Tasmanian Fishing Report January 2024
by Spot On Fishing Hobart 27 Jan 2024 14:00 PST
A 30kg school shark caught recently at Pedra © Spot On Fishing Hobart
Saltwater
Kingfish - Kingfish Fever has set in as large numbers of kingfish have shown up statewide. St Helens, Tamar, Coles Bay, Port Arthur, Orford, Dodges Ferry, Fortescue, Dunalley, North West Bay, Dover, Cygnet and the Derwent are all good options to have a look for these awesome fish. Hot spots lately have been the Derwent (Battery point jetty and CSIRO), Cygnet and Georges Bay with lots of people reporting seeing huge schools of fish in these areas. So run minnows and sluggos are the most popular lure choices.
Snapper - good numbers of mid-sized snapper are being caught throughout Frederick henry bay and storm bay. Good fresh bait like squid tentacle and Bluebait are accounting for most fish.
Flathead - good numbers of king flathead outside Marion Bay and up the east coast. With sandies being a bit patchy around the place but good-sized fish are there when you find a patch.
Calamari - a few smaller to mid-sized calamari are being caught throughout the channel area and up the east coast sz 3 yamashita jigs are a favorite among the shore-based anglers.
Giant Salmon - huge salmon up to 3kg+ are being caught along the east coast from port Arthur to Coles Bay. These fish can be seen busting up in giant schools with birds often giving them away. Silver slices are hugely effective while Halco rooster poppers are a fun and effective way of catching these fish with huge surface strikes.
Bluefin - Bluefin are quite in a lot of places at the moment with the bulk of fish caught lately been around the top end of Bruny Island across to dart bank. Fish average around 10-20kg. Meridian and JB lures are working well for trolling while Oceans legacy stick baits have been very effective for casting at these fish.
Mackerel - loads of jack mackerel are around the place at the moment with lots of anglers reporting big schools of them while out fishing. Small flasher rigs with little strips of squid are working very well for catching these with a few people doing well on 5gr slices.
Tailor - a few big models of Tailor have been caught in the Derwent while attempting to catch kingfish lately spinning from the shore.
Bream - Bream are on fire at the moment. The Derwent, Huon and East Coast estuaries are producing loads of fish. Flats fishing is as good as it gets with Panish and presso lures working well for a lot of anglers. A few anglers have also been doing well fishing bassday sugapens to tailing bream in the shallows.
Sea Runners - good reports of Searun trout in the Derwent estuary with most fish caught as bream bycatch. Anglers going to chase bream and salmon have been averaging a couple of searunners a trip, while most are in the smaller size bracket there is the odd good fish amongst them.
Blue eye - when the weather allows it the shelf out of eagle hawk is fishing very well. Blue eye in a good size bracket are getting caught a long with plenty of other tasty bottom fish getting caught as by catch.
Mako Sharks - have been thick on the shelf with anglers reporting multiple sharks coming up their burley trails.
Freshwater
Great Lake - is doing well for both fly and lure anglers. Fly fisherman have been finding early morning midge feeders very good with mid-day polaroiding around the edges on calmer days also being very effective. Lure fisherman have been having huge success with drift spinning the edges and trolling deeper on the weed beds. Average size fish has been very good and this has been a real stand out option as water temps get higher.
Bronte Lake - has been very good for the fly angler with good hatches and sight fishing. Weed has been a problem here for the lure anglers.
Echo - continues to fish well as it has all season. High water levels, crystal clear water and large numbers of fish make this a very good option for any style of fishing at the moment. Bags consist of predominately brown trout with a few really nice rainbows mixed in.
Burbury - with a few NE weather patterns rolling in lately Burbury has been a very good option. Fly and lures are extremely effective ways of targeting rainbows seen cruising on the surface.
Lake Sorell - a few people have been going back to try at lake Sorrell lately with most anglers being pleasantly surprised with what they have found. Reasonable number of browns around 5lb-6lb are getting caught. Drift spinning the shores with shallow running bibbed minnows is what most anglers are choosing to do but we have had reports of people seeing browns rising to big mayflies for the fly fisherman keen on a challenge.
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IFS News
Fish Conference
Recently the Carp Management Program (CMP) Leader Jonah Yick presented the successful Tasmanian carp eradication efforts at the 2023 joint 11th Indo-Pacific Fish Conference/Australian Society for Fish Biology Conference in Auckland, New Zealand. The conference ran from the 20th to the 24th of November.
Read more on the conference here
Rainbow Stocking
The Inland Fisheries Service recognises the value of maintaining wild fisheries as they are best suited to our environment and provide a much sought-after angling experience. We only stock waters when wild populations are not adequately maintained by natural recruitment, and we use wild fish whenever possible. Stockings are guided by the Tasmanian Inland Recreational Fishery Management Plan 2018-28 and risk assessments for each water.
Learn more here
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