The cooler climes and the shear number of accessible lakes and rivers make Tasmania an iconic fly fishing destination. And if you going to be in Tasmania to fly fish then your probably going to finish up in the central highlands fishing world renowned water like Little Pine, Arthurs Lake, Penstock, Woods Lake and the list goes on.
I have listed this fly box first because its undoubtedly the most important of my river fly fishing boxes. I am a firm believer that when fishing rivers you have to get down to where the fish are holding and also that flies particularly in faster running water should include “hot spots”. These flies satisfy both these requirements for me and consequently have a place in my Bead head fly box.
Aquatic insects that are of interest to fly fishers come from two separate orders. The first are the aquatic bugs of the hemipterus order include back swimmers corixia and the second the aquatic beetles of the order coleopteran.
There is nothing new about “Booby Pumping”. English fly fishers have been doing it for years and for a time it was considered so successful in some impoundments that it was banned. I have been fishing boobies for quite a few years and booby pumping has even won a couple of competitions for me.
Lakes and impoundment’s are not just big volumes of homogeneous water denuded of any structure even though at first glance that may be how they seem. Lakes are full of structures, or effected by structures, of one form or another that dramatically influence the available food sources, the temperature of the water and the general comfort zone of the trout.
This post lists all the materials you will need to tie all the flies in the course “abc of fly tying for trout” plus heaps of other flies.
He has been involved with fishing ever since and fished extensively with lures before being introduced to fly fishing in 1993. With a background in commercial management in a number of large profitable private companies followed by eleven very successful vintages in his own winery which was in the top 10% by size in the Australian wine industry Stephen took a step backward from the daily grind and started his own boat charter and guiding services initially guiding on and around Lake Illawarra. In 2001 he moved to a rural village on the shore of Lake Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, so that he could focus more on his passion of fly fishing for trout, and transferred his boat charter and guiding business there.
For me polaroiding is one of the most rewarding forms of fly fishing. It involves the process of sighting fish with the aid of polaroid sunglasses and then working out and executing a when, where, what and how equation with the aim of enticing the sighted fish to take the fly. I like it because it puts me in environments that I enjoy and it’s a real challenge of my stealth and cunning. I guess to the uninitiated this all sounds pretty corny, well perhaps it is, but don’t knock it until you have tried it and had some success with it.
Whilst there are over 2000 species of Grasshoppers and Locust in Australia there are really only three “hoppers” that are of significance to fly fishers.
When browns and rainbows are feeding on hatching midges at the exclusion of all else this buzzer chironomid pattern and when a little lead is added for weight in the tie I find is a good choice for point fly in a team of three flies.
