The Easter long weekend matched with some great weather saw a perfect opportunity for anglers to get out and catch a few fish.

Freshwater anglers targeting waters in the highlands managed the best results and those targeting rivers and estuaries also found some fish.

The Derwent and Huon Rivers are still offering great fishing for Black Bream with shallow-running lures and soft plastics accounting for most of the bite. Lures ranging from 40mm to 70mm match the target bait size with Daiwa Presso’s & Double Clutch, Eco Gear MW62F & SX40, Lucky Craft Flash Minnows, Nories Laydowns, Smith & Panish and Cranka Crabs the most popular.

Minnow, worm and crustacean soft plastics are also deadly fished erratically on light jig head weight. Australian Salmon are everywhere through the Derwent up to the tidal influence at New Norfolk as well. I landed more than 60 weighing up to 1kg in a three-hour mission last Sunday.

Trout catches will improve as temperatures cool and more rain will be great as well. Waters in the Highlands reporting to fish well last weekend were Bronte Lagoon and the Brady’s Chain with the latter’s water level starting to rise again.

Bait, lure and fly anglers all reported success on both Rainbow and Brown Trout although size and condition were said to be slightly down. Low water levels at Great Lake have some anglers concerned but it’s still offering good fishing and will continue to especially for Rainbow Trout pushing into April, with Swan Bay a hot spot.

Other waters mentioned were Lake Echo, Lake St Clair, Lake Pedder, The Dee Lagoon, Pine Tier Lagoon, Wood’s Lake, The Western Lakes, Penstock Lagoon and don’t forget Lake Gordon either which holds some great trout.

In the North, Talbot’s Lagoon is a standout and holds some big trout. Lake Pieman, Lake Rosebury, Lake Mackintosh and Lake Burbury also offer great fishing when conditions suit.

Yellow Tail Kingfish are still around and being caught from Storm and Marion Bay right up through to the East and North-West Coast and Snapper are available as well. Calamari Squid are being caught in the channel as well as around Bruny and Maria Island.

School Southern Bluefin Tuna, Albacore and Striped Tuna catches are increasing with some good fish landed last weekend from Fortescue Bay, the Hippolyte Rocks and Tasman Island plus the North-West.

The Inland Fisheries Service has completed three surveys in Arthurs Lake since December 2022 to check details in regards to its trout populations.

The La Nina years of 2020 to 2022 offered great conditions for trout to spawn and for fry to then move into the lake. Arthurs Lake has a lot of spawning creeks and when Tasmania gets “wet” wet seasons this in turn means a lot of trout get naturally recruited into the lake.

The surveys have shown that Brown Trout have enjoyed three good years of spawning from 2020, 2021 and 2022 which has resulted in a strong population of young trout in the lake. These fish now dominate the Arthurs Lake Brown Trout population and because of this there’s been an increase in competition for food and the older fish are losing condition.

In addition, the average size of trout in the spawning run has dropped in the last two years and is likely to do the same again this year as fish from 2021 and 2022 start to mature and spawn.

In 2023 the average size of Trout was the third smallest recorded since the IFS started monitoring them back in 1977. Evidence suggests the growth potential of trout in Arthurs Lake is being limited by the current population structure which is why the IFS plan to move a limited number of fish from Arthurs Lake spawning traps over winter and use them to stock other popular waters.

Also during early March the IFS did a box trap survey in Lake Crescent and the catch rate was lower than expected due to the warm, shallow water at the time. A total of 30 Brown Trout and three Rainbow were caught over the two days of trapping.

The biggest brown trout weighed 4kg and the smallest 0.2kg and a third of the Brown Trout weighed 3-4kg. Interestingly, two Brown Trout weighed under one kilo which shows there is natural recruitment that’s either coming from Agnews Creek on the eastern side of Lake Crescent or from Lake Sorell now the carp screens have been removed.

With natural recruitment there is no need to stock the lake with trout at this point. Both Lake Crescent and Sorell are healthy and anglers are reporting to be catching Brown Trout in the 1.8-2.2kg range from Lake Sorell spinning from the shore and from a boat.

Tight Lines until next week.