 In the increasing din of city life it’s good to know there is a place on the edge of the world where you can cast a line for wild trout and listen to the silence.
Tasmania’s wild trout fishery coexists with immense wilderness and more than one third of the island is World Heritage Area, national park, forest or marine reserves.
The fishery includes shallow lakes and meandering lowland streams, with abundant wildlife and birdlife for company. Like the great wedgetail eagle that caught a morning thermal above a waking south west lake then lifted with lightning speed into the clouds and disappeared. Or the platypus watching your backcast.
The island is best known for the phenomenon of tailing trout – feeding in clear waters only inches deep with anglers able to sight, stalk and cast to fish only a rod length away.
Talk to the locals and suss out the best spots yourself, book a guide who’ll help you with a tailor-made expedition or indulge yourself with a fully-pampered fishing retreat.
In the central highlands, London Lakes Lodge is a specialist fly-fishing estate with 2000 hectares of superb wildlife habitat and has been a leader in marketing Tasmanian fly fishing internationally for two decades.
Editor of United States magazine, Fly Fisherman, John Randolph has rated the Lodge among the world’s top five of the fly fishing game – “among those wonderful places where fly fishers may stalk shadow shapes and tie into the fish of a lifetime”.
The estate has been developed, owned and operated by the Garrett family since 1973. Jason Garrett, a laidback guide and host, has impressive credentials - representing Australia eight times in World Fly Fishing Championships and Captain of the Australian Fly Fishing Team for three years.
Blue Lake Lodge, on one of the world’s most prolific wild lake fisheries, has set consistent catch records since opening in 2000. Guests landed more than 350 fish in one month alone from Arthurs Lake.
An experienced guide, Brett Wolf’s infectious passion for fishing probably counts for more than his undoubted depth of knowledge. It might be the first time you’ve been in charge of a fishing rod but he’ll soon have you casting like an old hand.
His wife, Simone, is chef at the waterfront lodge, set in secluded bushland at the end of a two-kilometre private road. Haute cuisine meals made from local gourmet produce are accompanied by Tasmania’s famed cool climate wines.
The trout season operates from August till April inclusive.
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013
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Created
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1-27-2005
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Modified
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1-27-2005
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Author
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commdesign
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(None)
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4WDriving
Rivers & Lakes
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