South Esk River trout

If you’re a Tasmanian trout angler, you would have heard of the proposed irrigation scheme developments that have the very real potential to impact on our $60M recreational fishing industry. The schemes are numerous and varied, and being pushed by the State Government with reasoning’s ranging from ‘drought-proofing Tasmania’ (most developed countries have learnt at one time or another that you can’t drought-proof anywhere with man-made schemes, the Murray/Darling is proof of this) through to increasing farm-gate output and water-surety for irrigators. It appears that the money for the planning of these schemes is being sourced from us, the taxpayer’s, and subscribers to the schemes will be able to fund their purchases through low-interest government loans.

 As outlined, the schemes and details are numerous. The problem is that very little actual information is available in regards to the proposed projects being considered by the Tasmanian Irrigation Development Board, despite being promised almost a year ago by the State Government that the process would be open and transparent. There was a website with all the relevant information on it here, but this was pulled months ago, and has yet to be replaced with anything at all! You can of course ring the Tasmanian Irrigation Development Board and speak to a staff-member about the projects, but let’s face it, how can you ask a question if you don’t know the subject?

 The two major schemes that are of current greatest concern are two separate schemes that propose to rely on Arthurs Lake and the South Esk River for the harvesting of irrigation water. At this early point it is important to point out that Hydro-Tasmania are the water managers for these resources, and they are the people that need to hear our concerns, as well as the State Government and the Tasmanian Irrigation Development Board.

 As a brief background, Arthurs Lake is Tasmania’s most popular trout fishery, playing host to in excess of 10,000 anglers per year—or just under half of the total licenced anglers in Tasmania. It is the cornerstone of Tasmania’s sustainable recreational fishing industry, and last year, in a large-part due to two dry years coupled with two years of water-drawdowns to supply downstream irrigators on the Lake River with unlimited water-rights, Arthurs’ saw low-water and turbidity at levels which had only been seen a handful of times in the lake’s history.

 The South Esk by contrast, is for the most part a wild river. It is Tasmania’s longest river, running from the east coast to the north coast (over 200 kilometres), only to be impeded by a hydro-dam at its mouth (Trevallyn Dam). In my opinion, as someone who has worked commercially (guiding, and prior to that fish farming) on Tasmania’s northern midlands rivers for ten years, it is our best fly fishing river, and one of our most under-utilised.  It ranks as the 3^rd most fished (visitation) river in Tasmania, at about 2300 visitors a year, but when considering its size, it could likely host two or three times the amount of angler pressure - perhaps up to 6000 (and what about the economic benefit’s that would come from that?). Willow (Salix fragilis, a listed weed of national significance) infestations on large-tracts of river, along with a lack of access infrastructure to the river are currently the stopping-blocks to more users being able to access and use the resource.

 With this brief background of the two fisheries in mind, one being the most popular fishery in Tasmania, and the other being the third most popular river fishery in Tasmania, you can begin to see why anglers are worried about any schemes that rely on taking water from the fisheries in times where the predictable water yields of these catchment’s is becoming inconsistent and variable, and tending towards that of being drier in the long-term.

 Stepping-in-to-bat for recreational anglers has been Anglers Alliance Tasmania (AAT), who are regarded as the peak body for recreational anglers. They have been vocal in their disapproval of the proposed schemes, but news of any progress from their lobbying has been hard to find; that’s not to say that they haven’t made any progress, but a quick view of their website doesn’t show any concrete outcomes yet. Let’s hope that lots of work behind the scenes is paying off, nonetheless. Update 8/7/09 *I have just received a correspondance from AAT reassuring me that they continue to be very active in representing anglers on this issue, and will make further public announcements on the results of their representations when suitable*.

 Ultimately, without using this blog as a platform for a thesis on the schemes at hand, I am certain that the general message from anglers needs to be less emotional, more coherent, and clearer in its statements than those I have seen over the past six months. I’ve seen petitions against the schemes left in tackle stores where they were signed by many, but never collected by the organizers of the petitions, and I’ve seen four-page lists of grounds-for-objections against the proposed schemes, many of which consisted of immeasurable and vague goals or demands. In my opinion, and the point of my writing, is that our goals need to be clear and concise. Three clear and concise goals that we should be negotiating for are simply:

• 1. No new on-stream dams in the catchments’ of any top-twelve river fisheries (measured as visitation through the IFS Angler Postal Surveys, and include the Derwent, Brumbys, South Esk, North Esk, St Patricks, Tyenna, Huon, Mersey, Meander and Macquarie rivers)
• 2. Negotiated and legislated minimum independent* drawdown levels for top-15 lake-fisheries.
• 3. Environmental flows on all rivers in Tasmania.

*levels that are independent to the specific lake, and independent of surrounding lake levels in the catchments

 With the above clear goals, I believe that anglers can protect their fisheries, and the environments surrounding them. These goals leave a lot of latitude for irrigation development to take place, such as a scheme on the South Esk catchment that would be reliant on off-stream storages harvested from surplus winter flows.

 In closing, I should point out that I have talked to the Tasmanian Irrigation Development Board about the South Esk proposal, and they were quite informative and helpful. They are not the angler’s enemy, they are merely the contractors (some of whom are fly fishers) who have been given a specific (if not bias) brief by the State Government. The Minister and the water managers (such as the Hydro) are the people that need to hear your thoughts as stakeholders and water-users. Consider the project proposals in full when they do see the light of day. Many of these schemes are beneficially looking at taking away the potential for less-regulated private schemes (schemes between the water managers such as the Hydro and private land-owners) to proliferate, and for un-capped water-rights to be a thing of the past. These are some of the benefits that could come from the schemes, but you have to ask at what cost?

Western Lakes Tasmania, winter sunrise

Crazy! That’s what my mates said when I mentioned I’d be spending last weekend in the Western Lakes wilderness region. My reasoning was sound though, a pre-season reconnaissance mission out to new waters, to see how the winter spawning had went, and find a few doors to knock on come August—perhaps a trophy water or two that I would return to come season’s opening. It’s staying one-step-ahead, which is important for me as a guide.

 Despite having to walk 12 kilometers more each—way than I would have had to during the season (from Lake Augusta to Ada Lagoon and back again the next day, on a very boring and long road subject to seasonal closures), the mission was a success. A couple of dozen trout were polaroided (but not fished to of course!) picking snails off rocks in the frigid waters. The lakes and lagoons themselves weren’t completely overflowing, but were quite full and beginning to flood into semi-permanent backwaters. These water heights set the scene perfectly for a great September flood, the timing that leads to the best tailing trout action Tasmania has to offer.

 Of the trout polaroided on a walk from the Zig Zag lakes to the main Christys Creek lake, and back down to Talinah Lagoon, all had the appearance of trout that had spawned months earlier. In fact, all the spawning creeks crossed along the way were completely void of spawners. This was good news, and indicated that the trout had already moved back into the lakes to begin feeding again—awesome news for early season anglers. Some trout, including a six-pound-plus brown trout polaroided cruising in the shadows of ancient pencil pine’s, were well and truly back into feeding mode.

 Everything points to a big-fish-season for 09/10. Lots of water, early rains, and early spawning have got things off on the right foot, both on the lakes, and on the rivers Bring on opening day, 1 August 2009!

Western Lakes backwater, Tasmania

A quick note for Tasmanian fly fishers one and all, I’ve just added the 5th map in our series of fly fishing maps, this time covering the South Esk River. Whilst most of the locations are quite public and well visted, each one of them provides good fishing on the right day. Have fun!

Find the map here

You heard it here first.

Fishing Season by Philip Weigall

Earlier in the month I revealed that Philip Weigall, one of Australia’s favourite fishing authors, was about to release a new book. I think we may have even scooped Phil’s own website www.philipweigall.com.au  on the announcement!

Well, my pre-press copy arrived last week, and I’ve had a chance to give it a read. Here’s what to expect:

Fishing Season is typical Weigall fare, which will be music to the ears of many. The stories are short and extremely well crafted, full of creative and vibrant writing—Phil’s passion for the fly fishing life leaks through his stories, though order and strict style in his writing may leave readers feeling a little homogenised at times. I doubt it though, as Phil’s well-honed style is tried and tested, and Fishing Season is true to his reputation as a leading fly fishing author in Australia.

As the title suggests, the stories in Fishing Season are compiled and presented to a seasonal tune—winter, spring, summer and autumn. Indeed for myself, the seasonality of fly fishing is one of its great attractions (it did inspire my own book In Season Tasmania - A Year of Fly Fishing Highlights). This theme however is fairly loose, with plenty of welcomed stories slid-in to the format where appropriate. Overall, this collection of short stories is solid, and should find its way into plenty of Father’s Day gift boxes (this is when you can expect to find it in your bookstores).

My favourite story? Trout Gallery—wonderfully descriptive writing, perhaps a bit freer in its style which only helps to convey Phil’s love of trout, the world over. Most questionable entry? Rod and Line—a bit dry and instructional, it seemed out of place with the other stories.

Fishing Season is beautifully produced by Exisle Publishing, and includes an assortment of water-colour drawings by Trevor Hawkins, another Australian fly fishing icon. Read a sample chapter yourself here.

Pre-order your copy of Fishing Season through FlyLife Magazine Online Shop here

For those who don’t know, the competitions are like a game of golf: the lowest score ultimately wins. You score points for the fish you catch (numbers) and the overall length of the fish you’ve caught - these points are then converted to a ranking against others anglers in the same session, to provide a score of 1, 2, or 3 etc. You score penalties for not catching fish, usually about 20 points. This is aimed at providing the best scores to those who catch the most fish, the most consistently.

There are no points for matching the hatch, landing an arsey cast, remembering your hip flask, or casting only to sighted fish…

Fishing Season by Philip Weigall

You heard it hear first - Philip Weigall has a new book coming out in August, titled Fishing Season. From the publisher:

Let Philip Weigall transport you to your favourite river with this beautifully illustrated tribute to the art of flyfishing …

‘As I walked back to the car, I wondered. By the trout’s standards, I’d been fishing the creek forever, catching fish that were great-great-great-grandchildren of the first I’d hooked. By my own standards, I had clocked some serious miles here. But as far as the creek was concerned, I was a blink in time.’

In Fishing Season, acclaimed author Philip Weigall deftly captures all that makes the wonderful sport of flyfishing a passion for so many. It is a reflective book, an engrossing read that captures the heart and soul of this pastime that is so full of challenges, victories, disappointments, frustrations but, most of all, quiet happiness. So join Philip as he takes you through a year in the life of a flyfisher and ponders such important questions as why an organised fly box is rarer than a ten-pound trout, why you should think carefully before offering  to net someone else’s fish, and how it is that, sometimes, the unlikeliest waters have the most to offer.

As I type, I’m actually standing by my mail-box, waiting for my pre-release copy to arrive from our source inside the publishing house responsible. A full review will be posted here within the week, so standby.

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

Winter in the Western Lakes, Tasmania

The last two days has seen heavy falls of rain in Tasmania - from 15-20mm in the ‘arid’ midlands, right through to 70mm plus to the east of Great Lake. Some of the best falls however were in the headwater ranges of the South Esk River catchment that received up to 150mm in its headwaters. As the floodwaters make their 4 day journey down Tasmania’s longest river to Launceston, the  river-bed will be cleansed, fished that missed their spawning opportunities around Anzac day will spawn, and post-spawners will fatten back up on flooded worms, beetles and other assorted mini-beasts. The scenario will be the same among the Western Lakes region, were tarns will be full to the brim again, and post-spawning trout will once again start the journey back to full fitness.

This off-season for the first time, we’ve kept RiverFly ‘open for business’. During past off-seasons I’ve gone off to uni and worked the odd jobs, waiting for the next season to start. This winter however, has been different—I’ve been able to keep teaching, which means inspiring and passing on information to others for the better of their fly fishing passions, and hopefully, to the benefit of Tasmanian’s and the Tasmanian fisheries.

For a start, we guided through May for the second season in a row, and had fun (both customers and guide) in the process. This past month saw designated rainbow rivers opened through an extended season for the first time ever in Tasmania, which has meant that sight-fishing for wild trout on the rivers was still on the agenda. During these trips we fished beautiful bits of feature-filled rivers, polaroided fish, and enjoyed being out their just doing it. In the process, myself and my guests became the first people to fish these rivers, ever, during the month of May. I posted a small entry on our blog detailing one of the trips to a section of river I’ve nicknamed Vanishing River.

Following on from May and into June, the rivers are now all closed but we’ve still kept ‘guiding’-now teaching local Tasmanian’s fly tying skills at our weekly fly tying classes hosted by The Essential Fly Fisher. It has been very enjoyable teaching new-hands to tie their first flies, while showing old-hands some new tricks: different ways to tie flies, dub bodies, create hackles, and all the tricks on how to fish the flies and more.

Through our interactive website (which turns a year-old next month), I’ve also been able to keep teaching and spreading the word about everything fly fishing and Tasmanian. The blog (web diary) entries have covered fly design (see the Fastwater Caddis post), a piece of fly tying history which creates as many questions as it answers (see the Bloody Mary and giant stoneflies post), and through an industry first initiative, I have been able to create and post a series of free fishing maps on our site (www.riverfly.com.au/fly-fishing-maps-pictures-images/). This has included map-guides to fishing the Mersey River, St Patricks River, Macquarie, Lake and Brumbys Creek, as well as a map guide to Western Lake wilderness day walks. You see, I’m a firm believer in getting more people into fly fishing, and sharing the information around where possible, but more than anything, I love guiding - and modern technology enables me to ‘guide by wire’ through a different medium during the quieter periods of winter.

Ultimately, the more people that become inspired to fish our rivers, or head off on day walks in our wilderness Western Lakes, the more people there is involved in our pastime, protecting our environment and using our business. Without the people, and without the environment, I wouldn’t be able to do the job I love, so enjoy the free maps and blog entries, and see you on the river for a guided day next season; it’s only two months away now!

New RiverFly Tasmania lodge accommodation

Many of you as repeat clients would know that we were Tasmania’s first river-based lodge operators, based on the North Esk for a number of seasons up to 2007. Since leaving RiverFly lodge, we’ve been working extremely hard at finding a new permanent home for RiverFly customers, in the form of a venue that would offer relaxation and rejuvenation in the country, with classy modern rooms, and good quality comfortable dining. As such, we are excited to announce that RiverFly again has a home for its guests, now located at Quamby Estate.

Quamby Estate Homestead

 Through a strategic alliance with Quamby Estate, a large 1830’s Anglo-Indian estate just 15 minutes west of Launceston, we now have a new base for the accommodation side of our business, central to Tasmania’s northern rivers (in fact, the Meander River forms part of the magnificent views from the estate). This impressive estate is owned and operated by Anthology www.anthology.travel, a new eco-tourism travel group who also owns and operates the world famous Cradle Huts and Bay of Fires Walks from Quamby Estate. The partnership between Anthology and RiverFly Tasmania is great news for the $60M Tasmanian recreational fishing industry.

RiverFly Tasmania and Quamby Estate have launched two initial packages, starting at three days and three nights from $1662 per person for two anglers. For the non-anglers there are massages, local winery tours, and golf on the estates own 9-hole course. Visit our packages page for more information. You can book your place for next season now by Emailing Daniel.

Corporate retreats are also catered for with RiverFly Tasmania and Quamby Estate, offering fly fishing and golf packages, as well as helicopter tours and more. 

New full time guide for RiverFly 

As well as working hard to once again offer river-based accommodation, we’ve been working hard at head-hunting a new guide to work with Daniel. We’re excited to announce that we got the man we were after, and would like to introduce Patrick Horan as the second full-time guide in the RiverFly team. Since late 2008, Patrick has been serving a guiding apprenticeship of sorts with RiverFly founder Daniel Hackett.

As expected, Pat (who’s an aquaculture graduate in his mid-twenties) has taken to guiding like a duck to water—but this was no surprise as 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 also an excellent photographer, and an excellent fly tier; I’ve already been caught pilfering his collections of parachutes and hoppers!

Patrick Horan

 One thing to point out is Patrick’s local knowledge: it wasn’t too many seasons ago that Daniel was talking to Pat about a new, favourite secret spot, and 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.

Fishing report late April /May 2009

Late April is traditionally a good time of the year for dry fly fishing and stable, overcast weather - but this year it was interrupted with good falls of rain! During periods of stable weather, steady fishing was had on the Lower Macquarie and South Esk rivers, mainly to fish taking baetid mayfly. Pat, our new guide, nailed a number of fish over three pounds above Longford on the Lower Macquarie, whilst I had some good days on the South Esk using Cripples. Anzac day weekend saw some heavy falls of rain arrive, with 40mm in some areas, which closed down the brown trout river fishing prematurely—but not before young angler Rory Kelly landed his first trout on the fly, beating the two older generations of his family, his uncle James and grandfather Graham, for the biggest fish of the trip. Awesome work Rory! These early rains prompted many fish in both the rivers and highland lakes to spawn early, which will give them almost a month extra to recover and put condition back on, compared to a normal spawning in May.

May saw drier conditions come back to Tasmania, allowing for some steady fishing on the rainbow rivers. The two picks were the upper Mersey and the Weld (northern Tasmania), where fish were found still feeding off the top till the last day of the season - last Sunday. In the Walls of Jerusalem, some adventurous Gen Y fly fishers battled blizzards during a trip to Lake Meston; they all said it was definitely worth it though, such is the attraction of the wilderness, the Western Lakes, and historic old (and warm) huts.

As a footnote to autumn, rainfall in Northern Tasmania reached its average, and rainfall in the west and south east was above average. This was great to see.

Fishing and fly tying tips.

Tip 1. Test for leaks in breathable waders and Gore-Tex jackets by turning them inside out, and rubbing them with methylated spirits. The pin-holes will show up as small black dots as the methylated spirits permeates the pierced layers. Keep the leftover metho for your camping stove!

Tip 2. When tying flies with deer-hair, always use a hair stacker to ’stack’ the tips of the hair evenly. Secondly, always remove all the under-fur fluff and short fibers prior to use.

Fly Tying classes - starting late July

Just a quick note, we’ll be running a second round of Tasmanian fly tying classes during late July - register your interest now if you would like to keep informed.

Thank you for reading our newsletter. Word of mouth is the key to our success, so please feel free to forward this Email on to your friends! Thanks from the RiverFly Team - Daniel, Simone & Patrick.