# Tas - Brushy lagoon, and what license fees get for us.



## spork (Jan 21, 2012)

After getting a last minute day off and chatting on FB with my mate John we decided to have a crack @ Brushy Lagoon yesterday. It was recently stocked with atlantic salmon, and word was that fisheries would be putting some rainbows in yesterday afternoon.

I arrived @ the dam wall and got the 'yak ready to launch. Still no John. Checked my 'phone, he'd decided to launce from the boat ramp. Not to worry, small lake, I'll find him.

While unloading I saw a couple of fish being caught from the dam wall, so I wen't for a bit of a walk and talk. One bloke had a pair of good salmon, and some other young blokes had 4 fat fish already. Various colours and lures seemed to be working, although some were fishless.

Heading out I saw a familiar sight, John's outback, with his youngest son Oscar on the back. By the time I got close to them Oscar was hooked up on a solid fish. I videoed the catching of this beast (will put up a link when it's edited). John netted the fish, but all the rodwork was done by young Oscar. He's a born angler!

I took a still photo too:









Not too long after young Oscar was into another one!
I also filmed that battle, but didn't get a still photo as I was too busy trying to get my own fish to bite.

Most of the people fishing from the wall were catching fish, often almost at their feet. Those of us on the water were doing it a bit harder, and I was still fishless after numerous lure changes. John had only had one hook up, before I got there, right next to the 'yak. After the fish took some line and gave him some space he passed his rod to Oscar, who proved he's human after all by dropping the fish.

Plan B. 
Apparently fisheries were going to stock some rainbows @ the ramp after mid-day, so we headed to there.

Oscar gutted and gilled his salmon, they weighed 6 and 7 pounds, the shorter fatter one being the 7 pounder. He could hardly hold them both up!










It was about 2:00 pm when the big tanker truck finally arrived,








and quite a mob had gathered in anticipation. Pink SP's were the weapon of choice.
We pedaled into position:









All very exciting:









Pretty crowded on the shore, most there bagged out pretty quick (2 fish over 600 mm is the limit here)









John got a 'bow, Oscar got 2 and lost one. Out of pity Oscar gave me a fish to take home. They had to leave, although both would have loved to stay. I tried a heavier jig head (was using the exact same lure - from the same pack, as John and Oscar had been) and tried fishing from the bank as many had already left. No joy.

Pleased to have a fish for dinner (I was under strict instructions) but disappointed I hadn't caught it I put the rod in the holder, filled my mug with water and drifted towards where I'd parked. The wind was up so I was drifting @ a good pace. This is a shot from a bit earlier, the wind had picked up more by now.









To my surprise, about 100 - 150m from the spot the fish had been released, my rod bent over!
At last - I was ON! No jumps, this fish fought deep for several minutes before coming up. Then he fought doggedly on top, just out of reach of my net for what felt like another few minutes. At last, he came close enough for me to get the net under and hoist him into the 'yak. OK, I's "just" a stocky, but still my biggest ever trout and I was stoked. He'd woofed the Strike Tiger 3" grub in "Princess pink" well down his gob, but as soon as I gave some slack line he spat it out! The fish was subdued and stowed in my fish bag after posing for a photo.









A friendly fisherperson where I'd launched from took this pic for / of me.


----------



## paulsod (Dec 28, 2008)

Bloody Nice!! No pun was intended.


----------



## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

Sweet dreams are made of these!

Best fun you could ever have


----------



## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

What a day and what strange looking fish. I'm still not used to seeing Atnlantic Salmon.


----------



## mitchmcm (Jul 23, 2010)

That's crazy, so they would have been stocked in there that day and they were already hitting lures. Well done I want to go to tassie hahaha


----------



## 4weightfanatic (May 19, 2011)

Huge effort ! Those fish are thumpers imagine one on a light fly rod oh yeah ! I'm surprised to see fish that advanced being released are they ex-brood stock ? It does look a tad on the chilly side though my toes are numb just looking at that wind on water pic. Thanks for sharing. Cheers Pat.


----------



## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

4weightfanatic said:


> Huge effort ! Those fish are thumpers imagine one on a light fly rod oh yeah ! I'm surprised to see fish that advanced being released are they ex-brood stock ? It does look a tad on the chilly side though my toes are numb just looking at that wind on water pic. Thanks for sharing. Cheers Pat.


Yeah, they release a lot of ex-brood stock into the smaller lakes that are near the cities.
They try and keep it secret when it's going to happen as the fish will often swim in circles and hit anything in front of their face.
Being farmed fish, they are used to the only things in the water being pellets and other fish so anything you get in front of them, they'll hit.


----------

