Trout fishing Tasmania

[imaddictedtofishing]

Hi guys,

My dad and I will be going down to Tasmania for a trout fishing trip with both flies and lures this January. Since I've never been down that way i was wondering if anyone here has done a similar trip and could offer maybe some rivers or lakes that could hold some trout? We haven't booked flights or accommodation yet so any directions will be greatly appreciated. Also any gear tips will be good too. Leader, lures, flies etc.

Cheers

[daniel944]

Ive been down there twice now, I went with guides. The first time we went to lake 4 springs and the second time to woods lake (tried arthurs first, but it was dead). Both times I hooked onto some very nice fish!

All fishing was boat based, although at lake 4 springs you could walk all the way around it casting lures or flies.

[royts]

I've been down there once, and my dad many times. Where you go will depend on a number of things including where you will be basing yourselves, whether you have access to a boat, what type of fishing you want to do and whether or not you get a guide (I would thoroughly recommend this for at least one day). If you had the choice I would stay at Launceston over Hobart. Close to Launceston you've got the meadow/slow flowing rivers such as Macquarie river, South Esk, Meander River and Brumby's Lake. I believe there's a guide that does rafting trips on these rivers. There's also the faster moving streams in St Patrick's river and North Esk. Launceston is also closer to the central plateau which is where all the lake fishing is, and is what Tasmanian trout fishing is famous for. When I was there I fished Arthur's lake with a guide when there was a fantastic mayfly hatch on, we were fishing loch style with a team of 3 dry flies. Arthur's is full of fish, I might be wrong on this but I'm pretty certain when I was there Arthur's actually had a bag limit more than the rest of Tasmania and they would actually encourage you to take fish so the average size would increase. It may have changed since then. Other popular lakes include Great Lake, Little Pine, numerous others, you could basically throw a dart at a map of the central plateau and fish would be there. If you're staying in Hobart there's still places to fish, just further and not as good. Let me know where you're going as I have the new edition of Trout Waters of Tasmania by Greg French which is an extremely comprehensive book and worth the buy if you want to make the trip regularly.

[royts]

Forgot to mention about flies and so forth. Will depend on the style of fishing. If say you're fishing St Pat's then its likely you'll be fishing blind, so probably double fly rig with a nymph and dry. All the usual ones royal wulfs, royal humpy, stimulator etc as the dry and pheasant tails, hair and copper, seals fur nymph as the dropper. On clear blue skies and lakes the usual technique is polaroiding to seen fish. So a 9ft leader, accurate casts and a nondescript dry, red tag and shaving brush are popular. On windy and cloudy days loch style fishing can be a deadly technique either 2 or 3 flies. Loch style patterns include the carrot, possum emerger, bob's bits. Its probably best to head to a specialist fly fishing store for more info, I can recommend the essential fly fisher in launceston. Good luck, I'm heading down in December but with my girlfriend so won't be dong too much fishing.

Edit: Keep on re-reading it and need to add more info. For fly gear a 5 or 6 wt will keep you covered for most fishing, as long as the rod is at least 9ft. A 6 might be overkill on some of the smaller streams, just depends on what you're willing to take.

Edited November 19, 2011 by royts

[Time Bandit]

Hi guys,

My dad and I will be going down to Tasmania for a trout fishing trip with both flies and lures this January. Since I've never been down that way i was wondering if anyone here has done a similar trip and could offer maybe some rivers or lakes that could hold some trout? We haven't booked flights or accommodation yet so any directions will be greatly appreciated. Also any gear tips will be good too. Leader, lures, flies etc.

Cheers

I lived in Tassie for 13 years (Ulverstone) on the North West Coast; I can tell you categorically that they have one of the best managed restocking systems around. The fishing is exceptional both lake, river & sea, although January is not the best time for the lakes.

You will need to contact the Tassie Fisheries Dept to check on the closure of some lakes. Is your dad ex military by any chance as there is (almost free) accommodation at a couple of good fishing lakes. I found wattle grubs the best bait for Brownies & Rainbows while grasshoppers worked extremely well in the rivers.

There are numerous lakes & rivers to fish in Tassie, how are you travelling around Tassie?

Gear, I have caught some beautiful Trout on cheap & expensive gear, believe it or not I have caught one of my best rainbows on a "Strawberry cream", yes the Allen’s lollies.

Launceston would be a pretty good base although Swansea would give you the best of both worlds.

Let me know if I can help further, oh bye-the-way January can be pretty dam hot in Tassie, be careful as you will end up looking like Lobsters!

Cheers