Opening Week Special Report with Zac Curtis

Zac Curtis, a keen local, fly angler was keen to share his opening week 2020 experience in Tasmania’s Central Highlands which can only be described as a rough and wild week with an Antarctic kick throughout, see below for his personal account : 

For me fly fishing provides many ways to target trout throughout any given season. The “opening“ in Tasmania marks one of the year’s highlights for many anglers including myself and a handful of mates. There are hundreds of different waters throughout our beautiful state and whilst the weather isn’t always the best in early August, the fishing can be magic even in the worst of conditions.

I find the most enjoyable way to fly fish is to polaroid lake margins, targeting brown trout with dry flies in shallow water.

The cloudy, cold, icy and windy weather we were presented upon opening, at this seasons beginning definitely wasn’t ideal for the sort of sight fishing above.  During such conditions when I fly fish with a mate, I find it best for one of us to walk the shoreline fishing shallow and the other to wade knee to waist deep targeting the fish a little further out. This method also allows for your mate to spot fish from the bank that he’s not able to reach and that you might miss. It ‘s not unusual to find fish “mooching” or “tailing” their way along the shores edge feeding on worms, stick caddis, assorted galaxia and other nymphs. Activity such as this provides for some of the seasons best sight fishing.

My tips include keeping a look out, as much as possible, for moving fish along any given shores edge for movement as it’s more exciting targeting a fish than blind casting …. It’s hunting.

If I find myself blind casting I tend to seek out and target submerged bushes, logs, holes in weed beds, and rocks you think might hold a fish to cast at. This can be exciting as the fish charge and bow wave to smash the fly nearly pulling the rod out of your hands. Black woolly buggers will do the job in most situations, though myself and just about every other fly fisher out there has their certain tweaks to this and colours they throw into the mix for best results.

August 4th 2020 …. Opening Day …. saw a beautiful sunrise, a couple of mates and I were enjoying a warm drink on the shack deck, at Great Lake, overlooking Swan Bay, all excited for the days fishing ahead. A plan was made and we headed up to Little Pine Lagoon …it was a tad colder than we had first expected, in fact the lake was frozen almost the whole way across ! It’s edges so solid you could stand on top of it in spots. Our fishing hopes further dimmed with the sun high, no wind or cloud cover. In fact, if the lake hadn’t been frozen it would’ve made for a lovely polaroiding day.  We knew we were challenged from word go having to peer through inches of solid ice, and then put a fly through it ! Continuing on, I managed to find one fish pretty quickly, blind casting along the weed edges with a  Woolly Bugger Mk2. We fished the rest of the frozen patch with no luck.

The forecast the next few days did not improve with sub zero temperatures and wind, as low as -14.2 degrees being predicted (ended up being a new Tasmanian record.) These frosty mornings presented perfect blue sky and snow days … were cold but having fun while we fished, watching the ice move its way around the Great Lake. 

We enjoyed this snow time and rougher weather at the shack in front of the fire, tying flies, sharing quality food and beers for the next few days.

Monday August 10th saw Little Pine Lagoon, along with many other highland lakes frozen as well, and snow because of an Antarctic blast days earlier to water level in many areas.

Finally, by August 11th heavy wind, broke the ice packs on most lakes and shores were now fishable. Low water temperatures tended to slow fish activity, we headed into the Cowpaddock at Arthurs Lake to try our luck on the eastern shore where the wind had been blowing the past few days. We managed to pick up a couple of fish by working the shoreline slowly with various “non Shrek” patterns. Brown Trout in Arthurs Lake were in reasonably good condition, for the start, but we were quite disappointed at the seemingly low water levels. We later fished Penstock along the dam wall where the wind had been bashing in all day. We fished the last hour of the day for a fish each around the 3lb mark both caught on pink bead head "not Shreks”.

It’s always an enjoyable time of the year up the highlands, and I’m grateful to have spent a lot of my childhood and especially holidays and weekends in this area! Fly fishing the past year has just enhanced my love for the Central Highlands and the state of Tasmania even more. Having had the chance to learn to fly fish in a world class fishery like we have on offer here is just too good to put into words! There is so much to learn with fly fishing, the quest to know enough, never stopping.

Good Luck to everybody heading out early season. 

We kindly thanks Zac for taking the time to share his experience of the season so far with us all and wish him luck throughout with his fly fishing adventures. Thanks Zac !