TROUT SEASONS

 TROUT FISH SEASONS IN TASMANIA AUSTRALIA

GARY FRANCE, OF TROUT TERRITORY - FISH WILD TASMANIA, offers advice on the different trout seasons and how they impact on how to catch Tasmanian wild trout.

ANGLING SEASONS - Fish Wild Tasmania offers trout fishing tours and fly fishing tours from the start of August and we go through to the end of April.

SPRING
August to October Most trout waters open on the first Saturday in August following the annual winter spawning run. The flyfishing can be sensational at this time of year.  Highland weather can be tricky, windy and sometimes very cold, however the fishing is generally good with lots of big brown trout chasing any fly they see.  Wet fly fishing is at its best on our low altitude lakes, rivers and estuaries. Brown trout have spawned, they are hungry and are feeding on anything they can find. Rainbow trout are still in spawning mode and will attack a fly or lure with aggression. "Tailing" trout around our lake margins are providing world class sight fishing with a fly. Big fighting searun trout are moving down coastal rivers into the salt water estuaries after spawning and provide a true sight fishing challenge as they crash through schools of whitebait 

SUMMER
November to February
Fish everywhere. Mayfly driven dry fly fishing in the Highlands is at its best during the months of December, January and February with the months of Nov and March also providing great fishing on most waters. Try early starts on the shallow lake margins casting to "tailing" or "Midge"feeding trout before the sun gets up, or the other early morning challenge of "wind lane" fishing during a "midge" hatch, which is a true challenge and can continue well into the day.  After a late breakfast go out and find trout feeding on the mayfly hatches, which can produce some of the world's best dry fly fishing.

TECHNIQUES
Spend the day "nymph", "loch" style, wet, or dry fly fishing.  Wind, weather and local hatches often dictating which style of dry fly fishing will work best on any day. If conditions are right, polaroid or sight fishing to cruising browns in shallow waters is available from mid morning till mid afternoon and provides the ultimate fly fishing challenge. You might like to try an early dinner and then head out for the late session where you can often find an evening hatch bringing fish up to feed on the top at dusk.

OTHER SUMMER SPECIES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Summer also provides a huge variety of salt water species, from early summer spawning fish such as Bream and Calamari to late summer game fish like Tuna. Warm seawater currents from the North of Australia arrive on the Tasmanian East Coast in the New Year bringing big schools of baitfish along with game fish such as Tuna, Marlin, Couta and Shark. Deep-water fish such as Trumpeter Perch and Morwong are present in East Coast waters for most of the year.

AUTUMN
March and April
The mayfly hatch will be tapering off in March with midge, Gum beetles and Jassids taking over as the main surface trout food, providing challenging and spectacular dry fly fishing. Arthur’s Lake, Great Lake, Bronte Lagoon Lake Echo the Western Lakes and Little Pine Lagoon providing the best of the action.
Elsewhere on the East Coast during late March and April you can polaroid big brown trout chasing Galaxid in very shallow water around the lake margin. This late part of the season is the time for some of the fastest and most exciting dry and wet fly fishing action for the year and is always eagerly anticipated providing the novice as well as experts the best opportunity to stalk lots of big fish along the shoreline and have a good chance to hook into a trophy fish.

WINTER
May, June and July
Most Trout waters are closed from the end of April to the start of August for the winter spawning run but several good public and private waters with huge fish stocks are open year round. It snows at times, but this is normally our most settled weather for the year with plenty of clear, calm days. Its time to put on the thermal clothing and neoprene waders again, with temperatures from 12oC around the coast and -4oC to +10oC in the high country. Blue fin tuna will be available up to the end of June but most of the other salt-water game fish have left, however there are still plenty of reef fish, Atlantic salmon and other species to be taken.