20/07/08: Cameron Blizzard from Cooee Tasmania, caught this fine Western Lakes specimen earlier in the year while walking with his father Phil.  The fish was hooked in the Bar Lake system using a dry fly.  Cam released the little fella to grow into a bigger fish.

20/07/08: With a father like Bernard, Alistair Creed had no hope of not becoming a fisherman.  I am not sure who is more fanatical about their fishing.  Alistair caught this magnificent sea runner in the upper reaches of the Derwent River (Dromedary area) in April 2008, and weighed in around the 6lb mark.

18/07/08: Bernard Creed is another Tasmanian "Fishaholic" who lives in Hobart.  He sent me this photo of this beautiful rainbow he caught on the North Island of New Zealand in July 2007.

14/05/08: This is local Shimano rep Paul Ellis with a fine Arthurs Lake brown.  Paul was kind enough to take a couple guys from Sydney (that I have been in contact through my website), fishing at Wood's Lake.  Unfortunately they had no luck there, but did all right at Arthurs Lake.

14/05/08: What do Game Fishing Charter skippers do when they take a holiday? - they go fishing of course! This is Ross Hunter, skipper of the Game Fishing Charter boat "Broadbill" back in Sydney & Port Stephens, with one of the tailers he caught at Little Pine Lagoon.  This is probably the best photo of one of his Little Pine brownie's. 

25/04/08:  Dale and I took the boat out on Great Lake in atrocious weather conditions, it didn't look like a good decision for the first couple of hours but eventually the hard slogging finally paid off.  We ended up with two fish each and were all caught out near the Bee Hives on sinking lines using a Woolly Bugger MKII.

25/04/08:  While most people were up attending the dawn service for Anzac Day we were at Great Lake fishing.  My son Mitchell also travelled up and had a very good weekend fishing from the shore, he ended with 6 nice trout. 

29/12/07: This turned out to be a very hard days fishing, the weather wasn't kind (strong northerly winds again). Dale and Graham Brooks were lucky enough to bag a trout each.  Graham caught his at the Morass and Dale in Phantom Bay.  Unfortunately I had one of those days and did not have to clean a fish.

26/12/07: Prior to the Xmas break Burnie men Phil Blizzard and Adrian Hope, ventured into the Blue Peaks for a bit of backpacking fishing with some great results as the photos show.  After Xmas Phil ventured further into the Western Lakes area fishing the First Bar area.  Apologies for the quality of the photos but Phil is still learning to use his new digital camera, but you get the idea how rewarding walking 2 1/2 hours can be, and to ease everyone's mind all fish in the photos were released.

25/12/07: I met my son at the Lakes for his first Fly Fishing trip.  We decided to try Little Pine Lagoon as it is a lake that is very user friendly with minimum snags for a beginner.  Although on arrival we found the lake to be nearly overflowing, which has nearly destroyed the dun hatches.  Anyway we decided to fish the road shore, I gave Nathan a few quick tips on casting and barely had my fly hit the water when he yelled "I've got one on Dad!!"  I had to run over to him, to save him from pulling the poor trouts head off but as you can see he landed a very nice 3lb trout. For the record I didn't manage to land one!!

20/11/07: ANOTHER MONSTER LANDED - Paul Presinszky of Melbourne sent me this photo of this magnificent trout he caught in Swan Bay, Great Lake.  Here is Paul's recollection of the catch: "Now about that big bugger. As most of our crew don't fly-fish and we got blown outmost of the week we decided to do some bait fishing with the boys. Of all bloody times, this 14.8 pound buck struck my rod like thunder at 1.05 PM. He had two big runs, Then we saw him. Steve threw away his net and Danny grabbed Eddies cod net. The fish decided to have another big run and I had to put the brake on him this time as he nearly spooled me. This fish decided to change tactics from boring down into the lake, as I got him near the bank, he swam along the shore weaving the rocks and I didn't want to play his game, so I put a quarter twist in the rod and bounced him around a little coaxing him back out. Down he went again, but this time it was only a Short run and up he come, flip flopping on the surface with that big black back and a head as big as mine. This cunning old buck was pretty tired and I surely needed a break. I said to Danny, ''piece of piss mate gently get under him and sink him to the bottom of the net'', and so he did.

10/10/07: Over the long weekend (Burnie show weekend, NW Tasmania) we have a little competition between 3 shacks in the Central Highlands.  This years winner was Bob French's shack.  The crew managed to catch 28 trout for two days fishing.  Team members with a sample of the trout caught: (L - R) Len Radford, Max French, Bob French, Keith Credland and Roy Whybrow

06/10/07: Phil Blizzard from Burnie, Tasmania braved the elements in October to venue out to the Western Lakes.  From the fish in the photo the trip was well worth the effort.  The fine specimen weighed a tad over 6lb and caught at First Lagoon.  The trout had been dining on tiddlies, frogs and snails.  He caught the trout on a Mrs. Simpson.

06/10/07: Dale Herbert of Burnie, Tasmania continues with his great catch rate this season with another beautiful trout caught at Ti Tree Bay, Arthurs Lake.  Dale bagged another 5 fish all in excellent condition.  Another victim to the Woolly Bugger MKII

05/10/07: Tim Windram from Burnie, Tasmania poses with another fine specimen of a fish taken from Ti Tree Bay, Arthurs Lake.  The weather over the weekend was atrocious, with heavy snow and very cold winds, but the group landed close to 90 trout for the weekend.  This fish was caught on a Black Bead Head Woolly Bugger.

05/10/07: Graham Brooks from Somerset, Tasmania with one of his trout he caught caught at Arthurs Lake.  Graham caught trout on a Green Rabbit and ended up with 4 fish over the weekend.

02/09/07: Dale with the first of 12 fish  (6 each) we caught in four hours at Arthurs Lake.  Dale used a Woolly Bugger MK II and I used a fly tied by my old mate Bruce Gibson called a Green Rabbit fly.  Most of the trout where in good nick and full of tiddlies.

Had this emailed to me and this is how it reads: On 6/6/07 Canadian Adam Konrad landed a MONSTER of a trout. This trout was beyond comprehension. When the scales bottomed out at 43.6 pounds, Adam knew his quest for the world record had finally come to fruition. Caught on the Lake Diefenbaker system, the monster was 38.5" long and sports a ridiculous 34" girth. The fish was weighed on a certified scale and the IGFA application is currently in process. - Thanks Brett

27/12/06: Well guys here is one for the record books, I came across this fellow landing this 14 - 15lb monster at Pump House Bay, Arthurs Lake.  The lucky anglers name is Peter Douce and hails from Devonport, Tasmania.  Peter caught this magnificent specimen on a spinner.

26/12/06: Didn't manage to catch many large trout this Christmas, having to throw many trout back around the Cow Paddock and Jonah Bay area, this was one of the better ones, caught at Phantom Bay weighing only 2lb.

Arthurs Lake has been fishing well in the early part of the 2006/07 season, as this brownie is testament too, Dale caught this specimen flogging the reliable Woolly Bugger MkII.

14/09/06: Dale Herbert caught this magnificent 4lb Rainbow in Swan Bay, Great Lake.  The trout took a Woolly Bugger MkII.

12/09/06: Another Arthurs Lake prime specimen, this 3 ½lb Brownie was caught in Phantom Bay using a Woolly Bugger MkII, September 2006

Dale Herbert with a very nice Brownie taken late in the season at Arthur's Lake February 2006

Occasionally I do get a break from work and catch a trout or two.  This little beauty was caught at Arthur's Lake late in February using a Possum Fur Dun

Brian Osborne caught this beautiful Quinet Salmon while on a trip to the South Island of New Zealand.  He caught this 15 lb specimen from the Rangitata River on January 24th 1999.  One he will no doubt remember for a long time.

Dale Herbert with another beautiful brownie taken at Arthur's Lake in late February.  Trout taken on a Shaving Brush.

Barry Stretton with the largest Brown trout he has ever landed.  Barry caught this monster weighing in at 7.5kg from the Lower Pieman River on the 22nd October 1990.  On his return to the jetty he was mobbed by a heap of tourist on board the cruise boat Arcadia clamouring to get a photo of him and his fish.

On a recent trip to the South Island of New Zealand, Brian Osborne experienced some of the best fishing he had ever experience.  These two fine specimens are a classic example.  The two Quinet Salmon weighing 13lbs and the other 14¼ lbs were caught from the mouth of the Rangitata River.

This is one of the superb rainbow specimen that Wayne Dick and I caught while in New Zealand in 97, this beauty weighed in at just over 7lbs.

My son Nathan with his Pop proudly displaying his first trout caught at Haddens Bay, Great Lake.  He caught the brownie on a spinner (god forbid) after considerable time spent walking the shore in atrocious weather conditions.

Thanks to Simon Rayward for sending me this great photo of a 7lb Brownie he caught on the South Island of New Zealand in July 2000.  From all reports Simon had a great time and had the reel screaming on many occasions.

John Bailey a good mate and fishing nut from Burnie Tasmania proudly shows off his beautiful 12.8lb Salmon he caught at the Pet Dam Ridgley in August 2001

The Western Lakes of Tasmania is renown for producing very nice trout, as John Bailey proves with this 5.5lb Brown trout he caught at Lake Ada in August 2001