Tasmanian Fishing Report – 30th September 2021

Tasmanian Fishing ReportTasmanian Trout Fishing

30 Sept

Anglers have been hampered by fronts of cold wintery weather in the last few weeks severely limiting fishing escapades…..

Saltwater

Sand Flathead are starting move in some areas – water temps are still down but some action has been seen throughout Storm Bay.

Australian Salmon have been sighted off Kingston Beach in large numbers. Cremorne and Pipeclay Lagoons are experiencing a limited run of good fish to 2kg – good days have been a bit patchy but rewards are there for persistent anglers. Huon river is also experiencing a good run of smaller salmon from dover upwards.

Sand Whiting have been encountered around Lewisham in the South while good runs of King George have been experienced along the Northern coastline and NE of the State.

Tiger Flathead still very quiet. Rumour has some fish have been caught around Bicheno.

Snapper have surprisingly been taken recently around Betsy Island and Channel areas in the South – which is a tad unusual for early Spring.

Calamari are staying well offshore for the moment due surge related wave activity in close. Patches of fish can still be found but a little searching may be required for some quality fishing. Adventure Bay, Nubeena and Marion Bays have seen reasonable captures.

Southern Bluefin Tuna are still taking the odd lure in Peninsula waters. Wednesday 29th saw a nice fish caught by Personalized Sea Charters and came in at around 100kg and was caught on the ever-faithful Halco Laser Pro 190 XDD in King Brown. Other captures out of Pirates Bay have filtered through on quality fish around the 25kg mark.

Estuary

Sea Trout are running well in southern rivers.

The River Derwent has been fishing well since early August and shows no sign of slowing for the moment particularly with annual white bait runs beginning to build. The Huon and further south have been a little slow but are producing fish – slowness due to high river levels in recent weeks.

Bream action is increasing as bait increases. Lower to mid reaches of estuary systems are probably the go to zones as fish haven’t pushed all the way through to upper reaches just yet.

Taylor to 45cm have been caught by those anglers chasing bream and sea trout – these fish are patchy but are mixed up with feeding schools of Australian Salmon and Bream.

Freshwater

Highlands areas have been battered by fierce weather fronts and snow over the last 4-5 weekends but weather has been surprisingly fine during the week.

The pick of the lakes are as follows

Bronte Lagoon is without doubt the number one water in the state so far this season fish are fitter than they were last season and are eager to hit a lure or fly. All methods are working well spin, troll and fly both land based and from the boat producing fish.

Four Springs in the North is probably only second to Bronte by a smidge and has seen Rainbow trout to 7lbs landed so far this season. There has been rumours of good mayfly action on this lake already.

Lake Leake has dropped back a little in tempo from last season but is still producing good Brown and Rainbow trout. Again, all methods are working well. Presently the lake is spilling and will continue to do so for a while after this weekend’s easterly weather pattern.

Arthurs Lake is producing good number of short fat fish around the 2lb mark. Fish have been found around the edges all over the lake with both fly and spin anglers all reporting good bags.

Great Lake is a little slow but again we put this down to cold snow melt inflows and extremely low water temps.

Woods Lake being lower and not as snow effected has been fishing well. Spin fishers drifting the edges have taken quality fish to 1.8kg. Fly activity will increase now ambient temperatures are on the rise.

Penstock Lagoon has been fishing well and has offered a little bit more shelter on those blustery days. Fish started off in close around a month ago and have recently started to hit flies on sinking lines out wide in the mid reaches.

Little Pine Lagoon started off slow for the season – again lower alpine temperatures limiting fish activity. Recent days have seen fish starting to move on this water.

Take it easy this weekend fishing the trapped Low-Pressure system will most likely throw some good swell on the East coast regardless of wind strengths while the rest of the state is lined up for a good soaking.