Meppstas

Thanks Yorky, yes it's very disappointing that's for sure.. Only five weeks of the season left now, hopefully the Inland Fisheries get their act together and stock the rivers for a change, I doubt they will though.. cheers Adrian..

This short video is from a week or so ago, another tough couple of hours spent chasing trout in the Meander River... It's getting to a stage where I have no idea where to fish as all the rivers are all short of trout.. Waste of time & fuel... cheers Adrian..

This trip was just over a week ago, it was another struggle to find the trout in our now depleted rivers/streams, the lack of trout in them is the worst I have ever come across in the 24 years here in Tassie. The damage the Cormorants have done to the rivers is huge and not a thing is being done about it, I can't believe that the Inland Fisheries Service here still put thousands of trout into the lakes but will not restock the rivers.. I like hundreds of others who fish the rivers/streams are seriously thinking about not buying a trout license next season... cheers Adrian (meppstas)

It's always nice to be in a river that's for sure, but it's starting to wear off now with no signs of trout in them here nowadays Hunter. I drove 60 kms this morning and spent over two hours in the fast waters of the Meander River, had one small trout hit the lure and that was the one & only trout seen in the time spent in the river. I did manage to spook three cormorants that were about to land in the river, that was the only highlight of the spin session.. Many overseas visitors never had a good thing to say about Tasmania's rivers on the radio yesterday, they, like me noted that the riv

Seeing as the rivers here in Tasmania aren't holding all that many trout and it's a waste of time trying to track them down I thought I'd put a video from a trip that goes back 1-1/2 years, it's one that I haven't had on this site before. It was a trip when the trout were plentiful in the Meander River, enjoy the trip.. cheers Adrian (meppstas)

This was another tough day at the office, the lack of trout in the rivers hasn't improved at all, still a battle to find them nowadays. This video was my last trip to a river ten days ago, with the rivers being what they are I haven't bothered to push myself this season. This is a shortened video of the spin session I had in the Meander River, good musical photo slideshow at the end of it.. cheers Adrian (meppstas)

This trip was from a few of days ago when I decided it was time to do some fast water fishing for trout. The trout have been very scarce in the rivers due to the large influx of cormorants that have hit the rivers here in Tasmania. Thankfully on this trip I did manage to catch & release of few trout, the weather conditions were ideal & the going was tough in the river too. Thanks for watching & stay safe on/in the water, don't forget to watch the photo slideshow at the end of the video.. (this is a shortened video of the spin session as well) Cheers Adrian (meppstas)

Thanks Yorky, it's not good at all and there's four species of cormorants (Shags as we Sth Aussie's call them) here in Tassie and they're all protected so there will be no culling at all. The Inland Fisheries don't believe in restocking rivers/streams but they will stock the lakes in and around the state, they believe in self recruitment in the rivers and with the lack of trout in the rivers it's going to take years before they recover, that's if they ever do recover which I can't see happening for at least three to four years. Each season the trout catches in rivers has become lower and the f

Yes, it's not good that's for sure, I spent another few hours in the Meander River again two days ago and never saw a trout, did see half a dozen Cormorants (Shags) fly over which was not a good sign. The majority of rivers are the same, a large shortage of trout in all of them.. it's going to be a poor trout season all round, by the looks of it. Quite a few people are fishing private fishing farms that are stocked with large rainbows & browns, but I'm not into that, besides it not cheap to fish those places either & the trout will take what ever you throw at them. I prefer the challen

This trip was a couple of weeks ago and finally after several trips to the Meander River I finally manged to catch a few trout, they were still very scarce in the river which is a big problem. This is the worst start to a trout season that I've ever had in the 24 years we've been living here, eleven trips to various rivers/streams for just the 16 trout caught in total with ten of them being caught on one of those trips. My last trip to this river I covered 1-1/2 kms of river and never saw a trout, other rivers/streams have been the same that's how bad it's been. cheers Adrian (meppstas)

This is the full video of the spin session in the Mersey River when the trout tossed the lure in the net,, This trip was one of my better ones for this season, even though the trout were mainly small fish it was still good to catch & release ten fish. It was also good to see the trout were starting to show up again after the large influx of Cormorants that have been in the rivers in big numbers since early January 2024. I still feel that the fishing in most of the rivers/streams that I fish will still be tough going. Thanks for watching & stay safe in/on the water. cheers Adr

Thankfully this medium size brown trout made it into the net before it tossed the lure... The full video of this trip will be on YouTube in a day or two.. cheers Adrian (meppstas) Nice shallow fastwater run.. Small rainbow that fell to the Mepps Aglia Fluo brown spinner. Another nice stretch of water. Once in the net, out popped the lure.. This was the best fish of the spin session, a nice well conditioned 400 gram brown. Ready for release...

This short video probably doesn't concern those who fish the rivers here in Sth Aust, but it's still one to keep in mind as you should still know the rivers you fish like the back of your hand just in case there's flash flooding that can occur from time to time after heavy rainfalls like we get here in Tasmania. A river can rise very fast and it's easy to get caught out..This video is one from when I got caught out when Hydro let water out from Huntsman's Dam for irrigation.. cheers Adrian (meppstas)

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

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 was