Fog & very cold fishing conditions..

[Meppstas 5,020]

The conditions weren't all that flash on this trip, very cold conditions and heavy fog topped off with ivy cold water made for a tough spin session.. Not one of my better trips to this beautiful stretch of river.

cheers Adrian (meppstas)

 

[Yorky 310]

@Meppstas once again, thank you, beautiful areas you're fishing

 

Yorky

[Meppstas 5,020]

Thanks Yorky, very lucky indeed to have so many beautiful areas to fish that's for sure..I'm grounded at the moment, the car ("Trout Stalker 2") has an emission control problem that they're trying to sort out, been a week now... Aaaaaaugh!!! There's around 20-40 mms of rain due in the next day or so, that will raise the river levels once again just when they've finally settled down.

cheers Adrian

[Hunter69 1,499]

Hey mate are you having any problems with cormorants over there ? They've destroyed the eucumbene river atm. Someone told me it happens every 8-10 years. 

Thoughts ??

Cheers

[Meppstas 5,020]

Hi Hunter,  Yes mate big problems in the rivers, streams & lakes, it started early January and got worse each day from then on, we have an influx of Cormants around every four to five years here in Tassie. One day in the river I counted 72 Cormorants in the river, some of the small streams that I fish on private property have been cleaned out & it will more than likely take two to three years before they recover. The last three months of the trout season (8th February to 23rd April) I only had 10 trips to the rivers/streams for a total catch & release of 17 trout, it was just a waste of time going during those months. The previous trout season (2022/23)  from the 3rd Feb to the end of the season on 39th April I had 32 trips for 250 trout caught & released. Total trout for the 2022/23 season was 562 trout, last season 2023/24 it was 60 trips for 324 trout which was well below par for me in a trout season when my average catch is 500+ per season. Thankfully the 324 trout was still enough for me to take out the trophy for most trout caught in rivers & streams making it 18 years in a row.. This season will be a real tester that's for sure.. The Inland Fisheries here do not believe in restocking rivers/streams as they believe in self recruitment which is a joke when the rivers are in such poor conditions & the lack of large fish in them nowadays. They dropped the bag limit from 12 down to 5 fish per day so they know there's a problem but don't really want people to know about it. They kept the size limit at 22 cm which is dump as it's way too small, should be at least 30 cm or more. What annoys me & many other river fisher's is that the don't hesitate to put 10,000 to 20,000 adult trout in lakes across the state to make themselves look good and say what a great trout fishery we have here in Tasmania..They're absolute wankers in my book and many others think the same thing..

cheers Adrian

** PS: One landowner that I know shot over 100 of them on the river that runs through his property and it didn't even make a dent in the numbers.. There's two types of cormorants here, one is protected & one isn't.. something has to be done and ASAP..

 

[Hunter69 1,499]

This time last year I was catching 20 plus big browns a session. Now it's a total ghost town. Did two days for 1 fish. Didn't even see a rise. Will try a few different rivers but I think it's all going to be the same. Not really a fan of fishing the lakes. Have been looking forward to the trout season opening up this year. Might have to continue targeting big cod.  

[Meppstas 5,020]

Yes, it's not good that's for sure, like me I only fish the rivers & streams so it's certainly going to be a challenging trout season.. good luck with your fishing..

cheers Adrian