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

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

       

A summary of the major issues are as follows:

• The Draft Plan ignores the advice of the Government’s own scientific advisors and recommends a continuation of the current minimum cease to take flows of 40ML/Day — this is more than 60% less than the recommended 100-160ML/Day environmental flows required to maintain and enhance the environmental conditions, and required to facilitate angling throughout the summer. The only reasoning that DPIPWE staff have given is that 40ML/Day is the status quo, and that irrigators would have to build their own dams for the collection and storage of high flows if their summer takes were reduced. This is a shocking justification, owing to the fact that trout population dynamics and invertebrate populations are being harmed 3 out of 5 years under the status quo, and Lake Trevallyn at the end of the South Esk in Launceston, has been closed for all water sports over the past two to three summers because of toxic algal blooms. The public needs to demand that the environmental flows recommended by the experts are adopted and enforced by the Plan, so that the environment of the river may recover, be maintained and/or enhanced. There are huge amounts of water available for irrigation, but it needs to be captured outside of summer and stored off-stream.
• Irrigators were the only stakeholders consulted in the formulation of the Draft Plan—Northern Tasmania’s Natural Resource Management body (NRM North) were relegated to observer status without input, anglers were left out in the cold (even though up to 3000 anglers fish the river per year), and other recreational users of the river and Lake Trevallyn weren’t even considered.
• The prescribed environmental flows are to be gauged at Llewellyn, along the Fingal Highway. This means that there is no environmental flow being guaranteed or monitored for the lower third of the river system, from Llewellyn through Glen Esk, Nile, Evandale, Longford, Hadspen or Launceston (into Lake Trevallyn). This is unacceptable, and environmental flows need to be guaranteed for the end of the river system.
• During Summer low flow periods, the South Esk flows emanate from one large aquifer – this aquifer is now being used to grow in excess of 15,000 hectares of new tree plantations in the headwaters, using more water than traditional standing forest or agricultural land. Under the Water Management Act 1999, evapotranspiration (water use) by trees or plantations is not considered a water use, therefore the authors of the Draft Plan have not accounted for the increased consumption of these baseflows. What the water managers can do however, is plan to manage for reduced baseflow availability, which we need to ensure is accounted for. Without this allowance for decreased baseflows, the Draft Plan is incomplete.

In a nutshell, one of Tasmania’s most popular rivers will be destroyed by the Plan in its current draft state. The Draft Plan fails to meet its own listed Environmental Objectives (2.2.1 (a), (b), (d)) and Social Objectives (2.2.3 (a), (b), (c)) (from page 9). The Draft Management Plan also fails to meet its requirement to ‘ensure that environmental water receives a greater level of security than consumptive water’ (from page 34).  I ask that any concerned anglers, recreational users or clubs view the Draft Management Plan here and have your say by making a submission to:

Contact: Water Management Planning Officer

Henry Maxwell
Water Management Planning Officer
1 Franklin Wharf HOBART TAS 7000
Phone: 03 6233 4807
Fax: 03 6224 4977
Email: Henry.Maxwell@dpipwe.tas.gov.au

For those of you worried about losing access through private (irrigated) property by speaking out against ludicrous aspects of this plan, have a think about this: if the plan goes through, the river will die a death of a thousand cuts, and there will be no river fishery left to access. The future of the river is in our hands – will you speak out, or let it die through a lack of action?  The deadline for written representations is 11 December 2009, feel free to cut and paste from my comments.

Tasmanian fly fishing - mayfly hookup

Tasmanian fly fishing - mayfly hookup

Ronald from Belgium, setting the hook on another Tasmanian mayfly feeder. Spring has sprung, the mayfly are on, and the fisheries are firing. My picks for spring are the South Esk, St Patricks and Upper Macquarie rivers, but the Meander is also producing some great fishing, along with the Mersey and Brumbys Creek.

Greg French and Simone Hackett, 'beyond Maydena'

If you’ve just picked up your copy of the latest FlyLife Magazine (Winter 2009), you’ll find a great article by Greg French on fishing the rivers past Maydena, in the state’s south. Greg’s been exploring them flat out during the past season, experiencing Tasmania’s most consistent fishing for larger river trout (in the 2-6lb class). Most of these fish are sighted, either polaroided, or seen rising among areas of deep water and high density structure. The scenery from these rivers is beautiful – typically rainforest full of ancient myrtles and sassafras, while the rivers themselves are medium sized fastwaters (similar to the Mersey) with a tannin-tinge.

To promote these unknown river fisheries, which are situated among some of Tasmania’s most beautiful forests, RiverFly is offering two chances to join us, and author/explorer Greg French as our guest, on these magic rivers. We are planning for one 2-3 day trip in late February, and one in early March, to coincide with the driest part of the season, and the best chance of hitting the rivers at the best time, to target the best fish. The exact dates are flexible to suit our guests, and our standard guiding rates apply. Trips will be based from New Norfolk or Maydena, depending on your preference.

If you are interested in joining RiverFly Tasmania on our fly fishing trips beyond Maydena, with our guest author and fishing explorer Greg French, drop me an Email now.

Greg French and Simone Hackett, Styx River, Southern Tasmania

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.

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.

A brace of Black and Peacock spiders

Our fun and modern fly tying courses are beginning to take shape for Launceston, Hobart and the North-West. Launceston classes start on the 21 May, and there are still a couple of spaces left. The venue is at The Essential Fly Fisher, at 105 York Street. Email me to reserve a place www.riverfly.com.au/contact

Dates for the Hobart and the North-West classes will be set soon, as class numbers are beginning to fill. Please email me if you are interested in attending courses in either of these areas www.riverfly.com.au/contact

Course content

The courses have been structured to enable all skill levels to participate, and to teach take-away skills for tying better flies, and tying them easier. Some of the topics covered will include:

- Technique for tying durable bodies with peacock herl

- Tricks for tying deer-hair and Possum Shaving Brush ‘wings’ for better flotation and fish-catching

- Technique for tying in durable, non-slip parachute hackles

- Techniques for tying easy ‘porcupine’ hackles – the easy high-viz alternative to parachute hackles.

- Tying with deer-hair – bullet-heads and the WMD

- Correct techniques for tying with foam – glue, legs and the Chernobyl Ant

- The rules for using colour and UV reflective materials in flies

The course will cover many more topics along the way, and the day-to-day techniques that may be troubling you (such as dubbing!) will be covered through the course of tying the featured flies.

There’s no better thrill than catching a fish on a fly of your own design. Come and join us to learn more about how to do it.