Fly fishing with RiverFly Tasmania – the options

Guided Tasmanian fly fishing options – wading the streams, raft-fishing the rivers or maybe a wilderness Western Lake campout.

Our guided fly fishing days are tailored to suit your requirements. We guide and teach complete beginners right through to advanced fly fishers.
  

Wading

Wild rainbow trout water, Tasmania

Wading rivers is the traditional way of fishing rivers, and for some people this remains the preferred style. RiverFly guide’s cumulative knowledge of Tasmania’s rivers is used to provide our clients with the best chance of hitting the hatch, and sight fishing to feeding fish.

 

 

Guides Daniel and Patrick often guide on historic sections of the North Esk, South Esk, Macquarie or St Patricks rivers, written about and fished by the likes of David Scholes and Dick Wigram. These sections of river feature some of Tasmania’s best mayfly hatches.  Another alternative is to wade one of Daniel’s favourite wilderness rivers (such as parts of the Meander or Mersey rivers), fishing the fast pocket water as you go.

If wade fishing is your preference then let one of our guides apply their considerable knowledge of isolated river stretches to design a program to meet your expectations. A Three Rivers Package can incorporate fly-fishing over three days, on three distinct river locations, offering three different experiences.

 
 

  River raft fly fishing

 

 

Photo by Nick reygeart

The lowland river fly-fishing experience includes mayfly hatches, casting to rising fish and stalking polaroided fish. These features of Tasmania’s river fisheries are at times only fully utilised on the bigger rivers by using specialised rafts and an expert guide.

 

Whilst raft fishing with Daniel you may cover up to 25 kilometres of water a day, all whilst relaxing from the seats of the raft – or if you prefer, use the raft as a taxi to take you from wading hot spot to hot spot.

Daniel has access to over 75 kilometres (and growing each season) of lowland rafting runs and utilises the very latest generation raft to do so. He has been the first person to ever raft fish sections of many rivers in Tasmania, locating new magical weedy glides and great hatches that later develop in to new guiding locations.

The raft provides an extremely stable platform for beginners and experienced fly fishers alike, and can take you through waters that prove too shallow or tight for noisy and heavy fibreglass drift boats. Drifting silently downstream, the raft is at one with the surrounding environment. Cattle, sheep and platypus, even deer at times, remain unaffected by the passage of the raft. See our rafting slideshow here  to see what to expect during your trip.

 Small stream trout hunting

For many guests, this can be the ultimate in river fly fishing. The challenges presented by small streams, grasses, trees and wind can be the most demanding of all environments for trout anglers.

The wild brown are typically spotted rising or through the use of Polaroid glasses, thereafter the hunt is on with the weapon of choice being a single dry fly or nymph.

Reach casting, aerial mending, roll casting – whatever it takes to get the fly in between the obstacles and to the trout, all the while not showing yourself or spooking the fish. 

RiverFly Wilderness Huts

Complimenting our river-based fly fishing, RiverFly have pioneered wilderness-based fly fishing in Tasmania. In 2012 we opened an industry first wilderness basecamp, RiverFly Wilderness Huts, within the World Heritage Area. The Wilderness Huts give us direct access to the famed Western Lakes, found in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. Using our knowledge of remote stretches of river, and the wilderness Western Lakes, we have developed a niche for those that want to fly fish and camp in the wilderness. Click here for more information.  apr 2013 329 crop