This report covers the rivers & streams I have fished during the 2018/19 brown trout season. Last season I had 92 trips to the rivers & streams for a total of 586 brown trout & 62 rainbow trout being caught of which just the five trout being kept.
** Below are the results of this season in the rivers & streams.**
Trips: 76 in total. Trout caught: Browns trout: 549. Rainbow trout: 24.
Total trout caught: 573 season average: 7.54 fish.
Mersey River: 21 trips, 89 brown trout & 19 rainbow trout caught & released.
Meander River: 23 trips, 157 browns trout & 5 rainbow trout caught & released.
** One trip being included without a trout being caught.
Leven River: 6 trips, 60 brown trout caught with one being kept.
Western Creek: 6 trips, 21 brown trout caught & released.
Dasher River: 3 trips, 49 brown trout caught & released.
(private property)
Small tannin waters: 17 trips, 173 brown trout caught & released.
* Best trout taken in each river/stream:
Mersey River: Brown trout @ 710 grams. Rainbow trout @ 460 grams.
Meander River: Brown trout @ 1.4 kgs. Rainbow trout @ 310 grams.
Western Creek: Brown trout @ 520 grams.
Dasher River: Brown Trout @ 310 grams.
Small tannin waters: Brown trout @ 605 grams.
** Mepps lures caught 95% of the trout during the 2018/19 season. **
** Equipment used in 2018/19
Mepps Lures,
Okuma rods & reels,
Platypus Lines.
** The following is a short report on the rivers/streams I fished during the season.
Mersey River: The lower reaches of the Mersey River in the Merseylea area is in very poor condition which in my opinion is due to run off from farm irrigation as well as dairy farm run off. The river bottom is in a poor state too with a large amount of silt build up, brown slime covered rocks and the river also had a pungent smell to it. I only had four trips to the Merseylea area early in the season before deciding it was a time waster and not worth fishing. The majority of my fishing was in the upper reaches in the Kimberley area (private property) and that fished reasonably well early in the season before it all but shut down. Several trips to the Weegena area were reasonably good as were two trips out of six to the Liena area. Most of the trips to the Mersey River did produce fish but not in large numbers plus the trout were well down in size. There was also a large drop in the rainbow numbers in the areas I fished. Another area that used to fish so well once upon a time is now one I rarely bother to go to. That area is above & below the Union Bridge, it has fished poorly for a few seasons now with hardly a trout to be seen there now days. Even though I did manage to catch my fair share of trout in the Mersey, to me it still wasn't up to scratch. If adult spawning trout were to be stocked in the river I feel the Liena area would be the better suited area given it has a gravelly river bottom ideal for spawning trout.
** Average catch rate: 5.14
- Mersey River rainbow.
** Meander River: This river was much better to fish than the Mersey even with it being so heavily fished now days. The water was flowing at a good wading height throughout the season and it was running cool & clear. The only let down was the size of the trout in the areas I fished with most being small in size. In saying that there were some nice fish caught amongst them at times too with my best two trout form the river going 1.4 & 1.3 kgs. I did have some good days with catches of 12, 13, 16 & 21 but most trips were all below the dozen mark. Most trips I cover on average is 1.5 kilometres of river so I do expect to catch more than two or three trout which happened on several trips during the season. The reason for the size being small I'm have no answer for, perhaps it may be due to it being such a popular river to fish and the larger fish are not being returned to the river. Late in the season most of the river in the Longridge Road area up and above the Chestnut Road area became full of a green cotton like algae that made lure fishing near impossible in many stretches of river. One good thing to come out of the season here was the sign of some rainbow trout in the river. The worst day I had on the Meander was only catching two trout over after fishing nearly two kilometres of river, only spotted two others over that distance too. I've always thought the Meander River would be a great river for rainbow trout with the regulated flow of cold water from Huntsman Lake. The upper reaches above the Meander Bridge always gives up quite a few trout too, not the easiest of areas to fish though.
** Average catch rate: 7.89
- Meander River brown
** Leven River: With just the six trips to the Leven River I was quite happy to see a few fish around the Gunns Plains area. Once again like the larger rivers I fish, the majority of trout were small in size. I did catch quite a few reasonable size browns, all were in very good condition. The early trips to the river were good with 34 trout being caught in the first two trips there. Once the river levels dropped in the drier months I didn't fish the river again until we had rain in the highlands. I waited for the level to drop to a decent wading height before heading over there. The stretches of river fluctuated quite a lot with the trout, as it does with most river fishing. On my last trip to the Leven & only having the one light hit and miss from a brown early then not a sign of a trout. It took another hour & a half before I had another hit. I caught that trout plus another seven over the following twenty meters of river.
That's just a part of trout fishing though.. With sixty trout caught in the ten trips to this river was reasonably good.
** Average catch rate: 10
- Leven River brown
** Western Creek: A good little stop over creek that I have a spin session in on my way back to Sheffield after a poor day fishing the Meander River. It holds some nice trout in it from time to time, low water level & warm weather I never go near it. Best time to fish it is early & late season when the water temps are low and there's some flow in the creek. Not a water that would take a lot of fishing pressure in my opinion..
** Average catch rate: 3.5
- Western Creek brown..
Dasher River: The upper reaches fished well early in the season when there was plenty of flow in it, once the water levels drop I don't fish it. The areas I fish are all on private property where I have permission to enter. One area of the river that is in very poor condition is a long stretch of river between the Paradise/Mole Creek Road & the Claude Road bridge due to cattle & sheep being allowed to enter the unfenced river. I only had three trips to the Dasher River this season, something that's very rare for me. Lack of rain and low water levels was the main reason for not fishing the Dasher.
** Average catch rate: 16.3
- Dasher River brown
** Tannin Streams: These little tannin waters certainly holds some nice trout from time to time, being in them at the right time often produce some good catches. Many small streams hold trout that people don't or can't be bothered to make the effort of doing a bit of hard bush bashing to reach them. I love fishing them early and late season when there's a nice flow of water in them. Once the water levels drop and the rains are gone I stay away from them. The trout in little streams are beautifully coloured wild brown trout and the size varies from small 200 gram fish up to 600 gram fish with many others being in and around 350-400 grams. They're not one of the easiest places get into & fish, plus once in them it's hard work climbing over log jams that are in big numbers on these small streams. But to me they're always a peaceful place to fish and always a challenge to ones skills fishing tight skinny waters.
** Average catch rate: 10.2
- Nice trout taken in small tannin waters..
Adrian's Trout Seasons totals 2000 to 2019
Here's my stats since moving down to Tasmania back in March 2000. The first 4 years were a little on the low side (catch rate) due to me getting to know the rivers and where I could get in and fish them. After that and getting to know several farmers, land owners and the purchase of a better pair of waders the fishing really went up from there on. Having access to many more sections of rivers and wading them really opened up some great fishing seasons for me from then on that's for sure.
2000-01 Season : Trips: 76.. Total Fish : 57 browns..
2001-02 Season: Trips: 54.. Total Fish: 63 browns.. 2 rainbows..
2002-03 Season Trips: 66.. Total Fish: 93 browns.. 13 rainbows..
2003-04 Season Trips: 48.. Total Fish: 98 browns.. 2 rainbows..
2004-05 Season Trips: 96.. Total Fish: 347 browns.. 35 rainbows.. 1 blackfish..
2005-06 Season Trips: 107.. Total Fish: 652 browns.. 24 rainbows.. 1 blackfish..
2006-07 Season Trips: 87... Total Fish: 354 browns.. 83 rainbows.. 2 blackfish..
2007-08 Season Trips: 109.. Total Fish: 629 browns.. 74 rainbows.. 1 blackfish..
2008-09 Season Trips: 106.. Total Fish: 599 browns.. 67 rainbows.. 2 Atlantic Salmon.(7 kgs/15lb 7ozs)
2009-10 Season Trips: 126.. Total Fish: 1167 browns.. 89 rainbows.. 2 blackfish..
5 redfin perch. 1 Australian Grayling (protected species)
2010-11 Season Trips: 91.. Total Fish: 819 browns.. 52 rainbows..
2011-12 Season Trips: 81.. Total Fish: 481 browns.. 33 rainbows.. 1 Atlantic Salmon..(9kgs/19lb 13oz)
'' '' '' 1 brook trout ( Meander River)
2012-13 Season Trips: 75.. Total Fish: 318 browns.. 52 rainbows..
2013-14 Season Trips: 65.. Total Fish: 320 browns.. 77 rainbows..
2014-15 Season Trips: 91.. Total Fish: 405 browns.. 78 rainbows.. 1 redfin perch.. 1 Aust Grayling..
2015-16 Season Trips: 106.. Total Fish: 744 browns.. 78 rainbows.. (same last season)
2016-17 Season Trips: 79 Total Fish: 575 browns.. 71 rainbows..
2017-18 Season Trips: 92 Total Fish: 586 browns.. 62 rainbows..
2018-19 Season Trips: 76 Total Fish: 549 browns.. 24 rainbows..
** Less than 1% of my catch is kept, all Blackfish & Aust. Grayling caught are released. ** Only trout are counted in my total catch & averages. ** Biggest trout: Brown @ 3.85 kg (8lb 8oz) on 27th April 2018.
** Since moving to Tasmania to live (March 2000) and trout fished the rivers here I've had 1631 trips to rivers for a total catch of 8,956 brown trout, 914 rainbow trout, 1 brook trout, 3 Atlantic Salmon, 6 blackfish, 6 redfin perch & 2 Australian Grayling. **
** Average for trout caught ( 9,870 in total ) over the 1,631 trips = 6.05 **
** Ulverstone Anglers Club Vic Whitehouse Trophy holder for most trout caught in rivers & streams.
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, ?
