The weather for Easter is looking great with light winds and sunny days forecast, so it will be a great time to wet a line before autumn really sets in.

Inland Fisheries officers have been out and about and recommend the following spots for some camping and fishing with family and friends.

With the warm nights there should be plenty of terrestrials in the wind lanes on the highland lakes for the fly fishers. Trolling and lure casting have also produced good bags. yingina /Great Lake, Dee Lagoon, Lake St. Clair and Lake Echo will be the pick of the waters. A boat is useful on the bigger lakes but not essential as windward shores where the food is being blown in have also been productive. Rising levels in the Bradys chain and stable water at Bronte Lagoon bode well for shore based campers.

Brumbys Creek has had a strong flow of highland water. There has been damsel fly action and recently a big ant fall had the fish up and about. The Tinamirakuna / Macquarie River downstream has also fished well.

Clear water is being released through Shannon Lagoon for downstream use. Brown trout have been cruising and will readily take a dry fly, shallow running lure or bait.

March/April is a good time to target rainbows in the wind lanes on the West Coast lakes. Lake Burbury and Lake Mackintosh have been fishing well to these midge feeders. Those that have fished from a boat in the wind lanes know it can be quite frantic when you find a patch of fish.

Fish have been active in taking mudeyes at Talbots Lagoon (Camping available at Waratah) in low light periods. This compliments the mayfly feeders during the day. Static nymph fishing has also been accounting for fish, either under an indicator or large dry fly.

There were some nice brown trout recorded in the recent survey at Lake Crescent. Fish up to 4.8 kg but more interestingly some small fish too, showing that there has been natural recruitment.

There are reports of solid brown trout being caught at Lake Sorell. Despite the dry summer the level remains high, and it is expected that fishing in this water will continue to build to its former glory in the coming season.

At Little Pine Lagoon the concrete boat ramp has been poured and the landing will be complete in coming weeks providing better access for boat anglers. The level is being held low to allow this work to be completed. The low water level offers good shore based angling to tailing fish.

Happy Easter from everyone at IFS and stay safe on the water - our compliance team will be out and about so say Hi!

What makes a good trout fly?
Some time ago I recall a conversation in our shop about colour of flies and which colours are best for trout. James (Sinnamon) has a science degree, all I have is experience – and I read a lot. I told him about a book in my collection by New Zealander, Tony Orman – ‘Trout with Nymph’. It features a chapter which, to me, is profound – Chapter 8 ‘Supernormal Releasers’.
This chapter talks about animal behavior and how some features of an animal attracts mates, feeding triggers or danger. Simple animals, it says, do not look at a whole object. There are usually some simple features which they recognise and trigger them. In particular it discusses stickleback fish and how the female fish recognise males by a big red patch. Replace a fish with a piece of wood and a bigger red patch and the females get even more excited than the real thing. This is a ‘supernormal releaser’.
Orman says ‘if we could include a supernormal releaser in the artificial, it would be taken even in preference to a natural’. Orman does not attempt an exact resemblance, but a caricature that may have, shape, size, colour, sink rate or some other overly prominent feature highlighted.
He experiments on a trout and when he finds a fly that the fish will take every time he sticks religiously to that pattern. He says the development of a super pattern may take several seasons.
Trout with Nymph was written in 1974 and you would do well to try and find a copy.
        
Perhaps RED is a supernormal releaser?
Some of the below is from ‘Gink and Gasoline’ JANUARY 29, 2024 / BY LOUIS CAHILL
‘Ever watch a trout refuse your dry fly and wonder what he saw that he didn’t like? A trout’s eye serves the same purpose as ours but it functions in a very different way. The subject of how trout see the world is a complicated one but the basics are well worth your time. Understanding how the fish eye works can help you imagine the watery world they see, and it may give you some insight that will help you catch them. The following are some simple principals to keep in mind.’
‘Water is a poor conductor of light. It affects the way fish see color as well as their visual acuity. Water absorbs light at different rates depending on its wavelength or color. Long wavelength light, colors like red and orange, are absorbed quickly while short wavelengths like blue and violet are absorbed more slowly. This means that as light passes through more and more water, warm colors fade to black while cooler colors fade more slowly. Overall, as a fish moves into deeper water his environment becomes darker, at which point the biology of the fish’s eye affects his perception of color as well.
‘It is not necessary however for a fish to be in deep water for its vision to be affected by the absorption of light. The rules hold true for a fish in shallow water, viewing an object at a distance. A red streamer, for example, that is running at a depth of one foot, where there is plenty of red light, will appear black to a fish viewing it from fifteen feet away. As the fish closes on the fly, however, the red will become vivid. The same would not be true at a depth of fifteen feet. At that depth the fly would remain black to the fish, even at close range.
Ultraviolet light, which we do not see but trout do, is scattered in water. Colors like white and reflective materials like flash are visible to fish at long distances but may appear blurred by this effect. These flies will get a fish’s attention from a distance and become sharper as the fish draws near.
THE BIOLOGY OF A TROUT’S EYE
‘The biology of a trout’s eye is similar to ours in some ways and very different in others. Their eye has an iris, a lens and a retina with both cone cells and rod cells, much like our eyes, but each functions in a different manner. The human iris or pupil dilates and constricts to regulate the amount of light reaching the retina. The trout’s iris is fixed and the retina itself adapts to changing light levels. Human eyes focus by changing the shape of the lens. A trout’s eye focuses by moving the lens closer to, or further from, the retina. The trout’s vision is very sharp in its focus but its depth of field, to use a photographic term, is limited.
‘The function of the trout’s eye which is of most interest to anglers is the adaptation of the retina to changing light conditions. To understand how it works we must first understand the cone and rod cells themselves. Cone cells see color and require bright light. The trout has four different types of cone cells. Humans only have three. Each type of cone cell is sensitive to a different wavelength of light. The trout’s extra cone cells see the UV spectrum and in some species dwindle with age. The trout’s eye is also more sensitive to the red spectrum than the human’s. The color it has the least ability to discern is green and the color it sees best is blue. Rod cells are very sensitive in low light and give the trout excellent night vision. These cells do not see color. To the rod cell the world is black and white.
‘During times of bright light the trout’s retina is dominated by the cone cells giving it very precise color vision. Still, the fish’s ability to discern color and its visual acuity are governed by the physics of its watery environment. As the light becomes lower the retina adapts. The cone cells recede and the sensitive rod cells are exposed, engaging the trout’s night vision and turning the world slowly to black and white. This is a physical change and takes time. The trout, like almost all fish, experiences a brief period of diminished vision as conditions change.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO THE ANGLER
‘The idea is simple. Under bright conditions trout see color very well and in dim conditions they do not. It becomes a bit trickier when we start to define bright and dim conditions. Obviously a sunny day is bright but not to a trout sitting at the bottom of a deep pool. At a depth of ten feet much of the light has been absorbed and all of the red spectrum is gone. A trout sitting in shallow water on a sunny day will discern color very well at close range but not when looking at a submerged object ten feet away.
'Another important thing to remember is the fish’s point of view. A fish sees a submerged object with greater clarity and color than an object on the surface. 'The refractive index of its cornea is almost exactly that of water, meaning a fish sees much more clearly through water than air. In addition, objects on the surface are backlight from the fish’s perspective, appearing mostly as silhouette. This makes it hard for a fish to see the color of a dry fly.
'Color that is not opaque, like the translucent body of a mayfly, is much easier the fish to see. This is why dry flies with loose dubbing, translucent wing material or flash underwings work so well. It is also one of the reasons that flies which sit in the film, like parachute patterns, are effective.
'What trout respond to primarily in surface patterns is the impression of the fly on the surface film. The dimples on the surface caused by the weight of the fly resting on the water are a powerful trigger and their profile tells the trout that the object is likely to be food. These impressions focus the light, causing bright spots. 
'Flies and indicators are not the only tackle that create these impressions. It is often the bright dimples from curly tippet that give it away to fish. This is why I fish dry flies on fluorocarbon tippet. It sinks and vanishes. 
'The important thing is to understand how the fish sees in a variety of conditions and what the triggers are that make him eat. Armed with this information you can make smart choices both on the stream and at the vise. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Trust your gut and see what works. Just try to see it his way.'
More on RED
If you got this far I congratulate you. We have two separate sources that talk about triggers and vision – some of which is about colour and how powerful red is close up. Think about some of the most popular flies and their colour: Red Tag, Royal Wulff, Red and Black Matuka, Woolly Worm (red tail), Red Spinner, Zulu, Humpy and more. Now think about Claret – or dull red. Trout see these dull red colours much brighter that humans do. We now many flies featuring red, sometimes just a hint of the magic colour will change an average fly to one that does extraordinarily well: Claret Nymphs, Claret Dabbler, Sedgehog, Mallard and Claret, Claret Carrot. All of these use Claret seals fur – a product that is getting hard to obtain. Veniard do not export it any more so if you have some treasure it. At Essential Flyfisher we have good stocks, so we will not run out any time soon.
As I am writing this I am also dying seals fur in a variety of colours to rebuild our stock and have included 'Extra Dark Claret' as well as 'Dark Claret' colour - my favourite and a colour I associate with Veniard, once the biggest fly tying suppliers in the World. Along with Black, Dark Claret is the most popular seals fur we sell.
Seals fur can be a little more difficult to dub than some of the modern synthetics, but I don’t believe there is any better dubbing. Its straggly hairy untidy look is exactly what fish love and treat it with a good floatant and you will have a superb floating fly. I use Dark Claret for the body on a Red Tag variant. It is deadly and floats like a cork when floatant is applied. Check out our Seals Fur here.            

Research on animal behaviour
Ethologist Niko Tinbergen won the 1973 Nobel Prize in Biology for his research on instinctive behavior in animals. Tinbergen used various dummies to elicit nurturing, mating, and fighting behaviors. He and his students constructed fake eggs which birds would sit on, artificial female butterflies which male butterflies courted, and models of male fish which other males attacked. Some of the dummies were ingeniously unrealistic to elucidate exactly what characteristics triggered the behaviors. Territorial male stickleback fish will not attack a fish-shaped model if its belly isn’t red, but they violently pursue some very unfish-like models when the underside is red.
Perhaps the most interesting of Tinbergen’s discoveries is that dummies can be devised which surpass the power of any natural stimuli. Tinbergen coined the phrase 'Supernormal Releaser'.

Budget to best 8wt and more 8wt Airflo combo NOW $315 8wt Airflo combo with Redington Behemoth reel $585 NOW $485 Or just need a backup or cheap rod? $195 Check all the Airflo 8, 9, 10 wt combos here. Next level? G Loomis Asquith 8, 9,10 and 11wt in stock.  Sage R8 Salt

The Primal RAW freshwater series of fly rods have the power to launch the whole line, whilst remaining delicate enough to fish short when needed. They feature an ultra-high modulus prepreg of 65 and 57 MSI fibres held together with an extremely strong nano resin. This resin is so strong they were able to reduce the resin content to half of what would normally be used by competitors. This reduces weight and increases the amount you feel through the blank. 

Fitted with sexy customised machine cut skeletal reel seats with double locking rings and stabilised timber inserts. The stripping guide is a titanium framed SIC and the guides are custom light wire single foot guides.

Take our word for it, but they are good rods and super value for money. Come and cast one and feel the difference.

9' are pretty well the standard rod length and great all-rounders, but there is a 9'6" 6wt which is a great boat rod and the 10' #6 and #7 are outstanding boat rods where casting a long line - especially sinking lines, lifting a lot of line from the water and hanging flies is important. 

Combo Outfits with Lamson reels: Primal Raw 4pc fly rod paired with a Lamson Liquid reel and an Airflo Superflo WF5F Fly Line, backing and leader. At Essential we sell 100s of Lamson reels a year. It is a very rare thing to see a warranty or failure. They are bullet proof, all are machined in USA and will never let you down. They are the best value around. Normally setup left hand wind. Let us know if you want right hand wind. This is an outstanding outfit that comes complete and ready to fish.

Shipping is Express and FREE. Check them out.

Our trading hours are changing as daylight savings finishes. 

NOW 9am to 4pm.