Currawong Lakes Fly Fishing Tasmania

Originally established as a trout fishery, through hard work, dedication and a passion for outdoor sporting pursuits Currawong Lakes has now evolved into Tasmania’s Premier Fly Fishing Retreat

FishingEarth 60 Second Currawong Lakes Fly Fishing Quick Facts

The Location

Originally established as a trout fishery, through hard work, dedication and a passion for outdoor sporting pursuits Currawong Lakes has now evolved into Tasmania’s Premier Fly Fishing Retreat. Currawong Lakes is managed as an exclusive private estate of 2000 acres nestled amongst the State Forest of Tasmania’s East Coast Highlands. This combined with our policy of limiting guest numbers at any one time ensures our guest’s complete privacy and a peaceful outdoor experience.

The Location Species 

Rainbow Trout, It’s hard to imagine a more fly-rod-perfect species than rainbow trout. They’re abundant in many streams, tailwaters, and lakes throughout the country. There are ample catching opportunities, yet the species is wary enough to pose a serious (and highly addictive) angling challenge. Hooking and landing these iridescent, bug-hungry beauties is no easy task. But with the right gear, some basic fly presentation skills, and a bit of fisherman’s luck, it can be done. Here’s a comprehensive rainbow trout fly fishing guide including tips and gear to get you casting

Upper body colour varies from olive-green to steely-blue, sides are lighter and the belly usually silvery-white. The head and body are heavily marked with small black spots, which are most numerous on the upper body. Top and tail fins are also heavily spotted. There is often a pink, red or orange flash along the head and sides of the body. The adipose fin is large. Body colouration increases at spawning when the pink/red/orange stripe becomes deep crimson and the lower fins often become reddish. Lower body becomes grey and body spots become more conspicuous.

Strike firm and strike often Another big rainbow trout fishing tip is to always be ready to set the hook. Rainbows, even big ones, can be dainty eaters. Don’t let a tiny bite fool you. When you feel even the faintest twitch, raise that rod tip and set the hook.

Brown Trout,They have soft mouths and it is easy to pull the hooks if you have your drag too tight so a patient approach will see you land more fish. A loose drag is a must and its important to wear the fish down rather than just try and get them in as quick as you can.The Brown Trout is a thick bodied species with a large head, mouth and moderate to large eyes. The mouth extends to below the eyes. Colours can vary depending on factors such as age and habitat. Generally silver to olive-brownish and darker along the dorsal area. They display dark spots along the back and sides, but these can sometimes be indistinct. Most spots are surrounded by a pale halo and are often red below the mid-line.

The Fishing

Bang, second cast the water erupted with the strike of a thumping fish I reckon of 6 – 7 pounds! …it is hard for me to remember such a wonderful hatch of red spinners that lasted several hours. The fish are exactly what you would expect to find in the wild; fat, feisty and full of fight! Our Trout population is carefully managed to provide a healthy head of fish in a range of weight classes from an average of two and a half to three pounds right up to trophy class specimens. Their in-house fly fishing guide offers advice on daily fish and insect activity, appropriate patterns for use and tuition for those who require a little assistance.

What to expect.

Fly fishing in Australia has for many years been somewhat of a closed community. The seemingly cool kids on the other side of the river bank doing something unusual… Locations like Currawong Lakes allows for those no matter what their skill the opportunity to get better. Flyfishing is indeed a contact sport in that the only way to get better is to have your hand attached to the fly rod and giving it a crack. This location will allow that.

Whether your outdoor interests are fishing, shooting or both, Currawong Lakes is able to accommodate your needs with a day, weekend or week specifically tailored to meet your requirements. Currawong Lakes offers self-contained accommodation in cabins with spectacular views overlooking the lakes. Guests can sit on their balcony enjoying the dazzling sunsets while planning their next day’s activities. We look forward to meeting you and sharing our great outdoor experiences.

Accommodation

Nestled amongst native forest with views of pristine lakes, our accommodation brings you close to the beauty of Tasmania.

The Bush Cabins are well appointed self-contained cabins with expansive views over pristine lakes and make for a memorable experience. Nestled amongst native forest overlooking Lake Currawong, our cabins offer privacy in a picturesque woodland setting. The cabins have two bedrooms with a range of sleeping options from queen beds to bunks. Each cabin has a full kitchen with dining and lounge areas, TVs, DVDs and wood fires. Each cabin has a timber deck with outdoor seating and a BBQ to take advantage of the views.

The Hunter’s Cabin affords views of Long Marsh Lake. Four bedrooms provide flexible accommodation for up to eight people. The cabin has a full kitchen with dining and lounge areas, TVs, DVDs electric blankets and a wood fire. Enjoy a BBQ on the deck with outdoor seating. Guests are welcome to use our purpose built dining facility ‘The BBQ Lodge’, located on the shores of Lake Currawong. The BBQ Lodge can accommodate up to 20 people for conferences or dining, has BBQ facilities and a wood fire for those chilly winter nights. All timber used in the construction of this building and the dining tables and seating was grown and milled on the estate.

How to get there?

The team at FishingEarth will work with you to put together the most cost-effective and time-efficient travel plans for you. We will work with you to make sure that your budget and time limitations are taken into account and the best route there and of course the best route home. AtThis FishingEarth we get excited for you when you are going on a FishingEarth Fishing Adventure. But the thing that makes us smile is when you walk in your front door ‘home’ safe and sound. 

This is fly fishing

Fresh fantastic fish

Maybe some clay-target shooting

FishingEarth 60 Second Currawong Lakes Fly Fishing Quick Facts

Target Species

Brown Trout & Rainbow Trout 

Charter Operation Dates

The Lodge is open all year round the best sight fishing:

Late winter and early spring ->  This is the season of the chironomid; midges are the mainstays of the spring fishery on our three lakes. Cruising rainbows and browns can be found at the ripple lines on the lee shores taking both pupae and adult midges. A small black nymph or green pupal pattern can be cast to moving fish on most days from late July onwards when most other fisheries are closed or at the mercy of the cold south-westerly weather patterns of the Roaring Forties. The evening offers a chance for the dry fly enthusiast to catch a fish on a small dry such as a Greenwell’s or Griffith Gnat size 16 or smaller. This can be some of the most exciting dry fly fishing of the season, trying to control the runs of a large brown in the darkness of a spring twilight as it lunges on the smallest fly and lightest tippet you will use all year. Late spring and warming water temperatures bring the trout into the shallows after scuds and stick caddis, tailing trout are to be found morning and evenings in the shallows and can be caught with a careful approach on nymphs and small wet flies fished static or with a slow retrieve.

Late spring and early summer ->  The last two weeks of October see the Red Spinner up and on the wing on all the lake margins. The action usually starts at about nine am with the fish actively nymphing in about four feet of water, ten to fifteen meters off-shore. At this time you can either fish a nymph pattern or wait forty-five minutes to an hour and fish an emerger pattern as the fish are soon onto the hatching mayflies, at their most vulnerable, and will target the emerger exclusively for the rest of the day, quite often ignoring the duns until later in the day when the hatch slows.

Mid to late afternoon sees the trout on the spinners as the mating flights of the adults take place on the lee shores of the lakes just outside the pin rush line. Fishing the adult spinner pattern requires a stealthy approach. Use quick casts from close range using a well-hackled fly. This is the best way to deal with fast-moving jumping fish. This is the quintessential fly fishing experience, which has inspired much of the great writing about our sport.

The evening session at this time of year starts at around six pm, allowing the weary angler to grab a late afternoon break around four pm and come out again for the medley of hatches that are the hallmark of the evening rise at this time of year. The evening begins, and can continue until dark and beyond, with a rise to spent spinners in the quiet corners, the sometimes very large trout, appearing like baleen whales to mop up the exhausted dead and dying spinners enjoying the easy meal in the oily slicks formed on the quiet waters by the day’s wind. This quiet, almost reverential activity is sometimes broken by the bustle and activity of a caddis hatch with a cast of millions leaving the angler wondering what to do next. The answer is to go wet and fish a pupa or damp pattern in the surface slowly with the rod pointed directly at the fly. When you feel the take, pause, lift and hang on.

Later in the Evening comes the mudeye migration, calling for the big black and hairy fly rule and a heavier tippet rule to be invoked as this one brings up the lunkers! The dam faces and timber lined shores being the hotspots for this hatch that will continue until midnight and is the best chance of a double figure trout at this time of year.

Thankfully the next day’s fishing doesn’t have to start until ten am, allowing the weary angler to get at least some sleep between the disturbing thoughts about rise forms the size of dustbin lids and sinister aquatic noises out on the dark lake.

Late summer and autumn ->  After the hectic activity of the main mayfly hatch, late summer can be seen to be the best of the seasons fishing with the trout’s attitude to surface food well and truly entrenched, they are now really looking up and expecting to find food, this is the time of the Damsel Fly.

This electric blue, red and sometimes green insect brings out the ambush hunting instinct in the trout at Currawong. Whilst the little ones will dash about leaping and expending energy, the big crafty ones will wait in ambush outside the rush margins and in the dead timber, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting emergers and mating adults.

Your eyes are the best piece of fishing equipment you have to catch these fish. Watch, wait and they will reveal themselves to the patient observant angler, this fishing like the mayfly requires quick close accurate casting from close range.

As summer progresses onto autumn, terrestrial insects and the autumn emergences of mayfly and caddis become very important to the trout that are building condition prior to the rigors of spawning. These emergences, whilst more sedate and leisurely than the spring hatches, see the greatest range of fish of all sizes feeding from the surface and the cooler more settled weather suits lighter weight rods and finer tippets. This can be the most rewarding fishing of the year with clear water, the fish in close, the whole process visible to the angler and if you are not careful, the fish.

February to late April also can see Jassids on the water during warm afternoons along with ants and other terrestrial insects which can continue the rise until darkness and beyond despite falling evening temperatures. Patterns for this rise should sit in the surface film and may require a little twitch to get the trout’s attention in the darkness and falling temperatures.

Packages

This is like having a little bit of European flyfishing culture all to yourself for a fraction of the price. You will never get sick of either starting or finishing a day at Currawong Lakes. It is also the perfect place to practice your fly casting

How to get there

The team at FishingEarth will work with you to put together the most cost-effective and time-efficient travel plans for you. We will work with you to make sure that your budget and time limitations are taken into account and the best route there and of course the best route home. AtThis FishingEarth we get excited for you when you are going on a FishingEarth Fishing Adventure. But the thing that makes us smile is when you walk in your front door ‘home’ safe and sound. 

F.A.Q.S

Q. Do I need my own fly fishing gear?

A. No there are fly gear hire packages but of course, you can take your own.

Q. What type of fishing is the area famous for?

A. The owners have worked hard over the year to develop a healthy naturally fed trout fishery. The fish are fresh and fight as hard as any you will come across. 

Q. What is the weather like?

A. Tasmania is the place where I am sure Crowded House penned their hit song ‘four seasons in one day’ Pack to keep warm and go from there.

Q. What else is there to do?

A. They have some clay target shooting for those that want to take a break… but more than anything this is your place to relax and unwind. 

Q. What does FishingEarth recommend?

A. If you have never done any clay target shooting this is your chance to have a go.

Q. Passport Information

A. Although sometimes left off maps of Australia… if you have already passed through customs you do not need to do so again. Strict quarantining laws help protect Tasmania from introduced issues.

Q. Can we drink the tap water?

A. Difficult to find anything in Tasmania that is not drinkable. Their water is amazing their beer is fantastic there gin is superb and their whiskey world-class.

Number 1 FishingEarth tip for this location

 Probably the friendliest place in Australia to get reacquainted with your fly rod. If you have never picked one up before then this is the place to start.