Tasmania's central plateau has a reputation for breaking hearts as easily as it makes memories, and a recently filmed three-day fly-fishing trip through the western lakes proved both sides of that coin in spectacular fashion.
"Welcome to one of the world's greatest wild trout fisheries," the angler said as he set off beside a remote lagoon with a raft and a day's gear, hunting wild brown trout in clear, sight-fishing water. The plan unravelled quickly. Heavy cloud robbed him of the visibility needed to spot cruising fish, and a warm snap brought tiger snakes out in force. "Every tiger snake in the western highlands is out today to play," he said, counting five within 100 metres before taking to his raft. He raised four fish blind-casting dry flies but landed none.
Day two was no kinder. A 3-kilometre bush hike into a tarn that once gave up big browns ended with spooked fish and another blank. "I feel like a rank amateur," he confessed.
Everything changed on day three at Talbot Lagoon, where he met fly fisherman Craig Carey and the pair launched pedal kayaks onto a shallow, weed-strewn lake that bans petrol and electric motors. Fish were rising everywhere to red and orange spinners and dragonfly feeders, but landing them was another matter. "That's six fish hooked, six fish lost," he said. "They are seriously, seriously powerful fish in this lake."
The trout buried him in weed and snags and straightened his hooks, pushing him to 11-pound tippet and heavier-gauge patterns before he finally boated a thick, fat rainbow. A second followed late as a mayfly hatch fired the lake up. The day's tally was eight hooked for just two landed, yet his verdict on the water never wavered. "This is one of the greatest fisheries I've ever fished," he said. "And they're all big. I don't think anything's under 4 lb here."
For all the break-offs and self-confessed rookie errors, it was an unforgettable session in wild, snake-ridden country, shared with a close mate and a borrowed kayak. It captured exactly why anglers keep returning to Tasmania's western lakes: big, powerful, sight-fished wild trout in some of the most beautiful and unforgiving water Australia has to offer. "This is one place I'm definitely coming back to," he said.
