Archive for May, 2009


Fly Fishing Film Festival comes to Tassie – see you for a pint!

May 29th, 2009 by Daniel

 

Arthur River sea-runner

Arthur River sea-runner

Just a quick reminder that the Fly Fishing Film Festival, presented by Gin-Clear in association with FlyLife Magazine, will be travelling through Tasmania in June. Devonport is the first cab off the rank (19th June), followed by the Launceston show (Village Cinema’s, 22nd June) and the Hobart Show (24th June).  Debuting in Tasmania will be the island state’s first ever fly fishing film, The Source –  Tasmania.

 

The show starts at 8.30, but you can find Launceston’s finest fly fishers congregating at Irish Murphy’s just down the road from about 7 pm onwards, sampling The Sauce – Tasmania’s Finest a few quiet ones in preparation for a good night of fly fishing films. Be there, or be square.

Venue details and ticket purchases can be made here

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Patrick Horan joins the RiverFly Team

May 27th, 2009 by Daniel
Patrick Horan, preparing for an R&D day

Patrick Horan, preparing for an R&D day

Some great news for RiverFly guests is the recruitment of Patrick Horan to the RiverFly Tasmania team.  Patrick was head-hunted by RiverFly in 2008, and since then has been serving a guiding apprenticeship of sorts with RiverFly founder Daniel Hackett; as expected, Pat has taken to guiding like a duck to water. This is no surprise-Patrick has been teaching fly fishing Adult Education classes for more than four years with the Fly Fishers Club of Tasmania, and was a junior Tasmanian fly casting champion when Daniel met him almost a decade ago. Patrick is an excellent photographer, and an even better fly tier; you’ll find Daniel pilfering his innovative parachute hackles and hopper patterns most days their guiding together.

One thing to point out is Patricks local knowledge: it wasn’t too many seasons ago that Daniel was talking to Pat about a new, favourite secret spot; Pat replied with ‘yeah, I know the spot, I’ve been fishing it for a few seasons now’.  You can find more about Patrick on the RiverFly Guides page.

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The Vanishing River

May 25th, 2009 by Daniel
The Vanishing River

The Vanishing River

Compared to five years ago, May is an interesting time for Tasmanian fly fishers. Great Lake, Brushy Lagoon, Lake Barrington and even Lake Rowallan are among lake-based choices for those still wanting to target trout, and avoid the winter blues. This season has seen further waters opened for fishing in May (for the first time), with designated ‘rainbow waters’ now including the upper Mersey River, the two Weld rivers and parts of the Leven River. Finally, some late season destinations for river-fishers.

Most anglers I’ve met recently have packed their gear away, not wishing to blind-flog Woolly Buggers through the death-nell of another season…but the message I have is that there’ s still room for sight-fishing in the newly opened rivers. I’ve heard two excellent reports from the Weld River (northern Tas), and just yesterday I got to visit one of the other rainbow rivers in a section I like to call Vanishing River. At this time of year as the downstream lake drops in height, an extra 2 kilometres of original river comes back to life, flowing with crystal clear snowmelt over a clean, gravel bottom, complemented by under-cut banks, pools and riffles.  It is here, at the end of a 45 minute walk for humans, that brown trout (‘visitors’ to the rainbow section of the stream) begin to lay in wait for heavy rains and winter spawning. Over fifty of these trout were polaroided in Vanishing River, ranging from 1 lb to 4lbs. Three of these trout were sitting in foam-lines sipping dries and nymphing. So the next time you think the season is over, think about this: May holds some pretty cool sight-fishing opportunities, and some of them, such as Vanishing River, only exist for a fleeting moment late in the season.

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RiverFly Tasmania adds lodge accommodation to its business

May 20th, 2009 by Daniel
Quamby Estate Homestead

Quamby Estate Homestead

We are excited to announce that after a two-year hiatus from providing lodge accommodation, RiverFly Tasmania is once again offering river-based lodge accommodation and all inclusive packages to its guests. Through a strategic alliance with Quamby Estate, a large Anglo-Indian 1830’s estate just 15 minutes west of Launceston, we now have a new home for the accommodation side of our business central to Tasmania’s northern rivers. (In fact, the Meander River forms part of the magnificent views from the estate). 

The estate is operated as a part of Anthology www.anthology.travel, a new eco-tourism travel group who also owns and operates the world famous Cradle Huts and Bay of Fires Walks from Quamby Estate. The partnership between Anthology and RiverFly Tasmania is great news for the $60M Tasmanian recreational fishing industry, which over the past two seasons has struggled to offer a critical-mass of dedicated accommodation linked to professional, full-time guides, since the recent sales of Blue Lake Lodge and London Lakes.

RiverFly Tasmania and Quamby Estate have launched two initial packages, starting at three days and three nights from $1662 per person for two anglers. Visit www.riverfly.com.au/riverfly-lodge/ for more information. We will update our normal packages page to include the new packages over the next week.

Coporate retreats are also catered for with RiverFly Tasmania and Quamby Estate, offering opportunities for guided fly fishing as well as golf on the Estate’s own 9-hole golf course, as well as helicopter tours for the adventurous. 

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