersing as I slid off my rock into much deeper water than I expected, then the fish bolting back upstream between my legs it hit the net and I was on the card.

I worked upstream through the “B” water – prospecting quite quickly where I had seen some smaller fish move but pushing to reach the “A” water within 30 mins, On route a large fish head and tailed tight to a big rock over deep water, I hung back a few moments to see if the wind would drop – it didn’t so I covered the fish with the Duo and immediately saw a big flash

below the dry as it ate the Nymph, again this one ran me ragged before making the net, again on the thread quill nymph, checking my watch I had burned more time than expected so skipped a chunk of the average water to try and get back on track.

As I hit the “A” water it seemed suspiciously quiet, that said the wind was incredibly strong, actually picking flies, leader , line the whole lot out on the water on more than one occasion and I was struggling for any real control. I switched rods from Duo to heavy single nymph a couple of times to gain better control but to no real avail. Reaching the top of the run I found some fish, landing three but losing four on the duo, mainly due to the horrendous wind robbing me of any kind of contact- it was so bad it actually blew two of them off the hook as they jumped in play, something I have never seen happen before.

With 5 on the card and the obvious “A” water about expended I looked upstream at the wide shallow run above me, on the walk down it looked good, but it became clear it was shallower than expected. With time running out I decided to increase work rate and ditched my nymph rod on the bank, re-rigged my Duo to the minimum permissible length between flies (50cm), cut the dry fly dropper down to 4cm to increase indication speed and over weighted the point fly to 3.5mm -way too heavy for the shallow run, but the only way I could get my flies consistently in play with any kind of accuracy and contact . I started to work fast -crouching, occasionally kneeling and peppering anything that looked promising with short drifts. As I moved upstream I started to find fish and big ones at that, fantastic quality Browns hiding in 5-6” of water – the 3.5mm nymph actually fished well and didn’t foul bottom too much as the wind pushed the leader

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Fishing News - Page 5

and large dry downstream balancing out the overly heavy nymph and giving me a workable drift of sorts, when the wind dropped back I held more line clear of the water with my prototype 10.8ft Hardy Ultralite nymph rod and “carried “ the nymph through the thinner water .

I still lost a couple of fish, but another 7 made the card and as I signed for the last one as the session expired my controller remarked they had been the biggest fish he had seen in four days of controlling the beat and the only ones caught in the areas I had fished, despite other good anglers fishing the same water. Until one of us catch’s a talking fish some things will always just remain a mystery, but my gut feeling was the rivers had started to switch on following a few days of warmer weather at lower altitude and those larger fish simply hadn’t actively fed in the earlier sessions.

As we drove back to the bus pick up point I silently cursed my lost fish fearing they had cost me many points, as it happened I came 2nd in the group helped by my larger fish beating the 13 caught by Vojtech ungr of Czech, Julen Aguado of Spain had also drawn well and fished exceptionally well to score 21 fish and win the session.

That night at our final Team meeting we stood in 8th position 23 points away from the Team medals, not impossible to recover but unlikely. Individually I had moved into 1st place by a single point ahead of Valario Santi Amantini of Italy. The Team rallied round and gave me every drop of info they could from the previous 4 sessions on Little Pine Lagoon, I tied three flies and hit the sack.

DAY 5 On the final morning as the bus headed to little pine it started to really sink in that I was fishing to be world champion, a position that I had been close to before and a situation I had dreamed about many times, and

as this was a boat session my fate was in my own hands to a degree. My mind raced as I reviewed the venue info over and over again, halfway to the lake I realised my mind set of the last few days had contributed to my success and as pressured a situation as it was if I just “Fished” I would probably perform better than if I tried to force it and with that I put my note book and comp map away and attempted to switch off .

My boat partner was Rene Koops a great guy I know well but a left hander with a low side arm casting style that effectively put me on the pointy end of the boat for the whole session, not ideal as I had found far more success fishing the engine side. As we motored out for our first drift I looked for Valario, by chance as well as sitting in 2nd place he was also in my group meaning in four hours I would know if he had overtaken me or not, I couldn’t see him and decided that wasn’t a bad thing.

We started our drift over the clearer water of the incoming river, a hot spot on Pine that had produced well, unfortunately so did everyone else and fresh water was at a premium. Two drifts in I had a fish on the card but Rene had 3 with probably three times as many moved by pulling an orange lure and sparkler combo at high speed on a slow intermediate, whilst I had stuck to my di 3 and streamer / dabbler set up.

I changed to similar tactics but just couldn’t generate the same amount of interest , as I had control of the boat we switched ends but with Rene’s bad shoulder and low arm casting style we just couldn’t make it work with too many tangles to be effective . Reluctantly I went back to the point.

With time ticking and fresh water becoming increasingly hard to find in the “good” area I made a big call and we bolted for the opposite end of the lake that despite being heavily coloured hadn’t been fished that day. I changed lines to a slow intermediate but kept my Hot Head Shrek (Mike Dixon’s variant he had won Little Pine with and the fly I had tied the night before), a Dabbler in the middle and an orange beaded black streamer on point.

First drift at the top of the lake and just as we were about to turn the boat for another drift my flies pulled through an unseen weed bed in the brown water, I quickly cleared the flies and threw short to try and fish close to the hidden structure, one pull and everything locked solid as a big brown thrashed the surface hooked on the orange bead head, with my adrenaline racing before I realised it I had bullied the fish

My Meander controller - Ben Carden Fishing News - Page 6

into the net, at 49.5 cm and thickly set pressuring it into the net was probably the right move in the shallow weedy water. Relieved I set another drift and Rene quickly took another fish in the same area whilst I momentarily hooked another one that thrashed free in the shallow water.

After a quiet drift or two we slid closer to the dam wall, as soon as the boat settled, I hit another fish on Mike’s Green headed Shrek and after a few heart stopping leaps and one botched netting attempt number three made the card. Rene was now sitting on 4 fish and with only 30 mins left and a slowdown in action we decided to run back to the favoured area at the bottom of the lake for a last few drifts.

When we arrived it became clear it was still a busy area so we started our drift well back behind the pack and Rene quickly took fish number 5 within a few casts, as the minutes ticked down I fished the hardest I had for 4 days – one back, cast, pull and hang, constantly working the angles and practically willing a fish to take but cast after cast nothing. Starting to despair slightly and feeling my chances start to slip away I felt a slight pluck towards the end of the retrieve as I came onto the hang, concentrating I hung the flies and jigged them slightly, eyes straining on the line for an indication, nothing …. I made a blind strike before recasting (something that Steve Cullen had found to produce fish in practice) but made no contact. I dropped the rod tip slightly for a second to shake some weed that had fouled the rod tip free and then threw a roll cast to clear the flies, nothing happened and the flies remained buried, half knowing the probable reason I hit the roll cast again as hard as I could whilst frantically stripping to recover the line I had shot into my aborted roll cast unsure if I was pinned in weed or….. as the line came tight the fish cleared the water with the Hot head Shrek clearly visible in the end of its nose. As soon as I regained tension the fish shot upwind behind the boat towards the drogue forcing me to bury the rod over the front of the boat to prevent fouling the hull, as you would expect this fish made me sweat, boring deep into the weed and constantly trying to get under the boat before eventually dropping into the net.

With no more than a few minuets left we had one more short drift and that was it — the 2019 World Fly Fishing Championships was over and I could do no more. For the last time I folded my copy of the score sheet into the same pocket as the previous 4 and made the short motor back to the landing point.

As we beached, I was collared by other competitors looking for scores – mainly trying to work out their own placings, but a few wondering if I had done enough individually, an impossible question to answer at that stage!

Talking with the Canadian captain I learned that Valario had suffered boat trouble so was still out on the lake, as I pressed him he revealed they had been watching him fish and seen two fish caught in no more than 15 mins, with my score of 4 hard won fish I felt a sense of dread that maybe I just hadn’t done enough.

Trying to keep busy I helped Tim Urbanc one of the

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boat men and our guide in the practice week to haul his boat out of the lake whilst scanning the horizon for Valario, eventually the boat appeared and as I grabbed the front end to help it beach Valario gave the universal point of the finger signal for “how many fish”, I held up 4 fingers and he shook my hand “only 3” . Although Valario was my most immediate threat David Garcia of Spain was only 3 points a drift so my brief relief and elation was quickly replaced with uncertainty.!

Mandatory end of session beer consumed we boarded the bus and I prepared for the torture of waiting for the official results. I have to say the bus drive back was the most stressful part of the whole event. Former World Champion Marek Walczyk from Poland was also on my bus and quickly started to call around the other coachs for the scores.

After 15 or so minutes he waved and gave me a thumbs up followed by “You are world Champion by 1 point”, the bus cheered and started to stamp there feet but I still had my doubts until the official results were published. Twice in my competition career I have been congratulated for winning a major event , once a rivers national and once a rivers international, on both occasions quirks in the scoring saw me miss first place by a point or two and I was well aware in an event as tight as a world championships and with information often coming second or third hand and occasionally even false information being circulated the result was far from clear at this point.

When we arrived at the hotel I was swamped by many of my fellow competitors many asking the impossible question “Have you done it” , exhausted from the last 5 days but sky high on adrenaline I couldn’t cope so grabbed the rest of the England team and retreated to a small restaurant and bar around the corner to eat and try and stay calm until the results where official.

About an hour into dinner I started to receive dozens of Facebook messages and notifications, picking my phone up expecting either a wave of commiserations or congratulations I was met with more uncertainty …

Facebook comments questioning who had “Actually won” – following one of the links it became clear that the image of the official results had been posted blurred and unreadable ! whilst the team huddled around trying to second guess the blurred image a clear one was posted ….

PLACE

NAME

TEAM

PLACINGS

POINTS

FISH NO

LONGEST FISH

1

France

FRA

190

109420

144

576

2

Czech Rep.

CZE

191

108040

146

583

3

Spain

ESP

192

111220

150

538

4

Finland

FIN

204

100920

134

545

5

Italy

ITA

212

98720

129

574

6

USA

USA

220

92300

118

542

7

Australia

AUS

222

109420

134

575

8

England

ENG

233

96220

122

542

9

Slovakia

SVK

236

96600

129

523

10

Ireland

IRL

237

82180

104

616

11

South Africa

RSA

260

74520

97

533

12

Poland

POL

267

72480

94

575

13

New Zealand

NZL

301

59980

74

527

14

Scotland

SCO

322

60440

72

537

15

Belgium

BEL

328

59420

74

570

16

Nederland

NED

363

46180

59

505

17

Luxembourg

LUX

389

37440

48

542

18

Canada

CAN

395

36180

43

540

19

Kiribati

KIR

406

35120

44

550

20

Japan

JPN

413

34460

42

580

21

Mongolia

MGL

417

30800

39

510

22

Wales

WAL

424

33640

45

531

I had done it — not by one point, but drawn on points with a higher fish point score, the tightest of margins possible to make me 2019 World Fly Fishing Champion.

The closing ceremony was a grand affair and the best I have ever attended, with the medals presented Marek tapped me on the shoulder and said “We must take the picture” and with that I was welcomed, in his words, into “The most exclusive fishing club in the world”.

I owe many people thanks and it would be impossible to list them all, but I must call out the Team who did a sterling job under a great deal of adversity and pressure, the host organisers for laying on an incredible event and my girlfriend, Lucy for putting up with the many hours of practice and weeks away from home competing, my Uncle Sid who encouraged my interest in fly tying and my late father Eric who sadly didn’t live to see me become world champion but without whom I wouldn’t have had the chance to pick up a fly rod.

As I write this locked in the house due to the Corona Pandemic, the incredible month I spent in Tasmania last Nov/ December last year seems a million miles away and frankly it still hasn’t sunk in fully.

I always said if I managed to medal individually in a world championship to compliment my Team gold from 2009 and Team Bronze from 2014 I would happily retire …… maybe not just yet though …

Howard Croston

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Fishing News - Page 7

Black soft plastics are the ‘Go To’ when stalking trout on lures.

Luring Summer Trout

By Nathan Huizing

W

ith the days beginning to get both longer and warmer, now is a great time to get out and start exploring the never-ending list of trout waters throughout Tasmania. The arrival of summer generally brings lower river levels, allowing anglers to access stretches of water that were potentially inaccessible in the months prior. With the temperature rise also comes a rise in insect activity and the rivers and lakes of Tasmania come alive with fish sipping the water’s surface and cruising the shallows in search of an easy feed!

Locations There a too many great trout waters too explore in Tasmania but listed below is a select few of some of my personal favourites during summer.

Lake Echo - This lake can really turn it on in the warmer months. Not only does this lake support a healthy population of trout, but redfin perch also call this lake home and as the water warms up the juvenile perch become more active and move into Fishing News - Page 8

the shallows. This is when some of the larger trout in the lake are often found cruising along the driftwood littered shoreline in search of some easy protein! This lake is also known for some great gum beetle hatches and actively searching the wind lanes for feeding fish can be quite productive!

Styx River - One of the several tributaries of the Derwent River, the Styx can be a highly productive system with smaller fish being plentiful and the odd bigger fish thrown in the mix. The Styx can be quite difficult to wade and because of this, it is mostly inaccessible in the cooler months when river levels tend to be higher. As the levels begin to drop coming into summer, anglers can explore this river more thoroughly and find some great fishing to be had in sections of river that haven’t seen any anglers for several months.

Great Lake - One of the more popular lakes in Tasmania, Great Lake is a huge body of water and due to its size and a rather barren appearance, it can be a little daunting trying to figure out where to start

on this lake. Fortunately, the insect life that summer brings, accompanied by a bit of wind can help you locate these fish much more easily if you know what to look for. A method called ‘Sharking’ is a very popular approach on this lake and involves seeking out fish in the open water that can be found feeding along foam lines that form on the surface of the lake during these windier periods Western Lakes - The Western Lakes can be a great option over the summer period, particularly for anglers who enjoy sight fishing. Lakes Ada and Augusta are both great options for sight fishing with lures as the bottom mostly consists of sand and silt which makes it easy for spotting the shadow of a cruising trout! For those who are a little more adventurous, a little further out into the Western Lakes are the Julian Lakes. While these lakes are more known for their exceptional fly fishing opportunities, lure fishing out here can also be highly productive and the average size fish is often worthwhile!

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The Styx River is a perfect summer option

Rod and Reel Selection For just about all of my trout fishing, I tend to stick with a fast action 2.1-2.2 metre rod with a 1-3kg line rating. It is important that you also use a rod that has a softer tip. The softer tip is very important for absorbing the leaps and headshakes that trout often do throughout a fight in an attempt to throw the hooks. The soft tip is particularly important if you’re using small hardbody lures with small trebles which often pull out easier. Not only will the softer tip help you stay attached to a fish but it will also aid your ability to cast smaller lures tremendously. When it comes to reel selection, I run a 1000 or 2500 sized reel spooled up with 3kg or 4kg braid. When deciding on a reel, make sure to choose one with a smooth drag. A smooth drag, just like the soft rod tip, will ensure that your connection to the trout throughout the fight will remain as smooth as possible and will increase your chances of landing the fish

pattern rigged on a light jighead (1/20th or lighter) is a great option. When stalking a feeding fish it can be important to take a moment to observe it’s behaviour and plan your attack. Ideally, you want to wait until the fish is feeding with its head turned away from you, then make a long cast diagonally up past the fish and bring your presentation across his field of vision!

Working the rocky shorelines and in amongst the timber with shallow diving hardbody minnows is a method that tends to work well throughout most of the season with summer being no exception. As mentioned, the warmer water often brings an increase in juvenile redfin activity which happens to be a favourite prey item of trout so using redfin pattern lures at this time of year can be a handy tip and has worked well for me in the past!

Another great method at this time of year is topwater fishing and there are several ways this can be utilised. On smaller rivers such as the Styx I’ve found small paddler style lures to be very effective when cast upstream and retrieved down shallow riffles with a steady wind. This technique only gives the trout a split second to decide as the lure goes over its head which often results in some spectacular hookups as the trout slashes at the lure. These same paddler or cicada style lures could also be used when sight fishing for fish feeding out in the foam lines on both Great Lake and Echo. These fish can often be very opportunistic when feeding amongst the foam and a well-presented cicada look-alike is unlikely to be refused!

Lure Fishing in Summer While the selection of lures I use throughout Summer often remains the same as the ones I’d use in the cooler months, the way I hunt trout with them can differ. Coming out of spring and into early summer, the water levels in some lakes (particularly out West) can still be relatively high. Stalking the edges of these lakes and searching for tailing fish, bow waves and moving shadows can be very exciting. Fish exhibiting this behaviour are often feeding on things such as tadpoles, frogs and Galaxia. This is when a lightly weighted soft plastic can be quite effective!

A two-inch grub style or threeinch T-Tail minnow in a black

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Fishing News - Page 9

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Young Gun

Lucas’s best fish to date, a beautiful brown trout from Four Springs Lagoon

Interview with a Young Gun - Lucas Loves Fishing

By Lubin Pfeiffer

I

n the summer of 2019, I had the pleasure of spending a couple days with an amazing young angler named Lucas Stancombe. My wife Casey was hosting a river clinic on the Mersey river and Lucas was one of the attendees. The first thing that stood out to be was Lucas’ natural ability, this young guy could fish! At only 11 years of age he had the fishing skill of someone many years his senior, and Lucas not only fly fished, he also fished with conventional tackle as well! It was fantastic to see someone of his age so willing to learn new techniques and pick them up so easily, especially euro nymphing, which Lucas gained control with his flies, managed line and caught fish almost instantly. A feat that would take any experienced angler a long time to master. After catching a few fish on the nymph, we decided to tie on a grass hopper as there was a few fish rising in a particular stretch of the Mersey. Confidence is key in fishing and while I suggested a shorter drift as it would be easier manage the line, Lucas spied a

prime feeding zone, on the far bank, and proceeded to perfectly place the grass hopper right across the river!

The fly drifted down, the fish came up right on cue and slurped the hopper down. In the sport of fly fishing we need as many new young anglers as we can get, so I thought it would be great sit down (on computers in different states) and have a chat to Lucas about why he loves fishing. Lucas is based in Launceston which is a fantastic place to be as an angler both for freshwater and saltwater fishing.

Lucas, what got you started fishing?

My Mum and Dad took me fishing.

What is your favourite type of fishing and why?

Dry fly fishing because I love seeing the trout come up and crush it.

Tell me about your first trout on fly?

The first fish I caught was a brown trout out the St Patricks River at Myrtle Park. I saw someone catch one so I got the fly rod out. I saw a few fish rising as I was fishing upstream. I got frustrated because they wouldn’t take my fly until I found a nice pool of water where I watched one slowly approach the fly and ate it.

Do you have a favourite saltwater fish?

Australian Salmon are my favourite saltwater fish to catch. When the birds are working and the salmon are boiling at the top of the water it’s exciting to throw a soft plastic at them.

Do you have a favourite place?

St Patrick’s River and Penstock Lagoon. There’s lots of fish there.

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Fishing News - Page 11

I know you’ve started tying flies, how did you get into this and what is your favourite fly to tie?

My Mum encouraged me to tie flies whilst we were at home so I had something to do other than fishing. My favourite fly to tie is a pheasant tail nymph on a jig hook, very simple but very effective.

What are your goals for the future? Do you have a fish you’d really like to catch, start competition fishing or travel to a particular place to fish?

I would like to compete in the fly fishing comps and travel around Australia fly fishing. Trout are my favourite so I really want to catch more species of them.

Do you think the opportunities for young anglers in Tasmania are good or bad and why?

Tasmania is great because everything is so close.

You just have to get out there and work hard for your fish. I have heaps of people who support me so I get to go fishing every weekend and almost every day in the holidays.

Do you have a mentor for your fishing or anglers you inspire to, and why?

Definitely Lubin! He is the best fly fisherman in Australia and the best guide I have ever had.

What’s your best capture to date and how did it all go down?

There was a nice looking trout feeding on duns at Four Springs Lagoon. I put a cast two metres in front of where it looked like he was going. I couldn’t see him approach it but out of nowhere he came up and slurped down my dun pattern. I struck and the fish was going crazy trying to wrap me around the weed. It put a massive bend into the Primal fly rod and slowly started to come up off the bottom until I had him in the net. After taking a few photos I let him go and he was back on his way.

Great to see such enthusiastic young anglers in action

I’d really like to thank Lucas for the interview and his mum Lucy for organising it for us. There is much to be learned from young anglers as they pay a huge role in the future of fishing in Australia.

What I took out of the interview was the visual part of fishing is the most exciting for Lucas. Whether it is watching a trout rise to a dry fly or watching a school of Australian salmon boiling on the surface before casting a lure at them. Hopefully this sort of information can give other parents ideas of ways they may also be able to encourage their kids to get excited about fishing. Tasmania has endless great fishing opportunities and the more kids we can see out on the water the better. If you would like to see more of Lucas’s fishing achievements, just follow his Instagram page @lucas_loves_fishing

Lucas holds one of many trout he caught during a training clinic on the Mersey river Fishing News - Page 12

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Get Cranking - not cranky Cranking Estuaries and Bays

By Jarvis Wall

U

sing crankbaits is a technique and lure style that usually goes under the radar here in Tasmania but it should never be overlooked as it’s one of the most effective and fun methods of lure fishing for finicky fish in shallow or mid-range water.

Target Species As a general target species you’ll predominantly be looking for Southern Black Bream and the Silver Trevally, these are two very exciting prospects as they are both very much at home in the skinny water where I’ve found the crankbaits to work best and they can pull some serious string on the light gear! But, this won’t rule out other species, you’ll be likely to encounter Sand and Southern Bluespot Flathead, Leatherjackets, Australian Salmon, Tailor and even Luderick and King George Whiting are realistic targets on these versatile lures at the right time of year.

Locations Tasmania’s East Coast can be exceptionally good and it’s a great ground to heighten your skills as there’s generally a good number of fish life up in the shallower areas. Places like St Helens and George’s bay can be amazing at times, the bay is littered with sand flats and acres of broken weed beds that hold good populations of Black Bream, Silver Trevally, King George Whiting, Australian Salmon and Tailor. The channel edges can be extremely productive on certain days, you can encounter Silver Trevally up to very large sizes and in the current, there isn’t much that pulls harder in our estuaries on light tackle. Ansons Bay is another fantastic location, the variety of fishing opportunities are many for such a small body of water. You can fish the shallow flats for big Black Bream and also the channel into the bay which holds good numbers of Silver Trevally as well. There are also plenty of good cranking areas up the river on the sunken timber or around the deeper edges

for Black Bream, Silver Trevally and the occasional Pinky Snapper. Little Swanport and the Swan River are also fantastic Black Bream fisheries and cranking the sand flats can be incredible amounts of fun. Cranking around the shallow oyster leases can be very deadly too, but can also get very expensive if some of the big bruisers decide they don’t want to come out from their barnacle and oyster encrusted homes.

Along the North Coast and North West Coast, there are great options for Black Bream and King George Whiting in the shallows. Big Southern Bluespot Flathead can take a liking to these little lures at times too on the right day, particularly when fishing over broken weedbeds. Some really large Black Bream show up at times on the North Coast rivers and are very much at home moving up into the shallows, they are incredibly spooky and difficult prospects to get a bite out of without blowing your cover which makes for a

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Fishing News - Page 13

rewarding experience if you do manage to land one. Fish over the 2-kilogram mark are not uncommon but they are very localised in where they hang out.

King George Whiting is an interesting target as it’s a bit out of the ordinary to think they take lures but they are quite common catches on prawn style soft plastics so don’t be fooled, they will happily smack a prawn pattern imitation crankbait. They’re usually only the smaller fish but it’s still very fun and a great clean way of catching a feed of them without the bait side of it.

In the south of the state, there are great opportunities, mainly so in the mighty Derwent River. The Derwent River is undoubtedly one of the countries most famed and reputable Black Bream fisheries and crankbaits have a very successful hit rate when used in the right place at the right time. Whether it’s down in the lower system fishing over cleaner water and bottom-up shallow or up the river on rocky shores and shallow rock flats they seriously work.

Time of year The time of year plays a massive part in crankbaits for me as I’ve found the cooler winter months deter the fish going up shallow into the colder water as much as they do when it’s warm in Summer, especially the Black Bream as this is generally when they move higher up systems to reproduce. Cranking the edges of channels can still produce good numbers of Silver Trevally on the East Coast bays like George’s bay in winter but for me, I believe late Spring into Summer is the best by far. The Black Bream thicken up in the shallows and more of the summer species like King George Whiting and the Southern Bluespot Flathead come into the estuaries and go up into the shallows as well. Plus it’s also far more enjoyable if you’re wading!

Areas

Electric motors provide control and stealth while fishing crankbaits Fishing News - Page 14

Areas can many but there’s a very simple rule which I like to follow, and that’s if you’re casting over broken weed or scattered weedbeds you’re in the right area. Especially when looking for Black Bream and Silver Trevally.

If you keep searching the areas that hold weedbeds or even other broken ground like shell grit or shallow rocky bottom with oysters you’ll find fish.

That’s not to say a desert-like sand flat

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won’t hold fish either and at times they can be very productive grounds, especially when sight casting to slow, mooching fish which is incredibly fun.

Drop-offs from a shallow flat into a deeper channel or just deeper water can be very productive too, this is predominantly where I’ve encountered fish like big Silver Trevally, Salmon, Tailor and more of your mixed bag kind of species.

Retrieval and Technique This is where crankbait style lures can perform in a class of their own.

They are very versatile in the ways they can be fished but there are three retrieves that you really need to know and then you can find your own variations off them. Number one is the slow flat wind to pause. This is what I’d be using if I was fishing a wide-open sand flat where I’d be just grubbing the bib of the crank into the sandy bottom creating a smoke trail behind the lure which may draw any attention in from longer distances. Every five or six winds chucking in a pause to let the fish eat it if they are following.

Number two is the draw and pause.

This is a favourite of mine fishing over those broken weedbeds and scattered bottom. Just one slow draw sideways of the rod and pause, wind up the slack and repeat, it’s so simple yet super effective on Bream and Trevally as you let the lure suspend for longer over the broken bottom. Number three is what I’d go fishing one of those dropoffs into deeper water, fairly similar to retrieval number one but here I’ll use a crankbait with a deeper diving bib so I just plough into the bottom with the two or three twitches I’ll give the lure, I’ll then let it sit and pause for three seconds or so in the stirred up bottom. Again this is more of a prospecting tool as you’re potentially calling fish in from a distance. There is no right or wrong way to fish them but I’ve found these retrieves to be a good base to get going. It also pays to remember that stealth is very much paramount when stalking fish on the flats, the quieter you are and the more distance you can keep between you and the fish the better your results will be. So that means ideally wade slowly and methodically without creating too much-splashing noises and if you’re in a boat an electric motor is almost paramount as you have full control of

your boat position and movements but remain super quiet, trying to reposition with your outboard will only kill your results and leave you scratching your head!

Tackle and Gear In saying these lures are great and versatile, you do need the right equipment to fish them to their full potential and as a base for a newcomer to go off, this is the direction I’d point them in. A nice medium-fast action 2.1-metre spin rod rated from 1-3kg or 2-4kg matched with a 1000-2500 size spinning reel spooled with 1-3kg breaking strain braided line which follows onto a 2-4kg fluorocarbon leader depending on the area you’re fishing. My favourite crankbait would be the Cranka Crank 35mm in a green or clear prawn style pattern or a dark colour like black, bronze or dark red. Don’t be afraid to experiment though as certain days may fish better with certain colours due to light conditions or the moods of the fish, it pays to have a healthy selection of colours to cycle through, especially if you’re seeing fish that are feeding but you’re not getting their attention with the colour you’re using.

Mix it up and eventually, you’ll hit pay dirt.

So don’t be afraid to pick up some crankbaits the next time you’re in the local tackle shop, give them a go and you’ll have a blast!

A selection of different cranks for fishing Tasmanian estuaries

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Bottom Dwellers Bait Drifting for Bottom Dwellers by Scott Gray

D

rifting baits for bottom-dwelling species is a relaxing way to chase a feed of fresh fish, particularly living in the southern half of Australia where species like the gummy and school shark, striped trumpeter, flathead and snapper are popular target species. These species are relatively abundant in both inshore and offshore waters around the southern coastline, can be captured all year round and make tasty prime sport fishing targets. Drifting is certainly my preferred method of bait fishing. This has had many benefits for me over the years and I’d have to say that it has led to more consistent catches of fish.

The idea is to cover as much ground as possible to try and find congregations of fish which once identified you can mark and choose to re-drift over or even drop the anchor and berley. By using this technique I have found some of the best fishing spots I have ever fished and without drifting I probably wouldn’t even know they were there!

Striped Trumpeter is a common and highly regarded catch in Tasmania

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Fishing News - Page 17

Drift speed If weather conditions are calm and the sea and swell co-operate there really is no need for a drogue to slow the boat down to a preferred and manageable speed, but 90% of the time anglers do not have this luxury and ocean conditions are often ever-changing. Ideally, you need to ensure your boat drifts at speeds of less than 2km/h with my preferable speed being in the 0.5-1.0km range, this speed can easily be checked on your GPS or mobile phone. To control my speed I use two drogues, one each attached to either side of the transom, this helps to keep my boat straight so I can fish up to four rods at a time when I have other anglers on board. If I’m fishing by myself I’ll usually use only two rods and a single drogue if necessary.

Drogues There is a huge range of drogues on the market of varying sizes so you need to find one that suits your needs as boat hulls of differing sizes and designs will cause them to act differently in the conditions. There are large soft parachute types which open up to a couple of metres in diameter down to smaller varieties available from most boating stores which are compact and only open up to a metre or so in diameter. A drogue certainly doesn’t need to be fancy and something as simple as a 10-20L bucket on a rope may be enough to do the job on a smaller vessel! I keep the ropes around 15m in length which is enough to keep them away from the boat and the action when you have a fish on, but not too long to pull in when you decide you’ve had enough or want to start a new drift.

Dump floats Attaching a float to your drogue has two advantages.

This consists quite simply of a large float or buoy that can be easily connected to the drogue end of your

The author with a great eating sized gummy shark rope. This will help stop your drogue from sinking and tangling your lines when there is no drift and also gives you the option of detaching and dumping the drogue quickly if you need to chase a hooked fish and get your line back quickly. There’s nothing worse than trying to pull in a drogue against the wind and tide while you are fighting a fish particularly when fishing by yourself, it always seems to take forever and you stand the chance of being spooled or bitten off. If you ever need to dump your drogue you can easily go back and pick it up once the fish is landed.

Using your motor While drifting with a drogue is my preferred method if I am fishing over rough terrain I will often just use the motor to regulate the drift. In this situation, I hold my rod which will help reduce snagging and pop the boat in and out of gear to maintain a gentle drift over the reef I’m trying to target. This works well on striped trumpeter and snapper and is a more active style of drifting than the more passive use of multiple rods and a drogue(s).

Paternoster Rigs Personally, I prefer to tie my own rigs, however, there are plenty of pre-tied ‘flasher’ rigs available on the market. The flashy material or use of glow beads in combination with the hook adds a little more spice to the rig.

A standard two hook paternoster rig with the hooks set on a dropper about 50cm apart with the bottom hook set about 30cm above the lead weight is ideal.

When fishing offshore for gummy and school sharks, snapper and striped trumpeter I prefer using 45kg main leader connected to a swivel at the top with 58kg droppers and circle hooks. This rig is durable enough to land a large fish and gives me enough security to land the toothier school sharks as well. Circle hooks are deadly for this style of fishing with hook sizes in the 5/0-8/0 range ideal for most of the popular target species.

Multiple hook rigs give you two chances of catching a fish each drop and if you are fishing deep you can have confidence that even after a missed bite there is likely to still be bait on the second hook so you won’t need to check it all the time and this saves unnecessary

Drifting baits in glamour conditions Fishing News - Page 18

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winding to check your bait. You never know you might even score a doubleheader!

Fish will often hit the bait hard when it’s moving and usually, the first thing you know about what’s going on is when the rod buckles over and the reel screams.

The combination of using a circle hook and drifting with the rods set in the rod rack or rod holder is that the fish will hook itself usually before you even pick up the rod. The fish will be firmly hooked in the corner of the mouth. It is a relaxing and easy style of fishing once the rods are set.

Using your electronics It’s so important to mark your hookups on your GPS/Sounder. I have found some really good spots by drifting and recording all of my captures and it makes it easier every time I go out knowing my catch history.

It gives me confidence in the location I am fishing and saves me time on the water when I know I can head to a productive gutter or reef and start fishing straight away.

Bottom weight The selection of lead weight is important. Of course, always try and use as little as possible. In waters of 30-50m, I usually use 6-8 ounces (180-240g) to keep my bait on the bottom, but I go up to 12-16 ounces (350-500g) or more if the drift is fast. Out in deep water (over 100m) you will need to choose to the conditions.

On a good day out deep you can use 16 ounces all day with no problems. It’s a good idea to have a range of different sized sinkers in the tackle box. If your bait is not on the bottom you will not catch bottom-dwelling species. It’s also important to make sure that the angle of your line is as straight up and down as possible as simply just letting line out will help get you on the bottom, but as the angle of your rig increases it will often end up with you getting snagged up more frequently. Depending on the underwater terrain you may need to customise your rig. If you’re fishing on heavy bottom you might want to put a breakaway lighter leader to attach your sinker to so you don’t lose your rig if you get snagged when the bottom is hard.

This will reduce the need for re-rigging and save time and money on the water.

Tackle You don’t need heavy gear for this style of fishing.

You need an outfit that is comfortable to use all day.

If you are fishing in 50-100m of water you might do literally dozens of drops for the day so don’t tire yourself out with a heavy uncomfortable outfit. Most of the fish you are likely to encounter are between 2-20kg.

An 8-15kg outfit with either an overhead (with ratchet) or threadline (4500 sized) spooled with around 250m of 15kg braid is more than enough to tackle what you are likely to encounter and is light enough to comfortably take advantage of other by-catch.

Snapper is becoming a very common catch in Tassie

Bait There are several baits that work well on a range of species and while frozen pilchards are effective there

Circle hooks are the perfect choice for deep bottom fishing

not many better baits around than fresh squid, octopus or fish fillet baits such as salmon, mackerel or trevally.

Make sure when you are presenting your bait you use a fine diameter bait elastic as this will help to keep your bait on the hook longer especially when the smaller pickers are around. This will also allow you to easily and firmly attach your bait to the circle hook, which is my preferred hook of choice. Just remember that when using circle hooks you don’t need to strike erratically when you feel a bite and always leave plenty of hook gape exposed by hanging the bait off the bend of the hook rather than covering it up.

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Fishing News - Page 19

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A Western Lakes Adventure

A Western Lakes Adventure and Ten Tips to Live By by Tim Feely

E

ach January for the last few years I have been fortunate to have backpacked into the Western Lakes to fish some of the more remote areas of Tasmania that don’t see too many fishermen. A good mate called Nigel Meek ventures in with me for three days exploring pristine country looking for wild fish.

We watch the weather closely in mid-January, waiting patiently for a big high-pressure system to develop over Western Australia and watch it gradually move toward Tasmania. These systems usually bring two to three days of blue sky, moderate Northerly winds and warm temperatures.

Rocks on the edges of the lake make for a perfect polarioding platform

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Fishing News - Page 23

The rewards of a long hike to a untouched location If we are lucky enough to get this weather pattern in our time frame the excitement builds to a fever pitch and the race is on. There’s camping gear to check and pack, batteries to replace, laces and boots to snow seal, first aid kit to be restocked (more blister bandaids), maps to study, flies to tie and fishing gear to prepare for the annual trek. Two blokes could hardly be more excited if Christmas and trout opening coincided.

The combination of crystal clear water, shallow bays and tarns provide classic places to search for patrolling trout with the aid of a pair of polaroid sunglasses. With the sun over your shoulder, you can sometimes find cruising fish that can be seen at 10, 20, 30 or even 40 metres if your vantage point offers enough elevation.

On the other hand, you may wander around in circles wondering if there are any fish in the lakes that you are exploring, such is their ability to disappear if the conditions don’t suit them.

Their ability to vanish into thin air has always intrigued me and whilst polaroiding you certainly get a privileged heads up into some of their antics.

The Western lakes are a wonderland of wilderness dreams and when the lure becomes too much, the nerves and reservations Float tubes are a great way of covering more water are shrugged

Fishing News - Page 24

to one side and the confidence is finally plucked, it may well be your time to venture out west. But until then join me as I relive a special trip from January 2009.

The walk into the Wadley Lakes region reminds me of the importance of getting the 1: 25,000 map. I have been using the 1:100,000 map with a growing suspicion that it just doesn’t have enough detail when you are in a country that does not have standout features that are easily distinguishable. I reckon the topographers and map makers have a pretty good sense of humour at times when you find yourself pointing at ridges that are not on the map and then others that appear when you don’t want them to. Usually, our confusion was settled when we arrived sooner or later at an expanse of water and the shape of the lake was used to great effect giving us an overdue bearing and renewed confidence.

We had to resist the urge to pull out the fly rod on one occasion after seeing a pair of browns on the backshore of Augusta.

Despite this rare display of discipline, the walk from Augusta to Wadley’s still took about 4 hours with some off-track exploring along the way. This was about double what I had expected, but then I didn’t think the track would be so camouflaged amongst the myriad of animal trails. Not being able to establish a modest track on the way in cost us a couple of hours walking.

We were happy to have made our destination into the Wadley’s area without too many hiccups. I had to stop to apply blister bandaids for the first time in 15 years and thankfully Meekie had a good supply of heavy-duty blister bandaids which saved me from wrapping my foot with black electrical tape.

A quick fish on dark around our hastily erected tent was surprisingly quiet with nothing seen or caught. A traditional dinner of cooked salami and chilli sauce tops of a good start to the trip. My exhaustion balances out my excitement of the days ahead and sleep comes quickly.

I awoke early by the song of an unnamed highland bird; at exactly 4.30 am. I would be annoyed in any other place but not here, time seems to evaporate before your eyes in this country. I lie awake now planning today’s adventure but my enthusiasm gets the better of me and I have to get out of the tent and begin exploring before good light has yet arrived. I untangle myself from the sleeping bag and bully the tent fly open with fumbling fingers to survey the new day.

Through the emerging dawn light, I stare through squinting eyes, pretending that I can see more than I can to justify my curiosity, whilst wrestling a breakfast bar open that threatens to break my concentration. Then it happens, on the opposite side of the lake, I see my first fish of the day rise gently in the glassy water and then disappear, leaving me wondering if I had imagined

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the whole thing. I rush down my breakfast bar whilst recounting the event to Meekie, who seems to believe me and even asks an encouraging question. He is soon out of the tent wandering around in a flattering pair of torn multicoloured thermals. If I look anything like him we are bound to spook all critters within a coo wee.

Another rise and an audible clomp confirms my first encounter and the adventure has begun before breakfast has been eaten. This has the makings of a special day and I adjust my boots and gaiters with extra care.

We have perfect weather, blue skies and light wind.

As soon as I decimated the breakfast bar, I found myself wading over my hips across the first bay to get to the shore I had seen the first fish of the day. Meekie headed back toward a likely bay and we would keep in contact with each other by UHF radio for the remainder of the day fishing different shores to cover as much ground as we could. He is undoubtedly one of the most highly skilled and passionate fishermen in Tasmania and it is a delight to share another trip with him. I always poach a few tips from him and he pretends that he would get lost if he wasn’t following me, which is pretty funny considering I can’t even find my car keys, wallet or glasses. On our first trip together three years ago he managed to convince me that perhaps the “winch rope” that I use to polaroid Great Lake in two-foot waves may not be the ticket out here. I nodded, caught 4 fish in twenty minutes and wondered what all the fuss was about as he had not even seen a fish. Then I managed to get 13 refusals in a row on a variety of good flies and Meekie managed to catch the next 7 fish to make the point really clear. As another friend of mine says I may do stupid things, but I ain’t stupid. I now use a good quality five-pound tippet in the still clear water and the refusal problem has disappeared. Some lessons hurt but you can be sure they are never forgotten.

Back to the hunt, I know I shouldn’t wade too deep but the blood is up and excitement takes over better judgment. I make it to shore without drowning self or gear and begin a careful stalk along the bank, watching the caddis moths skitter along the glassy edge that runs along the bank for about 30 metres. My senses are fully amped with anticipation and sure enough, a nice fish explodes from an undercut bank. He hasn’t seen me, he has felt me through the vibrations of the bank. Talk about dirty fighting early on.

Oh well, that would have been a tough cast, I console myself unconvincingly. A few more metres and another fish is spotted coming straight at me from close range.

I freeze and flip a little role cast out well in front of him confident he will find the red tag. Find it he did and eat it, NOT. Another presentation, landed closer to excite him into a take. Not so, this fish had not read all the red tag articles that I have that’s for sure.

I dipped my hat and continued on, truth be known I had little choice.

Two western lakes lessons already for my trouble, I adjust my strides and twist my hat firmer to my head thankful no one was watching me. Meanwhile, Meekie radios to let me know that he has opened our account with a nice two pounder polaroided and released after

Massive pencil pines are a beautiful sight in the western lakes taking his red tag. Obviously, his fish was a wider read than mine.

The pressure is off now for one of us at least. I slow my pace down but the first 15-minute tutorial has me scratching my chin. I then realise that my fish was probably chasing the grey caddis that were presenting on the shore. So not wanting to end up with more lessons before morning tea, I changed the fly to a nice little grey caddis pattern on a size 14 hook.

Immediately a trout jumps as if he watched me tie the fly on and with the same enthusiasm I present the fly with a crisp snap of the wrist. A brief moment passes and then an aggressive snatch pulls me from the trance to find myself attached to a feisty young trout that seemed happy to spend as much time in the air as in the water. The riddle was looking a little easier now and my confidence in the modest homemade fly was growing. The fish was unusually small for this water weighing not much more than a pound but he had broken the fish monkey curse that mother nature sends down from time to time to challenge complacency. On some trips when the fish monkey makes an appearance it can be difficult to budge. If not dealt with quickly and strategically it may reach gorilla proportions when new batteries suddenly will go flat, tyres blow, boots fall apart, fly rods break, headlamps fail, torches disappear, deer threaten to jump through your front window, fuel disappears, carefully hidden packs play hide and seek, the list is endless so beware whatever your religion, do not muck with the fish monkey and leave all bananas at home.

We walked about 10 km and each step was worth the effort as we found progressively better water as we explored our new country. We deviated here and there and our exploring nature helped us hit the jackpot.

We looked for structure, deep water drop-offs and cool water. We polaroid dozens of magnificent wild fish and saw not another boot mark. It was sensational to watch big browns cruise up and stick half their head out of the crystal clear water to crunch nervous dry flies.

The small caddis fly continued to out fish the normal tags, wulffs and emergers. I had several break off’s on five-pound tippet and some fish were so wild they swam back after being hooked or broken off, to pick another fight in less than two minutes (this happened to me three times). This behaviour is only seen in truly wild fish and made the trip one I shall never forget. We were both astounded at the end of the day to realise we had caught 20 fish that weighed between two and four pounds. We knew this was a freaky day never likely to be repeated in this tough country but no one could ever take it away from us. It is a day we shall both cherish forever. We celebrated with a couple of extra plastic cups of Meekie’s favourite box monster and were glad the next day that we had only humped a 2 litre in to keep us company.

These fish were not always easy though and the standard red tag did not live up to its reputation all the time. I found the number one fly that did not get any refusals was a size 12 or 14 grey stonefly or caddis pattern. They loved that fly and I am using it at all the lakes I fish this January given the explosion of stick caddis that is present on most waters.

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Fishing News - Page 25

The western lakes are not just for fly fisher’s and I would like to encourage all adventurous soles to head out there at least once to experience something special to Tasmania. The fishing is not always easy as our day two and three demonstrated when we caught one fish on both days sacrificing numbers to explore potential trophy waters. We saw two very big fish and they both ignored our dry flies so I am going to throw a Galaxia pattern at them next time. Soft plastic fishing would be outstanding in some of the deeper lakes I am quite sure.

Come share the adventure and beauty so you too will be prepared to fight to protect it when the time comes as it surely will. A wilderness without choppers and floatplanes is our highland gold. I have hiked into so-called wilderness areas in other countries to have overweight tourists with fat wallets and thin skill, leapfrog their way up rivers using choppers. Money can not buy a piece of our highland gold. It is there for all people who are keen enough and I will fight for it to remain just as it is with equal access for all.

Tip No 1: Buy the 1: 25,000 map as the detail is required especially if looking for specific headwaters and small tarns.

Tip No 2: The Wadley’s track is very hard to find going in and you should acquaint yourself with the old fence line and wooden gate posts that will help get you started.

Tip No 3: Even a very modest track can almost halve your walking time even through thin scrub. So take the extra time to locate noted tracks as this will save you more time than you think.

Tip No 4: Breaking your boots in does take more than a fortnight around the house.

Tip No 5: If you ignore tip no 4, take plenty of proper blister bandaids as this can spoil your trip in a matter of minutes. A mate of mine lost a full week off work from severe blisters. He was caught with a thick weave pair of socks marketed by a leading camping chain as great bushwalking socks. Which leads me to tip 6.

Tip No 6: Thick weave socks are terrible bush socks and potentially kill your feet with blisters. The best allround sock that I have found is the humble explorer sock. Often wearing a very fine weave tight sock under an explorer sock is a great system to avoid blisters.

Tip No 7: If you feel any hot spots developing on your feet stop and check immediately, not when you get to the next ridge!!! Ignore this at your peril. I narrowly avoided a three-day limp by applying good bandaids and changing socks as soon as I felt the hot spot develop.

Tip No 8: Don’t use winch rope for tippet in calm clear conditions. Yes you can often get away with it but then sometimes you will get 13 refusals in a row, you do the math.

Tip No 9: Fish often hold under the banks right at your feet. This is not fair play, carry shovel or bazooka.

Tip No 10: Have UHF radios secured around your neck with a good rope and stick them in your left-hand shirt pocket. Works well and keeps the radio from learning to swim which is always a disappointment.

If you do drown it turn it off immediately and pull the batteries out, we have saved a couple doing this believe it or not.

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I Ain’t Leven The Leven River is little known outside the NW coast. Here is an overview. by Casey Pfeiffer

T

he River Leven in Tasmania’s North West offers some of the best dry fly fishing for wild brown trout in the state. It flows through densely forested gorge, with several flatter regions with easy access.

Tasmania’s Inland Fisheries have put in the work to supply large portions of angler access through private properties, which means there is always a place to get away from the crowds. In this piece, I will be covering some advanced techniques and leaders to help you up your dry fly game.

The River Leven is home to some beautiful wild brown trout.

When During the late season when water levels in several of the most popular rivers in Tasmania such as the North and South Esk have dropped to almost unfishable heights, it pays to look a little further afield. The River Leven offers incredible dry fly opportunities when the water is low, making it the perfect waterway to target during the warmer months of Summer and Autumn.

Caddis hatches are particularly prevalent at this time of year if you are fortunate enough to have the right weather conditions. Warm, still and sunny days are always enjoyable on the river, but a caddis hatch makes

them all the better! On windy days the hopper fishing on the edges can also be very effective and watching a fish chase your hopper downstream is a thrill.

Where The River Leven has many great angler access points, however, I have found two that are particularly suited to dry fly fishing. The first is Bannon’s Park, a large campground with very easy river access from just about any point inside the park, and a path that runs along the bank for around 2km upstream. If the

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Fishing News - Page 27

fish are rising, I struggle to fish even half that distance in a day!

There are slow pools that tend to hold larger resident fish, as well as beautiful runs and shallow riffles, all of which hold good numbers of fish. Upstream from Bannon’s Park is JR Lee Memorial Picnic Ground. This is a day-use area with no camping, but several picnic tables and the most picturesque pools you can imagine, and plenty of fish.

At the bottom of the Picnic Ground, there is a large pool that normally features several rising trout and a platypus, but the majority of the area upstream offers ankle to hip deep riffles and extremely easy wading. In some areas, both sides of the river are lined with willows, but as they are not particularly overgrown casting is still a breeze. The River Leven also has long stretches of faster pocket water that are ideal for fishing with nymphs but are not particularly suited to fishing with a single dry fly. Whilst I am sure several other sections also have great dry fly fishing, these are just the two I have discovered so far.

Rod Choice My dry fly rod choice tends to depend on two main factors. The first being the size of Casey netting a lovely little brown trout the fish in the water I am fishing, and the second being the size of that water. Typically in larger Tasmanian waterways, I opt for a 9’6ft rod in a three or four weight, but in tighter waters such as the Leven, I tend to go for a slightly shorter option. A 9ft rod in a three or four weight offers better control in both casting and landing fish in smaller waters. There is nothing worse than attempting to net a fish in a tight spot and getting your rod tip stuck in the low hanging branching losing the fish. Dry fly rods should have a parabolic action, which means they are soft through the entire length of the rod. The last thing you want for a dry fly rod is fast action, as that will overpower the cast and create a drag on your drift. In the Leven, fish can be anything from very small juveniles to solid one kilo Some of the dry fly patterns suitable for the Leven fish.

Fishing News - Page 28

Single Current Leader Some waters such as slow pools and shallow riffles have a simple current configuration, with most of the water moving at a very similar pace. This makes fishing a dry fly easy because your leader sitting on the water will move at the same speed as your fly. As long as you are casting upstream on a slight angle, you should be able to get a drag-free drift without too much hassle.

Because of this, the leader choice for these types of water is also very simple. A high quality 5x tapered leader with a micro ring and tippet on the end should do the trick! Some brands offer dry fly specific or finesse leaders, and whilst they can be a little pricier than their basic counterparts, they are well worth the extra investment. Using a micro ring on the end means a single tapered leader will last you months, no matter how often you fish. Your tippet selection comes down to personal preference, as well as how well you strike and fight fish. The lighter the tippet, the less drag and shadow it creates on the water, so I like to fish as light as possible. At largest I would suggest 6x, but 8x would be my ideal tippet for a single dry fly to entice as many eats as possible. This is also the ideal leader to use for fishing a hopper on the edges.

Multiple Current Leader In more complex water that has multiple currents, I use a leader that allows for a curve cast. A curve cast is just an underpowered cast that lands with slack throughout the leader. Basically, you want your leader to land in a pile on the water. It goes against everything we typically aim for in a cast, but it is by far the most effective way to fish over multiple currents. It allows your dry fly to drift uninhibited by the leader until the entire leader has stretched itself out straight. There are a few tricks to make your curve cast more effective.

The first is to underline your rod, meaning if you are fishing with a four weight rod, you use a three weight line. The second is to under power your forward cast, which is done by either stopping your cast high or not coming to a sudden stop. The side you cast on also plays a big part on how your leader lands on the water, so if fishing to the right-hand bank, you should be casting over your right shoulder, and if casting to the left-hand bank you should be casting over your left shoulder. Whilst there are some exceptions to the rule, for the most part, this will give you far greater drifts.

The leader itself is made from sections of monofilament. This is called a progressive leader because the sections go from short sections of thick mono to long sections of thin mono. A digressive leader is compiled in the opposite order with long sections of thick mono, and short sections of thin mono. For the progressive leader the sections are as follows, 45cm of 0.45mm, 50cm of 0.40mm, 55cm of 0.35mm, 60cm of 0.30mm, 65cm of 0.25mm and 70cm of 0.22mm. From the end of this leader, I still use a tippet ring, along with 1.5m of 0.10mm tippet. Casting this kind of leader can be very frustrating because of our preconceived notions that a leader must land straight on the water, but once you get used to seeing your leader land in a heap you can see the huge difference it makes to the drift of your

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dry. I typically only take the one rod onto the river with me and have my two floating lines with different leaders on separate reels making it quick and easy to change over when I get to a certain type of water.

Fly Selection Fly selection for the River Leven is mostly dependent on whether you are fishing to rising fish, or searching blind with your dry fly. Often rising fish in the slow pools may want a slightly smaller offering, whilst fishing a larger dry through the riffles and under the willows can help to find fish even when they aren’t rising. I have certainly found caddis patterns to be the most successful, but I have a few particulars that I wouldn’t fish it without! CDC Sedge is probably my favourite dry fly for this waterway. I tie them in size 14, 16 and 18 all in a natural colour. Often I will have a small tail of UV orange or pink, or sometimes a small amount of angel hair dubbing for the tail. I also have some of these sedge tied with a tuft of orange fibre at the front so that I can see them when casting into shadows under the willows or banks. Deer hair caddis is another must-have pattern, and unlike CDC they were often be chewed to bits before they start to sink.

I tie them with a UV orange glo brite tail in size 14 for the most part. If I am fishing a river a won’t leave home without black Klinkhammer’s. They are ideal for both small spinner feeders and fish on emergers making them a very versatile fly to have in your arsenal.

Hopper Fishing On warm windy days, hoppers are often blown from the grass onto the water making the perfect tasty snack of a trout. Hoppers don’t need to be cast to rising fish to be effective. I like to fish a hopper on my single current leader, with a slightly shorter tippet section that usual. While we often put a lot of

Sensational dry fly water on the River Leven emphasis on having our flies land delicately on the water, hoppers should be slapped down on the water with short casts against the bank. Often the plop of the hopper landing on the water will be what entices the fish, and hoppers just don’t tend to work as well unless you make a little noise with them. The hoppers I prefer are still relatively small, mostly size 14, with a foam cylinder body and deer hair wing, and a small hot spot of UV orange thread. I like to tie my hoppers on Klinkhammer hooks, as I find that I get a better hookset with these than typical dry fly hooks, and in the long run, that means more fish landed.

Hooked on Dries While I have always enjoyed catching trout on fly no matter what the technique, there is something truly unique about watching a fish slurp down your dry off the surface, and nothing else can quite compare in my mind. Rising fish are feeding fish, which means there is a good chance of getting them to eat your fly, but by using these techniques and advances leaders, you can increase your chances of success.

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Fishing News - Page 31

The author checking out Great Oyster Bay

Explore your home waters There’s no need to travel to far flung places around the globe to chase challenging species on fly. There’s plenty here as Marty Wells explains.

O

ne of the most attractive things about fishing is the amazing places it can take you, places where the fishing truly is a bonus. Whether it’s an adventure to a new trout creek here in Tassie, one of the Northern Territories large barra filled rivers or to a far-flung coral atoll chasing bonefish, the travel and exploration bug is rooted deeply in many anglers. There’s probably an element of grass is greener syndrome in play as well.

Due to the travel restrictions currently in place and knowing many anglers have had their 2020 big fishing trip cancelled I plan in this article to outline some of the incredible fishing opportunities available right here in Tasmania.

For those fly anglers who yearn for endless sand flats to stalk bonefish, permit and other tropical speedsters look no further than the many tidal flats around our coast. One of my absolute favourite fishing challenges Fishing News - Page 32

is to wade the white flats at the mouth of the Swan River on the east coast throwing flies at the healthy population of bream that reside there. I once heard that there were enough recreational gillnets set to completely circle Tasmania twice, the black bream has been the species most benefitted by the enormous reduction of both recreational and commercial netting over the last decade or so. The bream over the white sand are incredibly spooky in the super clear and shallow water and provide a challenge equal to or harder than fooling a Christmas Island bonefish or northern Australian permit. Bream can tail in the shallows, grub around for crabs and occasionally charge after baitfish, such is the difficulty of fooling these fish they are known as Tassie permit amongst my fisho mates. This flats fishing scenario is repeated in most east coast estuaries, Ralphs Bay near Hobart and the Port Sorell estuary in the north to name a few. Put some time in looking at Google maps or aerial photos on ListMap to enjoy the satisfaction of finding your own spot X. When you do hook one of the common 40cm+ fish your backing will appear in a matter of seconds. I have personally had most success with worm looking flies

dead drifted on the current past a cruising bream. Flies like damsel nymphs, squirmy worms and sparse rabbit zonkers have all produced for me. I know others have used small popper or foam flies to induce exhilarating surface strikes. A 4-6 weight fly rod will throw these flies with ease and as there’s very few snags on the flats it’s possible to get away with a light 4lb tippet.

For fishers that were anticipating a barra trip up north the yellowtail kingfish gives a comparable alternative

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without having to get on a plane. They don’t inhabit the big rivers as they do across the northern region of Australia but their love of current and structure aligns them with barra in my mind. Also, the magical metre mark is just as special for kingfish anglers as it is for barra folk. The tackle one would use is similar, as are the flies. Kings can be handled on an 8 weight but the larger flies are better suited to casting on a 10 weight which also has more stopping power when fishing near reef or amongst boat moorings. At times kingfish can be found feeding on the surface but look for subtle swirls and boils rather than the whitewater and froth that give away schools of salmon, mackerel etc. It is amazing the tiny size of baitfish that kings can fixate on. There is a range of tactics that can be successfully employed on the kings. The low light periods of dawn and dusk are perfect for prospecting around boats, moorings and channel markers with surface patterns like the Crease Fly. Another productive method is to anchor where there’s structure with plenty of current ripping past and lay a berley trail. Subsurface flies like pink things, clousers or Game Changer patterns worked deep through the trail can all elicit solid takes. Sinking lines are handy for this technique otherwise a sinking polyleader or weighted flies will suffice to get your offering down deep into the fish’s face. Kings in the berley trail will often lurk deep, not showing themselves to the angler, for this reason it pays to keep half an eye on the sounder for deep cruising fish. Over time you can recognise different species of fish by their sonar return. The other bonus of berley is the non-target by catch that can turn up, snotty trevally, silver trevally, snapper, mackerel, salmon and even flathead will all swim up the trail at times. Kings are notorious for their curious nature and showing up behind a hooked fish.

This instinctive trait can be exploited and improve your kingfish chances by keeping a steady stream of fish coming over the gunwales of your boat or the platform you might be fishing off. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to land that fish, let it kick about for a minute or two boat side if you think there might be kings in the area. If the kings do turn up it is critical to have another suitable rod on standby all rigged up and ready to go. It is not the time to be mucking around tying knots when there are 20 hungry kingfish milling around the boat. Prime kingfish areas in Tasmania are no longer the closely guarded secrets they once were.

Again, rather than following the masses take some time to investigate areas of structure and current in your local region. Places to start looking are around boat moorings, tidal channels, channel markers and areas of reef. Your chance of finding kings increases proportionally to the number of these features found in any one spot.

Bluewater fly fishing is increasing in popularity around the world, non fishos are astounded when you mention marlin, sailfish, giant tarpon can all be caught on fly tackle. Many Australians travel to tackle the prolific sailfish on offer at Kuala Rompin, Malaysia every year. Tasmanians don’t have to go begging for big game fly options close to home, we have the southern bluefin tuna and mako shark.

To successfully chase these species everything needs to be upsized; the tackle, the flies and even the boat.

In Queensland there is a popular tuna on fly fishery built around the northern longtail tuna, anglers there generally don’t fish rods heavier than 8 weights. Having never caught a NLT I can’t provide an authoritative comment but I’m guessing their tuna don’t pull as hard and as long as a SBT. The banana benders are usually throwing small surf candies or similar, needing nothing heavier than an 8 weight to cast. Tasmanian tuna and makos eat bigger flies that need a minimum 10+ weight to cast. More likely a 12-15 weight. Match this with a heavy-duty fly reel with 300m of braid backing and you’ll be in the game. Unlike trout fishing where the reel is little more than a line storage device saltwater fish will regularly put you into the backing, for this reason it pays to buy the best reel you can afford. The Redington Behemoth is a good value option at around $200.

Lamson and Sage both have reels in this price range as well. The upper price point is astronomical and can’t be justified for me as my heavy gear gets dusted off only a few times a year. While talking tackle, if you do find a tackle for sale online at least give your local tackle shop a chance to price match the item, most will if they can.

The added plus of a physical shopfront is appreciated if the item fails or needs repair. SBT and mako both reach world record proportions in Tasmanian waters, if you are chasing records you should know the IGFA regulations back to front, top to bottom and inside out. Basically, the rules state a leader of 20lb maximum breaking strain and a bite tippet no longer than 30cms.

World record or not, catching one of these gamefish on IGFA legal tackle is an angling achievement to be proud of. If you’re not fussed with ‘playing by the rules’ then a straight through leader of 80lb with a bite tippet is advised. Both tuna and makos can be found right around the coast of Tassie but the waters off the Tasman Peninsula and St Helens are recognised as the hot spots. Mako shark need to be berleyed up, once the berley pot goes in the water the waiting game begins.

This may take 10 minutes or 10 hours, once the shark shows at the boat stir it up by casting a piece of fish

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Fishing News - Page 33

Fishing News - Page 34

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out of a spinning rod and tease the mako like you would a kitten with a ball of string.

Your fly is basically half a chook tied to match the colour of your fish teaser ie. white for fish flesh or red for a tuna blood line. Once the mako is suitably fired up, perform a switch with a fly and hang on. It is sensible to initially drive the boat away from the hooked mako to avoid the angry fish jumping into the boat.

To tangle with a tuna there are two strategies that can be employed. Search until a school of tuna busting up is found then cast into the maelstrom or troll conventional gear and once a tuna is hooked start to throw handfuls of cubed pilchard, mackerel couta etc over the side to draw the school into casting range and hold them near the boat. Cubing is not recommended if seals are in the area. Flies should match the hatch, either baitfish or fish cubes.

For both species, flies can be tied on tubes and rigged like game fishing lures.

This allows a finer gauge hook to be used which will have better penetration into the hard mouths of these fish. When a take is felt or seen, do not trout strike, anglers should strip strike. Simply point the rod at the fish and keep stripping to set that hook only stop when the fish reacts. Using the boat to change the angle of pressure when fighting a game fish will greatly reduce the fight time. You really want to avoid the straight up and down tug of war as the fish will win almost everytime.

There you have it, I hope I have shown there’s no need to travel to far flung places around the globe to chase challenging species on fly. The grass isn’t always greener outside of Tasmania, spend your holiday dollars in Tassie, buy from local tackle shops and consider hiring a local guide to fast track your fishing success.

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Fishing News - Page 35

Fishing News - Page 36

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Trout - Increase your catch rate Increasing Your Catch Rate with Fly Droppers by Craig Rist he first few months of the trout season in Tasmania are usually cold, icy and wet. The good news is, by October most browns and most of the rainbows have finished their spawning cycle and are rapidly regaining condition. The insect life at the start of the season is fairly limited, small snails, water boatman, tiny midge larvae, amphipods and stick caddis are commonly found inside a trout’s stomach. These tiny insects are nearly always on the menu of a foraging trout, but it’s those waterways that contain baitfish, crayfish (in some lakes) and the odd dragonfly nymph (mudeye) that provide the big protein hit that trout are after to regain condition fast. So it is understandable that many fish are caught on lures and streamer style flies leading up to the summer months. But there are always some fish that only want the small stuff.

T

on the tiny stuff and will pass up a streamer fly. These days I often give them a choice, a streamer fly at the point for that protein hit and a size 14 or 16 nymph or black beetle (water boatman) tied on a dropper three feet up from the streamer fly. It always amazes me just how often that tiny size 16 fly will get eaten over a size eight or ten streamer. Sight fishing with an inert streamer with a micro fly dropper like this is always educational. Sometimes a fish will go straight for the streamer, then on the next fish, it will ignore the streamer and suck in the beetle or nymph. If the inert presentation isn’t getting a response, even after a small strip to bring them to life, another technique I use is to lead a fish far enough ahead so that it swims onto the fly that is already being retrieved away from the approaching fish.

Seeing is Believing

Blind Searching

For many years I had always thought an opportunistic trout would eat a big streamer fly over one of the smaller aquatic insects. But how wrong I was. Streamer style flies are so successful at the start of the season and they are the number one choice for many fly fishers, including me. But there are times when trout are fixated

When the weather conditions rule out sight fishing altogether on a lake, I treat blind searching with a fly as just another challenge in fly-fishing. Blind searching may feel like you need some blind luck at times but there are many things you can do to turn yourself into the lucky one. For me, blind searching, with this

streamer and micro dropper combination is a real confidence-builder because I have already seen how some fish will prefer the small stuff over the larger streamer. Blind searching doesn’t have to mean you stop looking. Even though I can’t see into the water too well, I can still see the subtle telltale signs of a fish.

That sight of the water ripple moving in the opposite direction to the wind, that swirl or bulging dimple as a trout forages amongst the rocks or weeds are all signs that can change your luck. Then there are the more obvious signs, like that surging bow wave from a fish chasing baitfish or the disturbance from that territorial trout that is aggressively evicting another fish from its feeding grounds. Being alert to these signs and then quickly presenting a fly in that area can have you hooked up in no time. Other obvious places to search for trout are along drop-offs and the edge of weed beds and submerged trees or rocks. I also like the roughest shoreline on a lake that’s had the wind blowing into it for some time because this is the shoreline where the aquatic insects have accumulated, carried in on by the waves, creating a natural berley trail for trout and baitfish.

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Fishing News - Page 37

Wading When wading a shoreline my technique is simple.

I like using a long leader for blind searching because it allows me to cover more water beyond the fly line that will usually spook any fish it lands on. I always like to think I am only fishing the 12 to 14 foot of leader beyond my fly line when I am systematically covering water like this. I also prefer to wade and fish with the wind at my back so that I’m not casting two flies directly into the wind on a long leader. For me, this would almost certainly end in a tangled mess in very strong winds. I would then spend more time untangling knots and changing leaders than I would with my flies in the water fishing. The other reason I like to fish downwind is that trout are commonly seen swimming or holding stationary facing into the wind.

They must do this to intercept any potential food being moved down towards them, both above and below the surface by the wind and waves. I usually make four or

Fishing News - Page 38

five 40-foot casts to cover a wide arch ahead of me. I then take four or five steps forward to cover the length of my leader and do it all again.

been a real game-changer for this style of fishing. The area ahead of the boat can then be systematically fished in the same way as if you were wading a shoreline.

From a Boat

Presentation

Drifting in a boat downwind with a flat drogue is a very effective way to cover a lot of water in a lake. The flat competition-style drogue is one of the best designs and will do a great job of slowing the boat down to stay connected to the fly during the retrieve. This style of drogue also provides some means of adjusting the direction of the drift by adjusting the position of the drogue alongside the boat. The size of the drogue is also important because it must be large enough to sufficiently slow a boat down to stay connected to the fly line to see and feel when a fish has eaten the fly. For example, a high sided, lightweight aluminium pressed boat is going to catch much more wind and drift a lot faster than a boat that is heavier or has a lower profile on the water.

Because of this, a lot of people will get these flat drogues custom made by an upholster, to suit the size of their boat for this style of fishing, be it fly fishing or casting lures. There are times when the drifting speed of a boat even with a drogue is going to be too fast. This is where an anchor or an electric motor with position lock can be used to stop the drift all together. Minn Kota’s Spot-Lock or MotorGuide’s anchor mode has

After the cast has been made I like to let the two flies sink close to the bottom. Obviously, the sink time is longer on the cast towards deeper water than the one closer to the shoreline. Counting down the sink time of each cast is a good way to judge the depth of the fishable water above the weed beds or over a hard bottom. If my leader doesn’t lay out straight, which is usually on a cast that is slightly into or across the wind, I’ll give the line one or two strips to get connected to the flies.

This will give me the best chance of seeing the fly line move under the rod tip or feel the line draw in my hand if a fish takes one of the flies as it is sinking. If I see or feel a fish eat the fly I prefer to use a strip strike to hook the fish rather than lifting the rod to set the hook. By using a strip strike the flies stay in the water to allow a fish to have another go if the fish is not hooked on the first try. Several bumps on the line may follow until the fly line finally comes up tight under the weight of a hooked fish. I usually start with a slow one to two-foot strip with a pause and then gradually ramp the speed up if I’m not getting any interest. If the strip pause technique isn’t working I will change to a constant retrieve like a slow figure eight or the ever-reliable double-handed retrieve with the rod tucked under my arm. The best thing about the double-handed retrieve is that the speed of the retrieve can be changed from very slow like the figure of eight retrieve to very fast, on the same cast. The other advantage is there is no temptation to lift the rod to set the hook; you just have to keep stripping with both hands until the fish pulls the other way. Then and only then do I let the fish have some line as I remove the rod from under my arm. When using a floating line with this double hand retrieve it’s very easy to break a fish off when the rod tip is held too close to the water. After breaking off far too many fish, I now try to hold my rod tip at least one foot above the water surface so that the fly

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Flies

line has some slack between the water and the rod tip, to absorb some of the shock in the line. Break offs are not as common when using a full sinking line because the fly line often develops a big curve in the water that will naturally absorb the shock through the line when a fish is hooked. Obviously, if the lake holds big fish they are going to generate a much larger shock wave through the line when the line comes up tight against an immovable mass of a large fish. For this reason, I don’t like going any lower than six pounds when fish are above the five-pound mark. That way I can avoid decorating a big fish with a fly and possibly a section of the leader.

Leaders There are a few quick and easy ways to tie in a fly dropper above the point fly. One of the easiest knots to use for a dropper is the triple surgeon’s knot. Before the point fly is tied on take 12 inches of line from a spool and tie this three to four feet up from the end of the leader using a triple surgeon. The long end of the tag will then become the dropper. The other quick knot to use for a dropper is the uni-knot. But because this knot will slide down the leader it will need to be tied in above a leader construction knot. That way it will only slide down as far as this knot on the leader. Tippet rings are also a very popular way to add a dropper to your leader.

The best earlyseason droppers flies are the ones that represent the aquatic insects that are abundant at the lake you are fishing. Flies like the black beetle or Ferry Brown beetle in a #16 or #14 are reliable droppers early in the season.

Both of these flies can represent water boatman and snails, which are always found in our lakes and rivers. Tiny weighted brown or green #16 and #14 nymphs that will cover midge larvae, mayfly and stoneflies are also worth a try when fish are feeding on midge.

A stick caddis nymph is also another great dropper fly to use because these slow-moving nymphs are easy pickings for trout and are often an underused fly for trout. So tying one on as a dropper is a great way to gain some confidence in one of these flies. For the point streamer fly I like a size eight or ten black or green Wooly Bugger style fly like the Gibson woolly bugger, Woolly Bugger Mark II or the Shrek ties. The weight of these flies depends on the depth of water I am fishing so it pays to have a good selection, from unweighted through to the heavy tungsten bead heads. I also like a little bit of weight in the dropper flies so they hang away from the main leader.

If you can deal with the odd tangle using two flies it really is a good way to increase your chances of hooking a fish and to try a new fly that you may not have the confidence to use on its own, just yet.

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Fishing News - Page 39

Hopper fishing is great on warmer days

Trout - Two Techniques for Success Two River Techniques for amazing results this Summer by Lubin Pfeiffer

I

t’s the start of a new summer season here in Tasmania and once again the state is alive with excellent trout fishing opportunities. There’s little doubt that we have the best trout fishing in the country with countless locations to catch quality trout from. I know many of you reading this will be diehard lake anglers, and that’s not hard to understand with such amazing fish coming out of the lakes this season so far. There are many though that love the feeling of running water and the challenge it presents. For me, there is something very special about fishing a river. Working with the currents, getting the right drift and seeing fish appear in places you just wouldn’t expect them to be. As anglers, I think it is important to be proficient over a wide variety of scenarios. It helps us grow our knowledge and we can often cross over techniques and tactics from one form to another to catch more fish as a whole. If you are yet to set foot in one of the many amazing rivers in Fishing News - Page 40

Tasmania then there’s no better time than now to do it.

Summer marks the beginning of many of the hatches and the fishing starts to fire up. Big numbers of fish can be caught, and while the average size may not match that of the lakes, there are still lots of really quality fish to be caught. All the more rewarding when you try something new and it all comes together! In this article, I’ll run you through two essential techniques and the gear you need to have a successful day in the river.

Dry Fly Fishing What has amazed me, as it does every season, is the willingness of a Tasmanian trout to rise to the surface to take a fly. Nowhere else in the country are they keener to come to the top for a feed. In saying that though, you need to get the fly drifting drag free to get them convinced that it is something that they would like to eat. Rod selection is the first key to the scenario.

Always try to fish as light as you are comfortable with

as this is the best way to have your fly land softly and move through the water naturally. I like to use a few different rods for dry fly depending on the water I’m presented with. If it’s overgrown and there is no huge amount of room to cast. I’ll go with a 3wt or 4wt in a 9ft. These will present a fly beautifully if casting room is minimal. As the river opens up, a 2wt in a 10ft length is my go-to. The extra length gives you better control and I find the 2wt is almost unbeatable at landing a dry very delicately. While you can have a different reel and matching line for each of these rods, I just have the one Scientific Anglers VPT in 2wt and use that on each different rod. Under weighting a rod with a lighter line will also present a dry fly more naturally. My line has been spooled on a Lamson Speedster reel for the last few years and the lighter your reel the better your fishing will be. Heavy reels will get the job done but lack the touch of a lighter reel.

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My leader setup is a progressive tapered leader about 15ft long. Another option is to use a shopbought tapered leader. Chop about two feet off the butt end before adding a micro ring to the thin end with a section of thin tippet. Tippet for either leader mentioned is a five-foot section of 0.10mm fluorocarbon. I know some anglers will ask why am I not using monofilament but the simple reason is I carry one spool of tippet to cover all techniques in my vest because I don’t like carrying too much gear!

You’ll need a good selection of flies to catch every fish in the river. Some days you’ll get away with just using a couple because the fish are really on the chew. Other days will see multiple fly chances at each fish as you move through the water. I have a box full of CDC F-flies, Up wings, and plume tips in sizes 16-22, some caddis patterns in size 14-18, a few foam ants in size 16, and also some small hoppers in size 16.

Presenting a dry is all about how the cast lands and how the fly drifts. It needs to be soft and drag-free.

Once you master those two components you’ll see loads of trout rising to eat your offering. There are a couple of general rules to follow to achieve this.

Firstly, you’ll need to learn how to curve cast so that your leader lands with a curve and creates a drag-free drift. Secondly, you’ll need to be able to cast over each shoulder so your fly drifts drag-free. If you are moving up the left side of the river, your cast should always be over your left shoulder. As you move to the other side of the river, you need to work off your right shoulder.

Always try to fish as short as possible as this is far easier to manage what your fly is doing. Most of the time I will only have a short section of fly line out the rod tip. The longer the cast the worse you drift is going to be. Practise wading quietly and smoothly rather than trying to cast from one side of the river to the other.

Tom Jarman works through a picturesque section of the South Esk River A curve cast is an underpowered cast that makes your leader land with slack upstream of where your fly lands, giving it time to drift naturally downstream without interference from the leader or tippet on the water. The water you want to be fishing is the slower sections of the river. These could be a long glide or a small pocket created by a rock in a fast piece of river.

These are general rules to follow to get that fly drifting in a way to fool the trout. Understanding them is key to the whole effective dry fly technique. Once you

The 10ft 2wt Primal Zone is a great choice for both euro nymph and dry fly techniques

have mastered the foundation of this, you can adapt to different scenarios to get the job done. A good dry fly angler will catch plenty during a day fishing on a river, an amazing one will catch cricket scores through that very same piece of the river!

Euro Nymphing The rise of Euro Nymphing in Australia has come about from competition angling. Now I know competition angling is not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you love catching fish then it is a technique you should consider mastering. Euro nymphing coupled with effective dry fly fishing in Tasmania is without a doubt the best way to catch big numbers of fish out the rivers. When choosing a rod, again try to use the lightest you can. This will give you the best contact and feel while moving the nymphs through the water. I’ve used everything from 4wt 9ft rods to 3wt 10’6ft rods.

If I had to pick one that is a good allrounder, it would be a 2wt 10ft. It is a nice length to fish with, very soft for landing fish of all sizes and has great contact for feeling even the slightest change in the drift. The line I use is a specific 0wt euro nymph line. Several brands make these and all of them are pretty much as good as the next. Spool the line on the lightest reel you can as this will feel so much better to fish with, I’ve been using a Lamson Liquid and it has been fantastic. The leader is a huge part of the setup and getting it right is key. Starting from the fly line, I like a rod length long section of 0.23mm brightly coloured monofilament.

I’ve used bright orange, yellow and pink in the past.

The important part is what you can see best and this is different for everyone. The leader is attached with a needle knot which passes through the tip of the fly line.

This seamless connection passes through the guides

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Fishing News - Page 41

nymphing Rods With fly fishing tactics constantly changing to meet the demands of the world’s most competitive environments, the rods used to master these specialized techniques must evolve too. Without compromise, every Douglas nymphing rod brings the angler the most advanced combinations of balance, control and sensitivity.

Light tips load effortlessly at short ranges to accurately place weighted fly rigs into the current and manage drifts with pinpoint accuracy. Douglas’ proprietary carbons and nano-resins transmit every bounce and tumble of the flies until the angler intuitively detects the strike.

Fishing News - Page 42

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Fishing News - Page 43

effortlessly which is most important. To the end of my colour is a 30cm section of 0.22mm clear mono before the 50cm section of 0.20mm bi-colour indicator. On the end of my indicator is a two-millimetre micro ring to which I can attach my tippet.

My tippet can be 0.12mm or 0.10mm fluorocarbon depending on the size of the fish in the river. The tippet length is always depended on the water depth. As is whether or not I will use one or two nymphs at a time.

For small, overgrown rivers, one nymph is all that you will need to catch plenty of fish. As a starting point try having the fly about 60cm from your micro ring.

But again, this needs to chop and change depending on the water depth. For big open rivers, two nymphs are the go. Have your point fly and dropper about 50cm apart and chop and change the section between your dropper and micro ring depending on the water depth. The beauty of a micro ring is that your leader remains intact no matter how many times you change your tippet.

Contact is key with Euro nymphing and you will be amazed at how many more fish you catch when you get the tippet length and water depth equation right. Even small changes will sometimes make all the difference! Like I said with the dry fly fishing, this is the general foundation of euro nymphing and once you understand the overall technique you can then try different things. Sometimes on pressured bigger rivers, using a single nymph is a great option as it is has a more natural drift to fool a pressed trout. Fly selection is all about weight and size rather than having 50 different patterns in your fly box. Try and keep your selection down to about five of your favourite flies and have these in many different sizes, weights or the addition of a hot spot. For example, I use a pheasant tail nymph a lot (which is a must-have for Tasmanian

Covering a section of the Hellyer River with nymphs rivers) but I tie them in sizes 14 through to 20, I have them on tungsten beads from sizes 2mm through to 4mm. Some are just plain and others have a hot orange collar or butt on them. This is just one pattern but I probably have 60-70 of them in different variations. As a starting point I would recommend having a pheasant tail pattern, a hares ear pattern, a caddis pattern, a claret nymph and a tag nymph pattern in the weights and variations mentioned.

A quality Tyenna brown taken on a small CDC pattern Fishing News - Page 44

Euro nymphing is always done working upstream and choosing the right water is key. You’ll want a section of river with a bit of pace in it. That’s why mastering both dry fly and the Euro nymph techniques will see you be able to fish every inch of the river effectively. Fast water is Euro nymph water and the slacker water is the spot to work a dry. Again only fish short as you will have the best contact with your fly.

With a single light nymph, usually 2mm - 3mm bead size you can use a conventional style cast to present the fly where you want it. With heavier presentations, you’ll need to water cast your flies as it’s pretty much impossible to get them where you want them any other way effectively. Once the fly lands, you then need to strip with your line hand to get in contact with the fly but not pull the fly, let the water move the nymph.

Follow the fly with your rod tip as it drifts down the river and strip the line to keep in touch. Stripping the line and keeping the rod parallel to the water will give you far better contact rather than lifting the rod to stay in touch. Once the fly is passed you, it’s time to recast and repeat the process. Cover every likely spot with a few casts as you move up the river. A good way to do this is to grid the water. Take a mental note of where your first cast landed, and then make each cast that length but slightly further across the river, working to the other side. Once you reach the other side, wade back across the river and up to where your first cast landed and repeat the process.

There’s nothing that compares to spending a successful day on a river in my opinion. Using these two techniques will hopefully see you come to that same conclusion fooling many of Tasmania’s fantastic trout along the way!

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Fishing News - Page 45

New TARFish website OUT NOW! We’re here to champion you, Tasmania’s marine recreational fishers. To find out how we are doing that and for the latest on the issues that matter in marine recreational fishing from your peak body, visit our new website.

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Fishing News - Page 46

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Fishing News - Page 47

Getting kids to love fishing FISHING WITH KIDS

By Kelly Hunt

H

ere is a subject that is close to my heart. Fishing with kids and how to make it work for you. I had to do this through necessity because I have 4 energetic and engaged kids. This was not always the case and for the better part of their early years, they were a massive handful whenever I went fishing. You may say “Well why on earth would I want to take my kids fishing if that was the case” and that reason is brownie points my friend, BROWN…E…POINTS! If your significant other has been at home with the kids all week and you decide to bug out with mates or on your own for a fish you have lit the fuse. It may not happen the first time or the second, but one day when you come home you are going to have an explosion on your hands that makes Hiroshima look like a throwdown. Take the kids and take them from a young age. Introduce them to skills and adventures that some kids just won’t ever be exposed to. Be an adventurer and pioneer in a time when kids are bubble wrapped and hovered over like an Apache gunship looking to see off an incursion. Get some dirt on their clothes and some grass in their hair and they will love it. Make sure they are not in their Sunday best when you take them or you will be back to square one once home. There are several things to think about when taking kids fishing so let’s have a

look at a few.

PACK STUFF Make sure you have a small esky or soft pack and have some food and drink on hand. Kids will get cranky and not listen to you when their tummies start to speak to them. Make some white bread sangers with heaps of butter and some wheel meat loaded with some tomato sauce if you want to go old school. If you want more brownie points make up some salad wraps and take some fruit they like to eat. A spare set of clothes in the car is also a good idea. So too is a good first aid kit. We don’t want to speak about that too much but get one.

Just in case.

They don’t all have to be marlin to get the kids smiling

MINDSET Right – Clear your mind now of what your expectation is when you take the kids fishing. You will have to change what you do completely if they are below 8 years of age. They don’t do as they are told and you have to watch them like a hawk. So tailor your fishing activity to their age ability and work within that. I am all for taking kids fishing whenever I can but Abseil rock fishing for a five-year-old is a bit of a stretch. Remember this is about time away from work and stress and over complicating your day is not what we are about. So shape the activity around the age of the kids.

BEACH FISHING

Freya loves nothing more than being at the helm Fishing News - Page 48

This is by far and away the best young children fishing activity you can do while still fishing quite hard yourself. The area is flat and safe as houses for the most part. There are acres of interesting things for the kids to do if the fishing is slow. While you are trying to fool a nice Gummy shark onto your line the kids can be looking for shells and stones or the golden chalice of kid’s beachcombing. The starfish! Try not to have them find any blue-ringed octopus or tread on a stonefish in a rock pool. This can lead to a fair bit of time at the ER and back to square one with the wifey. The bait used is of interest to the kids and the collecting of sandworms at the water’s edge is an amazing thing for a child to behold. The use of chairs and a table makes preparing

Australian salmon go hard on light gear and Ella learnt some angling skills fighting this one

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water and before long you will have some tiddly’s or a few mullet and cocky salmon getting about. Set the kids up to try and catch a few of these and put into a bucket. If you have a fancy esky that turns into a livey tank you will be a god. Kids will watch and play with fish in there for hours while you use the odd one to try and catch a big Jew or kingfish. A tip I have for you is take some sort of flag and tie in a tree a reasonable distance from where you plan to fish. This is where they can throw some rocks in. Because they will. You can tell them not to and all the reason why you shouldn’t, but they still will. So set up a special rock-throwing spot and they can go for their lives. They will also want to swim. This goes for the beach fishing as well. Won’t matter that it’s nine degrees and the middle of winter.

They will want to swim. You will tell them no. All the reasons as it’s not a good idea again. Next minute they will be up to their waist in their clothes. So don’t fight it. Just be prepared. In the car at all times have a grab bag of a change of clothes and two towels, ready to go.

WHARVES AND JETTIES

The beach is a treasure trove of fun for kids while Dads fish lunch very easy once their worms start to bite. It is also a good vantage spot for them to watch Dad work his craft and ask lots of questions.

BAIT FISHING Lures are a great way of catching fish but not when they are young. Casting and recasting can lead to a lot of tangles and general misery with snags both on land and under the water surface. Simple bait fishing in an estuary is my second favourite brownie point collector activity. You can gather up all your kids, hell, gather up the neighbour’s kids and set up. Get some burly in the

Traditionally the greatest place to spend some time over summer with the kids fishing. These awesome structures are sensational fishing areas. Be warned though. They strike fear into all mothers because the know it all Karen’s at the playgroup or school will find out you take the kids there and fill your wife’s head with all sorts of tragic happenings that have happened to EVERYONE that fishes from there. If you have a wife that likes to smash the panic button like a champion go to the op shop and buy some kids life jackets. You can find some smaller PFD2 jet ski and skiing ones. They are great for sticking on younger kids when you are in and around the wharf or jetty. It is great parenting to take kids places where they learn about fall hazards and “watch where you put your feet” There is normally a lot going on at Wharves and jetties and it can be quite social and a real buzz for kids to see fish being caught.

LURE FISHING

Liadan was looking for a snapper on soft plastics when this pike jumped on

My kids are 16, 14, 11 and eight, so they do as they are told 50% of the time now. They have been of an age where they can take on direction and occasionally listen. So they have some good casting skills. I have spent a bit of time showing them proper technique and winding with their non-preferred hand so lure fishing comes naturally to them now.

Once they have a few skills mastered they do like to get right involved. They like to pick the lures specific to what we are chasing. They like to get an understanding of where the fish are going to be lying or holed up. This is the essence of why I like to take my kids with me. I teach them stuff that is totally different from what they learn at school or with their mum. If you have a 10-year-old and they know how to tie four knots, choose a squid jig colour based on light conditions and hook up the boat. You are on the right track. You can be a super proud dad.

GENDER NEUTRAL Fishing is one of few sporting and outdoor pastimes where it matters not whether you are a boy or a girl. I have one son and three daughters and they all like to come fishing and have a day out on the water. Matter of fact my youngest daughter Freya is probably the keenest. My son Mason has recently been doing some trips out on our seven-metre Surtees and he makes me very proud. He is not fully into it and on some occasions he gets seasick but he keeps presenting. This fills me with pride because he doesn’t winge or say “I want to go home” He just knuckles down and deals with it. Has a little sleep, has a little drink of fizzy and has a spew. Then when the fish are on he comes out and gets stuck into them. It is the trips in his past and the fun that we have had together that fuels his desire to be involved even if he gets a bit sick. I fish with great mate Clinton Howe and his son Jake is of similar age and he impresses both Clinton and me with his technique when fighting fish. This is because as a Dad, Clinton has taken interest in him and shown him the correct way. Kids of all ages and genders really appreciate time with their parents.

WHY We are now full circle and back at that question of “why would I take my kids fishing” and for mine, the answers are clear and varied. The time spent with them in their formative years and young teens is invaluable.

I cannot stress this enough. Yes, the actual life skills they pick up are very handy, but it is the experience from their angle that is the diamond in this rough.

The stories they share at school with their mates or the stinky starfish hat you told them to put back in the rock pool will find its way to show and tell. Their perspective and the social benefit of being with Dad is worth its weight in a truck full of mobile phones and iPads. In a world where the lives of children are spent getting a crooked neck from staring at their “device” celebrate a wet car seat and a footwell full of sand. So do not look at fishing with kids as a chore, but a gift you can reap the reward of for years and years.

Jake Howe used technique over muscles to capture this southern bluefin

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Fishing News - Page 49

The fished that ruined my season By Nick Taransky

F

or nearly all of the 2019/20 trout season, I maintained a perfect record. For the first time since I started trout fishing, in the late 1970s, this season was shaping up to be different to any other. My whole season was completely unspoiled by the landing of a single fish. Not one. It sort of snuck up on me, and it was May before it really dawned on me. Call it therapy, or confession, but I’m going to try to explain to you how it came about.

When I realised my predicament, I wasn’t overly concerned or embarrassed by it, but it did give me cause to reflect on my fishing life to date. I’ve been lucky to fish so frequently, both close to home, interstate, and overseas. Indeed it was an overseas trip to the USA in mid 2019 that gave me such a relaxed attitude to the start of the season. In May/June 2019, I visited my bamboo rodmaking mentor, Jeff Wagner, and had the wonderful experience of fishing with him nearly day for six weeks. This was a rare honour. Jeff does this every year, but he rarely fishes with anyone else (and after

Fishing News - Page 50

six weeks with me, he probably never will again)! Most of our fishing was on central Pennsylvania’s fabled spring creeks, while staying in a caravan, literally three metres from the river. For variety, and when the main rivers were too high, we’d fish the most gorgeous little forest freestone creeks for native brookies. To finish the trip we went to the Grayrock Bamboo Rodmakers gathering in Michigan and fished the Ausable River from traditional long driftboats. It was an adventure of a lifetime and one I’ll never forget.

On my return to Australia, I certainly wasn’t sick of fishing, even after 40 days on the water, but I was happy enough to catch up on some work. Before I knew it, September had crept up and the “Mexican” (Victorian – south of the NSW border) trout season was about to start. So I headed out for a day with my friend Troy, to North East Victoria to “break the ice” of the season.

A few of us do this every year, so that we can have a “Victorian Opening” and then a “NSW Opening” in October, when the season starts here. In recent years,

I’ve given these up for a “Tasmanian Opening” when I spend September and October based at Peter Hayes’ Lodge on Brumby’s Creek for my bamboo rodmaking classes and the “Cressy Cane” bamboo rod gathering.

As dry fly enthusiasts, our early season adventures can be a little challenging, but we usually manage to find a rising fish or two, or at least blindly winkle a few out of the bubble lines. On this trip however, despite perfect water levels and clear water, we didn’t rise or even spook a single fish. Both the air and water temperature were under 10 degrees, so it wasn’t a total surprise to “blank” the Victorian Opening. Still, it was a nice day out, talking the usual nonsense, and I even helped Troy drink his thermos of coffee so that he wouldn’t have to carry it back to the car.

So it was back to work for a while in the workshop, before my next trip out, again with Troy. Time had flown at the bench, and it was mid October by now, but it’s usually around this time that the dry fly action

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Opening day may have looked good, but I avoided the fish with great pecision. starts to heat up. “Heat up” is maybe too accurate.

Spring had gone from freezing cold to stinking hot in a blink, so when we got to one of the Monaro tablelands rivers, the trickle of flow, and oppressive sun beating down already felt like Summer. We walked and looked for a few hours without seeing a fish or any signs of hatches or insect life. Eventually, we saw a couple of deep cruisers but they were hard to track and intercept in the tannin stained water. The day took a turn for the better when we saw a couple of termites flutter by and splutter onto the water. It was odd, as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and no forecast of rain, when

Termites bought the trout up, but not to my presentations.

they usually appear, but we weren’t complaining. For whatever reason, these tiny insects seem to bring every fish in the river up when they appear in numbers. And sure enough, within ten minutes, they were everywhere, and starting to cover the surface of the pool that we were camped on. The fish were onto them in no time too, and maybe ten fish were rising on random beats, mopping up the increasingly dense fall. For the next hour, in that joyful frustration, we tried to catch these elusive cruisers. The problem was, that there were now so many termites on the surface that the fish weren’t cruising in any predictable pattern, and getting your fly in front of one was a lot harder than it first looked.

Often, the fish would take a real insect only an inch or two from your fly, and then another two feet further long, having missed your fly and half a dozen other naturals in the meantime. We did rise and miss a couple of fish each, and Troy eventually landed a nice plump fish of a pound or so. I did “sort of” catch one, but when I landed it, I realised that it was foul hooked in the eye, so I’m not counting it! As quickly as it started, the action stopped when the inevitable cold Easterly came in. Another enjoyable day, but still no “legitimate” fish on the board for me.

On the assumption that Troy was a bad luck charm, I changed partners for my next trip out. It was November by now, but the weather had stayed unpleasantly hot, so I was happy enough working and waiting for things to improve. A window of cooler weather had Fred von Reibnitz and me deciding to have a look at a couple of the Monaro streams to see how they had fared after a couple of hot Summers. We’d had a few fantastic years on the Monaro, but the recent heat was a cause for concern. The plan was to check out the “Golden Mile” on the Kybeyan, as it would hopefully still be holding some fish. As we feared, the level was way down and there was no flow at all, but at least the pools still

looked clear and healthy. The day itself was bleak and cold, with a pretty fierce wind buffeting us most of the time, but it was really more of a survey than serious fishing day, anyway. Thankfully, we did see a couple of fish rise and spotted a cruiser or two, but despite fishing to them, we didn’t have any success. Again though, another pleasant outing, and good company, despite Fred not proving any better luck than Troy.

The season was coming into the “sweet spot” in the Snowy Mountains and some bountiful fish days were just around the corner…

So I thought…

Maybe it was having had such a wonderful extended trip to the USA, rod orders and other projects on the bench, or more likely, the seemingly never ending heat, I just didn’t feel the urge to get out for a fish. Before the year ended, the heat itself as a factor was overtaken by the “Black Summer” bushfires. Fishing was the last thing on most peoples minds for some time, and by the time it was over, we’d lost a decent chunk of the season, as well as a lot of land surrounding our fisheries.

So it was with a bit of trepidation in February that I headed out again with Troy, to look at the Kosciuszko National Park though Kiandra.

This area contains a number of our most respected rivers, including the Eucumbene, Murrumbidgee, Tumut and Yarrangobilly, as well as numerous tributaries. It was pretty sobering to drive through the devastation, but like the fires of 2003, I’m sure that nature, and trout will prove to be more resilient that it can first appear. Eventually we made our way past totally burnt areas to an unburnt section of the upper Murrumbidgee. The water looked OK, so we thought it was worth a bit of prospecting. I wasn’t even that surprised that on the third cast in a rocky run, a fish slashed down the fly and I was hooked up solidly.

Until I wasn’t. The fish just bounced off as they do from time to time. Still, with such instant action, there would be more to follow. Except it didn’t. Three hours later, we’d spooked one fish, but seen or risen nothing else. Another blank day. But hey, there was still time to snap out of it and get some fishing in, and a few fish as well…

The other thing coming up was my month in Tasmania, for rodmaking classes and Cressy Cane, including fishing with our Japanese guests, Tomonori Higashi and Naoto Shibuya. That would be a lot of fun… Of course, the rest, as they say “is history”. No classes, no Cressy Cane, no Japanese visitors, no Spirit of Tasmania, and worst of all, NO BLOODY TOILET PAPER. Etc etc.

Luckily for me, working from home, in many ways it was business as usual through the lockdown.

I took a dent in income from class cancellation, but there are many people way worse effected than me.

Personally the extra workshop time this season was a wonderful opportunity to work on some new projects and techniques that I wouldn’t have tackled if I’d been out fishing, so it was nice to have plenty to pour myself into.

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Fishing News - Page 51

You’re an Angler, and no matter how many times you go fishing you’ll want to go again and no matter how many fish you catch (or nearly catch) it will never be enough.

There will be days when the fishing is better than one’s most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse.

Either is a gain over just staying home.

You’re hooked, along with us.

WE ARE TONIC! Fishing News - Page 52

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A delicious glide, with a high bank and bubble line ruined a perfect record. Derek fished on...

Derek working on a two strip cane rod.

One project that I did on a bit of a whim was to make a few “two strip” split cane rods, which, unlike the hexagonal (six strip) split cane rods, can be made with only a few basic tools and without expensive planing forms. When we did come out of lockdown, I was able to teach this technique to Derek, a young guy who lives near me. He is now up and running as

a new rodmaker, which is something for both of us to feel good about.

It was during this project that Derek suggested that we maybe get out for a fish before the end of the season. The end of the season!!!! Oh yeah, it was May and the season was just about over. It was then that it clicked that it was coming to an end and I hadn’t caught a fish. It got me thinking, maybe that makes a story, “The season without a fish”! It felt like cheating though to have that story without at least one last attempt to catch one. So on the 31st of May, 2020, in the last week of the season, Derek and I headed up to the Snowy mountains. I was pretty sure we’d see some spawning fish, but had no real expectations of catching anything, particularly on a dry fly. Right up top, the forecast was for snow, with possible blizzards, and gale force winds, so we opted to stay a little lower, and fish the Moonbah, out of Jindabyne. The weather wasn’t quite as bad down there. Let’s call it “bracing”. A few little sleet flurries, and a blustery cold wind persisted for most of the day, but it could have been worse. The water was cold enough such that we each took turns fishing, while the other stayed on the bank to get the feeling back in their feet. At least the level was low and clear, and looked nice. We didn’t see any spawners, which would have been fun to watch, but did flush a few dark fish from under the banks. After an hour of taking turns of fishing sections of the river, Derek rose a fish, and had it on for a few seconds before it came off.

Over the next hour or so, we both managed a few more half hearted rises without actually fully connecting or landing a fish. Around mid afternoon, when my turn came up, it was on a delicious glide, with a high bank and bubble line on the right hand bank. “It’s now or never” I thought. I’d make it my last set of casts for the season, maybe my “perfect” season… I carefully worked my way up the bubble line, with smooth drifts, close in against the bank. Nothing. The, disaster struck. A nose came out, quietly clipping down the fly. I struck, and hooked up solidly. The fish put up a good tussle, but despite me barracking for it, Derek soon had it in the net. A typical stream brown, still silver, despite the time of year. So there it was, the fish that ruined my perfect season.

Of course, I was very happy to see it. I reeled up, and said “That’s it, my season over”. My first fish, on my last cast of the season. I stepped out of the water, getting the feeling back in my toes, and watched Derek fish in the fading light and plummeting temperature.

The exuberance of youth…

It’s a strange thing to be able to summarise a whole season in a single article. If I knew that the fires and Covid Zombie Apocalypse were coming, I may have gotten out more often earlier in the season. But we usually don’t know what’s coming, good or bad, so a lesson I’m taking forward into future seasons is to make the most of opportunities. Who knows, this coming season I may even catch TWO fish!

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Fishing News - Page 53

RECREATIONAL SEA FISHERIES NEWS NOVEMBER 2020

Lets Talk Flathead

What’s happening with flathead stocks?

Flathead is the backbone of the Tasmanian recreational fishery accounting for 70% of all recreational fish caught each year. Most of the 100,000 or so people who go fishing in Tasmania started out catching a flattie as their first fish.

The latest survey showed that recreational fishers keep over 700,000 flathead every year, the majority of which is sand flathead. In recent years, many fishers have been experiencing declining catches.

The relative recreational catch of the main flathead species and their stock status was reported in the latest IMAS Scalefish Fishery Assessment:

Why are sand flathead stocks declining?

While tiger flathead stocks are assessed as sustainable, unfortunately sand flathead are assessed as depleting.

The relatively easy catchability of sand flathead in inshore waters and an increasing number of fishers are putting stocks are under immense fishing pressure. Over 50% of flathead are caught in the south-east.

The lower bag limit and increased size limit introduced in 2015 has reduced the rate of stock decline. Fishing pressure remains high however, particularly on faster-growing females.

We are working with IMAS to gather more information including applying for funding to improve stock monitoring and review whether environmental changes are influencing flathead biology in combination with current fishing levels.

What can recreational fishers do?

96% are sand flathead: Stock status = Depleting

3% are tiger flathead: Stock status = Sustainable

• Only take what you need for a feed • NEVER use undersize flathead for bait.

• Release small flathead so they survive - use a dehooker or wet hands.

• Target other species.

Instead of sand flathead, try for tiger flathead in deeper water.

Target species such as gurnard, Australian salmon and mullet. Challenge yourself and spend time catching a new species such as yellowtail kingfish or snapper.

• Spread out your fishing activities. Fish away from popular areas.

Remember, sand flathead are mainly caught by recreational fishers. If you look after them, recreational fishers benefit.

1% are bluespot flathead: Stock status = Not Assessed Fishing News - Page 54 www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

What about the commercial flathead fishery?

The breakdown of the total commercial catch of flathead in state waters out to three nautical miles offshore is: • Sand flathead – 2% of total catch (or 4 tonnes); and • Tiger flathead – 28% of total catch (or 16 tonnes).

Catch figures are from IMAS 2018-19 Scalefish Report.

Tiger flathead are also taken by Commonwealth Danish seiners in Commonwealth waters (generally more than three nautical miles offshore) adjacent to The breakdown of the total Tasmania’s east coast. In recent years this has been an commercial catch of flathead in state waters out to three nautical average of around 170 tonnes.

miles offshore is: • Sand flathead – 2% of total catch (or 4 tonnes); and • Tiger flathead – 28% of total catch (or 16 tonnes).

Catch figures are from IMAS 201819 Scalefish Report.

Tiger flathead are also taken by Commonwealth Danish seiners in Commonwealth waters (generally more than three nautical miles offshore) adjacent to Tasmania’s east coast. In recent years this has been an average of around 170 tonnes.

How are flathead caught commercially?

They are mainly taken by Danish seining. This gear catches by encircling a net and herding fish, not dragging heavy gear across the sea floor. A small amount is taken by hook and line.

Two to three Danish seine vessels operate in Tasmanian waters between 1 - 3 nautical miles offshore, mainly in the south east. They target school whiting and tiger flathead.

There are no trawlers in Tasmania. Trawling was banned in 2001. Danish seine fishing is not trawl Danish seiners cannot fish within one nautical fishing - see how it works at: www.fishing.tas.gov.au/ mile of the coast or in Great Oyster Bay, Mercury danish-seine Passage, the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, River Derwent** and Anderson Bay at Bridport.

Where do Danish seiners operate?

Danish seiners cannot fish within one nautical mile of the coast or in Great Oyster Bay, Mercury Passage, the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, River Derwent** and Anderson Bay at Bridport.

Commonwealth vessels can only operate outside Tasmanian scalefish waters – generally three nautical miles off the coast. All Commonwealth vessels are monitored by vessel monitoring systems (VMS). **Except whiting fishing in a small area just inside the mouth of the Derwent.

Summer Fishing Clinics Free fishing clinics are here again as we approach summer, some are public clinics and others are preorganised with Fishcare by schools and community groups.

Commonwealth vessels can only operate outside Tasmanian scalefish waters – generally three nautical miles off the coast. All Commonwealth vessels are monitored by vessel monitoring systems (VMS). **Except whiting fishing in a small area just inside the mouth of the Derwent.

As we did last year, Fishcare is conducting a Summer Fishing Program in January and February with free fishing clinics for individuals and groups around the state. It’s a great activity to keep the kids busy at the end of the holidays before school goes back. Rods and gear are available to use.

The aims of the program are: • To impart basic fishing skills including casting, knot tying and rigging to children and new fishers.

• To teach responsible fishing practices such as measuring, handling and releasing your catch.

• To promote recreational fishing as a fun outdoors activity.

Keep an eye out for dates and details coming to our Summer Fishing webpage at:

www.fishing.tas.gov.au/sea-fishing-aquaculture/ community-resources/fishcare-tasmania/summerfishing-program. You may also be interested in helping out at one of our summer clinics. Fishcare often need extra assistance and it’s a great way to see whether you’d enjoy joining us as a longer-term volunteer.

If you’re from a community group, contact one of our Coordinators to enquire about organising a clinic at email fishcare@dpipwe.tas.gov.au or ring 6165 3039.

Need more information?

• Get a copy of the Recreational Sea Fishing Guide from Service Tasmania • Download the Tasmanian Sea Fishing Guide app • Go to www.fishing.tas.gov.au or www.facebook. com/FisheriesTasmania • Phone: 1300 720 647 or 03 6165 3233 • Email: fishing.enquiries@dpipwe.tas.gov.au

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Fishing News - Page 55

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Fishing News - Page 57

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

Gone Fishing Charters

• East coast estuary and bay • Whiting, Bream, Salmon, Garfish, Flathead, Squid and more • Soft plastics, lures, fly and bait • 5.8 metre sportfishing boat.

Gone Fishing Charters St Helens

Boat trailer wheel & tyre Dunbier and early Holden pattern

around $90ea 62 Hopkins St, Moonah 6228 0274

Michael Haley 0419 353 041 mhaleycharters@bigpond.com www.breamfishing.com.au

Mark - the Miracle Worker

Mark can repair, renovate, rebuild, replace, redesign or renew just about anything to do with boats, trailers, propellers and other general engineering stuff. If it is busted, bent, broken or dinged Dr Mark can fix it.

Miracles - No problem Spongers, idiots and time wasters are not welcome.

Aluman Engineering

424 Hobart Rd, Youngtown. TAS 7249 www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.

6343 3341 Fishing News - Page 59

BOATWISE? BOATWISE? ARE YOU DODGY ARE YOU DODGY CHECK CHECK BEFORE BEFORE YOU YOU BUY. BUY. BOATWISE? BOATWISE? CHECK CHECK BEFORE BEFORE YOU YOU BUY. BUY.