Easter fishing goes off

CARL HYLAND EASTER fishing was sensational around the state with my phone running hot from people telling of some sensational captures.

Albacore have turned up in great numbers along the East Coast and down around the South-East.

These are among my favourite tuna as they are also favoured by many anglers. They go like freight trains and taste sensational when prepared for the table correctly.

Albacore can grow to 1.4m long but rarely reach that length around our state. They predate mainly on squid and small cuttlefish, and small fish.

This species is highly migratory, meaning they may be in a certain area one day, but gone the next.

They’re best killed immediately if keeping for the table and this is done by brain spiking.

The fillets of albacore are pale and firm and this fish for those who don’t know, is called the chicken of the sea because of it similarity to chicken.

When my son was a little tacker would never consume fish, so my wife prepared the albacore I had caught as nuggets, and we told him they were chicken. A dab of tomato sauce and he never looked back.

There are many ways to prepare them and there are literally loads of recipes on the internet.

A hot spot at the moment is Bellerive Bluff in the South where many tailor and Australian salmon are being caught.

One gentleman who was fishing from the rocks told of something being hooked and then taking off like a freight train. He had no hope of turning it and it nearly spooled him. The hooks pulled and whatever it was kept going.

I keep receiving reports similar to this from anglers who fish this location all the time. Good heavy rods are required, say 5kg and upwards, heavy braid (about 50 pounds) and good, firm hooks.

I would suggest that the big fish being hooked and lost would be kingfish, as quite a few have been taken from here, along with snapper and even tuna over the years.

This is the last month of the brown trout season and it’s the time to catch some good fish.

The Tyenna River is fishing well as are tributaries such as the Russell and Denison.

Lake Barrington is also fishing well with anglers floating baits out past bulrushes pulling in some late evening feisty salmon and solid rainbow trout. A mud eye would be deadly here I reckon.

Mudeyes are the larval stage of the dragon fly and are best obtained from around bulrushes at the location you are fishing. You are not allowed by law to transport mudeyes from one water to another and this also applies to other baits as well. The full list of what you can use in inland waters is available at the Inland Fisheries Service website: www.ifs.tas.gov.au.

River surveys by the Inland Fisheries Service have taken place recently using electro backpack fishing.

Trout from both the Meander and South Esk rivers were found in outstanding condition.

Good numbers of native fish were found with many blackfish and eels present in both rivers.

Three sites were assessed between Meander and Deloraine, with 53 trout sampled. Of these fish, 34 were takeable (greater that 220mm in length). The largest fish captured was 422mm, with the average size of the takeable fish roughly 330mm.

Two sites on the upper South Esk River have been assessed so far.

Lots of trout were present at the Upper Esk Road Bridge. There were 113 fish taken from this stretch, mainly fry, showing that the future of the South Esk River trout fishery is looking bright.

Twenty fish were greater than 220mm (takeable size) in this short section of river.

Griffin Park was the other site Inland Fisheries assessed on the South Esk. Here they found 20 brown trout — 17 were of takeable size with the largest being 324mm.