Adventure Island

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 fly for wild trout and listen to the silence. Tasmania’s wild trout fishery coexists with immense wilderness – more than a third of the island is World Heritage Area, national park, forest or marine reserve. The fishery includes shallow lakes and meandering lowland streams, with abundant wildlife and birdlife for company.  Such as the great wedge-tailed 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 sight fishing – the phenomenon of tailing trout feeding in clear waters only inches deep with anglers able to stalk and cast to fish only a rod length away. Another attraction of sight fishing is ‘Polaroiding’, using Polaroid sunglasses to spot fish through the glare of the water.

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 in a fully-pampered fishing retreat.

Editor of United States magazine, Fly Fisherman, John Randolph has rated Tasmania high on places to fish, ‘Among those wonderful places where fly-fishers may stalk shadow shapes and tie into the fish of a lifetime.

Rainbow Lodge, operated by angling guide Neil Grose and wife Nicole, offers intimate accommodation and personalised service a stones throw from the Great Lake. This puts you within minutes of some of Tasmania’s best waters including the famous ‘Little Pine’.

From their fishing lodge on Bradys Lake, Ken and Marea Orr run Tasmanian Trout Expeditions. Together with their accredited guides the Orrs are committed to providing a complete and first-rate Tasmanian angling experience. And they place as much importance on food as their fishing know-how: the lodge has a reputation for providing guests with some of Tasmania’s finest fare.

The trout season operates all year on some larger lakes but the action starts to heat up after August and runs until April for brown trout and May for rainbows.

For more information on fishing in Tasmania see Fish Online.