After 3 1/2 years of hard work and planning, we are excited to announce that we will be opening RiverFly Wilderness Huts in October 2012!

RiverFly Wilderness Huts are located adjacent to the famous Western Lakes & Walls of Jerusalem National Park / World Heritage Area.
The hut project has been a massive project for us, and is the first project of its kind in Tasmania to combine wilderness fly fishing and conservation. Of this we are extremely proud. This outcome means that for every customer that visits RiverFly Wilderness Huts, a slice of Tasmania is protected forever.
Here is a link to the webpage and further details http://riverfly.com.au/riverfly-wilderness-huts/ . Keep an eye on our newsletter and blog for more information, and we are taking bookings now.
Thanks, Dan and Simone Hackett.

Many apologies for the delay between reports…we’ve been busy with our young son, and our new fly shop www.flyshop1864.com.au . Now, onto the fishing:

February saw the arrival of the hoppers to the rivers of the Northern Midlands, in particular the South Esk, Lake, lower Macquarie and Meander rivers. The large yellow hoppers were a little low on numbers on all the rivers, other than the lower Macquarie, however the small brown and orange hoppers were great trout fodder on the remainder. Our imitation of these, the Mini WMD http://flyshop1864.com.au/shop/dry-flies/mini-wmd-hopper/ proved to be the best pattern. Other highlights have included black spinner falls later in the day, between 2pm and 4pm on the slower rivers.

The autumn mayfly also started last week, with dun hatches (black spinner duns, baetids and caenids) occuring on lower Brumbys Creek, Macquarie, North Esk and Meander. Our Possum Shaving Brush and Black Spinner have been the best patterns. http://flyshop1864.com.au/shop/trout-flies-tied-in-our-shop-in-tasmania/

Fish in general have been in excellent condition this year, with Brumbys Creek having the largest average size for years (2 1/2lbs). The Lower Macquarie has lots of fat and young fish presently, whilst the Lake and Meander rivers have some longer and older fish. Cormorant plagues have cleaned out a few runs of the South Esk and Meander, along with the odd lagoon in the Western Lakes, however these are only isolated occurances.

Up on the plateau and late season mayfly have been showing among the Nineteen Lagoons in the Western Lakes, as well as Woods Lake where they’ve been joined by tailing trout. A break from the heat last week also saw water temperatures drop and midge hatches start again. It shouldn’t be too long until the gum beetles and jassids make an appearance.

Looking towards the next three weeks and we’ll be stocking up on black and red spinner mayfly patterns, small mayfly emergers, and the odd ant pattern in readiness for the autumn mayflies and ants. In the meantime we’ll be focussing on the consistent and exciting hopper fishing to be found on most days; the only conditions to be wary of are those with south-easterly winds, which somewhat slow the hatches. Finding sheltered nooks and crannies on the streams are the keys to success during these periods.

Thanks, Daniel Hackett.

Here’s a mini-report for the last week of the season:

Lots of flooding in northern Tasmania has meant the best fishing has been on the small rivers and streams. The St Patricks and Meander have proved the pick, with 25% of trout to dry flies (Fastwater Duns) , and the rest to nymphs (Pheasant and Peacock, Black and Peacock, and Ostrich Herl nymphs). Late afternoon, from 2-4pm has seen the best fishing, and the chance of small-scale baetid mayfly hatches. The South Esk should be at a great level for fishing by this weekend, whilst the lower Macquarie and Brumbys Creek are best left till next season.

Fly Fishing during May: The best of the rainbow fishing will be on the rivers, including the Weld (southern Tasmania), Leven (rainbow sections) and upper Mersey.

Out in the Western Lakes the tailers are well and truly back in action, along with dry fly fishing on the still days. Gum Beetles and Jassids are out on the lower altitude lakes.

The key for this time of year, whether on the rivers or lakes, is to fish the calm weather patterns: frontal systems affect the fishing quite severely.

Wild fisheries on the rise… 

Over the past couple of seasons, mates and I have been exploring fisheries that barely see a person. We’ve explored the Mersey and Meander rivers from top to bottom, waded up and down the southern rivers and rainforests, and explored even more of the Western Lakes area. All of these fisheries are bucking the Australia-wide trend of disastrous impacts from drought and climate change, and have become a shining light in the future of the fisheries I work among. 

The Mersey and Meander rivers in northern Tasmania now have legislated environmental flows for the first time in their histories; hatches are developing with vigour, the average size of the wild trout in these rivers is on the increase, and the fisheries themselves are becoming more consistent, and more predictable. Rainfall in these catchments has decreased, but better resource management has countered any effects, and the fisheries are beginning to achieve their potentials.  

Down south there has been some positive flow-on effects from climate change. A decrease in annual rainfall throughout southern Tasmania has made the big rainforest rivers more accessible to wading and fishing, whilst pressure on the logging industry has led to increased public access to our forests, and our rivers. The excellent brown trout fisheries we’ve found along these river systems has raised more than a few eyebrows in surprise.

Equally, better environmental management along the Derwent River has led to the re-birth of another major fishery. Drastically improved environmental impact management from heavy industry along the urban sections of the river have seen remarkable changes such as whales swimming through Hobart, but more significantly for fly fishers, sea-run and resident trout populations have begun to flourish. Sight-fishing to large sea trout along the estuary and lower sections of river is now a year-round prospect, complete with annual ‘hatches’: lampreys, glass eels, crabs, isopods, amphipods and the whitebait runs all create feature hatch-driven fishing events. 

And then there’s Tasmania’s perennial wilderness fishery, the World Heritage Listed Western Lakes region. This fishery thrives on seasonal wet and dry periods, fluctuations that inundate new ground, providing fresh flushes of food for the wild brown trout, and dry periods that restrict spawning and recruitment to headwater trophy fisheries. This fishery is as healthy as ever. 

Thanks for letting us share the good news stories with you!

Now available: Fly Cards book by Daniel Hackett, and Western Lakes Limited Edition print

After three months of hard work, Fly Cards has arrived back from the printers this week. It’s been more than a decade since Australian’s have had a fly tying book of their own, and a lot has changed in that time: we’ve seen the beginnings of a generational change in in fly tying. Foam products are now an integral part of fly tying, U.V. reflective materials have opened up a new school of thinking, and the transplanting of British loch-style fly fishing techniques to Tasmania has lead to the development of our own specialised loch-style flies. In Fly Cards I was able to represent these new materials, techniques and styles, and also cover their origin and history. We hope that Fly Cards stands testament to the beginning of a new chapter in Australian fly tying history. Fly Cards is available now from our webshop http://inseasonflyfishing.com/shop/fly-cards/

Fly Cards by Daniel Hackett

 To create our Western Lakes artwork, our second new product for 2010, we commissioned third-generation Western Lakes fisherman Clifford How to capture the unique pencil pine’s of the plateau, and the historically important trapper’s huts that now provide shelter and inspiration to fly fishers. Inspiration for the pencil pines and dolerite scree depicted in the artwork came from those found on the islands of the Lunka Lake system. These island outcrops of centuries-old trees are testament to the fire protection that these lakes have provided since their glaciated inception. Junction Lake hut plays the role of muse for the cryptic trappers hut sketched in charcoal, complete with the ‘RRR’ branded timbers that represent the makers mark found on many huts in the area. The wild trout of the artwork is pictured with the vivid golds of the brown trout found in the region, a colour made ever more vibrant by a diet rich in shrimp and crustaceans.Western Lakes limited edition print is available now from our webshop http://inseasonflyfishing.com/shop/fly-art-limited-edition-artwork/

Opening Day fishing report

Opening day in Tasmania was last weekend, with lots of reports coming in. I had a great day of guiding on the Derwent for fresh sea-run brown trout, an experience echoed by a lot of lure fishermen over the weekend. The current run is mainly 2-4lb trout, but larger fish will begin to follow the whitebait up the estuary within the next few weeks.

The South Esk is looking excellent after some cleansing winter floods, and is now running high and very clear. The Meander also had one good winter flood, and things are set up perfectly for the start of the late September, spring mayfly hatch. The upper Macquarie River (which began a recovery from drought last year) has featured high winter flows, and with one more good rain event, we should see the headwater dam (Tooms Lake) overflow and flood the river for the second year running. This is great news. Tooms Lake itself is fishing well.

In the Central Highlands, Penstock and Little Pine lagoons produced the best fishing for trout to 4lbs, whilst Great Lake was a bit slow off the mark. The Western Lakes are still frozen, with daytime temperatures peaking at a mere 2 degrees last weekend!

Mayfly Hatches and dry fly fishing – only 40 days, and counting…

With the season now underway, it’s less than 40 days (and counting) till the spring mayfly hatches and dry fly fishing gets underway. After a second consecutive wet winter, the northern rivers are looking primed for a big year of mayfly. Send us an Email if you would like to book in for a couple days break away from the city. For those pressed for time, we can pick you up from an early morning flight into Launceston, and drop you off for the late evening flight back to Melbourne or Sydney: tickets are often cheaper than the alternative cost of driving to the Snowy Mountain’s or North Eastern Victoria!

Custom Trout flies tied-to-order

Just a quick reminder to everyone that tied-to-order flies are available from our webshop www.inseasonflyfishing.com . Orders are dispatching in 7-8 days currently. New patterns that I am tying include our MK2 Fuzzle Bugger, the Claret Dabbler, and The Earthworm.

That’s all for now. We hope you all have a great season in 2010/2011, and feel free to pass this newsletter on: word-of-mouth is the cornerstone of our successful business.

Thank you from the RiverFly Team – Daniel, Simone & Patrick.

Email us

Demoiselle dragonfly, England

The famous chalkstreams…

Just a week ago I was fortunate to find myself fishing a Hampshire chalkstream, in England. These slow flowing rivers are regarded as the birthplace of modern fly fishing, and as luck would have it, I was there in time for the mayfly. It was truly marvellous, watching the large danica mayfly (size 10!) hatch off the carefully managed river.

I was lucky to be fishing with a friend and customer who owns a membership to a 4 mile stretch of water. Unlike Tasmania, most of the rivers are privately owned, and access is only available to syndicate members. Even if you want to, you cannot buy your way on to many stretches, it is strictly by invitation only.

As mentioned, the fishing was marvellous. We landed a dozen trout, each found rising to the natural mayflies (and there was three species hatching!). The river itself is managed by the owner, who in turn employs a river keeper to tend to the river. The river-keepers current goal? To replace the stocked trout with wild trout, which are now less common than stocked trout in England. It is an uphill battle.

Further highlights of the river included the lush bankside vegetation, carefully managed to suit the native insects and animals, and the surrounding land which was also managed to minimise impact on the river: cattle are kept away from the banks, and cropping is not permitted on the river’s floodplain. The river keeper and the management of the river is all paid for by the monies returned from the syndicate memberships. The result? The most cared-for river I have ever fished, all within an hour of the busting city of London.

In Season Fly Fishing – New online shop, and new book from Daniel Hackett

Last month, Simone and I were excited to put the finishing touches to our new online shop, In Season Fly Fishing www.inseasonflyfishing.com. Created to showcase and sell our feature products, such as our book In Season Tasmania and our hand tied flies, the webshop features secure shopping, and accepts credit card or PayPal. The website has been launched just in time for the release of a new fly tying booklet (Fly Cards, by Daniel Hackett), and limited edition print celebrating the Western Lakes fishery.

New ‘Fly Cards’ by Daniel Hackett, and ‘Western Lakes’ Limited Edition print

Both products arrive back from the printers over the next couple of weeks, each of which we are quite excited about.

Western Lakes is our limited edition print, featuring our most famous wilderness fishery. Click here to find out more about this limited edition print, which is the result of a partnership between In Season Fly Fishing, and local Tasmanian artist Clifford How. Measuring approx. 580x320mm, there are only 100 copies available. We recommend reserving a copy now, rrp $99.00

Fly Cards is our second new production, and is an innovative fly tying booklet written by myself. Featuring 20 of my favourite Australian fly patterns, with full-colour photos and tying instructions, ‘Fly Cards – A Series of Australian Fly Tying Patterns’ suits all levels of fly tyers from beginners to advanced. Visit the Fly Cards page at our webshop for more details and to order rrp $34.95

Would you like custom-tied trout flies from the RiverFly team? You can order these now from In Season Fly Fishing www.inseasonflyfishing.com .

Availabilities for September 2010 – Christmas 2010

We have started taking bookings for the up-coming season. If you would like to book a pre-Christmas trip to fish the mayfly hatches (From late September to Christmas), send us an Email now www.riverfly.com.au/contact

FlyLife Magazine – Free Online Magazine

FlyLife Magazine have just released their E-Magazine Winter Edition. The theme of this edition is ‘Tasmania’, with the magazine featuring a ‘best of’ selection of Tasmanian articles. Click here and select issue 2 to read the new edition http://www.flylife.com.au/emag/default.htm

Winter fisheries report

Winter has been good for the fisheries to date, with most fish across the state spawning a few weeks earlier than usual. This allows them to re-cuperate quicker, and should see fatter fish during the season as a result.

On the South Esk River, heavy rains around the start of June saw a good flush of water pass down the river, cleaning the riverbed of silt and leaving the river clean for next season. With the water tables re-charged from consistent light rain, I expect to see most rivers get a good flush over the next month or two.

That’s all for now, stay tuned for a pre-season opening newsletter next month. Thank you for supporting an Australian small business, and please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends.

Thank you from the RiverFly Team – Daniel, Simone & Patrick.

Autumn mayfly rise

We are running a mayfly season guiding special for bookings of two or more days: our normal rates are $375 ea pp (for two anglers), however our multiple day bookings for between 9 April and 23rd of April are on special for $300pp, 0r $525 for a single angler (down from $620). Enquire here for availability and more details. April is one of our best months for mayfly hatches and match-the-hatch fishing.

With the season starting to wind down, Daniel and his team are starting to again fill custom fly orders. If you would like to orders some WMD’s for hopper feeders and the Western Lakes, or perhaps some classic Shaving Brush, just visit our shop icon in the top right corner and order away. Our Paypal payment sytem will process your payment, and the RiverFly team will start tying!

Macquarie River

Autumn is mayfly time on the northern Tasmanian rivers. Moody thunderheads often sit in the distance, as plagues of iron-blue beatids hatch, drifting down the river on foam lines and eddies. It is in these currents that trout hunt their prey, and within these currents that our simple dry flies fool the wild trout.

Wild Tasmanian hopper feeder

Gone Fishing…

 It’s been three months since our last fishing report, but with good reason: we’ve spent more than 50 days on the rivers since our last note, guiding through pre-Christmas red and black spinner falls, summer hopper hatches and the beginning of the autumn mayflies, and spent another 30 days out in the World Heritage Listed Western Lakes region, experiencing not only the sightfishing, but nature itself. We’ve found remnants of late 19^th century grazing operations, old forgotten horse and cart tracks, not to mention a world of detailed minutiae: cushion plants and orchids, blue and red mountain hoppers, and ancient remnant pencil pine stands. 

 There have been many surprises this season, some owed in part to the end of the drought, some to new river venues, and some to our expanding Western Lakes Campouts. One common theme throughout them all has been constant: wild Tasmanian trout. Whether it’s been the super-conditioned trout of the Meander or lower Macquarie River, the flats cruising trout of the Western Lakes, or the hidden monsters of the fast-water river gorges, the aim of our days has revolved around core values of inspiring places, visual fishing opportunities and wild trout. If we can find these three goals, we know that the enjoyment of the day will take care of itself.  

 Current fishing report

 Autumn fishing has started in northern Tasmania, with large baetid mayfly falls on the lower Macquarie and Esk rivers, and ants appearing on humid days. This has created some classic match the hatch fishing, both from the raft and wading. Grasshoppers are still around and on the menu, and are proving effective at times–again, this has particularly been the case on the lower Macquarie River and a few of our other favourite haunts. The strong baetid hatches are expected to continue through March and April, to the close of the brown trout season at the start of May. 

 Summer highlights

 Summer highlights at RiverFly have been many and varied: young Rory sightfishing and landing a 4lb trout on the Meander, Frank and his six days of sight-fishing nirvana, high flows and great rafting on the post-drought Macquarie river, and the sight-fishing experience of the Western Lakes campouts with the three amigo’s Jappy, Mark and Curtis, the team of four Septuagenarians’, and many others. January was probably the best month of the season to date, with loads of blue-sky days, and early season hopper fishing. March could be a close contender to take the title though, especially if the ants and baetids keep on coming! 

Fishing Tips

1. When casting, always plan to present the fly ahead of the trout, rather than directly at it.

2. When practicing casting, focus on efficiency: learn to (1) cast line out quickly, (2) re-adjust casting length effectively, and (3) change casting directions smoothly.

 That’s all for now. If you have any questions about fishing in Tassie, don’t hesitate to Email us. Thanks from the RiverFly team–Daniel, Simone and Patrick. 

 Stay tuned to the RiverFly Blog for weekly updates and fishing reports.

Western Lakes Fly Fishing

       

Meander river mayfly feeder

The autumn mayfly have started on the Meander, South and North Esk, and Macquarie rivers. Highlights have been the morning beatids on the Macquarie, and daytime spinners on the Esk and Meander rivers.  Grasshoppers are still on the menu during warmer periods, and our WMD Hopper is doing the trick, whilst daytime ant falls are providing exciting ‘match the hatch’ fishing to studious sippers. Our go-to pattern for these situations has been our CDC F Fly, and proved the undoing of the pictured 2 1/2lb wild brown trout. Send us an Email now if you would like to experience some match the hatch fishing during March or April.

Rory and his wild Tasmanian trout

The river fish are well and truly on the hoppers, with the our WMD Hopper proving deadly. It’s been a freaky fortnight on the rivers, with more than 13 three-pound trout coming to hand, all polaroided, and all on the WMD hopper.

We’ve also been busy with Western Lakes Campouts, with the usual mix of blue sky days, and cracked up cloudy days providing both polaroiding days and mayfly days. January was an extremely dry month on the Central Plateau (19mm of rain compared to the average 120mm), so the best waters to head to have been deepwater lakes and their drop-off edges. These cruising trout have been averaging 2 1/2  to  3 1/2 pounds.

Finally, with a break from routine, here is a second pic of the day created by Mother Nature and fires on the West Coast: picture location, Western Lakes three nights ago.

Bushfire sunset, Western Lakes Tasmania