A Sunburnt Country

With the large-scale floods across Australia at the moment, it’s an appropriate time to remember Dorothea Mackellar’s iconic Australian poem, My Country. Here’s an excerpt that fits in well with the last decade of drought and floods in Australia:

 ‘I Love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.’

 Like most of Australia, Tasmania has received record rainfall. The floods of last week took out bridges over the Liffey, Brumbys and Meander, and made roads over the Mersey, Georges, Brumbys and Meander all impassable. Poatina road along with the East Coast and Bass Highways were all closed in sections. Six hundred cubic metres of water per second is currently flowing down the South Esk and into Launceston. It’s plain to see the damage and heartache that floods across Australia have caused, but what is not immediately clear is the beneficial gasp of fresh air that the aquatic environment will receive, once the mud is gone and scouring has repaired.

After two years of above average rainfalls, it has been amazing to see the way aquatic eco-systems bounce back. When I first started guiding, late in 2002, I’d guide and fish on the Lower Macquarie and Brumbys Creek for one hundred days per season. The water was always high, and always clear. This all changed as the drought took hold, and these famed tailrace fisheries began to lack the medium to high flows that had been norm since the late 1960’s. All of a sudden there were months at a time when either fisheries were not worth fishing. Trout from Brumbys Creek and the Lower Macquarie River dropped to an average size of a pound or so, and long gone was the polaroiding and dry fly fishing that elevated these fisheries to icon status. But then the rains came over the winter of 2009, Great Lake began to fill, and in January 2010 the waters began to flow high and clear again, down Brumbys Creek and into the Lower Macquarie.

Move forwards to the current day, and these fisheries have made a remarkable return to old. The average size of trout in Brumbys Creek for the season has been 2lbs, and the Lower Macquarie has featured an amazing average size of 2 1/4lbs. The flies of choice have all been dry flies. Over on the Meander River, which has benefitted from legislated environmental flows for the first time in history, the average sizes have doubled in size from the drought years, and rare and endangered green and gold bell frogs now happily dot the green riverside banks. The rains have certainly had their benefits, and our rivers have shown that given the chance, they will rejuvenate from the worst of droughts, and no doubt, the worst of floods.

 Fishing report Dec-Jan 2011

Terrestrial beetles have been a major food source on the rivers over the past two months, with mayfly (including red spinner) also present. Black spinners have been the most dominant mayfly during spring and early summer, with baetids and caenid hard to find. The damsels and dragonflies have been out and about, tempting trout at the usual haunts of Brumbys Creek and the South Esk. The South Esk fished well through December, when flows decreased enough to wade. The Lower Mac has been flowing high and clear, and featured excellent dry fly fishing to sippers. Lots of fish in the 3-4lb class for those with a keen eye. Brumbys has also featured excellent dry fly fishing, in particular from 1pm-3pm, prior to the afternoon sea breeze. The upper Meander has fished consistently, though the middle and lower Meander has been too high to fish for most of the season. We are expecting exceptional conditioned fish as the levels drop by late January, and the hopper fishing begins. The upper St Pats and North Esk have fished extremely well as trout have been less flighty in higher than average summer flows. The Western Lakes have fished sporadically (reflecting the weather patterns), but stable days have seen some excellent sight-fishing on the big fish waters, particularly to gum beetle feeders and black spinner sippers. Frontal systems have effected the fishing more than usual however, and prolonged high waters have left the flooded edges less fertile than would be found during spring floods. Woods lake and Great Lake have been the pick of the hydro-lakes.

February –April forecast

As January progresses and dries out, we will be targeting sporadic hatches of juvenile grasshoppers and mayfly. Damsel and dragonfly leapers on Brumbys will also be a reliable target, as will sippers on the Lower Macquarie. Into mid February and the hoppers will start in proper, and be joint by the beginnings of the late summer / autumn mayfly hatches on the South Esk, North Esk, Lower Macquarie and Meander. As late March arrives the hoppers will disappear for the season, leaving us with six weeks or so of excellent ant and mayfly hatches to the end of April.

Tasmanian Land Conservancy New Leaf Project – $23 million conservation project

Many of you would have heard that Gunns timber company sold the majority of their freehold land assets(28,000 hectares) to conservation group, the Tasmanian Land Conservancy. Make no mistake, this is a turning point in the history of Tasmania, and a monumental move away from extractive industries such as wood-chipping, and towards sustainable industries such as eco-tourism supported by conservation. The Tasmanian Land Conservancy now manages more than 1% of Tasmania’s land mass for conservation, but this comes at a cost: more than $23 million dollars. The initial land purchases were funded by a number of philanthropic Australian business people, including the founders of Kathmandu and Wotif.com, but to ensure that the properties remain in the hands of the TLC, significant additional funds need to be raised. The project has be coined the ‘New Leaf Project’, and if you want to see Tasmania turn over a new leaf and change direction from industrial clearfell logging to eco-tourism and conservation, then I urge you to visit this site, and make a donation. http://www.tasland.org.au/newleaf/

Fly Cards fly tying booklet

Just a quick reminder that our new Fly Cards fly tying booklet is available from www.inseasonflyfishing.com . Fly Cards has recently received great reviews in FlyLife magazine.

That’s all for now, have a great 2011! Thank you from the RiverFly Team – Daniel, Simone & Patrick.

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Flood fishing…

Tasmania hasn’t escaped the big wet of the past month, with many lakes and rivers overflowing at present. The rain has been welcomed as we enter our second wet spring in a row, and the Tasmanian fishery hasn’t looked this healthy in more than a decade.

Little Pine Lagoon was one of the first lakes to overflow late in August, offering two days of unbelievable flood-fishing. Spiders were one of the main food items, an event that was mirrored on the middle Macquarie River during the same period, with the addition of earthworms and beetles to the menu. Following on from these early floods, the South Esk has risen and dropped three times, as has the Meander and North Esk rivers. The increased availability of food during the early season is great for the trout, which have recovered quickly from winter spawning, and started to put on weight.

North Esk and Meander rivers are currently in flood, but should be back to normal by the end of the week. Sunday saw the new Lake Huntsman, on the headwaters of the Meander River, rise an enormous thirty centimetres overnight; the result was some phenomenal fishing to more than thirty tailing and foraging trout. The average size was fairly consistent, between one and two pounds, with a handful of fish to three pounds. Earthworm’s were the target at Lake Huntsman, but our un-weighted Mk2 Woolly Buggers proved to be the best pattern. Tied on heavy hooks, but lacking any lead or beads, these flies almost hover in the water column, making it easier to keep them weed free. These fly patterns are one of many that I tie-to-order for customers, and are available through our online shop, In Season Fly Fishing http://www.inseasonflyfishing.com

Western Lakes Campouts

As many of you would know, each summer we run campouts in the Western Lakes region, which is part of the Tasmanian World Heritage Area. Our business is pioneering sustainable guiding in the Western Lakes, and in 2009 became the first guided fly fishing business to be licenced by National Parks Tasmania to operate in the area.

The feature of the Western Lakes fishery is the sight fishing, which ranges from mayfly hatches, to wade-polaroiding silty-flats (similar to bonefishing), and of course the tailing trout. From our basecamp we range across thirty or more lakes, lagoons and creeks, each offering a different setting than the last.

If you would like to join us on one of our campouts this season, send us an Email as we are filling places now.

The Tasmanian mayfly season

Mayfly are famous in fly fishing around the world: they are the iconic insect of fly fishing. In less than twenty day’s time the mayfly will begin to hatch on the lowland rivers of Tasmania, an event eagerly anticipated each season. These early hatches are my favourite, particularly on famed streams such as the Macquarie and South Esk rivers, and offer the first consistent dry fly fishing of the year. The river levels are perfect for the lead-up to the hatches, and we are expecting excellent fishing on the Meander, Macquarie, North and South Esk rivers, on any of the spring days featuring calm and stable weather.

For those of you interested in tying your own flies for the start of the mayfly season, we recommend the deer hair Shaving Brush, Possum Shaving Brush and Ostrich Herl Nymph. The tying instructions for these patterns are included in my new fly tying book, Fly Cards, which is available from our online shop http://inseasonflyfishing.com/shop/fly-cards/ .

Fly Fishing Tip

Most early season trout, found foraging flooded edges in search of worms and frogs, take an inert (stationary) fly. Fish in this situation will chase a moving fly, but only a minority will actually eat it. Use movement to attract the trout’s attention, but then keep the fly still, and look for the white flash of the mouth as it opens and shuts, or a swirl as the trout turns on the fly. Detecting the take on an inert presentation can be difficult, so watch the leader carefully, and strike with confidence.

In Season Fly Fishing

Many of you would know that we have launched our own online shop, In Season Fly Fishing http://www.inseasonflyfishing.com . For anyone wanting to purchase our tied-to-order trout flies, Fly Cards and In Season Tasmania books, The Source Tasmania dvd or our limited edition Western Lakes artwork, this is the place to order them. Thank you for supporting our family business, and the products that we create.

That’s all for now. Our October newsletter will include fishing reports from the start of the mayfly season, as well as reports from our first Western Lakes fishing of the season.

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