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Fishing reports from Presidents
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1
The Presidents club was formed at the beginning of the
2010/ 2011 fishing season by a group of people that
wanted to do just that......go fishing.
It was decided that in order to become a member of this “elite”
group of anglers only three rules would be applied.
Rule #1
You have to be willing to take on the role of President in
order to join.
Rule #2
You didn't take anything about this club seriously.
Rule #3
There are not, nor will there ever be..... any more
rules....
Inside this booklet is a reflection of that season...... enjoy.
2
2
Sarah Graham
See story on Page 158
3
From: ROSE MUIRHEAD
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011
Subject: Brushy Lagoon Report
Hi all,
Went to Four Springs yesterday for the final test run
of the Purdon.
On our way home we called into JJ's Bakery at Longford for a
coffee.
Whilst there, an Inland Fisheries ute and trailer pulled up out
the front with tanks on.
As they also came in for a coffee I happened to say to one of
them "Have you been dumping fish somewhere?" to which they
replied, "They had just been to Brushy Lagoon and released
some good fish in there.
Victor asked "Any big ones?"
They replied, “Rainbows up to 8 Kg."
It didn't take us long to decide where to fish today......
We arrived around 8 o'clock, I went out in the Purdon with my
Fly rod and Victor fished on the dam wall with a spin rod.
We were there a short while and Victor hooked a 17 LB rain-
bow, it took ages to get in because he has just re- spooled his
reel with 4Lb. braid and a 6Lb leader. Soon after, I had some
luck with a 10Lb rainbow which on the fly, takes a while to get
in!. To top it off Victor then hooked and landed a 20Lb rain-
bow ...which also took ages to get in.
What a day to start our season, would love to go back tomor-
row but Vic has to go to Lewis Marine to pick up his Hornet
which has been in getting it‟s yearly service.
See you all tomorrow arvo at Tooms.
Regards,
Presidents Vic and Rose.
4
August 5th & 6th 2011
Camp Tooms
Hi all,
Here we are home again cleaning up gear and reflecting upon
the President clubs first outing for the 2011 /12 season.
Thursday morning saw 5 Presidents head to Tooms Lake early
to ensure our usual camping spot. Thank goodness they did as
car after car came in on the Friday morning with the same idea.
The shorelines soon turned into “little cities” of makeshift
campers and tents. The bulk of our group arrived Friday after-
noon with a few more arriving on the Saturday, this pushed our
attendance somewhere between 25 and 30.
(continued on next page )
5
Inland Fisheries director (John Diggle) and marketing and com-
munications consultant (Sarah Graham) also called in for a cof-
fee and egg „n‟ bacon which was great to see.
Their visit was appreciated by all and it shows how accessible
these people are to the public, ( a rare, but welcome trait in
“government departments” now days!!)
“Mainland President” Kevin Wilkinson proudly shows John and
Sarah his mornings efforts.
Up to this point in time we had been spoilt in regards to the
weather with both a calm / warm Friday evening and Saturday
morning. Soon we were overseeing a “Spanish armada” of boats
heading out on the water in search of the first trout of the
season. Bait fishers seemed to be doing the best, with a couple
of rainbows landed in front of John and Sarah whilst we were
overlooking the lake enjoying the view.
(continued on next page )
6
At 9am most of our group had come in for breakfast and the
first of our fish were displayed. Kevin Wilkinson from Mel-
bourne faired the best to this point in time with two nice rain-
bow trout caught on soft plastics.
Plans were quickly being made as to” how to attack them again”,
but “then” the weather turned progressively worse.
We knew it was coming but hoped it wouldn't be that
bad ......unfortunately it was.
With no end in sight, the decision was made around three
o'clock, that as soon as the Weber lunch was cooked and eaten,
we would all chip in and within an hour we could be packed up
and on the road home.
(continued on next page )
Camp Tooms....before the storm.
7
This was really disappointing for us, as up to this point in time
the weekend had been a resounding success and everyone was
“as usual” having a ball.....but you can‟t argue with mother na-
ture.
President Kevin Wilkinson was declared our winner for the
weekend, taking home the $160 prize money (from the $10 en-
try fees) and also 10 packets of YEP lures donated by the How-
ard family for the biggest fish, (it weighed in at 2.14 pounds).
Well done Kevin!!
Kevin receives his prizes from Dale Howard (top photo) and Jim
Mckenna (bottom photo.)
(continued on next page )
Winners are grinners!!!
8
That‟s about it in a nutshell, a great weekend, unfortunately
cut short, ....but there is always next time.
My thanks to all that made the weekend so enjoyable and for
the spirit in which it was held.
Also a special thank you to Presidents Rose and Vic for the do-
nation of the marquee and for arriving on the Friday afternoon
to show us “dumb bums” how it all fits together.
I would also like to thank President Brian Allan for all the fire-
wood, President Mike Fry for the additional Weber, Presidents
Jim and Virginia for their help with the breakfasts and cooking
and last but not least my wife President Janet for the salads.
Our next outing date to be announced later (after it warms up
a bit !!), will be at Lake Leake, where hopefully the weather
gods will be a bit kinder to us.
Until then, we look forward to the President reports that will
“hopefully “ once again start to flow in as the 2011/12 season
fires up.
Until then, as Rex Hunt say‟s...good fishing to you all!!
President Todd.
9
President Tom with his first of the season
10
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leigh Carpenter"
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2011
Subject: Lower Mersey River report
Hi guys,
Fished the Mersey Saturday from the road bridge at Latrobe
down into the tidal reaches.
Thank‟s to the recent stocking from the fisheries, the fishing
was good. I landed 6 between 1 to 2.5 pound on Berkley “smelt
pearl and grey “ 4 inch plastics, my good mate Andy mixed it up
lure wise and landed 1 so it's safe to say that they are a stand
out lure.
They look, “anything but a trout lure” but who can argue with
results? I lost 8 but can't complain, fish were holding in front
and below the rapids.
Text book locations were down where the river forks, not in
the deeper water, just below the bridge. This is where tradi-
tional fish are usually found, although things may change once
the weather warms and people start swimming their dogs, so
don't neglect this water in coming months.
Whitebait showing up already and 1 of the fish I caught was a
sea runner... so it will fire up more yet.
Tight Lines,
President Leigh Carpenter.
11
----- Original Message -----
From Phil Zanetto
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Subject: Lake Leake / Sth.Esk River
Hi all,
Fished the opening day of trout season with Bailey at Lake
Leake.
Arrived at Kalangadoo boat ramp around 10am, lake calm as a
mill pond.
Managed one small rainbow around 1lb in Kalangadoo bay, then
we fished The Big Timber shore and caught a 1lb brownie, lost
a couple more.
We then we headed up to the Snowy and caught six nice rain-
bows around 1kg each.
Missed and lost a few there, it was certainly fishing well.
Bailey also caught a nice size redfin perch, Lake high and a bit
discoloured in places, water temp was 7 degrees.
Last opening day here it was 3 degrees, so the fish were more
active today than at this time last year, that is for sure.
My brother Paul and his son Nathan come up for a fish as well
and managed a nice rainbow around 1kg but left early as Nathan
was a bit crook.
All fish were caught on soft plastics, Yeps and Berkley black
“n” gold‟s doing the damage.
We were back at the boat ramp around 4pm due to the heavy
rain that came around 3pm; the fish had been feeding on snail
and stick caddis.
The next day Bailey wanted to have a fish at the Sth.Esk river
(on the way home in the pouring rain), so he had a go at a couple
of spots for a couple of hours. (continued on next page )
12
Lake Leake / Sth.Esk River (Continued)
I sat in the car, but after Bailey caught a few I had to have a
go too.
We ended up with 13 nice browns around 1 to 1.5 lb, losing quite
a few as well.
All fish once again caught on softies, one fish had stomach full
of cockchafer beetles, a good opening to the trout season for
us.
Cheers,
Phil Zanetto
13
14
----- Original Message -----
From: ROSE MUIRHEAD
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Subject: Four Springs
Hi all,
Fished Four Springs today.
First hour without rain and a slight breeze and the next three
hours in heavy rain.
Victor landed three nice browns around the three lb mark. He
also put two back and got broken off, all in all, not a bad day.
When we arrived there, Becketts earth moving were putting
pylons in for the new jetty.
Dependent on the weather, we may give Lake Leake a bash
tomorrow.
Regards ,
Presidents Vic and Rose
15
----- Original Message -----
From: ROSE MUIRHEAD
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011
Subject: Return to Brushy Lagoon
Hi all,
Round 2 Brushy Lagoon.
Arrived around 8.30 this morning, it was a bit breezy but okay.
Victor took off up to the dam wall with his spin rod, I went out
in the Purdon with my fly rod.
After a short while Victor landed a 2 1/2 pound Salmon and
then topped it off with a 15 pound rainbow an hour later.
I had no luck, but tomorrow is another day.
We are off to Lake Leake!!
Regards,
President Rose.
16
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim and Virginia McKenna
Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2011
Subject: Four Springs Report
Hi all,
Sorry for the lateness of this report but we have had com-
puter troubles, ....all fixed now it seems.
Went out to Four Springs on Tuesday, I was lucky enough to
catch my bag and Virginia caught two,... so we are on the board
for the new season.
All caught on soft plastics, “nothing huge”, all around the 2.5
pound mark, but good fish all the same.
Wishing everyone a great season ahead and we look forward to
"sending and receiving" President Reports as it unfolds and the
days get warmer.
Regards to all,
Presidents Jim and Virginia.
17
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2011
Subject: Four Springs Report
Hi all,
Had to drop my eldest daughter (Demi) off at her job in
Kingsmeadows at 6am this morning, so I thought, "as long as I
am up, I may as well throw the car topper on the roof of the
Navara and head out to Foursey‟s for a couple of hours."
Light southerly breeze, only around four cars there...(12 when
I left), all was quiet and very bloody cold!!!
Managed one,( my first of the season), a nice brown weighing
somewhere between 5 and 6 pounds.
Considered myself lucky to get that as the only other fish I
saw landed was by a bait fisher off the shore..a brown around 3
pounds.
I think weed is going to be a real problem here this year, I
fished with a 1/16th jig-head and still had to "clear my hook"
nearly every cast, didn't matter where I fished,... I found
weed.
That being said, it is probably better up at the dam wall
end,....... I didn't get up that far to find out.
Regards,
President Todd
18
----- Original Message -----
From: Graeme Jamieson
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Subject: Four Springs Report
Hi all,
Went to Four Springs this morning 16/08/2011, fishing off the
shore. I was in the water at 6am.
Around 6:30am I had a terrific run of around 100 metres be-
fore I could turn the fish, and then I had about a “ 10min
struggle” before I managed to net it in the dark, it was quite
exciting as I was there by myself.
I had to take the photo at home but I weighed the fish just
after catching it and it weighed 6.25lbs.
It was drizzling rain and very cold so I left to come home at
9:30am, quite pleased with my trip.
President Jamo
19
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Subject: Grants Lagoon Report
Hi all,
Bailey went to Grants Lagoon at Binalong Bay on Sunday after-
noon for a fish off the shore using softies.
He caught a couple of nice bream and a few small cocky‟s.
All were released, hope to head up the lakes this weekend with
the Dale and Trev Howard, that should be interesting,.. fishing
with “The Unit‟ ha ha.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
20
----- Original Message -----
From: David Wescombe
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011
Subject: 18 pound stinking carp!
Don‟t worry Adam Scurrah or John Diggle.
Pictures were sent forward from President Dave Wescombe of
Wagga on the mainland..... It isn't out of Crescent, Sorell or
anywhere in Tassie thank goodness lol.
One fish we hope to see "the last of here very shortly" if all
goes to plan!!!
21
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011
Subject: Lake Leake Report
Hi all,
President John Dekkers and myself left home at 5.30 am this
morning with "high hopes" as we headed towards Lake Leake
for the day.
The plan was to meet up with fellow Presidents (and locals)
Rose and Vic around 6.45 am and between us all, see what we
could "terrorize" using both the soft plastics and fly rods.
As you all know, every trip is a different adventure and today
proved that point once again.
Turning off the Lake Leake road, onto the gravel, heading to-
wards the pub, we hadn't travelled far when we came across an
upturned vehicle (see picture below)...what a horrible feeling it
is when you come across something like this and as you get out
of your car you hope like hell no one is still in it,....luckily for us
they weren't,... the accident must have happened some time
earlier.
(continued on next page )
22
We then proceeded onward past the Lake Leake Hotel and
down to the local boat ramp.
What a mess the campground is in, (due to all the rain), and the
noise of the water going over the spillway was deafening, such
was its force. (Picture will show how full this Lake is,...it can't
get any fuller!!! ).
My advice, don't make any plans to camp here for a while or you
will find yourself up to your neck in mud!!.
The fishing?,...in a few short words, very ,very hard.
They didn't play the game at all today, we only managed one
fish between us all, a post spawning brown trout around the 2
pound mark, caught on a stick caddis.
Upon closer inspection, it's stomach contents were full of
them.. and nothing else.
A rainbow formed over the Lake around this time (see pic-
ture) but was unwilling to give up its pot of gold "fishing wise."
(continued on next page )
23
Wet fly's, plastics, all disappointed, the only other touch had
between us all was by Vic on a soft plastic, but unfortunately,
it got off to fight another angler on another day.
That's about it in a nutshell, time well spent all the same.
This Lake looks in tremendous buckle, the water clarity is quite
good and I am tipping around the end of September/early Oc-
tober, it will produce some fantastic fishing, especially once
the local fly life starts to get the fish looking upwards in those
fantastic wind lanes that this place is renowned for.
Personally, I think I will be giving it a rest until around that
time, but look forward in “keen anticipation” at what it will of-
fer us all down the track this season.
That being said, as you would have seen on an earlier Presi-
dents report, good bags are getting caught here at the mo-
ment, the Zanetto family proved that.
Perhaps it's just a case of right place, right time....or is it just
sheer ability Phil? Ha ha.
Kind regards,
President
Todd
24
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011
Subject: Four Springs Report
Hi all,
Had a look at Four Springs Lake this afternoon with Bailey.
It‟s the first time I have fished here although Bailey has “once
before” with Dale & Trev Howard, certainly is popular.
We arrived at 3.30pm and there would have been a dozen or
more trailers and a few bank anglers trying their luck.
We fished from the shore south of the boat ramp.
Bailey caught a nice brownie around 3lb, he also had a couple of
other hits, when he wound the softies in the tails were gone.
I had one hit and “one swirl "at the softie (right at my feet),
will be taking the boat next time.
We caught the fish on Dale‟s black “n” gold flappers.
PS, I have also sent some pic‟s from the Sth.Esk River in flood
near Fingal this morning.
The water was up to “floor height” of our 4wd as we drove
through yesterday afternoon.
Regards,
Phil Zanetto
25
---- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011
Subject: Great Lake Report
Hi all,
Fished Great Lake today with Bailey, Dale & Trev Howard.
Got to Cramps Bay at around 10am to a calm lake, fished the
shoreline north of the Cramps bay ramp and then moved up into
Sandbanks bay.
All up, we caught 21 brownies between us, releasing quite a few.
Fish averaged around the 1kg mark, some only in ordinary nick.
They had been feeding heavily on worms, stick caddis & snail.
Have a look at the photo of the trout with worms coming out of
it‟s mouth, we lost several, had a lot of hits with many fish fol-
lowing the plastics right to the boat. We also had a nice bbq
lunch, Dale cooked up some mutton birds.
What a great bloke “the unit” is.
(continued on next page )
26
Most fish were caught near the shore, it was here that Bailey
& Trev got out of the boats, waded the lake edges and caught a
few more fish feeding over newly flooded ground.
We had to be careful motoring on the lake due to all the tim-
ber floating around.
Our fish were caught on Yep softies in various colours, one on a
hard body and a couple on Berkley black “n” gold T.Tails.
In a nutshell, ..we all had a ball on Great Lake today.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
27
28
----- Original Message -----
From: gclong
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2011
Subject: Four Springs report
Hi all,
I fished Four Springs this morning.
Talked to Virginia , Jim and a “Gaylord bloke”, (All Presidents.)
I tried all the usual crap, only to find I have no ability.
I have been offered some, but the “offerer”, (Todd - Gaylord )
is low on the fish stakes himself so far this season.
"Anyway", by the end of the morning my score was one big
DONUT (= zero). Yesterday I fished Huntsman Lake with President Tom Dolega,
tailing fish about and some smutting fish.
There were that many people about we nearly had to take a
ticket just to fish the shore, (anglers everywhere).
Tom caught one 2.25lb cleaned and it had been feeding hard on
Corbie grubs.
A very good days fishing even though I caught none.
Regards,
President Gary Long.
Thank’s Longy, "Gaylord" will come good mate, ..I'm slow but
worth waiting for!!
(That's what I keep telling myself anyway.)....
Regards,
Todd
29
----- Original Message -----
From: ROSE MUIRHEAD
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011
Subject: Round #3 Brushy Lagoon
Hi all,
Arrived at Brushy Lagoon at 9.30 this morning, fog had just
lifted and there was a slight breeze (perfect).
As usual Victor went along the dam wall and I headed out in the
boat.
I had no luck but Victor managed a 5 LB Salmon.
We are off to Four Springs tomorrow, a friend of ours caught
a 10Lb brown there on Saturday.
Regards President Rose.
30
----- Original Message -----
From: ROSE MUIRHEAD
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Subject: Four Springs Report
Hi all,
Arrived at Four Springs around 7.30 and the lake was flat calm.
Luckily just after we got on the water the wind picked up.
Things weren't looking good until 9.30 when we caught the
first fish.
Vic landed 3, the best being a 3 1/2 lb brown and I caught 2 and
returned 1.
All fish were in good condition with stomachs full of nymphs
and snails.
That‟s all for this week, Victor is having a spell and I am going
up to Chris Bassano's for a Fly fishing seminar.
Regards,
President Rose.
31
----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart Casey
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011
Subject: Mole Creek Dam Big Brown Trout Trip.
Hi all,
Stu, Jamie and Patrick went to a Dam at Mole Creek today ar-
riving around 1:30pm. Had a 15 knot North- Westerly breeze
which was perfect for getting a long cast with light jig heads.
Jamie had a big buck brown within the first half hour weighing
nearly 9lb on a pearl olive t-tail. Fished till 4:30pm with Stu
catching a 7.5lb female brown five minutes before we went
home on a black “n” gold Squidgy fish.
President‟s Stu, Jamie and Patrick.
32
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011
Subject: Little Lake
Hi all,
Fished today at Little Lake with Dale & Trev Howard, Jack
Seabourne and of course Bailey.
We arrived at Gunns Lake around 10am & walked over to Little
Lake due to the track being very wet, lake high and the water
icy cold.
Never the less we managed to catch 21 brownies between us.
Must be our lucky number as we bagged 21 at Great Lake last
Saturday. We all lost a few and had lots of hits.
Size of fish was around 1lb up to 1.5lb, finished fishing around
3.30pm.
Fish had been feeding mainly on stick caddis and were caught
on Yep softies and Dale caught a few on a gold bomber 3 inch
Galaxia hard body.
Weather conditions were mainly overcast, Southwest wind & no
rain which was a relief. Will try here again when things warm
up a bit.
PS Check "The Units" nice legs
out in photo below lol, sorry Dale
had to put the pic in!!.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
(continued on next page )
33
34
----- Original Message -----
From: gclong
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011
Subject: Four Springs Report
Hi all,
Fished Four Springs yesterday for one, (a brown of around 3.5
pounds ) caught on a Woolly Bugger fly.
This morning I went out in "torrential wind and rain" for one
brown around 2.5 pounds caught on one of "Gaylord's" orange
bead- headed nymph patterns.
The fly was tied by Johnny Dekkers so I will give
“Gaylord" absolutely no credit in any way, shape or form in re-
gards to it‟s capture ... Ha ,Ha.
I was also fishing with President Tom Dolega who didn't man-
age one this morning, ( he usually goes pretty well ) and feel
this is his “just deserts” as it was he who assured myself that
the weather out here would be OK this morning.
He may be a pretty good fly fisherman, but as a weather fore-
caster....crap!!
Regards,
President Gary Long
35
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011
Subject: Brumbys Creek
Hi all,
Braved the conditions late this afternoon in the pouring rain
and howling wind at Brumbys Creek with Bailey.
Fished the top weir and walked along levee wall using Berkley
black & gold t.tails and we managed one each, mine around 2lb,
Baileys 2.5lb in superb nick.
I lost one other and had another hit & Bails had one other
hit,...so a good little session.
Fish were full of scud and snails with very pink flesh.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
36
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2011
Subject: Presidents outing at Four Springs.
Hi all,
A great day was once again held at Four Springs, with the
weather kind, but the fishing extremely hard.
Only three fish were presented for weigh in, along with a cou-
ple of “The one that got away" tales.
9am saw us all in for breakfast and it was great to catch up
with faces we hadn't seen for a while and also to welcome new
Presidents, Mark Bell and Ray Slinger.
I must make special mention at this point in time of Presidents
Jim and Virginia McKenna who "as always" rolled up their
sleeves and ensured everyone was fed in a timely fash-
ion...thanks guys, I am sure I speak for all when I say your ef-
forts were greatly appreciated.
Biggest fish of the day weighed in at 4.44 pounds and went to
President Tom Dolega who weighed this fish in at the 9am
breakfast and he was never headed throughout the day, it was
caught on a stick caddis imitation.
President Gary Long presented Tom with his first prize
of $160 cash at the 2pm finish. (See photos).
Once again, a very enjoyable day, Four Springs is definitely
hard work at the minute unless you are lucky enough to time it
just right. Thank you to all that attended and we look forward
to seeing you all at the next outing, wherever that will be, so
stay tuned!!
Regards,
President Todd (continued on next page )
37
38
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday September 04, 2011
Subject: Upper Meander River
Hi all,
Bailey and I decided to give the Upper Meander River a go this
afternoon, not a bad way to spend Fathers day.
Arrived at our spot around 12 noon and fished until 3.30pm.
We caught 10 nice river browns, including one around the 5lb
mark, condition of this old boy not too flash, but a nice fish all
the same.
Others went from 3/4 lb to 1lb mark, all fish were released.
Lost a few and had many hits as well, all were caught on Berk-
ley black and gold t tail softies.
River running nice and clear, so we had a good afternoon.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
39
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Egan
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2011
Subject: Re: Gippsland Opening Day
Opening Day on the Gippsland Streams.
It was with great anticipation we waited for opening morning
here in Gippsland. Some of the members of the La Trobe valley
Fly fishers even camped by middle Creek the Friday night be-
fore opening to get an early start. Even though I only live 2
Klms from the Creek I joined the boys for a few Rums and a
BBQ and we certainly had a great time. Saturday At 6 am was
cold, very cold with a good frost and the promise of a beautiful
day. I woke with a bit of a head ache and was distracted at
first by the wonderful news that Collingwood was slaughtered
the night before by Geelong. The day was off to a great start!!.
I noticed the campers were just dragging themselves out of
frosty tents as I headed upstream.
After the floods we had over winter, the creek was brand new
with new runs, gravel beds and pools. The water was cold and
clean but at this hour of day there were no fish rising. The
morning session was tough with few fish caught. Melbourne
member Bill Morris and I topped the numbers with 5 fish each
but our president James Hearne impressed with a fat 2
pounder, a real monster in our little streams. Lunch was a BBQ
at my Farm and James provided a huge feed of tasty Yabbies
for entree.
(continued on next page )
40
After lunch we split up and some fished one of my dams for a
while with everyone involved in a bit of “stocky” bashing. The
sun came out and as the temperature rose over 20, ants
started to hatch, a very unusual thing this early in the season.
We split up again and I went with Willy Stewart to the East
Branch of the Morwell River, The fish were keen and we picked
up 8 between us before it got cold and dark. The river was so
beautiful I went back today to the west branch of the Morwell
for another 11 fish. I ended opening day with 14 and 25 by the
end of the weekend. Most of the fish were around ½ to 1 pound
but Will and I managed a couple that weren‟t much bigger than
the fly. It has been the best opening I can remember “weather
wise” and it looks great for the rest of the season.
Tight lines .
President Dave Egan.
41
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011
Subject: Vale River
Hi all,
Trevor and I had a day fishing the Vale River today, what a
fantastic little river this is.
We arrived about 10.30, fished for a couple of hours and had a
ball.
There are plenty of small brownies here, as there are in all the
small streams around this area.
We will be going back in the summer for a look with the dry fly.
Regards,
Dale & Trev
42
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011
Subject: Lake Plimsoll
Hi all,
Myself, Dale Howard and his son Trevor went to Lake Plimsoll
(near Tullah) today after the elusive Brook Trout.
Nine fish were landed and many things were learnt from the
experience. It is a trip we urge you all to consider at least
once this year, it can be done in a day quite easily, especially if
you share the driving.
Some fantastic pictures were taken and a full article about to-
day's experience & this water will be in the upcoming Tasma-
nian Fishing and Boating News... due out in a couple of weeks.
Sorry for being so elusive, but in fairness to Mike Stevens it
would be remiss of us to say much more before it‟s published.
As you can see from the photos, we had a ball!!
Regards,
President Todd
(continued on next page )
43
44
----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart Casey
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2011
Subject: Great Lake Outing
Hi all,
Headed up to Cramps Bay on Saturday.
It wasn't pleasant at all, blowing 15 knot South Westerly's
with 25 knot gusts coming through, which made it bloody
freezing!.
We arrived at the boat ramp 1pm and left at 4pm.
Whilst fishing the Cramps south shore out of the wind , we
managed to pick up 5 fish, 3 browns and 2 rainbows.
All were caught on black and gold t-tails. Four fish were caught
with a bigger than normal size jig head in deeper water and the
other was caught trolling on the way back to the boat ramp.
Jamie caught 3 Patrick 1 Stu 1.
Presidents Jamie, Stu and Patrick
45
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011
Subject: Sth. Esk River
Hi all,
Fished the Sth. Esk River on Sunday afternoon with Bailey and
his mate Jack Seabourne.
Fished from 1.30pm and finished around 3.30pm, river running
clear and dropped to good height now, we caught 14 fish on
Dale‟s black and gold flappers, lost a few including “one beauty”
that would have been 4lb plus.
The fish caught, went from around 1lb to 2lb and were in really
good condition.
Fish had been feeding on stick caddis.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
46
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Hayes
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Subject: Cramps Bay ( True story!! )
Hi all,
President Matthew Hayes sent forward this photo taken of a
fish he caught from the shore at Cramps Bay recently.
Whilst cleaning it he found no less than 5 soft plastics in its
stomach contents, three with jig heads and line still attached.
He also noticed half a "black n gold t tail" with line coming out
of its vent.
As the fish was only a pound and a half in weight, it would be
very doubtful that it beat five anglers; the most likely explana-
tion we can put forward is that this brown trout was picking up
soft plastics that had been previously snagged by fisher peo-
ple, as part of its diet.
Cramps Bay fish are reported as being very slabby at the mo-
ment so perhaps there isn't a lot of tucker about in this area?
True story!!
Regards,
President Todd.
47
----- Original Message -----
From: Rose Muirhead
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Subject: Plimsoll
Hi all,
Fished Plimsoll yesterday and this morning.
Vic caught 4 and I caught one, all in good condition, we have
now arrived at the Highlands.
“Weather permitting” we will fish Tods corner in the morning
before we head home.
Regards
Presidents Vic and Rose
48
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Oates
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2011
Subject: Great Lake
Hi All ,
Went to the Great Lake on the Friday of last week, arrived to
snow.
Managed to get out Saturday morning and caught 4 nice brown-
ies all down 4 colours on lead lines.
Couldn't get out Sunday due to the weather but did manage a
trip on the Monday morning, conditions reasonably good. Man-
aged to bag nine nice brownies ,these fish ranged between 2 to
3 pound all in good condition.
President Sid and Luke Oates
49
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2011
Subject: Lake Selina, Lake Plimsoll & Reece Dam
Hi all,
Had the pleasure of spending the day fishing with Dale and
Trev Howard and my son Bailey.
We headed off at 6.30am , arriving at Lake Selina at 10am,
what a beautiful little lake, fairly shallow around the northern
and western side, but deeper on the eastern shore which is
better suited to casting softies from the bank.
We fished here for around an hour and then we headed over to
Lake Plimsoll for a couple of hours and what a spectacular lake
this is, we managed to catch a few nice brookies at these lakes,
they were fat as footballs and very red fleshed, should make
great eating.
Fish had been feeding on Galaxias with fish caught on Yep red
rascals.
We then had some lunch and headed off to fish the outflow at
the Reece Dam, arriving to the pouring rain which did not let
up.
(continued on next page )
50
Fished here for a couple of hours and managed half a dozen
resident browns around the 1lb mark, we were hoping for some
big sea runners which come up to feed on Elvers and whitebait
when the water is flowing out of Lake Pieman,...maybe next
time.
The fish here were caught on softies using big jig heads to
keep them down in the fast running water, thanks for a great
day Dale (the unit) and I owe you one for doing all the driving.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
51
52
----- Original Message ----- From: Stuart Casey Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2011
Subject: Excellent St Helens Fishing Trip
Georges Bay, Grants Lagoon and Scamander River
We arrived at St Helens Caravan Park on Wednesday at 11am
and were on Georges bay at noon. The wind was blowing 20 knot
north westerlies with stronger gusts coming through so we
launched the boat at Akaroa. We fished wherever we could get
out of the wind, casting 1/8 jig heads with a wide range of soft
plastics. We caught 4 trevally (Stu 2, Jamie 2), 15 big black-
back salmon between 3 pound and 5.5 pound and a lot of other
bits and pieces. One of the highlights of the day was seeing
black-back smashing the surface, chasing a popper that Patrick
was casting.
Day 2
We put the boat in at the main boat ramp in St Helens at day-
light. We headed over to the same location from the day be-
fore because the wind was just as horrible. We did much the
same thing until lunch time picking up 2 trevally (1 Stu, 1 Jamie)
and a few black-backs. After lunch we anchored up and got a
good burley trail going. After that we caught a heap of garfish,
surprisingly another 12 trevally (Stu 7, Patrick 3, Jamie 2), 5
leather jackets and a heap of other bits and pieces.
(continued on next page )
53
Day 3
We had a bit of a sleep in and didn't get on the water until
10am. We put the boat in at Akaroa again; the wind was much
the same but was a lot warmer. Didn't do any good on the tre-
vally but had another great day on the garfish.
Day 4
Was a hot and calm day so we headed to Grant's Lagoon for a
run. Fished there for an hour and a half and only caught a few
small salmon and flathead. So we decided to pack up and head
to the Scamander River. We arrived at the Upper Scamander
boat ramp at around 11:30am and left at 2pm. We fished with
small soft plastics, Stu caught a 360mm Bream on the second
cast which he was stoked with for his first bream on softies.
Then he caught another 330mm and Patrick caught one much
the same for his first on a soft plastic.
All in all it was an excellent trip, between us we caught 17 tre-
vally, 113 garfish, around 25 big black- back salmon, 3 bream
and heaps of other small fish.
Presidents Jamie, Stu and Patrick.
54
----- Original Message -----
From: ROSE MUIRHEAD
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Subject: Lake Plimsoll
Hi all,
Just got home from Lake Plimsoll, persevered all day yesterday
in the wind and rain.
Paid off with a 5 lb Brookie on a Dan Dempsey “Slim Jim” fly.
Victor had no luck from the shore.
Got what I went down there for, I'm sure there are some huge
fish in this water.
Note the photo of the galaxia next to the fish, he had one in
his mouth and 6 more in it‟s stomach, all freshly caught.
Presidents Vic and Rose
55
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011
Subject: Macquarie River
Hi all,
Bailey and I headed out to the Macquarie river after work to-
day and fished from 4.30 to 6.30pm.
As we haven't fished here for a couple of years, we thought it
might be worth a look now that it has a good flow of water
again after a couple of years being effected by drought condi-
tions.
Bailey managed a couple of nice brownies around the 1lb mark,
he lost another around 2lb right at the bank, he was using hard
body‟s, both were released.
I caught a beauty on Dales black & gold Flapper around the 4lb
mark, we also caught a few perch, so it certainly was worth
the trip.
Heading to the highlands tomorrow so hope I will have some-
thing to report from there.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
56
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2011
Subject: Great Lake Report 1
Hi all,
Fished Great Lake today with fellow President Mark Tapsell,
weather sightly on the cool side until the wind abated around
2pm.
Cast soft plastics around the edges of Swan Bay and Tods cor-
ner.
Finished with five on the plastics, four of them were in very
poor condition with the only fish of quality coming from Tods.
At lunchtime we met up with Dale & Trev Howard along with
Darrell Wells for a BBQ, we then fished until 3pm before
heading home.
Dales crew seemed to fair a lot better than us for the day, but
as their report is coming, I won‟t say anymore.
As I write this I am not a “ big fan” for the Great Lake at the
moment, but Dale assures me that they did manage to catch
some quality fish today which is reassuring.
Regardless, time spent fishing with friends is always enjoyable
and worth the effort, I am sure you all agree.
President Todd
57
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2011
Subject: Great Lake Report 2
Hi all,
Decided to fish Sandbanks Bay at Great Lake today, was going
to Bradys Lake but decided on Great Lake instead.
Bailey and I arrived at the Cramps Bay ramp around 10am and
headed to Sandbanks, we caught 14 brownies, releasing most
due to them being in fairly poor condition, it certainly was a
day for losing fish.
I can't remember a day where we lost so many and had fish
grabbing the softies but not hooking up, lots of follows to the
boat as well, frustrating stuff.
It was a great day anyway, a bit on the cool side with the sw
breeze.
Saw three Wedge Tailed Eagles which was a good sight, fin-
ished fishing around 6pm.
Fish were caught on Yep black and gold flappers.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
58
From: Darrell Wells
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011
Subject: Great lake report 3
I was invited to join Dale and Trevor Howard in the Highlands
and spent a fantastic day on the water with them. We arrived
at the Swan Bay around 11am and soon had the Express Cavalier
pointed in the direction of our first destination. This shoreline
fished very slow, so we shot over to another area which usually
produces some good specimens and we soon had 4 nice Browns
in the boat within about 20mins. We caught these on YEP Min-
nows in the Gold Bomber colour and Black & Gold Flappers.
Todd and Mark had just pulled ashore in the vicinity of us, so
we joined them for a cook-up and a cold brew and put together
a plan for the rest of the afternoon.
The conditions were almost too good mid afternoon as there
was very little wind to aid in getting a good drift along the
shorelines, but we plugged away in one of the popular bays pick-
ing up enough fish to keep us interested.
(continued on next page )
59
We then decided to head back to where we landed a few ear-
lier in the day and managed to land some lovely fish working the
deep drop-offs leading up to some nice flats of one of our fa-
vourite shores. I seemed to have had lost my mojo and Dale and
Trev put some very nice fish in the boat towards the end of
the session. One of these fish smashed Dale's Minnow in the
Spotted Aussie colour as soon as it hit the water, which was
only about 1ft deep at best, and the take was awesome to wit-
ness.
We ended up with 13 fish for the session and most were in
good to very good condition apart from about 3 and one of
which I landed was in absolute terrible condition! We usually
call the slabby fish "axe handles", but this one was more like a
butterknife from the head back!
All in all it was a fantastic day on the water catching up with a
couple of mates that I haven't had the chance to fish with in a
long time. Catching a few fish in-between the laughs along the
way was just a bonus. Thanks for a top day out fella's.
Cheers
Daz
60
----- Original Message -----
From: Renee Oates
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011
Subject: Great Lake Report 4
Hi all,
Went fishing on Saturday to Great lake, fished in a very light
south westerly managed to bag 5 nice browns and 2 brilliant
rainbows.
Had a rather poor hook up rate with over 20 good strikes but
most of them pulled off half way in. Fished out in the centre of
the lake.
Happy fishing
Presidents Matt, Sid & Luke Oates.
----- Original Message -----
From: Renee Oates
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011
Subject: Brumbys Creek Schools Competition.
Hi everyone,
I caught these fish from Brumbys Creek today in the schools
competition.
Atlantic Salmon weighed .75kg with a tag in it.
Rainbow Weighed 1.48kg cleaned 2 kgs uncleaned, both were
caught on Black “n” gold t tails.
Happy fishing,
President Luke Oates.
61
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Subject: Nth Esk River
Hi all,
Bailey and I headed out to the Upper North Esk river after I
knocked off work this afternoon, he sure is a pest lately, wants
to go fishing everyday and I am just about worn out but I said
ok again, ( what a sucker I am), “anyway”, we arrived there
around 5pm and fished to 6.30pm.
Bailey used hard body lures while I stuck with the softies, it
wasn't long until Bailey had some action, his third cast resulted
in a nice 3lb brown and a couple of casts later he was on again
to a smaller one around the 1lb mark.
He lost three others in a row jumping all over the place
and throwing the hooks, ending up with another 1lb brown.
I managed one brown of nearly 1lb on the black “n” gold T.tail.
Will have to get into some hard body's myself, saw a few taking
off the top, so the fly rod might have to come out soon.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
62
----- Original Message -----
From: Reg Travers
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Subject: Arthurs Lake Browns
Hi all,
A nice brownie from the five caught at Arthurs last Saturday.
It was snowing and blowing but in spite, a very nice little trip.
The lake is very high; however on talking to a HEC man, he said
that it should start to drop as they are recommencing to pump
water into the Great Lake.
Regards,
President Reg Travers.
63
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2011
Subject: Sth Esk River
Hi all,
Had a fish out to the Sth Esk this morning with Bailey, arrived
there at around 10.30am and finished at 1.30pm, had to get
home to watch the AFL Grand final,.. just made it!.
We had a fabulous session catching 17 brownies; size was from
1lb to nearly 2lb.
Bails caught eleven on hard body‟s and I got six on softies,
( Black “n” gold Yeps) and Berkley‟s.
All fish were in really good condition and all were released, we
had a couple of double hook ups as well which was a bonus.
What a fantastic river the Sth.Esk is, always produces good
fish.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
64
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2011
Subject: South Esk River
G'day everyone,
Phil has been giving away a few of his secrets, so it was off to
the South Esk for a couple of hours for Trev and I.
We caught 8 lovely fish in various sizes, all in the one location.
They where caught on YEP red rascals, clear galaxid and the
rainbow ripper .
This a fantastic river to fish and I think a bit more exploring
will have to happen in the near future .....
Dale & Trev
65
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011
Subject: Georges Bay Report
Hi all,
Just a quick report on the fishing in Georges Bay at St Helens
this afternoon.
Bailey had the pleasure of fishing with my brother Paul and his
son Nathan and had a good arvo catching bream, salmon, flat-
head and trevally on soft plastics.
Bailey caught his salmon on surface poppers, they had a go at
some flounder on Friday night but without success.
They saw some really big garfish, so it would be worth having a
go at the gars, ...maybe tomorrow.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
66
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Egan
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011
Subject: Gippsland Report
Hi all,
Our season started on the 3rd of September and as I have pre-
viously reported opening weekend was a beauty with 24 de-
grees and both Termite and Mayfly hatches. Things seem to be
getting better and better with a mix of warm days and some
good rain the local streams are fishing well. They muddy up a
bit after a good rain but quickly clear again when it stops. Af-
ter record rains and some good floods over winter the streams
are flushed of silt and gravel bottoms tend to improve both
mayfly and caddis hatches. The fish are fat and enthusiastic.
Our Lakes and dams are full and overflowing and fish are put-
ting on condition rapidly. Blue Rock and Glenmaggie Dams are
well stocked and producing some big fish on all types of tech-
niques including trolling and fly fishing. The La Trobe Valley fly
fishing clubs dams,(22 of them) are full and fishing really well
with quite a few 5 and 6 pounders caught already and with good
rains between now and Christmas it will be a while before the
Spud farmers start irrigating out of them.
(continued on next page )
67
For me personally, it has been the best start to a season with
105 fish caught in the first month including a couple of the
clubs 5 and 6 pounders. These numbers are nearly twice what
I get in the first month on an average year. It sounds like simi-
lar conditions in Tassie so I have booked my trip to Arthurs
from the 2nd to the 14th of January next summer in the hope
of dun hatches.
The La Trobe Valley Fly fishing club has elected me secretary
this year and I received the honour of being made a life mem-
ber.
Look forward to catching up with you all and your fish soon.
Tight lines .
President Dave Egan.
68
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Egan
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011
Subject: VFFA INITIATION TRIP
On Sunday the La Trobe Valley Fly Fishing club invited mem-
bers of the Victorian Fly Fishing Association for a fish and a
BBQ at our 22 Dams in Thorpdale in central Gippsland.
The weather was really bad with high wind and frequent heavy
showers but we had a good turn out and some really good fish
were caught and released.
I caught a fit buck brown of nearly 6 pounds 25 metres from
the car on the third cast of the day!
This fish leapt out of the water and put up a great fight be-
fore submitting to a photo. I did however discover you can't
swim in waders when the rotten log I was standing on gave way.
When I hit the bottom I also discovered you can't get out of
waders when they are full of water ten feet below the surface.
I was very lucky a branch connected to the log was stuck in the
mud next to me and with a great effort I was able to pull my-
self to the surface and after a 10 minute struggle finally
crawled up on the log.
All I lost were my sunnies and hat; it could have been a much
worse result!
Lesson is, I see a lot of people in boats in Tassie and they need
to realise that swimming in them is all but impossible.
(continued on next page )
69
One good thing was a great mate and ex- president of our club,
Fred Lewis, who has been in a serious battle with cancer for
nearly 3 years turned up in the afternoon and after a patient
wait spotted, hooked and landed a beautiful brown.
Fred is the guy in the classy hat.
Tight lines,
Dave Egan
(Secretary of the LVFF and President of the Presidents Club.)
70
----- Original Message -----
From: Renee Oates
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011
Subject: Great Lake Report
Hi all ,
Sid and Luke decided to go up to the Great Lake last Thursday
and managed to have a really good session, fished in the morn-
ing from 6 till 10 and bagged three, went in and had some lunch
and returned back on the water by 4pm bagging 6 beautiful
fish in 50 minutes from Haddens bay.
Went on to bag another one by 6pm.
President's Sid and Luke.
71
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011
Subject: Four Springs Report
Hi all,
President John Dekkers and myself
headed out to Four Springs this morning armed with fly rods
and (in my case) "limited ability as usual.!!
We decided against getting up early, instead opting for gentle-
men's hours in order to attack our fishy friends.
At 10.30 am we found ourselves standing in the Four Springs
car park, boiling up a coffee before heading out to see what
the day would offer.
As we overlooked the lake we could see the odd "rise" here and
there along with a healthy number of red spinners flying reck-
lessly around our heads,..the day held promise.
Within 5 minutes of launching the boat, we had one brown of a
couple of pounds in the esky and had ''lipped " and missed four
others.
Upon seeing us land this fish, one of Johnny's mates floated
over and asked what we were using as he had been there since
early morning with nothing to show for his efforts.
Naturally a couple of Orange Bead Head nymphs were handed
over and "Wayne" managed two nice rainbows using this fly and
the method that we showed him to fish them with.
Isn't that what its all about?.. Wayne doesn't normally catch a
lot of fish at Four Springs apparently, so it was great that (in
some small way at least) we were able to assist this older gen-
tleman gain his a smile from ear to ear as he proudly displayed
his catch to us later on in the day.
(continued on next page )
72
As for us?, we managed four, including a couple of leviathans
both landed and lost.
We should have had our bag limit each as we lost a couple that
spat the hook when they jumped, we also missed many on the
strike,..... excuses, excuses, excuses.
I must also make mention of the fantastic Porterhouse Steak
we cooked up "onsite" for lunch that we brought from Presi-
dent Phil Groves from the Sausage shop at Perth ,... do yourself
a favour and get some of that into you!!
YUM,YUM,YUM!!!.....and that isn't cash for comment either!!
Every now and then, you have a day, although not over memora-
ble "catch wise", but all the same, will stay in your thoughts as
a fantastic experience with great company for years to come.
Today was one of those day‟s.
Thanks Johnny boy!!!
Regards,
President Todd
73
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011
Subject: St.Patricks River
Hi all,
Had a look at St.Patricks River late this afternoon with Bailey,
he was supposed to go fishing with Dale and Trev but Dale was
a bit crook so that was the end of that.
When I arrived home around 5pm, Bailey made me take him to
the St.Pat‟s River instead, so off we went.
Arrived there around 6pm and fished until around 7.30pm, we
caught 8 nice little stream brownies, all on softies that we cut
down to suit the smaller sized trout in this area.
We had lots of hit's, follows‟ and lost a few, certainly a nice
river to fish close to home.
All fish were released.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
74
75
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011
Subject: Great Lake
Hi all,
It‟s me again with a report from the Great Lake today.
Bailey & I went to the Nineteen Lagoons to fish a couple of
lakes that I haven't fished for a few years but it was blowing a
“bloody gale” so we decided to fish the Great Lake from the
shore using softies as an alternative.
We ended up with seven brownies; fish were caught from
Boundary Bay and Tods Corner.
Fish from Boundary were in really good nick with very pink
flesh, but the ones caught from Tods were slabby.
We kept three and released the rest, fish were caught on Yep
black and gold flappers and a couple on Berkley Black “n” Gold
T.Tails.
We still faced strong North West winds here but it was a bit
more sheltered than the Nineteen Lagoons area.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
76
77
----- Original Message -----
From: Leigh Carpenter
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011
Subject: Mersey River
Hi Guys,
Fished the Mersey River this afternoon from Lovett‟s flats,
down river.
The river here has great access with many excellent rapids and
runs and despite being fished heavily, it is still fishing pretty
well.
I waded out just enough to allow me to cast to the other side
and twitched a Pearl Gulp back across river. I caught 6 lovely
little river fish and lost 4 more in a couple of hours.
Although not big fish, they were great fun to catch.
Tight lines,
President Leigh.
78
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011
Subject: Trevallyn Tailrace
Hi all,
Trev and I went to the tailrace at Trevallyn for half an hour
after tea tonight, not many moving, plenty of whitebait and a
big seal.
We removed a "very heavy" set dead line, I think he must have
been trying to catch the seal, (about 50 lb line, 2 big sinkers
& 2 very large baits) .
I caught one on a new hard body lure, silver on top and a yellow
belly, (new colour, no name as yet), the fish was released.
Dale & Trev
PS, SORRY ABOUT THE PICTURE QUALITY COULDN'T GET
THE FLASH TO WORK.
79
----- Original Message -----
From: Belinda & Grant Kemp
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Subject: Lake Fyans
Hi all,
President Grant, first time story from the mainland.
Went fishing last weekend to Lake Fyans at the foot of the
Grampians National Park.
Fishing was very slow until a strong North West wind of about
30 to 35 knots came through and action came from a deep drop
off along the main rock wall in about 12 foot of water.
I was using YEP TASSIE TACKLE. “Mud Dumps” very slowly
along the bottom for very good return of 4 rainbows and 2
browns.
Great weekend, great scenery and great fishing.
Tight lines to all Presidents.
President Grant Kemp.
80
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011
Subject: Little Lake
Hi all,
Trev didn't want to go to school today (lol), so Mike Stevens
and myself decided to take him to Little Lake to see if we
could help him catch his first fish on a fly.
Well, he achieved that before we even wet our lines and were
standing around having a pre-fish coffee! To top it off he
landed another 4 before the day was out.
All up between us we caught 17 for the day only bringing three
home and releasing the rest.
A word of warning, as you can see by the photos, ...snakes are
about everywhere, seemingly after the frogs that abound
around the lakes shoreline, also you have to walk in from Gunns
Lake as the track is just a pile of mud and you will get bogged
if you try to take a vehicle in, our suggestion is to do the 15
minute walk in.
Dale & Trev Howard
81
82
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2011
Subject: Little Lake Report 2
Hi all,
Went up to Arthurs Lake on Saturday with Bailey and his mate
Jack Shennan.
We intended to have a fish from the shore at Cow paddock Bay
as Dale told me they were catching some nice fish in that area ,
but we found it was like “tent city” with people camping every-
where.
Longford fishing club must have had a competition on there,
along with other anglers from all over the place.
Talked to two fisho‟s and they had 30 trout on Thursday & Fri-
day caught close in on softies, but we found on most of the
shores, the boys could not wade as the water was too high.
We then decided to go to Little Lake as Dale and Trev had a
good day there last Thursday.
Had a good afternoon catching 15 brownies on softies and hard
bodies, keeping half a dozen and releasing the rest.
Some fish were a bit lean on and some not real pink, but others
were in good nick and really red inside, the boys had a good
day, especially Jack who hasn't caught many trout before, he
loved it up there.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
83
----- Original Message -----
From: Brett Woodberry
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2011
Subject: Arthurs Lake / Great Lake
Hi all,
After working afternoon shift Friday night- got an early knock
off and headed straight to the Great Lake to stay, ready for
an early start to fish Arthurs Lake on Saturday morning.
Upon arriving there at 8.00am, the water looked very murky
and stirred up but the day looked very promising. After having
a report from Dale Howard (President) to fish "Cow paddock"
and Flemings Bay, we made a bee- line straight to the top of
the lake to try plastics and hard body lures. After three hours
with no success (only had two bites and one follow) we decided
to go trolling instead. This move provided us with four nice fish
in good condition.
Sunday morning we decided to fish the Great Lake as we had
stayed there for the night.
Hitting the water at 7.00am it wasn‟t long before we had our
first fish. A nice brown trout in good condition of about 2 Lbs.
The next two hours saw us catch another two brownies of simi-
lar condition and slightly larger in size. All these fish were
caught on lead line trolling, four colours on home-made cobra
lures.
Although the number was not high for the amount of hours
that we put in for the two days of fishing, we certainly had a
great time out on the water.
Regards
Brett Woodberry
President
84
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011
Subject: A hard day at work.
Sometimes we all need to take a moment away from our jobs to
relax and do the things we enjoy, it‟s even better if we can do
it while we are at work!
Today we fished the Tamar River, Saxon creek, and the Rubi-
con River.
Truck driving is a hard job but someone has to do it.
Dale & Buster.
85
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mathew Gill"
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Subject: Mainland Report
Me and Frankie today at Hume.
Water temp 22.3
Heaps of schooled up Yella‟s just couldn't get them to bite
anything!
Lot‟s of Redfin as well.
86
----- Original Message -----
From: Darrell Wells
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Subject: NW Coast Report
Hi fellow Presidents.
I recently spent four days up the North-West Coast with my
wife and two children to do some maintenance around out prop-
erty at Forest. After catching up with a mate (Marcus) who is a
local on Friday night for a sensational BBQ, we put together a
plan to hit the salty brine early Saturday morning to chase a
few different species on relatively light tackle.
So, we had the little 'tinnie' launched at around 7am Saturday
morning and with the high tide just about to turn and run out,
we decided to target some Australian Salmon to begin with.
The action came thick and fast, as soon as the lures hit the wa-
ter! The first reef we hit was holding plenty of small sized
'cocky‟s' and after short play with these little fella's we moved
to another area where the sized increased and there were
some real horses amongst them! The average size of the
Salmon coming aboard was around 1-2kg which were putting up
an awesome account for themselves on the 1-3kg Lox rods and
4lb braid/leader. The Pearl White YTT Flapper was banging the
Salmon cast after cast and was the stand-out soft plastic on
this species. After giving the arm a bit of a rest, I pulled the
5wt fly rod out for a run and went to battle with some quality
Salmon which were smashing my freshly tied Deceivers with
gusto!
(continued on next page )
87
A short clip of some Salmon on fly..... http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=GVb0LHqVCbA
After all this action it was time to find some Calamari which
are fairly thick around the Coast at present and once we found
a good patch there were more thumping Squid around the boat
than we could keep up with! My first one to come aboard was a
monster that would have easily went 3kg's and took quite a lot
of coaxing back to the boat after it huge bursting runs on the
light tackle. By the time we had a good amount for a feed the
tide was almost at it's lowest and it was time to hit our next
species- Bluespot Flathead.....
Marcus took me to some of his favourite ground to target
these awesome fish and I was blown away! We first hit a sand
bank which would have been no more than 2ft deep at best
and consistently pulled magnificent fish up to 58.5cm which
really go off on the light gear and the long powerful runs in the
knee deep water was nothing short of amazing. We then moved
to another location around some racks to look for the elusive
80+cm models and although I'm sure we hooked some in the
ball park of this size we weren't able to land them due to them
pulling the hooks! We also landed some impressive Sand Flat-
head whilst chasing the 'Blues'. The most productive SP on the
big Lizards was by far the Red Rascal YTT Flapper.
So all up we had an awesome day on the water and brought
home a sensational fresh feed of two of the best eating flesh
in the sea!
Cheers
Daz
88
NW Coast Report ( continued )
89
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011
Subject: Four Springs
Hi all,
It seems we had an impromptu Presidents outing at Four
Springs Lake today, with Presidents Dale and Trevor Howard,
myself, John Dekkers, Rose and Vic Muirhead, Rob Soward
and Dan Dempsey all having a fish here.
The day promised "so much" .. being overcast and drizzly along
with a slight breeze, perfect conditions for a huge dun hatch
at some point throughout the day.. we thought.
Unfortunately for us all, this failed to eventuate with the
hatch being small and spasmodic at best.
Most of us seemed to catch one or two but we had to work very
hard for them.
It was great to catch up with you all at the boat ramp come
day's end, have a chat and most importantly, to pilfer Donna
Howard's lovely blueberry muffins out of Dale and Trevs boat
before departing for home....yum yum.
As I often say, a fish is a bonus.
Regards,
President Todd
90
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Friday, October 30, 2011
Subject: Brumbys Creek
Hi all,
Just a quick report from the top weir at Brumbys creek.
Bailey and I fished from 6pm to dark, walked the levee bank
and caught three browns and dropped another.
Bailey got two on hard body's and I caught mine on the Yep
black “n” gold flapper, size was 1lb to nearly 2lb and in good
nick.
Fish had been feeding on stick caddis and snails, saw a few
working on top,.. right on dark.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO.
91
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011
Subject: Scamander River, Georges Bay
Hi all,
Report from the Upper Scamander River and Georges Bay at
St.Helens.
Have been working down at St.Helens last week, so Bailey
caught the bus down on Friday to have a fish with me on the
weekend.
On Saturday we fished for trout in a nice little river way back
in the hills at Upper Scamander, I think it runs into the Sca-
mander river, anyway, we fished here for a couple of hours and
caught some nice little river browns on softies, a bit of “bush
bashing” to get to the good spots, but worth it.
Later that day we went and hooked up the Stacer and headed
up the Scamander for some bream action, caught a dozen on
softies and hard body‟s, most of the action was way up the top.
On Sunday we fished Georges Bay at St.Helens and had a ball
catching salmon, we could have filled the boat up as they were
that thick, but only kept four to eat.
Salmon were caught on softies, poppers and hard body‟s, all
other fish on the weekend were released.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
92
Scamander River, Georges Bay (continued)
93
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Hayes
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Subject: Top End Trip
Hi all,
President Matthew Hayes has just returned from a trip up
Darwin way, not sure exactly where, but he sent this photo
through tonight.
He has promised some more photos / details when he gets
them all sorted.
If this photo is anything to go by, they obviously had a ball.
Regards,
Todd
94
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2011
Subject: Four Springs
Hi all,
Fished Four Springs for a couple of hours this afternoon, wind
was a pain in the bum, coming in from all directions.
Hardly any duns on the water, 4 cars in the car park and ball‟s
of algae are starting to appear throughout the lake,
especially at the southern end.
It's nearly "game over" here for a while I think...
(As is expected around this time each season).
I did manage two from "very limited" opportunities, the one
pictured below was about 3 pounds and I also landed another
around the 1.5 pound mark.
Only saw two other fish rise and they were only "oncers."
Fish landed were caught on the orange bead head hung 2 ft un-
der a dry fly.
Regards,
President Todd
95
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011
Subject: Lake Leake
Hi all,
Just returned home from Lake Leake.
Apart from yesterday afternoon (where the wind got a bit wild
for a time), it was fantastic weather for camping.
Fly fishing “early morning” seems to be the best bet here at
the moment, although President Jim was talking to a fellow
camper who had a great day a fortnight ago on duns in the Big
Timber area around midday, where he landed 7.
We only saw a couple of these “little sail boats” on the water
for the whole time we were there, ants, caddis moth, smut and
brown gum beetles the predominate terrestrials that we saw
floating on the water in our fishing sessions and there wasn‟t
really enough of them to keep the fish looking up on a consis-
tent basis.
When we did find a fish locked into a feeding pattern though,
they readily took my Klinkhammer dry or the orange bead head
positioned 2 foot under it using 6.4 pound Rio fluorocarbon
Tippet.
President Jim was talking to well known (Fingal Valley football
identity) Craig Woods, who did very well on the Saturday morn-
ing using the pattern pictured.
He landed four very nice rainbow using this fly before having
to head home, he even broke one off his fly line for Jim to
copy which is testament to the generosity of the bloke.
(continued on next page )
96
Lake Leake (continued)
This pattern is fished the same as the Orange bead head under
a dry fly.
It looks orange in the picture but the colour is actually a “deep
red”, with a black head.
Soft plastics struggled for those having a go with them, but
South Australian Peter Hubbard (camping beside us), landed a
nice brown and a huge Perch (see pictures ) on Saturday eve-
ning, whilst anchored to some trees opposite the boat ramp
(dam wall end).
He also lost a rainbow estimated at around 4.5 pounds at the
net when his knot came undone ..so perhaps it is a case of
“right place, right time” in regards to their usage at the mo-
ment.
The brownies are still a little under- done “condition wise”, but
they do seem to be improving and there are plenty of small
rainbows to drive the fly fisher nuts still around.
Some are so small and with myself “striking so hard” one flew
out of the water and hit me in the chest...hmmm,...”must ease
up a bit” on that methinks!.
That aside, there are also enough decent sized ones mixed
amongst them to keep one on their toes!!
To finish this report and for no other reason than to be pedan-
tic, I have included a close up picture of President Jim
Mckenna‟s soft plastic bag,...what an absolute disgrace!!! ( lol.)
(continued on next page )
Lake Leake (continued)
This pattern is fished the same as the Orange bead head under
a dry fly.
It looks orange in the picture but the colour is actually a “deep
red”, with a black head.
Soft plastics struggled for those having a go with them, but
South Australian Peter Hubbard (camping beside us), landed a
nice brown and a huge Perch (see pictures ) on Saturday eve-
ning, whilst anchored to some trees opposite the boat ramp
(dam wall end).
He also lost a rainbow estimated at around 4.5 pounds at the
net when his knot came undone ..so perhaps it is a case of
“right place, right time” in regards to their usage at the mo-
ment.
The brownies are still a little under- done “condition wise”, but
they do seem to be improving and there are plenty of small
rainbows to drive the fly fisher nuts still around.
Some are so small and with myself “striking so hard” one flew
out of the water and hit me in the chest...hmmm,...”must ease
up a bit” on that methinks!.
That aside, there are also enough decent sized ones mixed
amongst them to keep one on their toes!!
To finish this report and for no other reason than to be pedan-
tic, I have included a close up picture of President Jim
Mckenna‟s soft plastic bag,...what an absolute disgrace!!! ( lol.)
(continued on next page )
97
That‟s about it in a nutshell; we met some great people whilst
camping and will return there again soon. I‟ve tried to be as specific as I can in the hope that perhaps it
will help a few President‟s catch a couple when next fishing
here.
It isn‟t an easy water by any means, but it is rewarding should
everything come together on the day !!.
How did everyone else go this northern Tasmanian long week-
end?
Kind regards,
President Todd
98
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011
Subject: Great Lake, Lake Augusta West
Hi all,
Had a trip to Great Lake and Lake Augusta West on the week-
end with Alan Donohue, Bailey and Jack Seabourne.
We fished at the Great Lake on Saturday afternoon in very
bright sunny conditions and landed a few nice browns, Dale
Howard wanted us to try a new softie for him which is a 2.5
inch black & gold paddle tail called “Devils tongue”, and it
worked well in the Great Lake and in Augusta, catching several
trout.
We also caught a couple of nice ones in the middle of Great
Lake on the dry, this fly consisted of an orange hackle with red
tail which I tied especially for fish cruising in the waves, it
works well and very visible which is good for me as my eyesight
isn‟t what it used to be!!.
On Sunday we fished Augusta West, blowing a bit when we ar-
rived and was blowing a good 35 knots when we left, still, we
caught some nice fish, two being rainbows, fished here from
9am till 3pm, so all up we caught 16 trout.
Back at the shack later that arvo we had some Fallow deer out-
side our window which was a sight, the boys couldn't believe
how close they were.
Anyway, we had a great weekend, would have loved to fish to-
day as the lake was calm as, but had to get back early.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
99
100
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leigh Carpenter"
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011
Subject: Lady Lake
Hi Guys,
Took a stroll up Higgs track Saturday to have a look about and
of course had to wet a line, the walk up the mountain is just un-
der 4 km and a bit testing but the scenery is breathtaking, it
took myself and Ally 1 hour 45 minutes to get up and 40 min-
utes to get back down.
As you can see in the photo's there is a great little hut there
that would make a great base camp for fishing the Chudleigh
Lakes region, will being doing that later for sure.
Lady Lake is maybe 100 meters long and wide and has a creek in
and out, the water is crystal clear so needs to be approached
very carefully, I only fished it for half an hour, because I
spent too much time exploring (I was like a kid in a candy
store) and failed to turn a fish but did see 3 rise, would love to
have been there on evening, maybe next time will spend the
night and wander a bit further the next day.
Worth a look guys,
Tight lines,
President Leigh
101
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Wescombe"
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011
Subject: Hume
Hi all,
One of our mainland Presidents ( David Wescombe) and his
mates have had recent success on the Yellow belly perch
and they sent forward some photos.
Nice fish guys!
regards,
President Todd
102
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Subject: Leven River
Hi all,
Trev and I had a couple of hours fishing the Leven River on
Sunday after a tip off from a mate at work.
The first fish caught was on the first cast of the day and it
just got better from there!.
We had several double hook-ups and were both using hard body
lures in a short & sharp little session.
We ended up catching 15 with hits and losses every 5 or 6
casts.
As you have probably gathered by now, Trev and I love heading
off to experience some of the many fantastic waterways this
state offers and after fishing this place, we would rate it up
there with the best of them.
Another unexpected bonus that we came across, was the sight
of a freshwater lobster walking along the river bed.
We found most of the area (that we were fishing in at least)
was shallow enough to wade and even though we only covered a
very small part of this river on this trip, we are determined to
change that next time.
I can‟t emphasise enough what a great little river this is, as it
seems to be teeming with trout.
All fish caught were browns.
Regards,
Dale and Trev
103
104
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Saturday, November 12,
2011
Subject: Lake Leake
Hi all,
Mike Stevens, myself and retired IFS Inspector Viv
Spencer went for a drive to Lake Leake today.
Given the black sky that hovered above our heads this morning
around 7.30 am, we were mindful that it may well have been
just "a boat towing exercise" and there stood a good chance of
us all not even wetting a line.
Upon arrival around 9am we boiled the Billy and cooked up
breakfast on the campground BBQ before hitting the water
around 9.30ish.
As Viv had to be home by 1pm, we only fished for a couple of
hours but this short and sharp little session yielded two lovely
rainbows. (See picture).
One rainbow gave a fantastic account of itself and was in su-
perb condition, the other was not as good "condition-wise" but
was acceptable just the same.
With the often fickle Lake Leake weather constantly improv-
ing from the time the boat was launched up until we left, I
doubt one could have scripted the day any better.
(continued on next page )
105
Speaking for myself (and I believe Mike as well), we never tire
of hearing Viv's many fishing anecdotes about the characters
he has met over his many years whilst working as a senior in-
spector, he is a born story teller that has you laughing from
the time he gets into the car until it's time to say goodbye.
The morning went far too quickly for my liking....but there is
always next time.
Regards,
President Todd
106
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011
Subject: Sth.Esk River
Hi all,
Bailey and I fished the Sth.Esk river for a couple of hours this
afternoon, we were supposed to have a fish with Dale and Trev
today, but looking at last night‟s weather forecast for state-
wide rain, I canned it for Bailey and myself.
After staying home doing chores but seeing no rain, I said to
Bailey “we will go and have a look at our favourite spot on the
Sth.Esk later this arvo.”
We caught 12 nice brownies from 1lb to nearly 2lb, releasing
all.
They were caught on softies and hardbody‟s.
The river level has dropped a lot since last time, so we were
able to wade a lot more.
Bloody forecast is always out of whack!!
I reckon Dale and Trev also went for a fish somewhere.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
107
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Egan
Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011
Subject: Praise for the Orange Bead Head Nymph
Hi all,
The season here in Gippsland continues to be fantastic with
lots of rain and humidity, there have been plenty of Ant and
Termite hatches as well as plenty of Mayfly and Caddis action.
After a particularly big storm last week the local streams have
been high and muddy but it hasn‟t stopped the fish rising when
the Termites hatch and the dirty water only makes it easier to
sneak up on fish. Even when they are not rising the fish have
been easy to see nymphing just under the surface.
The Orange Bead Head Nymph introduced to me last year at
the Cow Paddock on Arthurs by Jim Allen has been deadly in
situations like this. It seems to have a universal attraction
working equally well on both dam and river fish. In a similar way
I have had huge success this season using a size 16 soft hackle
wet with a tiny orange tag. For those Presidents who tie your
own fly‟s, it is simply orange floss tag , grey rabbit dubbed
body and three or four turns of grey Partridge neck hackles
which I purchased from MO Tackle via mail order.
Till I see you in early January,
Tight lines.
President Dave Egan.
108
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011
Subject: Liffey River
Hi all,
Today the Liffey was the "chosen river" to fish,.. following a
nice sleep in.
We left home at around 1pm to fish the upper reaches (up past
Bob Brown‟s place).
A nice little river to cast a line into, we landed 7 little browns
in about an hour, all were released.
Regards,
Dale & Trev
109
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Wescombe
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011
Subject: Great weekend at Eucumbene
Hi all,
This weekend we went to Eucumbene.
Most fish were caught on Sting Lures and Crick hopper Lures.
The biggest trout was over 6lbs with many caught for the
weekend.
It was a great weekend at the Lowlands fishing comp.
Photo's attached.
President Dave
110
----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart Casey
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011
Subject: Lake River
Hi guys,
Headed to the Lake River (Big Den) yesterday for a fish.
Landed 8 browns under size, lost another 3 and had heaps of
follows.
The river was very low but managed to catch them all on small
plastics and jig heads,.. mainly on Gary Glitter.
Had a great time.
President Stu Casey
111
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leigh Carpenter"
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2011
Subject: Coles Beach
Hi Guys,
Took the kids down the end of Coles Beach road, (on the rocky
point), to try to catch a feed of squid over the reef.
Just as the sun disappeared behind Don Heads they came on
the bite and we landed 10 good size one's in around an hour us-
ing squid jigs.
Good fun on trout gear and the kid‟s had a ball playing with
these funny looking creatures. Good time to start stocking up
on some for bait while they are running hot.
Tight Lines President Leigh
112
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig & Marianne Douglas"
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2011
Subject: Arthurs Lake
Hi all,
Not always easy to organise a weekend camping and fishing with
a young family and Tassie's fickle weather, especially when
yours truly forgets the sleeping bags....
Anyway, when Daniel (6) connected it was all worthwhile!
President,
Craig Douglas
113
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011
Subject: Great Forester River
Hi all,
Bailey and I decided to head to the upper Great Forester River
for a fish yesterday afternoon.
As soon as we arrived and started to fish, down came the rain,
heavy at times.
We stuck it out for nearly an hour, caught half a dozen and
called it quits.
Caught all fish on softies, river got really dirty from the run-
off, we will go back another day when the weather is better.
Nice river to fish though.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
114
----- Original Message -----
From: Darrell Wells
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011
Subject: Testing new YTT products.
Hi all.
I recently spent a couple of awesome days on the salty brine
with Marcus (Edge tracker) testing out the new range of Yep
Tassie Tackle soft plastics, with some pretty awesome results.
Friday, we only had a small window of opportunity as the
weather was against us with high NE winds and a lot of heavy
rain. We studied the radar for while late in the morning and
saw a brief break in the weather approaching, so we loaded up
and shot over to one of his favourite haunts. The next hour or
so resulted in some fantastic fishing. Within the first few
casts I had soon smashed my previous PB of 56.5cm with a very
solid 67.5cm specimen, which fell to a Black & Gold Mud Skip-
per.
Next cast after some high fives and hand-shakes I hooked into
what I thought was a small Gummy, but it was another rather
large lizard. Once I got it to the surface in-between it‟s huge
runs, the beast was on the brag mat, measured 71cm and was
soon released. Great fun on the 1-3kg Lox rods.
115
Saturday, the weather had broken up a little and we were able
to get a full day on the water. We started off by targeting
some Sambo's as I was keen to hook a few on the little 3wt.
Unfortunately they seemed to be a little scarce, but I managed
a few around the kilo mark on the 3wt and Marcus landed an
absolute donkey on a pearl white Flapper. The big 3kg+ Black-
back had the big fella moaning and groaning throughout the
dogged fight!
Once the tide had reached the desired level, we began chasing
more Lizards and this time I managed to land a few average
size ones on the 5wt. The wind had started to increase so we
continued targeting them on SP's and had any amount fish be-
tween 50 and 65cm's coming aboard.
One highlight was throwing a Black & Gold Mud Skipper to a po-
laroided Gummy in about 2ft of water and actually managing to
land it in amongst the structure all around us! It was a pretty
insane battle on the 1-3kg Lox.... my forearm is still burning!
An awesome coupla sessions. Catch ya soon.
Cheers
Daz
116
----- Original Message -----
From: Roland Richardson
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Subject: Weipa
Todd - I know Weipa well, spent 5 years there in the Eighties,
and yes, the fishing is stupendous. As a matter of fact I and
some family members are tentatively planning a nostalgic trip
back there mid next year, may or may not happen, hope so.
President Roly.
Below are some more President Matt Hayes
photos.........
117
----- Original Message -----
From: Mick & Cindy Emmett
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2011
Subject: Tangle with a Tiger on the Macquarie...
G‟day all,
I haven‟t had many chances to get a lot of fishing in this year,
but on Friday (after looking out the window all day at the glori-
ous weather) I jumped in the car after work, packed in my fly
rod and went for a look on the Macquarie near Cressy.
It was about 6pm when I got on the river. The evening was
still pretty warm (high teens) so I decided not to pull on my
thigh high waders, even though I had put them in the car (I
usually always wear them in the unlikely event that I get too
close to a snake)… I guess in making my decision not to wear
the waders I considered stuff like “the water was low – no
need for wading”, “ it was too hot” and “I had never seen a
snake on the stretch of the river I was going to fish”… So off
I headed wearing my Blundstones and fairly light weight cotton
trousers…
The wind had picked up a bit, so I was walking fairly quickly to
get to a spot about 2km from the car that I knew would be
fairly sheltered and maybe I could find a spinner or two over
the water. I was following a pretty well defined track that fol-
lowed the river about 1 ½ foot wide in grass about 2 foot tall,
and like all fishermen, I had my eyes on the water looking for
the sign of a feeding fish…
I‟ll pause hear and say that I‟m sure most of us have at one
time or another have had the experience of standing on a bent
stick that flicks up and hits you in the leg; it can make pretty
solid contact, and you can guess what‟s just happened without
really worrying about it… well this was different…
118
Tangle with a Tiger on the Macquarie... (continued)
I knew I hadn‟t stood on a stick, as I felt nothing under my
foot, but I felt a thump in the right shin, like the sensation of
being hit by lump of meat (something that was only semi-solid)…
“That was odd” I thought, and after taking another step or two
I casually glanced behind me wondering what that was…
What I saw was the fattest snake I have ever seen in the 10 or
so years I have been in Tasmania, moving away from me diago-
nally across the track… What I said can‟t really be written, due
both to the audience reading this, and the fact that I don‟t
know how to spell some of the words I said… (words that in-
clude characters such as #@*&!)...
I honestly don‟t know how long it was, as I couldn‟t see all of it,
but the words we have all heard “easily thicker than your wrist
– more like you forearm” is the only way to describe it . Also, I
didn‟t see its head, and am assuming (given its size and colour)
it was a Tiger – but I could be wrong though. I did see enough
to know it wasn‟t an eel… I have seen many large snakes while
fishing in Tassie in places like the Nineteen Lagoons areas and
around St Clair, but nothing I have seen comes close to this
one…
My immediate thought was “The snake is now between me and
my way back to the car… how do I get past it”… The last I had
seen of it, it was heading to the water, so I “goose stepped” at
Olympic pace in about a 20m arc on the opposite side of the
track (through long grass) back towards the car… (I had al-
ready decided in about a nanosecond that fishing was over for
that day…).
(continued on next page )
119
It was only after about moving 50 metres past the spot where
I‟d seen the snake that the thought occurred to me that I had
better pull up my trouser leg and have a look at where I felt
the thump. I didn‟t know what to expect, and my heart was still
leaping out of my chest… I guess I was surprised that
I couldn‟t see any tell-tale puncture marks or traces of blood.
I moved on a bit and realised I was still well over 1 ½ km from
the car, so had another look just to reconfirm it had missed
me, as I had a long way to go – still I saw no sign of it having
tagged me.
On the way back to the car I walked out of the long grass close
to the recently ploughed crop – my nerves totally shot… Can you
imagine what my reaction was when a hare bolted from its hide
less than 3 foot in front of me!!! (I used those #@%! words
again…).
By the time I got back to the car I figured: “I‟m back at the
car‟ – I‟m not foaming from the mouth, no dizziness, no head-
aches, no soreness, I‟m not dead… it must have missed me..”.
( continued on next page )
120
Tangle with a Tiger on the Macquarie... (continued)
What have I learnt?
a) I was very lucky!
b) Don‟t leave your mobile phone in the car (I‟d have been in all
sorts of trouble if it had tagged me being that far from the
car)…
c) Spend more time looking where you are stepping than at the
water
d) There are BIG snakes living near the Macquarie
e) If you have taken the time to put waders in the car – wear
them
f) If „Goose Stepping‟ ever becomes an Olympic sport I‟m in,
as I‟ve already got the world record…
g) To those that say “if you are bitten by a snake – stay
calm”…You Are Dreaming!!!
I‟ll be back on the Macquarie as soon as I get another opportu-
nity, but if you see me there, I‟ll be the guy wearing waders!!!
PS: For the record… No Fish (but about 15 beers when I got
home – and a couple more checks of the leg)…
Cheers. Mick.
121
----- Original Message -----
From: Grant Kemp
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2011
Subject: Yep Tassie Tackle Lake Fyans Comp
G‟day All Presidents
Finally a report about how the Comp went. A great weekend
had by all with lots of fish caught (thanks to the Yep plastics
we used). 60 adults and 19 juniors entered the comp. Fisher-
man were impressed with the prizes on offer and the kid‟s
were rapt that they all got to take a sample home. Weather
was on our side with temps to 26 and light winds over the two
days. A few yarns were told over a few drinks, getting bigger
and better as the night went on and into the morning.
The Angling Club were very grateful for what the Howard fam-
ily donated through their Yep Tassie Tackle sponsorship and
thought the trophy was tops.
Here's hoping it will carry on over many
years.
Regards
President Grant Kemp
HORSHAM VICTORIA
122
----- Original Message -----
From: Darrell Wells
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2011
Subject: Little Stream Session
Howdy fellow Presidents...
... was kicking around in the shed last night, just whipping up a
few flies and sipping down a few coldies (as you do) and got a
urge to head out with the 3wt for a little bit fun on some of
our special waters we are lucky enough to have right on our
doorstep. I only had limited time up my sleeve as a medical for
up-coming work had to see me back in town later in the morn-
ing.
I thought I would drop in a bit below where I normally start on
this headwater, and I wasn't disappointed. Although some of
the Browns were a little smaller on average than further up the
system, as usual they're colours and markings make up for what
some may lack in size! And, hey, It's not the size of the fish I
fish these waters for, it's the peace and tranquillity one is
treated to just being out there.
So the little 3wt (I really need to get me a 000wt for these
streams) was locked and loaded with a #16 Stimulator and
pretty much every run and likely looking lie I dropped it in pro-
duced a hook-up or a missed fish from maybe my over eager-
ness, but I love it when you present the fly to these feisty lit-
tle fish 3 or 4 times again after missing the hook-up and they
just smash it due to it pissing them off!
123
I made my way up through the tight 100 odd yards of over
grown flora and picked up half a dozen or so nice little speci-
mens. Didn't snap many pics, just made the most of the oppor-
tunity I had and had a bit of fun. The 2hr session probably saw
a couple of dozen Gucci little Browns come to hand, which is
probably on par for these rich, fertile waters we have mean-
dering through the scrub all over this wonderful State....
I recently grabbed a little tripod for my compact digital cam-
era and thought I'd give the slow shutter speed pics a whirl on
my way out on one of the larger sections of river I passed....
Hope you enjoy the pics....
Cheers
Daz
124
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2011
Subject: Great Lake
Hi all,
A quick report from the Great Lake.
This afternoon Bailey, Jack Seabourne and myself went looking
for a suitable camp site on the western side of Great Lake so
that we can spend a few days fishing there over Xmas.
So, although this wasn‟t a fishing trip, we threw the rods in as
we “ had to have a few casts, ”.. while we were there.
I caught a nice 3lb brown, had two other hits and the boys had
a couple follow their plastics in.
Fish was caught on black & gold T.tail and released.
We only put in half an hour and caught my fish where some
dirty water met the clear water around a point.
Wind was blowing a good 20 knot northerly.
Haven't been fishing much lately as I have been too busy.
That will change over the Xmas break.....
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
125
----- Original Message -----
From: Mick Goss
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011
Subject: Dads Group Report
Hi Presidents,
Thank you all for the fantastic stories /photos over the 2011
season year..Awesome getting the emails. Thank you Todd &
Janet for passing them on.
My apologies for not sending stories in for what we at the Dads
Group Family have been doing over the last few months.
Took small group fishing at Scamander River, with one young
chap catching his first Bream.
My first 2 Trout for this season 2011/12 came from Brushy
Lagoon. That was also the first time I caught anything at
Brushy. One small hip-up, decided to celebrate my first Brushy
trout with a swim" falling in, clothes, camera and all off the
Dam wall" he he
Day down at Beauty Point jetty, with the Dads Group Fam-
ily. Catching and releasing small Flathead & Mullet, Kids
enjoyed their day, oops Big kids did too.
(continued on next page )
126
Dads Group Report (Continued)
Xmas just around the corner, I'm already planning the next
fishing and camping trip for the Dads Group Family for the
2012 year.
1. Day fishing trip to Beauty Point, 2nd week of Jan.
2. Then the big 4 day camping/ fishing trip to Bridport
Caravan Park in the 1st weekend in Feb 2012 with 10
adults/ 21 Children will be attending.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
President Mick Goss
Dads Group Family
127
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Wescombe
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011
Subject: Lake Mulwala
Hi all,
President Dave Wescombe sent forward these pictures from a
recent "and very wet" trip out to Lake Mulwala.
Regards,
President Todd
128
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Wescombe
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011
Subject: Mulwala 2
Hi all,
A few small ones, lost two good ones that had a bit of weight
behind them!
President Dave.
129
----- Original Message -----
From: Leigh Carpenter
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011
Subject: Mersey River
Hi Guys,
Went down the mouth of the Mersey River this afternoon to
check out what the warm water has bought in.
Hit the water around 7:30 till 9pm, (should have made a night
of it but had to get the kids home). Caught 2 draft board
sharks which the kids loved, not me so much, and a couple of
snapper which put a smile on my face, they fight great and that
tell tale head shake gets the adrenaline pumping. All fish
caught on squid with just a standard paternoster rig.
Tight Lines.
President Leigh
130
----- Original Message -----
From: Rob Soward
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011
Subject: Arthurs Lake Report
Finished school yesterday so snuck up for a bit of a look
around, had heard mixed reports about the Cowpaddock so, like
all fisho‟s, had to investigate for myself.
Didn‟t have a lot of time and am a bit over the weatherman
joker- the forecasts never match reality!! Weather websites
all said cloud so I went up for a look and found mainly sun!
Saw a few duns and a few “oncers” of smallish size. When it did
get cloudy there was not a lot doing. I picked up a small fish on
an orange bead head nymph that I released. Fished the bead
head under a Klinkhammer for about another 2 hours for not a
touch, varying the depth of the nymph.
I went loch style and almost immediately picked up a pounder
on a claret dabbler. Another half an hour or so and nothing do-
ing until I hooked and landed a beautiful 2 pounder, fat as mud
on a possum emerger. A pleasant outing but very quiet.. Spoke
to three others with ones and twos; too much sun was the ver-
dict.
A few boaters can do with some etiquette lessons too- I was
fishing a drift and caught my first one and suddenly had a boat
right next to me for company; could have cast into his boat!
Rob Soward
131
----- Original Message -----
From: Rob Soward
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011
Subject: Arthurs Lake report- part 2
After the weatherman roulette of yesterday I thought they
would have to get it right today- checked no less than 3
weather websites and saw the word cloud a lot along with the
cloud picture , saw the temperature and thought u beaut!!..
On arrival at the Jonah Bay ramp it was "spot the cloud"- the
forecasts never match reality!! Weather websites all said cloud
so I went up for a look and found even more sun than yester-
day! We can put folks on the moon but can‟t get the weather
forecast right?? .. Grrrrrrrrr
Saw 2 duns for the day and only two risers, both of which I
caught - got the first fish a lively pounder on a brown klink-
hammer and the second fish a lovely 2 pounder with golden
flanks on a possum emerger. Todd's not going to like this but I
fished the orange bead head under a Klinkhammer for about 3
hours for not a touch, varying the depth of the nymph as I did
yesterday! My nymph has swum more than Ian Thorpe has in
the last day with no result! [Notwithstanding the small one I
let go yesterday]
I went loch style and never looked like it... too bright. An-
other pleasant outing but very quiet... spoke to two others at
the ramp who got a few on plastics but nothing on the fly. Be
warned too- a bloke told me he had some fellows appear when
he was about to walk down to his boat looking at his gear-
might be the snoozers who swiped the gear a month or so ago.
Rob Soward
132
----- Original Message -----
From: Tony Morecroft
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011
Subject: Lake Eucumbene
Hi all,
A few pictures sent from a friend fishing Lake Eucum-
bene NSW.
The small Kangaroo was found swimming in the middle of the
lake, it had been chased into the water by wild dogs and kept in
the boat until it recovered.
It was then released later in the day.
Cheers Tony.
133
134
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, December 18 2011
Subject: Arthurs Lake today
Mark "n" Todd's “ most excellent adventure".
Hi all,
Mark Tapsell arrived at our place at 8.30 this morning and
hooked onto the Lambert family‟s boat, it's known to us as "the
Olympic torch" aptly named, because, like the Olympic torch, it
never goes out!!
OK, it's an old line but still a good one, don't you think?
We arrived at the Pumphouse bay boat ramp around 9.30 ish,
after Mark missed the turn off and drove straight past.
I was quick to inform him of that very fact!!
Once we did the big "u bolt", a hundred or so metres up the
road and after "eventually" arriving at our destination (lol ), we
were greeted by a strong north westerly wind blowing straight
in on us of around 15 knots, not ideal for launching and obvi-
ously most others felt the same as there was only one other
car and trailer parked in a very vacant area.
As it turned out, we needn't have worried as the launch proved
uneventful and after a short while we were on our way towards
the Cowpaddock, we only saw about half a dozen boats for the
whole day.
Mark decided to fish a team of wets, I fished my orange bead
head under a dry, (yawn, how unusual I hear you all say), but
hey, "if it aint broke, don‟t fix it"... is my motto!
( continued on next page )
135
In a nutshell, Mark finished with four and I finished with
three, and between us we both had probably a dozen more on
for a couple of seconds before pulling the hooks after a series
of "head shakes".
It was quite challenging in the wind, even though the photos
may make the weather look calm, believe us, it wasn't!
A couple of snags on the BBQ, along with a couple of scotches
and a couple of beers, (in moderation of course) finished up
what turned out to be a great day.
Saw a couple of duns, and quite a few stonefly on the boat as
we had lunch, but only saw two trout rise and take something
off the top for the whole time we were there.
President Rob is correct in saying that it is indeed hard going
at Arthurs for the moment, but in a couple of weeks I reckon
that will all change for the better!!!
Thanks again Mark for a great day.
Regards,
President Todd
136
----- Original Message -----
From: Darrell Wells
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011
Subject: Bream on Top..
Howdy fellow Presidents......
So, after not being out to have a crack at a Bream in over 8
months, I finally got to do so over the weekend.
I headed down to Hobart on Friday to pick up Isaac and head
up the coast that night to chase some Bream with surface lures
on Saturday. By the time Isaac knocked off work Friday arvo
there was no need to rush to get up the coast as we were only
camping to get an early start for the following day. We decided
to have a little session on the Derwent targeting a few on Vibe
lures.
Whilst there, we received a call from my mate (Rob) that he
had already arrived at our spot and there was heaps of Bream
stacked up on the pylons, but would wait until we arrived so I
could have first crack at them.... Top bloke isn't he!
When we arrived, he wasn't wrong as there were some very
nice fish working the area, some of which Isaac said were the
biggest he's seen in the Derwent (so they must have been big).
I rigged up with the ever reliable Cranka Vibe in ORT and
dropped it in the vicinity of some fish that were rolling on the
pylons and it got hammered on the drop and I got absolutely
rogered over, under and around the Mussel encrusted pylon!
I'm surprised I stayed connected for as long as I did to be
honest.
(continued on next page)
137
So back on with another vibe and this time an almost locked-up
drag, I managed to pull one out of the same hole and Rob was
into a nice fish right beside me. I moved over to another pylon
and hooked up to another nice fish. This one took me around
pylons, some chain and steel cable and had my braid stitched
around the jetty resembling a spider‟s web, but still managed
to land it with some help from the boys whilst I was hanging
from a pylon with one leg like a Monkey! :lol: Team effort that
was!
We ended up landing 6 or so nice fat Bream before the fish
went quiet as the tide slackened. That was a good little Bream
fix just there, but the best was yet to come...... It was great to
finally meet you Rob, and look forward to fishing the comps
with you. ;)
After heading over the River to hook the Hornet on, we made
our way up the coast and arrived at around midnight. The plan
was to 'swag it' but with the bit of rain we got on the way up it
was too wet so we slept in the car, if you could call it sleep! We
awoke at around 5am to an awesome sunrise, rigged our rods
and made our way to one of Isaac's favourite spots to fish the
flats with surface lure and fly. Straight off the bat the fish
were on and we had a good number of fish coming to the boat.
We then decided to try our luck with the fly with some pencil
poppers I had tied up. The Bream were all over them 'boofing'
them left, right and centre and at times our fly's were getting
thrown about 6 inches clear of the surface from the savage
attacks. The only problem was, we couldn't get a solid hook-up
and therefore was able to land any, but man it sure was excit-
ing. If you think its exciting surface fishing with lures...... you
should try surface fly's! UNREAL!
(continued on next page)
138
We decided to go back to surface and hard body lures after an
hour or so and moved up the system a little further where we
could fish the flats and channel drop-off at the same time, and
man the fish were thick and some crackers amongst them, too.
I continued fishing surface lures along the edge of the drop-
off, while Isaac fished in the drop-off with hard body lures,
both swapping and changing our technique throughout, and she
was on for a good couple of hours or more! The stand out sur-
face lure was the (Pontoon 21 Loco Perrito) they were bow-
waving over to them from 20ft or more and absolutely smash-
ing them, an awesome sight to see! We ended up pulling the pin
at around 2pm I think it was, as the stiff NE wind had got up.
All up it was an incredible morning's fishing with big numbers,
average size of around 36-37cm and some bigger ones to 41cm
with the odd squeaker thrown in.
It was indeed an awesome session and I can't wait to get back
down to the Derwent for another crack at them.
My Bream fix is now sorted..... Onya Rhonda!
Cheers
Daz
139
140
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Tapsell
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011
Subject: Lake Augusta
Oh what a day!
Arrived at Lake Augusta at 8 am this morning to find the most
perfect conditions a bloke could ask for on his Christmas “wind
down”.
Over the space of the morning I managed to net 19 fish wading
the shore, all in lovely condition.
All were browns, not a rainbow to be seen.
Fish were caught on a parachute dun with a small nymph sus-
pended about 6 inches under it, I dropped a few fish too.
That being said, I never had one refusal and can‟t wait to get
back up there.
All fish were caught wading, (which by the way have a leak
right in the crotch), this is very "refreshing" at 8 am!!
Merry Christmas to all and tight lines.
Regards.
Mark
141
----- Original Message -----
From: Rob Soward
Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2011
Subject: Arthurs Lake Report
PRESIDENTS LAMBERT AND MCKENNA LOOK AWAY NOW-
YOU ARENT GOING TO LIKE THIS.
Went to the Cowpaddock again on a forecast of cloudy- you
guessed it, sunny on arrival. Some cloud did appear later on in-
termittently. I put out the trusty brown nymph under a Klink-
hammer and fished away for about 2 hours for nothing. I didn‟t
see a dun and only saw the odd splashy oncer- maybe 5 or 6 in
total. After this fruitless nymph work I changed to a loch style
rig of a possum emerger on the point and a claret dabbler fur-
ther up the line- got 4 in under an hour. All blind- they just
hammered the fly. Interestingly I saw bugger all moving fish,
only 2 duns for the session and none of the fish I caught, I
saw. I did cover two fish I saw rise and they were clearly just
oncers and I didn‟t catch them. Fish were all between a pound
and 1.25 but “fat as” and orange inside. They also loved the
weed that is prevalent and got me into that on my light gear.
Spoke to two other boats with 5 anglers on them and they had
one fish between them. I‟m also hoping no presidents were
fishing off the shore in the Cowpaddock yesterday- 3 blokes
were fishing and by the noise they made they were either miss-
ing or losing a few..The cry of " oh no..f#%#$%k was heard a
few times! hahaha
Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your loved ones.
Rob Soward
142
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2011
Subject: Lake Leake
Hi all,
Had a fish at Lake Leake on Friday afternoon with Trev & Bai-
ley, had to go down to St.Helens, so we decided to have a go
there on the way down.
Arrived to a flat calm lake, very warm, saw some fish moving on
top, got the fly rod out this time and caught four “smallish”
rainbows and lost four others, fish caught on emergers.
Trev caught a brownie and a nice bowie around the two pound
mark on hard bodies and Bailey caught one rainbow on a softie.
Fishing died off later in the day when a cold front came over
from the east.
Hope everyone has a great Xmas.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
143
----- Original Message -----
From: Brett Woodberry
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011
Subject: St Helens Report
Hi,
Merry Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all Presidents.
On a trip to St Helens over the Christmas, we had the usual
home cooked Christmas dinner and Boxing Day holiday but
wasn't to know these were going to be the best days for fish-
ing , whilst we were there.
On Monday night I went to set my craypot but got beaten by
a strong south easterly wind, so the Cray got to live another
day.
On Tuesday I awoke to the same wind so decided to fish the
bay instead.
Found a good patch, bagging some good flathead of around
the 35cm + near the cliffs, then caught some nice cocky
salmon trolling, along with a couple of whiting on the bottom,
further up the bay.
Caught up with my mate Mason Paull and his son Daniel, they
also had been fishing the bay netting some very nice Trevally
of the 40cm+ and good Bream 32cm+ all on plastics.
Had a lovely few days away and thoroughly recommend where
we stayed at Queechy Cottages, fully self contained cot-
tages that welcome fishers with boats.
Just let them know you have a boat so they can allocate you a
spot with enough room to park, right beside your cottage.
Until next time TIGHT LINES,
Brett Woodberry
144
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011
Subject: St.Helens
Hi all,
Just got back from St.Helens, spent a couple of days fishing in
Georges Bay and Grants Lagoon with Bailey, my brother Paul
and his son Nathan.
We caught a few salmon and a couple of grass whiting over
some sand flats, Nathan lost a really big bream right at the
boat.
In Grants lagoon we caught some big trevally, bream and flat-
head and also got around 10 dozen prawns from here on Tues-
day night, also attached a picture of a nice Thresher shark
caught up the coast from shore, pics may not be very clear as
they were taken from a mobile phone.
Heading to lakes tomorrow for a few days so should have a re-
port from there soon.
Almost forgot, they are catching plenty of albacore off
St.Helens at the moment, one report is of 35 albies caught
near the cliff and at the 100 metre mark yesterday , also at-
tached a couple of pictures from some mates who had a snap-
per fish near Whyalla last week.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
145
146
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Egan
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011
Subject: Tassie trip
Greetings fellow presidents,
My mate Darrel and I are lucky enough to be visiting you from
the third of January till the 14th.
Young James can‟t come this year as he recently had a car ac-
cident and is still recovering from some nasty injuries. Our
main agenda is to stay at Jonah Bay at Arthurs and meet and
greet as many of your wonderful browns as we possibly can.
It would be great to catch up with any other Presidents while
we are there, especially Jim, Virginia and Todd and his family.
To save $ we put our 12.8 foot tinny on top of the car but as
Daz and I are getting long in the tooth we can no longer manage
to put the trailer on top of the boat on top of the car as I have
done in years past. We do like to have a look around at some of
the other lakes and a trailer makes the job heaps easier. If
anyone knows where we could beg, borrow, steal, hire or maybe
even buy a trailer that would take our tinny we would love to
hear from you.
As I get older and am close to retiring I would love to leave a
trailer in Tassie as it would make visiting more frequently eas-
ier and cheaper. After an unbelievable start to the season here
in Gippsland the fishing is getting more challenging as the wa-
ters of our streams clear and warmer. I‟m really looking for-
ward to our visit and hope to see you all on the Lakes some-
where.
Tight lines,
President Dave Egan.
147
148
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012
Subject: Lake Augusta .
Hi all,
Mark Tapsell rang me yesterday afternoon and asked if I
wanted to join him in a wade at Lake Augusta this morning.
Since both of us are running on a very tight schedule, it was
decided that he would pick me up at 6.30 am and we would be
back by 2pm, (not ideal hours to guarantee finding an insect
hatch but we decided to take our chances just the same).
Upon arrival at Augusta and following a quick feed of egg “n”
bacon, we found a sheltered bay nearby and managed to pull up
six nice browns on a Klinkhammer dry fly, we also had a break
off and a few missed on the strike to add to the excitement.
What a fantastic sight it is to see the golden shape of a fish
working its way towards you and you “just know” that your fly
will be the next one engulfed.
Thanks Mark, I can't wait to go again when able.
Regards,
President Todd
149
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012
Subject: Great Lake report
Hi all,
Fished Great Lake on the weekend with Bailey & Jack
Seabourne.
We managed to catch 16 trout, three being rainbows, caught
fish on dry fly and a few on softies.
Some nice fish were taken out on the middle of the lake on my
Orange dry.
“Shark fishing” out here is fantastic!, all visual, polaroiding fish
cruising up wind lanes and taking the dry,...can't beat it.
Bailey caught two browns and a rainbow, (his first trout at
Great Lake on the dry), he was rapt and he also missed a few as
well.
The boys loved camping up there, weather was great, very hot
& mostly sunny with northerly wind, ideal for shark fishing
can't wait to get back up there.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
150
----- Original Message -----
From: David Wescombe
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012
Subject: Mulwala
Hi all,
President Dave Wescombe forwarded these shots from a re-
cent day‟s fishing at Mulwala, he managed 13 cod with only five
legal size.
Well done mate, looks like you had a ball.
Regards,
President Todd
151
----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Mies
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Subject: Arthurs Lake
Hi all,
Rob and I decided to head for Arthurs yesterday and fish
“gentleman‟s hours” - the weather looked perfect for a big dun
hatch.
We arrived at 11am and conditions were perfect around Bra-
zendale Island– warm and overcast with a light breeze from
the north.
No fly life on arrival so we thought we would fish wets until the
duns came “on” – which never happened. Not a dun was seen all
around the Island at our traditional hotspots. Our only dry fly
work was when we caught a couple of sippers in close in some
sheltered water.
We wondered if things may have been better in the Cowpad-
dock where the water is shallower?
A good day was had regardless and we left the lake late after-
noon with 8 ranging between 1 - 2 and half pounds. All good
condition and orange flesh,.. apart from one “eel”.
Cheers
Roger Mies
152
----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart Casey
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Subject: Waterhouse Fishing Trip
Hi guys,
Headed to the shack at Blackman's Lagoon on Wednesday and
stayed through to Sunday. Headed out on Blackman's in the
tinny for a couple of hours, bagging a 3lb brown trout in good
condition on a black and gold T-tail.
On Thursday, Jonny and I headed out on the sea in the after-
noon at South Croppies. We caught 58 flathead, 3 undersize
gummies and a squid in a 3 hour stint.
On Saturday, four of us went out at South Croppies. We could
only manage a dozen flathead in very calm conditions and a cou-
ple of pike, but caught 4 calamari, sighting them with our Po-
laroids when they were close to shore.
On Sunday, four of us launched off Blizzard's Landing. The
weather wasn't much chop but we got 10 big pike before the
weather got so bad that we had to go in.
All in all we had a great holiday and ate heaps of fresh fish.
President Stu.
153
----- Original Message -----
From: Al & Barb Anderson
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Subject: Bruny Island
Hi all,
Just a note on a trip over the New Year. Had a few days at a
mates shack at Bruny and while we did not exactly clean up, we
managed a couple of crayfish and a few feeds of flathead, so
not too bad.
Small shark in the pot made things interesting for a while.
Weather was great,…. but boy it can be a busy spot.
Cheers President Al
154
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2012
Subject: Arthurs Lake
Hi all,
Janet, my son Jacob and I headed up to Arthurs Lake this
morning and met up with Presidents Jim and Virginia
Mckenna for breakfast.
As usual, we had the egg n bacon "pre - fish" cook up, along
with a cup of coffee before heading out to the Cowpaddock
around 9.30ish.
Saw one solitary dun on the water for the whole day and only
two fish rise.
We were joined by around 8 or 9 boats only on the water, and
it was a struggle from start to finish.
The only thing landed in our boat was Jim's hat that blew off,
(see picture) and a small one that was caught on Janet's third
cast of the day, and promptly released.
Janet had another, ( jump and spit the hooks at her) of around
a pound and a half in size and Jim lost four without any being
landed..... (Not happy Jan! was our Jim.).
That was about it really, only saw one other fish caught whilst
on the water.
Back at the ramp we found that another boat managed two for
the day and President Dave Egan‟s boat had landed one.
Arthurs is indeed a mystery at the moment it seems.
Oh well, there's always next time, can't win them all and
we enjoyed the day regardless.
Cheers,
Todd
155
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Wescombe"
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2012
Subject: Mulwala
Dave Wescombe and his mate had a great outing yesterday,
with 15 cod landed and 4 over the 60 cm mark.
156
----- Original Message -----
From: Reg Travers
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2012
Subject: The Penstock
A few days before Xmas I spent several most enjoyable days
at the Penstock, mainly by myself, and as such had the luxury
of deciding where and when to fish.
As we all know fishing at the “P” can either be full on or full
off, there are days however when it is sometimes “in between”.
Over the week I struck it all. Bright sky and windy being the
main order of the day.I did manage to say hello to one or two
fish most days, but as you know with a size limit of 420mm
there were few to get really acquainted with.
I did however have one special friend in a certain area, with
whom I struck up a special relationship, hooked him 4 times to
be broken off 3, and to have him straighten a hook on another
occasion.
My last morning saw me say “hi” to him again, but sadly the
meeting was all too brief.
I have had a report from a friend that this fish may have since
been caught and reputed to have been around the 7/8 lb mark.
My hope that it was not killed, but it may be a forlorn hope.
One consolation is that via a very good friend, I was given the
task of caretaking a very nice bottle of single malt whiskey,
and I‟m afraid to report I failed that task dismally. Are well,
that‟s fishing...
Happy New Year to all my fellow Presidents, and tight lines.
Pres., Reg Travers
157
----- Original Message -----
From: Peter Hubbard
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2012
Subject: My Tassie Trip
Hi all,
My trip to Tassie was an amazing experience although it took
me a while to adjust to the camping side of it, I also had the
problem of trying to look after my little dog which I will not do
next time.
I enjoyed the few days at Lake Leake with you all and actually
caught up with Jim & Virginia at Arthur's. I had intended to
send you some photos but I lost them all when my phone played
up.
Having received your most recent mail about Arthur's,
I thought I must tell you that I had a ball up there catching
some 50 Browns for the 3 weeks that I was there. You may
know a bloke who spends the entire summer there called Jim or
“Ferret”; we became friends and spent most days‟s bank fishing
with Mudeyes. I bagged 5 fish on four occasions with a few
topping the 2 lb mark and one nice fish that went close to 3lb.
I lost one beauty well over 3lb which wrapped me around a log
by jumping over it and swimming out the other side. While I
was there an avid fly-fisher caught one in the Cow Paddock
that weighed in at 5 lb. The weather was cold but bearable,
some mornings the temperature was minus 3 to a max of about
12 degrees. We had snow on 4 separate days and having a
shower in the morning was a bit like going to the dentist with
the only enjoyable part actually being under the shower.
I will be back next year around early October for about a
month so I do hope we can catch up while I am there.
Peter Hubbard
158
----- Original Message -----
From: Graham, Sarah (IFS)
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Subject: Western Lakes
Hi all,
There‟s a lot I could say about the attached photo! I could say
it took us days of scrub bashing, boulder climbing, hard slog
bushwalking to reach this remote shallow body of crystal clear
water, located somewhere in Tasmania‟s Western Lakes wilder-
ness fishery. But really, it wasn‟t too far to walk and the going
wasn‟t that tough. It was definitely worth the effort to get
there and the rewards were so much sweeter.
The day I caught this beautiful brown trout was the first in a
series of warm days up on the Plateau, right at the end of 2011.
It was around midday and we were beginning to bake beneath
the high altitude sun surrounded by alpine shrub and sparse
shade. We‟d searched a number of nearby waters in the morn-
ing, scanning the shallow lake edges for torpedo shapes and
spotting the occasional rise in deeper waters. My much more
experienced fly fishing buddy had already polaroided and
caught several good sized trout on the dry, so I was deter-
mined to keep moving ahead of him and be first to scout some
virgin water.
Then as I rounded a small bay, I spied a likely shape from be-
hind a spikey bush – a lovely hunk of fish within easy casting
distance. The fish seemed oblivious to me as I snuck close to
the water‟s edge, hand covering my shiny fly reel as I found a
suitable perch from which to cast.
(Continued next page)
159
Cast to him, quick!” cried my buddy, who was approaching rap-
idly from behind, having seen what I was fixed on. I knew my
mate was fully prepared to take the shot if I didn‟t get my line
out first, so I cast as fast as my novice fly fishing fingers
could manage.
Two false casts and my bright fluorescent fly line fell neatly on
the water in line with the unmistakeable outline of the fish. But
to my dismay, the leader folded back on itself and the spinner
pattern dry fly landed in a gentle flop on the wrong side of the
fly line.
I held my breath. Time slowed and I watched in stunned silence
as the fishy shape swam beneath the bright fly line – com-
pletely undeterred – and gulped the fly. I was mesmerised, the
movement of the fish and the whole thing seemed surreal.
“He‟s taken it! Strike!” cried my friend, so I did. I felt the de-
lightful jerk of the fish and its satisfying weight on the line. I
kept the tension on and calmly played the fish amidst the ex-
cited calls from my fishing coach. It wasn‟t long before I‟d
landed this very nice fish, one of Tasmania‟s pure wild brown
trout. I held my trophy briefly and thankfully for this photo
before letting him swim away to carry on with life.
I could say that I‟m an intrepid hunter of fish, a fly fisher;
that I polaroided this trout, cast to him and caught him, and
that I knew exactly what I was doing. But the truth is that I‟m
just lucky, a beginner in the right place at the right time with a
good friend to show me the joys of fly fishing in this magnifi-
cent corner of the world.
There‟s a whole lot to be grateful for living in Tasmania!
Cheers
Sarah
160
----- Original Message -----
From: Roland Richardson
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Subject: Brushy Lagoon
Hi all,
Finally have something to send to you.
As you know, my son Jeremy is down here to do a spot of fish-
ing, we haven‟t done very well.... until today!
We headed out to Brushy Lagoon arriving there about 7 am,
launched the boat and powered around with the electric, no
other boats on the water and 2 guys fishing on the dam
wall. Using all types of lures, but mainly soft plastics, we went
back and forth along the wall and circumnavigated the lagoon
with not a touch - the 2 guys on the wall had been there for
hours and had nothing. There had been quite a bit of activity
with large fish jumping and boiling, but they weren't interested
in our offering.
About 11.30, trolling, Jeremy got a hit on a Berkley grub in
pumpkinseed and landed a large Atlantic salmon, an hour later,
another hit on the same lure, another large Atlantic.
It was very frustrating to have the sounder beeping madly with
dozens of fish underneath, but they weren't interested.... lot‟s
of weed below, but very little showing on the surface, water
extremely clear. When we headed back to the ramp, about a
dozen large fish (probably salmon) were bunched up in the nar-
row section but were spooked when we approached. All in all a
good outcome as today was Jeremy's last day, he heads back to
Sydney tomorrow.
Wishing all Presidents a great 2012.
Tight lines ...... Roly Richardson.
161
162
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012
Subject: Lake Augusta
Hi all,
Went to Lake Augusta again today and met up with Johnny
Dekkers and Wayne Sheppard.
Arrived around 10am and fished until around 2.30pm.
Johnny landed two, broke on one, broke his Sage rod and lost
his landing net in the lake.
I landed three, put one back ,(too small) lost two and found
Johnny's landing net in the lake.
That about sums the day up, not enough blue sky to Polaroid
very well, but any day fishing is a good day.
regards,
Todd
163
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012
Subject: St.Helens & Shark at Garden Island
Hi all,
Just got back from St.Helens where I had a fish with my
brother Stephen.
I was tied up doing chores at the shack yesterday, so today we
went out for about 4 hours for a good feed of morwong, we
were after a stripy, but it was not to be this time.
We then went for a troll at the 100 metre mark for some alba-
core and boated three.
Conditions early were ok, but it blew up later on, had reports
that the 100 metre mark is where most fish are being caught
with things quiet on the shelf.
Also had a report of a marlin that was seen “free swimming”.
At Bicheno albacore are being caught on the 100 metre mark in
big numbers also heard of a yellow fin being hooked there but
it was lost at the boat. (Continued next Page)
164
St Helens & Shark at Garden Island
( Continued)
At Garden Island today (in the Tamar river), my wife Sue took
Bailey for a fish with softies from the shore.
He caught some salmon and when cleaning the fish he noticed a
large shape coming towards him, it was a shark.
He says it was a Great white and it was cruising up and down
the shore, they took some pictures and although they are not
very clear, I send them on anyway.
Awesome sight and I think Bailey nearly pooped his pants, he
reckons it was around three metres long.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
165
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Egan
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2012
Subject: Tassie 2012
G‟day fellow Presidents,
My mate Darrel and I have just got home from another enjoy-
able but tough trip to Arthurs and Lake Leake. Unlike you lucky
locals who can pick and choose your days we have to take what
we get and make the best of it.
Our first evening on Arthurs was a good one with warm
weather and a light breeze. We didn‟t have to travel far to
spot rising fish taking caddis right in front of the camper at
Jonah Bay. A quick session saw 9 fish to 2 1/2 pound boated
and we thought we were in for a great trip. Alas the weather
had other ideas and from then on it blew and got cold for most
of the trip. One or two evenings we found a sheltered bank
with caddis feeders and caught a couple but the Duns were a
non event.
After a tough 5 days with more wind and cold weather on the
way we headed for Lake Leake and the warmth and comfort of
the Pub. There was very little insect life on Lake Leake so we
resorted to flogging wets in the waves with some success in-
cluding a couple of three pounders.
There was a lot of casting between fish except for one small
purple patch where I caught 3 quick ones mid morning in Chock
o log bay.
(Continued next page)
166
Tassie 2012 (continued)
Redfin Perch were a constant hassle except for the last night
when Darrel landed a nice one of 2 pound. The Elizabeth River
had been fished heavily before we got there and we only man-
aged a couple of small Browns on a day when it was too windy to
fish the lake. Between us we managed 28 trout for 10 days but
the numbers don‟t tell the whole story with 9 of them caught in
the first hour and a huge amount of casting between fish from
then on. I‟m sure things will improve but the Duns on Arthurs
remain a mystery when even in ideal conditions there were very
few about.
Still looking forward to the next trip and as always hoping for a
couple of good days in a row.
Tight lines and wet nets,
President Dave Egan .
167
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012
Subject: Lake St. Clair
Hi all,
Fished with Bailey, arriving on Saturday around 11.30 am until
8pm, fished in the Derwent Basin and around the Frankland
beaches area, what a fantastic spot to fish, scenery out-
standing and no crowds (as we were the only boat on the lake).
Caught 8 brownies from 1lb to 2.5lb, all on dry beetle patterns,
lost a few as well.
Bailey caught his first trout on the fly here, he is doing a great
job with the fly rod at the moment.
We saw a lot of fish chasing the dragon and damsel fly‟s but
they are very hard to catch, most of the fish we caught were
feeding on gum beetles, we saw a few right in close feeding so
I dropped Bailey off on the shore and he caught the best fish
of the day, a 2.5lb brownie.
He was absolutely rapt, all fish were in good nick and very
strong fighters, nice colour inside as well, weather very hot
and sunny.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
168
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012
Subject: Great Lake
Hi all,
Fished Great Lake on the way home from St. Clair today, ar-
rived there around 10.30 am and fished until 2.30pm.
Caught 6 browns (all released), out in the middle on beetle pat-
terns and emergers, certainly were some good wind lanes out
there.
When we left the lake we counted 16 boats fishing for the
“shark feeders”, conditions were calm and sunny when we
started, but blowing a good 15 to 20 knots when we left.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
169
----- Original Message -----
From: Mick Goss
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Subject: Upper Scamander River
Hi fellow Presidents,
Just arrived back from the Upper Scamander River from 2
nights of bream fishing.
Attached are photos of some of the bream caught over the 2
nights, the biggest was 40 cm by Danny, Mick‟s coming in at 38
cm and Bailey‟s at 37 cm.
Most bream caught were between 30cm to 40 cm.
Cheers,
President Mick Goss
170
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012
Subject: St Helens / Scamander River
Hi all,
A bit breezy at today's St.Helens Tasfish.com Grand Slam
Competition but my information is that a couple of teams con-
taining Presidents, faired very, very well in it....congratulations
to them.
Hopefully we will get a few photos and reports later.
As for us, the kid's had a fun day catching some "monsters'
out of the Scamander river (and promptly releasing them),
whilst also having a bit of a dip off the jetty.
regards,
President
Todd
171
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012
Subject: Grand Slam
Hi everyone,
Trev, Bailey and I had a great day at St Helens today fishing in
the Tasfish.com Grand Slam.
We didn‟t manage a win but we did catch all 3 required species
of a Trevally, Bream and Salmon, (The required “Grand Slam”).
A big thanks‟ goes to Mike Stevens for putting such a fantastic
event on and for making all of us who are “learning to bream
fish with lures” comfortable enough to fish with the big guns.
We will return next year with much more knowledge (I hope!).
Thanks‟ also to Todd, Janet and family for doing the barbecue,
I am sure Mike would have appreciated it, as it gave him a lot
longer to not catch fish.( Lol)
Regards,
Dale, Trev & Bailey
Ps, GO Jamie‟s Boat!!
172
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Wescombe
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012
Subject: Decent "Lizards"
President Dave Wescombe with a few decent "lizards" caught
on a recent mainland outing.
173
----- Original Message -----
From: Brett Woodberry
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012
Subject: Great Lake Fishing.
Hi all,
With having Friday off and an extended weekend, I decided to
go to the Great Lake to try my luck, as it goes my luck paid off.
Arrived at the lake at 6.40 pm, by 6.50 my luck started.
First fish, a 2.5 pound brownie, by 8.45pm I had 6 browns and
2 rainbows all in good condition between 1.5 and 3 pound.
This kind of kept me busy, winding in fish along with netting
and driving the boat at the same time.
I battled on and was happier than a kid with a new toy know-
ing I was having one of those days when the fish were going for
“my lures” and not everyone else‟s.
Saturday came, having 8 fish in the esky on ice; I decided to
take the morning off and waited for one of my friends to ar-
rive.
We started fishing at 6pm and by 9pm (between us) we caught
another 7 browns of similar size and all in good condition.
Most of the fish landed were feeding on gum beetles and large
mozzie looking flies.
Talking to some other boats, there was a lot of fishing done
with not a lot of success;
I guess you could say I had a really good weekend.
Until next time,
Tight lines, Brett Woodberry.
174
----- Original Message -----
From: Donna Morehouse
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012
Subject: George's Bay and Grand Slam
Hi all,
Headed to St Helens Caravan Park on Tuesday and came home
on Sunday. Fishing was quite “tuff in the bay” only catching 8
trevally, 4 bream and lots of other bits and pieces.
All trevally were caught on a wide range of plastics and bream
on Yep hard bodies. We tried swimming a wide range of hard
bodies but the Yep hard bodies were the only ones that would
work.
On Saturday was the Grand Slam. I caught the trevally in the
first five minutes which was a great start, then a salmon just
size an hour later. Then we caught a weed whiting, mullet, flat-
head and leather jacket which are all worth 10 points each.
With 10 minutes of the comp to go Donna snared a nice bream
giving us a score of 128 points.
With a huge shock, we found out that we came third in the
comp and we all had a great day. Thank‟s Dale for supplying
everyone with a hard body which contributed to us winning the
third place trophy.
Presidents Jamie, Stu, Patrick and Queen Donna.
Team Hornet
175
George's Bay and Grand Slam ( continued )
PS / Once again the boys were pretty happy I was fishing with
them - the numerous lure changes (they make them in such
pretty colours!) two or three major knots (nothing a pair of
scissors didn't fix) and a snag or two and losing a monster fish
(I'm pretty sure it was a Kingfish - the boys didn't seem to
agree - but I was the one holding the rod when it went crazy)
all seemed trivial once I had caught the Bream: and was pretty
amazing considering the horrid reel they had me using - so have
put in an order for a new one - I'm thinking a Diawa Certate.
176
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Tapsell
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012
Subject: Woods Lake Report
Hi all,
Just received a report from President Mark Tapsell as he was
making his way down the mountain from Woods Lake.
Mark told me there were 3092915693451264 duns on the wa-
ter there today but the fish were only "onceing" and this made
for hard fishing.
Never the less he finished up with four and his mate caught
two, their condition was excellent with good coloured flesh so
they should lend themselves to good eating.
Wind was calm one minute and blowing the next, but a great
day had all the same.
Thanks for the call Mark,
Cheers,
President Todd
177
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Date: 5 February 2012
Subject: Mako Magic
Hi all,
Trev, my mate Rodney Hilder and I headed off to Port Sorell
with high expectations of catching a Mako shark on Saturday.
We left the boat ramp at 7 am and headed for a reef 11 kms
out.
Upon arrival at our destination we soon started working on the
burley trail after that, it was a waiting game.
Shortly after all this, I caught an arrow squid and put him on as
" live bait", within minutes the water exploded under it and the
reel started screaming, I grabbed the rod, had 2 winds and he
was gone.
I was very disappointed but at the same time, still felt confi-
dent that we may yet get another chance.
It only took ten minutes and another Mako that we estimated
to be around 10 kilos in size, arrived on the scene and immedi-
ately took the bait.
I picked up the rod and he was gone as well!
By now I was feeling that we had missed our chances and it was
all over as the wind was now starting to get up.
Nevertheless, we kept “bottom bouncing” for the next hour.
Whilst the wait continued, we kept catching cod, squid, mor-
wong and a small gummy shark.
All of a sudden, away the rod went again but this time I let him
go a bit before sinking the hook in... and this time it was on. (Continued next page)
178
Mako Magic (Continued)
Feeling the hook, he did a magnificent jump and somersault and
it took a while after that to get it to the boat but once it was
there it was excitement all round, as this was our first ever
Mako.
He was probably about 50 kilos.
About 10 minutes after we got ourselves sorted out from that
little episode, a big blue shark (about 100kg) started cruising
around the boat so Rodney caught him and had a bit of fun.
Dale & Trev
179
----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart Casey
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Subject: Smithton trip
Hi guys,
Headed to Smithton on Friday for a buck's party fishing trip.
We put two boats in the water at 3pm and fished until dark.
We hooked into around a dozen nice size gummy sharks,
an elephant fish and three 5kg snapper.
It was definitely one of the best fishing trips I've ever had.
Thanks Norm and family for the accommodation, the awesome
food and everything else.
President Stu.
180
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012
Subject: Lake Leake report
Hi all,
Sorry for the lateness of this report.
President John Dekkers and myself left home early, (4.30 am)
on Thursday morning with the aim of giving my 12ft car-topper
its first run and to perhaps "christen it" with a fish.
The upside of this trip is that the boat went very well, but the
downside is that the fishing didn't excite.
We arrived right on daybreak, with fly life and wind lanes, al-
most nonexistent.
Frustrated, we decided to head up near the mouth of the
Snowy River and missed two opportunities whilst fishing in the
shallows, they were to be our only chances.
When drifting around this area, we noticed some floats
stretched between some sticks and thought we had stumbled
across a graball net, Adam Scurrah from the IFS was about to
get a phone call!
Upon closer inspection , we soon saw that it was a large Fyke
net used for catching eels, in fact "the eel tanker" was at the
boat ramp with an empty boat trailer hooked up to it, when we
returned to our car.
(Continued on next page)
181
Lake Leake report (Continued)
Cormorants are about there in droves, with about 30 spotted
whilst they sat sitting on the eastern shore of the island, dry-
ing their wings and looking very happy with themselves.
I would like to think they were only taking the Perch, (but real-
ism tells me otherwise).
Not one fish was spotted rising the whole time we were there.
On the upside, the lakes water clarity is back to being crystal
clear again and we could see the bottom easily through our Po-
laroid's as we drifted about. If I am to return this season, I think I will go back at evening
time and throw a few soft plastics around with the
kid's...perhaps a better option?
That being said, a decent caddis or midge hatch that could hap-
pen there at any time, would no doubt produce the great sport
that we have witnessed in the past, it is for that very reason
we keep returning....
Regards,
President Todd
182
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012
Subject: An afternoon fishing on a small stream.
Hi all,
Trev and I went exploring today in the upper reaches of a
river.
We spent most of the day looking about and found a couple of
great camping spots on the river‟s edge.
There were lots of small creeks running in to the main river,
some of them are so narrow you could step across, (if there
wasn't so many fish to trip you over!.)
We had a few casts and caught a few nice little fish.
A big thunderstorm rolled in about 6pm and the large pool we
were fishing in came alive with rising trout, what a wonderful
sight!
Fishing wasn't the plan today, more so a recognisance mission
ready for the onslaught next time, which is not too far away.
Dale & Trev
183
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2012
Subject: Huntsman Lake
Trev and I spent the afternoon on Saturday fishing Huntsman
Lake.
We arrived at 12.30 to a perfect overcast day with high ex-
pectations that some fish would be rising.
After a slow cruise around the lake, not one fish was spotted,
so it was away with the fly rods and out with the hard lures.
We started drifting along the western shore of a very low lake,
3rd cast and there was a small fish of about 3/4 of a pound in
the boat.
From then, until “go home time” at 7.00pm it was one hit after
another with 19 fish boated for the day, we were getting hit‟s
every five or six casts.
Fishing in about a metre of water, all the fish were caught on
the Yep gold bomber and yellow peril.
A mate was with us and he trolled cobra‟s all afternoon. ending
up with 6 fish.
All the fish were in very good condition and all a pound and un-
der in weight.
Dale & Trev
184
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Wescombe
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2012
Subject: Mulwala
19 and 9 over 60cm
President Dave Wescombe
185
----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Wilkinson
Sent: Thursday, 23 February 2012
Subject: Enthusiasm
I may not be a smart man but one thing I do know, as a born
and bred Victorian, is that the fishing in Tassie beats the home
land variety hands down.
And with that thought in mind, I was happily employing the nau-
tical skills of TT-Lines to help me traverse the distance across
the strait to get into some serious fishing action. Something I
had not been able to enjoy since my most recent (and conspicu-
ous) visit in August to Toom‟s whereby, I am happy to recount,
that I divested many of the locals of their hard earned in a
short but sweet encounter for the opening season.
I set out on the Thursday overnight journey with all of the ex-
citement of a young boy going out on a first date. You know,
high expectations but not really knowing what I was going to
get!
In tow, was a workmate who had never encountered the won-
ders of highland lakes fishing let alone using a fly in the proc-
ess. So the first morning was started with a lesson in the ba-
sics for my travelling companion.
A few tips and some practice and he was ready (and willing) to
tempt some of the fish out of Arthurs.
Now I always believe enthusiasm is ¾ of the way to success. If
you have enthusiasm, you are willing to try in spite of the ad-
versity that inexperience poses. (Continued next page)
186
Enthusiasm (Continued)
Now when I say I am not a smart man, I mean that in most
parts about the water craft skills that I possess above the lo-
cals that live and breathe the waters of Tasmania. Never the
less, my own enthusiasm was about showing the “new guy” how
it was done.I had talked up the prospects of Tasmania's fish
and the waters in which they are abundant.
And with that, headed out with confidence that I would be able
to extol the virtues of my experience gained from almost ten
years of annual visits to this spot.
With some amount of frustration at the ease at which casting
knots can occur, my colleague seemed to spend more time undo-
ing knots than anything else. But one thing is for sure, he
quickly became expert in that art.
I still think that getting casting knots is a mandatory lesson in
how to improve your cast.A short venture into Hydro Bay on
the first day, offered promise of all that had been discussed
prior. The water had the right amount of riffle, the breeze
was at our back (albeit easterly) the sun was refused a shadow
to cast across our targeted water as it meandered slowly up-
ward behind the clouds. Casting an eye across the water did
not reveal any of the fish of which I spoke.
Was that a slight hint of doubt I detected in my colleague's
eye? Ah to be so new at fly fishing!
187
Enthusiasm (Continued)
Keep in touch with your line. Keep your eye on the fly. These
were the sorts of helpful tips I provided to the learner. Mind
you, I was beginning to think that he just wanted to fish and be
free of the ongoing lesson.
I wanted him to do well and I wanted to show him how well he
could do.
I left him to his own device while I set about locating, luring
and deceiving one of those prize Arthurs browns. Show him
how it's done! The wind was not of the same consistent
thought. It tended to blow east, then south, then north.
Frustration soon overcame my enthusiasm.
Without a hint of a rise and no tug on my line I started to real-
ise the frown that crept over my brow.
“This is not right, there should be fish here. Everything says
that this is the place to be” We revisited the water with sev-
eral drifts but no reward was ours.” Do you think we should
move to towards the edge?” my fine friend offered.
“No! They will be in about 4 feet” I offered in expert tone.
With the fickle wind pushing us in, we ended up within about
six metres of the shore. My student seized this as an opportu-
nity to cast an unknotted line at some bushy shoreline.
(Continued next page)
188
Enthusiasm (Continued)
I think I'm snagged” I thought I heard him say.
“No wonder” I thought “fishing so close to that scrub!”
“I think I've got something!” was his exclaim.
Realisation soon took hold and he was managing a brown of rea-
sonable proportion.
“Don't get to eager” was my advice. “Play him out”
A short battle ensued and the fish was landed. The result re-
vealed a foul hooked fish of about 2lb.
The dry had been the target but the wet dropper was pinned
into a pectoral fin and fishing line circumvented the fish.
“A fluke” my friend advised.
But I felt obliged to reassure him that it doesn't matter how
he got it, it was still a good catch. Now I would like to take
some responsibility for his joy, in that, I did provide him with a
skill and I did encourage his technique and I did deliver him to
where his prize lay.
But while I could take some credit, I couldn't take his smile
away.
There is some unforgettable joy that comes with catching your
first fish on the fly. That feel of the fly rod, unlike any other.
189
Enthusiasm (Continued)
The way the fish is played and the sheer exhilaration and relief
of getting it in the net.
This was a memory maker. Something of which I was more than
happy to be part of and in reality, (for me) was a bigger prize
than the fish.
A bit like that first date that goes just the way a young man
would hope!!.
On other days we tried plastic and bait, we tried Augusta, Pen-
stock and more of Arthurs.
The rest of our trip was fishless.
A few good opportunities were lost at Penstock but there is no
victory in talking about the ones that got away.
Especially since I had a witness that caught the only fish for
the trip.
Now I look forward to the charitable nature of my island
friends again in August and a repeat of the last years opener.
I am sure my friend won't need much encouragement to join
me.
Tight Lines
Kevin Wilkinson.
190
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2012
Subject: Little Lake
Hi all,
Bailey and I headed off to Little Lake today as Bail‟s wanted to
try out his new “Wildfish” 6 weight fly rod, ... so away we went.
Arrived there around 11.30am and fished until 4pm.
We had a ball catching 27 brownies on dry‟s, beetle patterns
and emergers.
Bailey caught 15 of them, what a top effort, as he hasn't been
fly fishing for very long,.. fish were going off!
We released all but two fish, (promised dear old mum a couple)
and had a real bonus today as I caught two fish at the same
time, one taking the point fly and another taking the dropper.
Landed both too, that doesn't happen very often.
There were a few others fishing alongside us, three boats and
three anglers wading.
Certainly a day Bailey won't forget in a hurry.
Cheers Phil Zanetto
191
192
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2012
Subject: Always a river somewhere.
Hi everyone,
Trev abandoned me today, preferring to go to the pictures .
I thought this would give me a chance to ring a couple of mates
and sneak to a river for a couple of hours.
After a couple of calls it dawned on me that no one loves me, so
off I went on my own , I only fished for about an hour arriving
at 6.00.pm .
This spot was a new destination that I had been told about ear-
lier in the day and it took some finding, but once uncovered,
was well worth the search.
After a short walk downstream, I started working my way back
up, fishing the fast water, my 3rd cast landed a small brownie.
He was quickly photographed and released.
193
Always a river somewhere. (Continued)
A quick cast in anticipation for the next one was had and with
this “very next cast” he arrived, another smallish but nice
brown. I caught one other on in this run, before deciding to
walk up to the next piece of fast water.
First cast and I was on again.
Darkness was on the way and dinner was on the table, along
with a 4 am start for work the next morning, so with that in
mind I made the decision that this little session was over,... but
I will return soon!
Landed 6 fish for the trip.
Dale
194
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012
Subject: Lake Leake Report ( Presidents outing )
Hi all,
Approximately 15 Presidents converged on Lake Leake for this
weekend‟s get together.
As expected, the fishing was quite hard but the rewards were
there for those that persevered and had a bit of luck on their
side.
It was great to see a few new faces attending and hopefully
they enjoyed themselves as much as we did their company.
I had to leave early today to attend my mother‟s birthday
party but with a few Presidents staying on, no doubt a few
more fish will be caught here, before the long weekend is over.
The weather was fantastic and I would like to give thanks to
the new caretakers that went out of their way to help us, the
Lake Leake hotel for the fantastic counter meal last
night along with our "new found friends from the mainland" who
camped beside us all and joined in the festivities.
As you can see, some decent fish were caught,... mainly on soft
plastics.
195
Lake Leake (Continued)
The lake has many small browns in it at the moment, (around
the 500 gram mark) and all were in excellent condition.
At a rough tally I think we threw back about 14 between us all.
That, along with the crystal clear water that we have-
n't witnessed here for quite a while ( given recent years of
drought), fill us with optimism that this lake is fast returning
to its former glory.
I well remember only a couple of short years ago, when healthy
3 pound fish were the norm.
Hardly a fish was spotted on top, apart from one window of op-
portunity when a small gum beetle fall prompted a couple of
fish to stick their heads up, but as a rule, most fish seemed to
be staying deep and there was hardly any insect life to
be spotted on the water.
That being said, a quick look at a couple of fish‟s stomach con-
tents revealed a lot of jassids... so they must be taking “off
the top” occasionally.
Further examinations revealed that "very small snails" were
their main diet at the moment though.
Once again, a fantastic couple of nights, thanks to all in-
volved and we will definitely do it again next season.
Regards,
President Todd
(More pictures next page)
196
Lake Leake (Continued)
197
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012
Subject: Rapala Competition winner announced.
Hi all,
The winner of a box full of Rapala lures was drawn at the Lake
Leake Hotel last night.
All the entrants were placed in a very expensive "draw con-
tainer" ..namely an empty BBQ shape box. (see photos at-
tached).
To be "completely independent of the process". I asked Bar-
bara McCloud to draw the winning name,...Dale Howard.
Congratulations Dale, and once again, a sincere thank you to all
the Presidents that entered the draw by sending in a report or
photo.
Hopefully we will have another competition like this next year.
A big thank you must also go to Rapala Lures and Mike Stevens
for the generous donation of this great prize.
Regards,
Todd
198
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012
Subject: Lake King William
Hi all,
Fished Lake King William on Saturday with Dale, Trev, Bailey
and Jack Shennan.
What a fantastic session we had, catching 60 trout between us,
losing and missing dozens more.
We started fishing around noon and finished at 7pm.
Fish were caught on Dale‟s Yep black & gold flappers, various
Yep hard bodies a couple on black & gold t.tails.
Trev & Bailey even caught a few off the shore on the dry fly.
Conditions were ideal for the softies, S.W breeze around 10 to
15 knots with some cloud cover.
Condition of fish was excellent, they fought hard and weighed
from 1lb to nearly 2lb with only a couple being rainbows.
Lake down a bit but that certainly didn't affect the fishing.
Most fish were caught drifting through the trees and drifting
close to shore, casting towards the shoreline.
A day the boys won't forget in a long while.
Have a report from Lake Augusta today, will send report on
that shortly.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
199
200
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012
Subject: Lake Augusta West
Hi all,
Fished Lake Augusta West today with Bailey and Jack Shen-
nan, on our way home from Lake King William.
S.W wind blowing about 15 to 20 knots with sunny periods.
Caught 13 fat trout, one being a rainbow which Jack landed.
All fish caught on softies, Bailey & Jack had a go with the fly
rod,... but not this time.
We had plenty of hits, follows and lost several, lake very low,
with the motor hitting the bottom of lake bed a few times.
We kept these fish as we wanted a few for the smoker and we
have been releasing most of the fish we had previously caught
on other trips, as you can see, a top weekend was had.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
201
202
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012
Subject: Swansea report 18/3/2012
Hi all,
Went to Swansea this morning, leaving home at 7am, home at
3pm with our quota.
Sorry, not a lot of pictures, but I was flat out cleaning fish and
didn't get a chance to take many photos.
Johnny Dekkers, Jim and Virginia Mckenna along with my son
Jacob, never gave me a chance to lift my head from the fillet-
ing board whole time we were there.
A great day, plenty of fish about, spent with good company.
What more could you ask for?
By the way, tea tonight was sensational.
Regards,
Todd
203
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012
Subject: Mersey River today.
Hi all,
Work all weekend prevented Trev and I from heading off too
far up until this afternoon, so as soon as I knocked off we
drove up to the Mersey for a look.
Waders on, and a quick walk downstream for about a kilometre,
working our way back up to the car.
3rd cast for Trev and he was on, possibly the same fish I
caught last time as it was in the exact the same spot.
It didn‟t take long for me to catch up to him, after a few more
steps, I was on as well.
This continued all the way back to the car, with us catching 11
for this little session, including 2 nice rainbows.
All the fish were returned so they could move back to their
spots ready for our next trip there.
Dale & Trev
204
----- Original Message -----
From: Mick & Karen Byrne
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012
Subject: Tuna trip east coast
Hi all,
Went after a few tuna off the coast at Bicheno today, had a
great day out in the salt for a change.
Boated over twenty albacore with a couple of mates along with
a good feed of quality flathead. The weather was quite good
with a slight south east wind blowing but also quite bright, all in
all just a great day with plenty of action....catch up soon.
President & ( Lake Leake) caretaker Mick
205
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2012
Subject: Nth Esk River
Hi all,
Bailey and I went deer shooting this morning & on the property
we were on, the Nth.Esk River runs through it.
After we finished hunting we decided to give it a go, only
fished for an hour or so as it is very hard to access the river
due to it being very overgrown around the edges.
Following a bit of “bush bashing” we found a couple of clear
spots suitable for a few casts.
I caught one of around 2lb, lost another about the same size,
and a couple a bit smaller pulled the hooks.
Bailey had one of around the 3lb mark follow his hard body in
on three occasions,... but would not take.
Caught mine on the black and gold t.tail, will give it a good go
next time.
At the moment, I think we are heading to lakes tomorrow so I
will give you a report tomorrow evening of how we get on.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO.
206
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet &Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2012
Subject: Mersey River today.
I received a phone call from Dale Howard yesterday, and in his
usual unmistakable fashion he stated, “whatcha doing tomorrow
robot?”
(Don‟t ask about the robot name), “because if you like, I will
take you and our young blokes to one of my special spots on the
Mersey for a couple of hours” he said.
Being fully aware of his success rate on this water and given
the fact that he was willing to share this secret little oasis
with us ... I was quick to say yes!
After picking the key up from a local farmer, we made our way
to the water‟s edge, only to find a mass of land locked Galaxias
in a pool of water, (see picture), there were that many of them,
that when we approached, some jumped clean out of the water
and onto dry land, in panic.
We thought it best to leave them undisturbed and left immedi-
ately.
207
Mersey River today. (Continued)
I could go on about the day in small detail such as this but we
were there to fish, and fish we did.
Using Dale‟s Yep hard bodies, my son Jacob, Dale‟s son Trevor
and “us old blokes” started walking this stretch of the Mersey
casting upstream into every ripple and back eddy, to see what
it could reveal.
All of us had a couple of takes but it was Dale that handed us a
fishing lesson for the day.
I don‟t know how many he had on and lost, let go, or whatever,
but he kept three fish only, one for the farmer and two for my
mum.... I was obviously incapable!
A great couple of hours spent with “the unit” and the boys as
always.
Gee the legs are stiff though, not used to this wading!
Regards, Todd
208
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2012
Subject: Lake Crescent
Hi all,
Went up to Lake Crescent today and fished from 12pm to
3.30pm with Bailey.
Had heard reports that some good fish had come out of it in
October and November around 2 to 3 kgs , but we also realised
that a lot of effort went into catching them.
We had wanted to have a crack at it for some time, but today
we went home fishless, only having a couple of hit‟s on Dale‟s
Yep hard bodies for our efforts.
Water still very discoloured.
We tried all around the front of the marshes and around the
island.
Don't think we will be rushing back in a hurry, sent some pic-
tures of the old shacks down the southern end.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
209
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Subject: Laughing Jack & King William report.
Headed out to Lake King William yesterday with Dale and Trev
Howard, leaving home at 6.30am.
On the way, and since we were going past it, we thought we
would have a look at Laughing Jack Lagoon as we had never
been there before.
There are a couple of pictures of Laughing Jack in this report,
the water seemed quite low and its clarity quite muddy.
First impressions? As I say, we only fished it for an hour, man-
aging a nice brown of around 2.5 pounds; I did like the look of
this water though.
They tell me the fish that you catch out of Laughing Jack are
some of the nicest tasting around, so I will have to cook mine
up and test that theory for myself. I envisage someone trolling
lures here would do quite well on occasions, and we did see the
odd fish rise.
(Continued next page)
210
Laughing Jack & King William report.
(CONTINUED)
Not a lot of opinion can really be forwarded though when you
have spent just a short while on it,... like we did.
Lake King William
This place seems to be the flavour of the month following a
couple of President Phil Zanetto‟s reports.
I know, (speaking for myself and least), it fired interest up on
this water and yesterday, although we had to work hard early,
it produced yet again.
We caught fish on most methods, fly, soft plastics, with Dales
Yep hard bodies seemingly the lure of choice as every second
cast either had a grab, a follow or a hook up.
This water is absolutely insane!
There are a lot of small fish in there, but if you wade through
them, there are also a lot of decent ones, as you can see from
the photos!
211
Laughing Jack & King William report.
(CONTINUED)
Dale had “one horse of a fish” follow his lure right to the boat,
and it tied itself in knots snapping at his lure, but sadly it
missed time and time again and eventually slunk back down into
the depths.
A lot of our fish were around the 1.5 to 2 pound mark.
Plenty of duns and jassids on the water along with a huge cad-
dis hatch as we headed in.
In one bay, the water was literally moving with fish.
I was dropped off back at home at around 11pm, it was a long
day, but it has to be when you travel a couple of hours “each
way” to get there.
I am keen on a Presidents camping trip at King Willy next year;
it is indeed a fisherman‟s oasis.
One can only imagine how thick the insect hatches must have
been in the warmer months.
We were pinching ourselves yesterday, perfect warm weather,
surrounded by snow capped hills, fish rising to insects and lit-
erally going off!
It is nearly April isn‟t it?
(Continued next page)
212
Laughing Jack & King William report.
(CONTINUED)
To finish, I know I plug Dale‟s lures a lot, and it is true he is a
good mate of mine, but I have to say, his hard body lures are
dynamite here compared to everything else we tried on the
day, I don‟t know the models, nor do I care, the lures you see in
the fishes mouth are the lures that caught the fish and you
can be sure that I will have them in the boat next visit here,
that is a fact!
How many did we actually catch? Around 40 I suppose, hard to
tell, we let a lot of small ones go.
We lost around the same amount as well, when they jumped and
spat the hooks.
It is rare to witness the exceptional trout fishing that is read-
ily available at this place, yet you hardly ever see a boat...
Regards,
President Todd
213
214
----- Original Message -----
From: Reg Travers
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2012
Subject: Sweet & Sour
Hi Todd,
On a sweet & sour note that I read your report on K/W, disap-
pointed because I was there the day before you & party ar-
rived. Would dearly loved to have caught up with you all & had
I known of your plan I would have camped the night there.
It was blowing a bit too much for me that day, (Monday) and
being by myself , what with the showers & a few white horses,
decided reluctantly go to Bronte. Spent a couple of nights
there (caught 3) & another one at a venue that I have driven
past thousand's of times, but never ventured into...
( “Wayatinah “. )
Fished the tailrace, caught a beautiful 3 lb. bow. (Sorry no
photo) first on a soft plastic. Thanks to Dale.
Wayatinah is very full & thankfully I missed all the stumps and
logs and have resolved to go back again next season. The facili-
ties at the caravan park are almost identical to Lake Leake.
All the best for now, hope to catch up ONE DAY!!!
Pres. Reg T
215
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2012
Subject: Four Springs Report .
Hi all,
With today‟s weather being as good as it was, I decided to
head out to Four Springs for a couple of hours.
I arrived at 9.30 am, and to be honest, with it being that late
in the morning, I didn‟t expect much in the way of any fishing
action. Upon arrival, I was soon to realise my first mistake,... I
didn‟t bring my fly rod.
I had thought about it, but “reconsidered” with the logic that
all the dry fly action was nearly over for the year. Since strip-
ping wet fly‟s doesn‟t excite me too much nowadays, I thought
I had made the correct decision.
Plenty of Duns and heaps of Red spinners about, with the fish
interested! “Hmmm” goes to show how much I know!
Anyway, I flogged away with soft plastics for around an hour
without even a touch and was thinking about heading home
when I remembered I had a couple of Dales Yep Hard bodies
left in my tackle bag from Lake King Willy the other day.
(Continued next page)
216
Four Springs Report . (Continued)
Within 5 minutes I had a lovely rainbow of around three pounds
beside the boat but as I had the drag set a “touch too heavy”,
he pulled the hooks just as I was reaching for the net.
Ten minutes later I hooked another that gave me a good run
for my money, but with the reset drag, I didn‟t make the same
mistake twice!
A brown of a couple of pounds followed not long after.
I was back home again at around 1.30 pm wondering what could
have been, “if I did in fact”, bring my fly rod but still thankful
that I managed a couple, all the same.
Will head back there early one morning this week.
Hopefully the fly rod will get another bend in it yet? ....before
the season closes.
Regards,
Todd
217
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Subject: Four Springs Part 2
Hi all,
As stated in my previous Four Springs Report, I headed
back to Foursey's today with the fly rod.
Hopes were high that I would be in for a good day as I thought
there was plenty of cloud cover and enough humidity to spark a
hatch.
In a nut shell, although there were a few red spinner and
duns still about, they were nowhere as thick as they were the
other day.
I fished a nymph deep for a rainbow of around three pounds
and a brown of around 2 pounds.
When things were quiet, I trolled a hard-body around for a lap,
for one strike and no lure... (Don‟t know what happened there?)
as the drag turned a bit and then all I had on... "Was nothing".
Don't know if the fish rolled in the line and broke it off or it
was just a bad knot on my behalf.
Anyway, about five boats on the water most were fly fishing,
one boat had two, the other fly fisher had three and the trol-
ler had three.
All had tales of broken lines and big fish lost.
Cooked up a cuppa and a BBQ whilst out there and all in all, had
a great day.
It's true; I didn't exactly set the world on fire, but who ca-
res?
Regards,
Todd
218
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012
Subject: Little Lake Today.
Hi all,
Headed up to Little Lake today with Mike Stevens for a short
and sharp little session.
Fished with Dales "Yep" hard bodies and Berkley T- Tails.
Landed a dozen, keeping ten for Easter fare.
Egg n Bacon rolls, freshly cooked trout, coffee, and a couple of
scotch's "onsite", capped off a great afternoon.
Regards.
Todd
219
220
----- Original Message -----
From: David Wescombe
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012
Subject: Anglers Reach Easter
Hi all,
We had a great weekend at Anglers Reach. There were eight
fish caught in a day and a half ranging from 350 g to 2kg.
They were caught on copper cow bells , lead core and flat line.
Attached is a photo of the one of the fish.
Dave.
221
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2012
Subject: Weymouth
Hi all,
We were invited to Weymouth for a couple of days over the
Easter break to stay at a friend‟s shack.
The plan was to go after some flathead on the first day and a
Mako the next.
We arrived about lunch time on Friday and got the gear ready.
As luck would have it, Mark Tapsell showed up at the shack as
well, and as he fishes this water regularly we thought we would
be in with a good show of getting onto a few.
So off we zoomed to his spot and as soon as we put a bait
down, 2 flathead were caught, then a cuttlefish, a few gurnard,
... then nothing.
Mark assured us that he had a backup plan in the form of a
“secret spot” where the black back salmon always hung out, we
weren't disappointed, birds working and fish everywhere!
We quickly produced our soft plastic rod‟s and had a ball,
catching one after the other on the red rascal ready rigged!
John Daw was so excited he was trying to steal the fish by
stuffing them into his pockets (see pictures) hence his new
nickname is now “pockets Daw”.
Unfortunately though, that was the end of the weekends fish-
ing, the bad weather made sure of that.
Dale & Trev
222
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim and Virginia McKenna
Date: Saturday, April 14, 2012
Subject: Four Springs Report.
Hi all,
Jim and I headed out to Four Springs Lake on Friday, arriving
there just before lunchtime.
It looked promising with a bit of chop on the water, but there
were only a couple of boats on the lake and they said they
weren‟t catching anything.
Anyway, we decided to give it a go and about an hour later I
landed a small one of around 1 pound in weight, trolling with a
Yep hard bodied lure.
We then headed over to the dam wall and whilst Jim was
changing his lure, I had a cast, at first I thought I had a snag
(and I also thought Jim won‟t be happy with me!!), but it turned
out to be a nice fish of about 3 and a half pounds.
I was very happy but Jim wasn‟t as it was 2 fish to me and zero
to him.
“But of course, not to be outdone”, he landed one about 2 and
half pounds and then another of about 2 pounds whilst spinning.
We had a lot of hit‟s spinning around the dam wall and it
seemed the place to be.
It turned out to be a good day after all!
Regards,
Presidents, Jim and Virginia.
223
224
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2012
Subject: Mersey River today
Hi all,
Headed back up the Mersey this afternoon with Mr “Hard
body Howard" and his son Trevor.
This was my second trip with them to this particular spot and I
have come to the conclusion that Dale only brings me along to
carry and clean his fish.
Once again he caught 99 percent of the 11 landed; he sure has
this water sorted!
As for me, I am sitting on the computer licking my wounded
pride and find myself calling him “the great one”.
Oh dear.....
Regards,
President Todd
225
226
----- Original Message -----
From: Leigh Carpenter
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Subject: Moorlands Beach
Hi guys,
Fished Moorlands Beach on Sunday from 10am till 6pm.
Finding it a tough day, coming off a week of “daddy day care” I
was up for a challenge and took the strong northerly in its
stride only to land 1 flathead at 2pm of 29cm.Fishing beside a
gutter I kept my hopes high as the tide started to rise a bit
and my burley trial started to bring in the fish. I did not cast a
rod from 2pm till 3pm, just burley and had lunch.,
Conditions were still tough but I found a surprise in store.
From 3pm till 6pm I found 6 more flathead up to 53cm and 8 to
10 more salmon between 2.5 to 3.5 pound along with a small
gummy and a ray. I had to pull my second rod out of the water
for a while as I could not keep up. The day started off very
bad and the thought of giving up did cross my mind, but my
perseverance paid off. Great day out in the end, went down
the end of Moorlands beach road and walked around 2km along
the beach until I found the gutter that hugs the shoreline in
tight to the rock line.
You will find it if you go there. Good to get out again.
Tight Lines
President Leigh Carpenter
227
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Howard
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012
Subject: Huntsman Lake
Today Trev, my dad, (Geoff) and I had a very hard afternoon
fishing at Huntsman Lake.
When we arrived it was bright and sunny, not a ripple on the
water.
As previously stated, we worked very hard for two (and 3 oth-
ers on and lost).
A nice big black cloud along with a breeze came and I thought
this would improve things, but that was it.
Not another touch all afternoon.
Dale & Trev
228
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Zanetto
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2012
Subject: Little Lake
Hi all,
Decided to take Bailey and his mate Nathan Vanderspeck up to
Little Lake today for a final fish before the season ends next
weekend. Arrived around noon and we fished till 3.30pm.
We caught 18 beaut little browns from 3/4lb up to 1.5lb,
caught on softies and hard bodies. Conditions were mainly overcast with low cloud covering the
lake at times, when this happened fish seemed to go off the
bite, but when things cleared the action was fast.
Only kept three for the boys to eat, two boats on lake as well,
track very wet on the way in.
CHEERS PHIL ZANETTO
229
----- Original Message -----
From: Janet & Todd Lambert
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2012
Subject: Four Springs today
Hi all,
Headed out to Four Springs with my son Jacob this afternoon
for a bit of a troll around in the hope that we might pick
something up.
No such luck, not even a tap.
Ran into President Jamie Morehouse on the water and their
boat lost an estimated four pounder at the net.
When we left them, they had nothing to show for
their efforts as well, but were still trying,... so hopefully
things picked up.
A fly fisher had one of around four pounds back at the boat
ramp, caught stripping wet fly‟s, he told us that he had
also lost another.
IFS were out there checking licenses and booked one boat
for speeding (over the 5 knot limit).
Wet, cold, nothing outstanding in this report, she‟s nearly
“game over” for this season methinks.
Cheers,
Todd
230
Thank You.... To all the wonderful Presidents for sharing your season with us
so that this book “could again”,...become a reality.
Hopefully it‟s publication will also help inspire a few more of us
to put pen to paper (for future editions), as we now look to-
wards the 2012/2013 Tasmanian trout fishing season.
Bragging may not bring happiness, but no
man having caught a large fish goes home
through an alley. ~Author Unknown
231
Many men go fishing all of
their lives without knowing that
it is not fish they are after.
Henry David Thoreau
232
The End