FROM TOP
TO BOTTOM
Why an Australian Fly Fishing Adventure might be your biggest challenge yet
WORDS TIM McGLONE
FROM TOP
TO BOTTOM
Why an Australian Fly-Fishing Adventure might be your biggest challenge yet
WORDS TIM McGLONE
FROM TOP
TO BOTTOM
Why an Australian Fly-Fishing Adventure might be your biggest challenge yet
WORDS TIM McGLONE
Looking for a challenge? Say no more. Epic saltwater fly fishing is for you.
That’s the advice from Peter Broomhall, a guide for Aussie Fly Fisher based in Latrobe, Tasmania.
“I always say to people that if you had to catch a fish and your life depended on it, you certainly wouldn’t go fly fishing,” he says.
“But my belief is that fly fishing is the top of the tree, so to speak. People that started off bait and lure fishing, they’re always looking for the next challenge that’s out there - well, this is it.
“In reality trout are reasonably easy to catch on bait and lures. You’re just adding an extra challenge to it, and I think it’s the challenge that attracts a lot of people, to be honest.”
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No less than 3,486km separate Weipa on the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, on the northern tip of Australia, from Broomhall’s hometown of Latrobe, on the banks of the Mersey River in Tasmania.
These two locations represent the northern and southern extremes of Aussie Fly Fisher’s operations in Australia. Locally owned and operated, the company offer single & multi day, curated, hosted and bespoke tours right across the country.
You're guaranteed to be greeted with vastly different colours on a fly fishing trip to Australia's north (left) vs the south (right).
Importantly, they offer trips that suit everyone from the diehard dry fly fanatic to those who have never held a rod and reel, let alone a fly reel.
There are tours through NSW’s Blue and Snowy Mountains, along the Murray, and even up to the Wessel Islands off the coast of mainland Northern Territory.
In a country as geographically diverse as Australia’s, this is going to mean an extraordinary breadth of fishing adventures.
Trachinotus anak permit (giant oystercracker) are one of around 25 different species of fish on offer at Cape York.
On paper, a fly fishing trip in the humid, tropical north would offer a completely different experience to one down south, in Peter’s neck of the woods.
For starters, predominantly fishing in saltwater in the north means different species to the brown trout that is on most fishermen’s mind when heading south.
Peter recently returned from his first fishing expedition to Cape York. He believes there are as many parallels to be drawn as there are differences when it comes to fly fishing at either end of the country.
“There’s a lot of similarities, to be honest,” he says.
Peter says the principles of fly fishing stay the same, whether you're in the north or the south.
Scouting.
“Most of my fishing is sight fishing. Up north you’ll get teams that will put a boat on the water and go out and fish deep, with wet fly's across weed beds, and they’ll pull up trout. I try to find the fish first, and so in that regard, the sight fishing is reasonably similar.
“I think in Tasmania with trout, the hardest thing is to get the fish to eat the fly, so up north you rely a lot on your gear and the drags on your reels and things like that, whereas trout fishing it’s all about the cast and getting the cast right; the fight can actually be a bit of an anticlimax in a lot of cases.
“I’d say that’s the big difference, yes there are a lot of similarities but there’s some pretty big differences in the way the fish fight… some of those tropical speedsters up there in the north, they certainly test you out that’s for sure.”
Dramatic, red landscapes are common along the Cape York Peninsula.
Cape York offers a ‘final frontier’ of sorts for fishermen, with the chance to catch the famed T.anak (giant oystercracker), endemic to Australia and a renowned fish for fly fisherman especially. There’s around 25 different species in total, including blue bastards, golden trevally, tuskfish and giant trevally.
Although remote, there are daily flights to Weipa from Cairns, making this rugged and dramatic outpost more accessible than you might initially think. Dramatic, rugged and mostly red landscapes greet those that make it — which isn’t a great deal of Australians.
Tasmania's diversity of waters is one of it's biggest drawcards, according to Peter.
At the other end of the scale (and map) is Tasmania, which could hardly offer up a starker geographic contrast.
“I think the best thing about the Tasmanian experience is that there’s such a diversity of different waters,” says Peter.
“From tiny little creeks you can step across without getting wet, through to slightly bigger streams and then the bigger rivers, and then lake country.
“You jump in, even in a small stream you’ll get in and walk up in the stream, crossing from bank-to-bank, fishing all the best runs.”
While the object of any fishing trip is the catch, Peter acknowledges it is no longer how he measures his days.
He says being a part of the unique Tasmanian landscape, and the ecosystem that sits within it, is emphasized when fly fishing.
The fight begins.
“You do feel like you are closer to nature when you’re fly fishing.”
“You notice more things, whether it be the insects hatching, the birds or the wildlife or things like that. You slow down a bit, and it’s not all about catching a fish.
Brown trout are the go-to in Tasmania.
Platypus are a common sight in Tasmania, a thrill for Australian and international travellers alike.
“On our streams and lakes there are so many platypus, people are amazed. There’s quoll or a Tassie Devil out in the wild. And it’s things like that which can make your day, even if you don’t catch any fish.
“But hopefully you do.”
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