Fly fishing the Western Lakes

Tasmania's high wilderness lagoon country west of the A5 — polaroiding over peat-stained water, walking between lakes, wind lanes and shy wild browns in the Central Plateau Conservation Area and the Walls of Jerusalem.

Waters

Lake Augusta

Stillwater · Tasmania

There is a moment on the Western Lakes that anglers spend the rest of the year trying to describe: standing knee-deep on the edge of a lagoon a day’s walk from the car, the sun high and behind you, the wind dropped, polaroids on, and a brown trout the colour of the peat it swims over comes cruising along the shore towards you at the pace of a man walking. You have perhaps twenty seconds to put a fly where it will see it without seeing you. That is the whole fishery.

The country is the Central Plateau of Tasmania west of the Highland Lakes Road, together with the Walls of Jerusalem National Park: a high shelf of dolerite and peat, pencil pines and cushion plants, and more lakes, lagoons and tarns than anyone has named. Great Lake, Arthurs, Little Pine and Penstock sit on the other side of the road in the Central region. The Western Lakes are the country beyond.

The fish are wild browns, with rainbows in some waters, and in our experience they are fewer and more selective than the fish to the east. This is sight-fishing and searching, not covering a famous pool. In our experience they cruise the edges and the wind lanes, tailing in the shallows and working the drop-offs when the sun is high. Bright high cloud and a light breeze beat a perfect calm, because the fish are harder to spot on glass and the wind puts food on the water. A long leader, a slow approach on the peat, the discipline to walk past empty water, and one cast ahead of a cruising fish will take you further than a full box.

The season is short and weather-bound. December to February is the best polaroiding window, with long days and dry-fly fishing to mayfly feeders; in our experience autumn can be good on settled days until the weather turns. Give it a full day, not an hour stolen from Great Lake, and walk in with a map and a weather window. If the plateau is closed in, fish the stillwaters east of the road and come back when you can see.

Do not walk in on a forecast you would not walk out on.

The country

The Central Plateau west of the A5: a high, glaciated shelf of dolerite and peat, dotted with lakes, lagoons and tarns from the size of a paddock to the size of a small town, cushion plant and pencil pine between them, and weather that comes across from the west with nothing to slow it down. Walls of Jerusalem National Park is one of the popular ways in.

The fishing

Sight-fishing and searching, not covering a famous pool. In our experience the browns cruise the edges and the wind lanes, tailing in the shallows and working the drop-offs when the sun is high, and you see them or you do not. Bright, high cloud and a light breeze are worth more than a perfect calm day, because the fish are harder to spot on glass and the wind puts food on the water. When the surface is up, look for the lee shore and for the colour change where a lagoon shallows.

The fish are mostly wild brown trout, with rainbows in some waters, and in our experience they punish a heavy footfall on the peat. A dry that sits in the film, a small nymph on a long dropper, and the willingness to wait out a cruising fish and cast once, ahead of it, will take you further than changing flies. Polaroids are not optional. Nor is the map.

Where to start

Give the Western Lakes a full day, not an hour stolen from Great Lake. Walk in with a map, a weather window and a plan to reach water you can actually polaroid; if the plateau is closed in, fish the Central region lakes east of the A5 and come back when you can see. The fishery rewards the walk and the looking more than a named route. Choose a route that fits the weather window. The national brown trout page covers the fish, and the Adams and Klinkhåmer pages cover the dries that sit in the film.

Through the year

The season is short and weather-bound. Early in the season, tailing fish are the draw in shallow, weedy waters that fill with winter rain and snowmelt. December to February is the best polaroiding window: long days, dry-fly fishing to mayfly feeders from late December, and the best chance of seeing fish before they see you. In our experience autumn can be good on settled days, until the weather turns. Do not walk in on a forecast you would not walk out on.

Rules and access

Seasons, methods, limits and licence requirements change; check the current Tasmanian Inland Fishing Code before you fish. A lagoon on the map is not a right of way, and a track on the plateau is not always a track on the ground.