Tasmanian fly fishing update 26-09-2019
September has been a great month for spring weather: predominantly warm, interspersed with a number of frontal systems to top up the streams. The South Esk headwaters received a very welcome 150mm+ of rain, and the north east creeks are flowing at steady medium & clear flows. The Upper Macquarie has also received a few pulses of medium flows, running a banker last week which bodes well for the mayflies which are just about to start. Stoneflies and sporadic mayfly have been on the creeks, and trout have been very willing to look up for a dry. The Western Lakes have fished well to baitifish and frog feeders, while the whitebait runs have begun along the north-coast and Derwent. The ever popular Four Springs has had duns for the past two-weeks, while Huntsman has been quiet. All in all it has been a great start to the fly fishing and guiding season, with Pete and I guiding customers onto a mix of both dry fly and nymph feeders each day.
Go-to flies have included 1864 Fastwater Duns as an effective indicator dry, and #14 Pheasant Tail Nymph variants as the dropper.
Hatch Chart:
St Patricks & North Esk rivers – Good medium flows, very clear most days. Sporadic hatches around 1pm, very cold water temps.
South Esk – Running high in the headwaters, but tributaries and lower sections are beginning to fish well.
Mersey & Meander catchments – Still a little slow, but look for action on the lower Meander and Mersey as the sun heats things up over the next few days.
Upper Macquarie – First hatches of the year should be starting, water clarity is medium, heights are ideal.
Penstock – Loads of fish being caught consistently
Great Lake – Baitfish feeders being caught on the rocks, great conditioned fish
Nineteen Lagoons – Great fishing along the edges of some lagoons. The gate is expected to open next weekend.
Derwent, Tamar, Leven, Mersey and other smaller north-west streams: Sporadic whitebait runs have started, they will improve as things warm over the next two weeks. It’s all about tides and river flowrates.
Favourite gear this month: We’ve been using Stroft Tapered leaders for the past month, from Carl McNeil at https://swiftflyfishing.com/collections/stroft-tippet-leaders . The leaders have been very forgiving for new casters and experienced casters alike, and are nice and supple while maintaining good turnover. The best feature is the low-memory, so even in the coldest water temps, the leaders are laying nice and straight. We’ll be using these for season 19/20.