Tasmanian fly fishing season opens tommorrow – here’s our tips
We are in for a ripper start to the season - that's my prediction! The weather this week has been shocking, with category #2 cyclone equivalent winds yesterday, and more than 300 mm of rain in some of the catchments this week. But despite this, we are expecting some brilliant fishing as the weather moderates. The spawn-run at Arthurs Lake contained some magnificent fish, with many over three pounds and fit as a fiddle. Great Lake has been quite low...
Sage and Orvis fly rod demo day
We are excited to be holding our first fly rod demo day! If you are keen to try some of the best rods in the world, then join us at Josef Chromy vineyard (10 minutes south of Launceston), and have a cast at the latest and greatest rods from Sage and Orvis. We have a great range of stream rods, sightfishing rods, and lake / light saltwater rods specific for the conditions that we all fish in: and this is your chance to...
Sage Fly Rods and Reels now at FlyShop 1864
6000 Storm We've got SAGE! There are heaps of changes happening at FlyShop 1864, one of the most exciting being the arrival of SAGE rods and reels. We've worked with Sage for many years through our guiding business, so we are bloody stoked to be an official Sage Dealer. In the next fortnight we'll have some of our favourite ever dry fly rods arriving, the Sage CIRCA and Sage GRACE (which also raises $50 per rod for breast...
Winter Solstice
RiverFly Wilderness Huts - Western Lakes, Tasmania Winter Solstice. 4.30pm, and it's all but dark in the Tasmanian Western Lakes. Currawongs are flocking in mobs, wallabies and wombats are grazing madly on soon-to-be snow covered grasses, and the resident wedge tailed eagles are cruising the plains. If the hair-encrusted devil turds are anything to go by, the hunting has been good this winter. Currawongs mid-flight For us, it's a time to carry out...
Redington Butter Stick – retro rods at a blue-collar price
The Redington Butter Stick (foreground) Fibreglass rods are back! In the last thirty years, glass technology has changed a lot - from the equivalent of heavy woven matting, glass technology now uses single direction fibres, resulting in crisp and lightweight rods - so much so that a glass rod now weights about as much as a carbon fibre equivalent. So why bother with glass anyway? Fibreglass is a brilliant material for building slow action rods, and using in...
Late season brown trout – fly fishing Tasmania
The main season might be over, but there are still brown and rainbow trout to be had. Matt celebrated the 150th anniversary of trout arriving in Tasmania with this bucking brown from the Lost River. The new low-stretch Rio Perception line was awesome for detecting the subtle pulls and taps, whilst swinging wets down-and-across.
A few of my favourite things…
It's autumn, the wind is low, the mayfly are out, and the trout are packing on the calories before winter. If they're not good enough reasons for fly fishing in Tasmania during April, then here are a few of my own favourite highlights from the past fortnight: Baitfish feeders: As baitfish in the rivers head back to the ocean, or congregate in the shallows of the highland lakes, explosive bust ups are just one of my favourite things of April. Quick and accurate casts...
Costa 580G Polaroids
I have a confession: I'm a sunglasses tart. Out of all the technology out there, polaroid glass technology has been the quickest to change during my 11 years of guiding. As a consequence, I change glasses every couple years. Who's leading the way currently? This season has seen me wearing Costa 580G glasses, my favourite of the current crop (and yes, I paid for my pair!). What makes them the best? Extremely lightweight glass lenses, encapsulated mirror coatings, complete filtering of harmful yellow...
Fly fishing Tasmania – Autumn dry fly fishing
The start of the autumn rains has brought great fishing to our rivers. Ants are falling on the northern rivers, and solid numbers of baetid mayfly are emerging after lunch, after mornings with unbelievably huge caenid hatches (just check out our Facebook page for images of one of these hatches). Western Lakes fish have been tailing well, and also feeding on flying ant falls, whilst lower down on the Bradys Chain and surrounds we've found lots of midges, gum beetles and...
Patagonia Stormfront Sling – one pack to do it all
We've just got our hands on a limited supply of Patagonia Stormfront Slings! If you are after a 100% waterproof, saltwater safe sling pack, then this is the bee's knees. One pack for hunting trout, and chasing bonefish. Click to Check it out here!
Fly fishing Tasmania – February
February may be the best month of the season, with 'hoppers and mayflies on the rivers, and stable weather patterns in the wilderness lakes. It's a great time to visit if sight fishing is your thing! The best flies - black spinners, hoppers and the Black and Peacock Spider.
Hatch Chart 29 January 2014 – The hoppers have started
The hoppers have started! We've caught our first two hopper feeders of the season in the last few days, and expect the fish to be on by the end of the week. Ripper! In the meantime, here's the latest hatch chart. January 29th Hatch Chart
April Vokey and Fly Fest info – pass it on!
Click the 'Like button' or forward the link to your mates, and see you there!
Meet April Vokey with FlyShop1864 at Fly Fest – 2nd March 2014
Fly Fest Sunday March 2nd, 2014 at Josef Chromy Vineyard FlyShop1864 and Patagonia Present April Vokey–international fly fishing superstar, conservationist and leading ambassador for female fly fishers April Vokey, Patagonia ambassador Spey casting to a steelhead in British Columbia. Image by J Koreski Join April and the FlyShop 1864 team for a fun day of activities including fly and Spey casting demonstrations, fly tying, entomology with Greg French, gear talk with Bill Klyn of Patagonia USA (and...
Blue Sky days and sightfishing
We've had a couple of cracker sight-fishing days over the last three weeks, at the wilderness huts and on the rivers. Summer is going really well, and this second half of the season should be a cracker! Baby 'hoppers are showing along some of the rivers already, and black spinners are out and about in the Western Lakes. A wild brown trout, just 300 metres from RiverFly Wilderness Huts