Archive for the ‘Dry fly fishing’ Category


The Source – Tasmania dvd

April 8th, 2009 by Daniel
Arthur River sea-runner

Arthur River sea-runner

During late last year I was lucky enough to be invited to help Nick Reygeart of Gin-Clear Media with the filming of his up-coming film The Source – Tasmania. The request from Nick was clear: ‘I want to capture a classic Tasmanian mayfly hatch on film’. As all of you know, I believe that one of the keys to successfully hitting the hatches is to fish to the season of the day – that is to say, fish in the most likely spot according to prevailing weather, hatches, water flows, time of year etc.
With only a three days in which to capture a classic hatch, our timeframe mimicked that of the average guided fishing client – three days, regardless of weather, to fish a great hatch and target some rising fish. The first two days were average to poor weather, with difficult water levels – but some great fallback waters had us on to a couple of dozen rising fish to two pounds or so, which was exciting at times. Mayfly were found sporadically hatching, and generally, the fishing was good, but we hadn’t hit the purple-patch that I’d typically aim for over a three-day trip.
By late on day two the weather for the next day was becoming apparent – a calm morning would feature prior to afternoon winds. It was late November, the ceanid mayfly were in-season, so Brumbys Creek was our choice for the next day. We’d have a 7am start on the water.
Upon arrival at Brumbys, in all-important calm conditions, we began to recognise the start of the morning rise. Camera’s were lugged, the raft was launched, and the hatch was on…but this is where my story ends, and The Source – Tasmania can take over, along with awesome footage of sea-run brown trout from the north-west of Tasmania, great rainforested creek fishing, and of course, remarkable footage from our Western Lakes region.

Rafting a hatch on Brumbys

Rafting a hatch on Brumbys

The Source – Tasmania is showing nationwide this winter as part of the Rise Fly Fishing Film Festival, presented by Gin-Clear Media in association with FlyLife Magazine. Copies will be available for purchase at the shows, but if you can’t make it, contact me now to reserve a copy email Daniel for the June release date. The dvd will be available through our online shop Filming The Source

Filming The Source

To view dates for the national Rise Fly Fishing Film Festival, visit www.gin-clear.com

View a 2 minute promo at http://www.gin-clear.com
or
View a 10 minute ‘making of’ at http://www.gin-clear.com

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Guided fly fishing on Tasmania’s rivers: grasshopper time.

February 24th, 2009 by Daniel
Prime spring-creek runs

Prime spring-creek runs


Yesterday marked the first full-bore grasshopper day of the season: I was lucky to be guiding on my favourite midlands stream with two skilled anglers, who managed 50 or so smashing takes on dry flies. Half of these trout were hooked and landed, ranging from half-a-pound to a bit over two-pounds. Deep, faster flowing runnels among spring-creek weedbeds were the hotspots, and the WMD Hopper proved to be the successful go-to fly.
The success of the day came as no surprise; each day over the past fortnight has featured minor hopper fishing of sorts, but yesterday featured a full-on trout driven assault on this grass-munching food source. Our day started out with a light morning-time spinner fall, where parachute spinners undone half-a-dozen or so mooching browns. As the morning progressed and warmed, and the bankside hoppers started their screeching chatter, artificial hoppers replaced parachute flies, and the second fish to see our artificial was hooked. This continued through ’till 4.30 or so in the afternoon, when the afternoon sea-breeze took affect, and fish began to shut-down for the day. This daily rhythm is typical Tasmanian affair: a small morning rise, followed by the best fishing during the ‘gentlemen’s hours’ of 10-4, at the end of which the peak of the fishing comes to an end.
The best things in life are are seasonal, whether it’s the springtime of birth or the winter of death, or the heat of a hopper hatch or the coolness of a sea-breeze at the end of a dry fly fishing day. Perhaps it’s the impermanence of nature’s events, the ephemeral highlights, that makes fly fishing and life in general so interesting.

Hopper fishing tips: If fish consistently approach the hopper, but fail to take it, try twitching the fly with a movement of the rod tip. This often seals-the-deal, proving to much for the trout to refuse.

Hook-up on the WMD Hopper

Hook-up on the WMD Hopper

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In Search of the Giant Stonefly

January 30th, 2009 by Daniel
A giant stonefly hitches a ride

A giant stonefly hitches a ride

The giant-stonefly (Eustheniidae) hatch is a mysterious Tasmanian event. Most anglers would have seen the adult insects running around from time-to-time, but few would have fished a serious hatch. These massive bugs are found right across a huge range of Tasmania’s clear, cool waters, including tributaries of the St Patricks and North Esk rivers, the Meander, Mersey, Liffey and Leven rivers, Arthurs and Great lake, and among the Western Lakes.

These beasts are big: two inches in length (equivalent to a size 6 long-shank hook) is not unusual for these little beasties, appearing from their nymphal stages as winged adults, racing up mid-stream rocks as they hatch into mature adults.

For a number of years I have been studying the hatches of these little-known insects, trying to find the right time, and the best place to hit the hatch. These experiences have shown that late January is the best time for the hatches, during the warmest time of the year. The best locations are the fast and bouldery rivers of the north and north-west, and among the north-western area of the Western Lakes.

With this information in mind, I am off to fish some of Tasmania’s best fly fishing waters in search of the giant-stonefly hatch, one of the rare hatches that brings the biggest of the best fish to the surface. My trip will start in a deep gorge of the Mersey River for two days, followed by four days in the Western Lakes. My fly of choice will be the WMD Hopper, with an orange underbody, tied to a eight-pound tippet. Wish me luck!

If you would like to join RiverFly Tasmania for a day on the rivers, or on a Wilderness Campout to experience the best fly fishing Tasmania has to offer, contact Daniel for more information

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For WMD Hoppers and dozens of RiverFly Tasmania fly patterns, visit our online shop

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