# Tas. Lake Barrington "Wish you were here"



## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I popped into the tackle shop this morning to grab some gear before my trip to Lake Barrington - some 4lb vanish to use as leader, a couple of lures and some advice - namely to launch at the bridge and fish the narrower part of the lake.
As I drove up, I thought to myself "this will probably be like thise Lake Tinaroo trips, lots of excitement pre-trip, but hours of trolling, no fish and a resolve to never go back." In my internet research, I'd discovered that this was supposed to be one tought lake to fish, with some people claming one trip in 30 yielding fish.
I was chasing Trout, with a thought that maybe i'd luck an Atlantic Salmon - this lake is renowned for large salmon (up to 20kg).










After I launched, I trolled in a downstream direction, with 2 rods trolling. One was my "shark" rod that I recently built, teamed with my TDA4000, 20lb braid and 14lb fluoro leader. The other was my T-Curve 1-3kg teamed with my Twin power 2500, 10lb braid and 4lb fluoro leader. I also had a casting rod spooled with 4lb fluoro right through on my Exceller 1500.
Twenty minutes or so in and the light trolling rod snagged. Then the snag moved into midstream! I was on to a serious lump of a fish. The fish jumped several times before I got the fish near the yak, close enough to see that it was a salmon well over 1m. I got the net out and was fighting to get the 2nd trolled rod in when it happened! I had the drag too tight for 4lb leader (I've never fished this light before) and the line broke at the leader knot. I was devastated! Seriously and utterly devastated. i figured this was my one chance for a good fish for the day and I blew it.
nothing to do but re-rig (using the 14lb fluoro), tie on a new lure and keep going.









Small brown trout

Near on an hour later, I had landed a few small brown trout on the casting line and was trolling it hoping for more trout when it was hit by a mother of a fish. I cleared the other line, got the net out and proceeded to fight the fish (another salmon, smaller than the last but still very large) for the best part of 30 minutes. Then again...... distaster! This reel has a dodgy anti-reverse and when I took my hand off to adjust the rudder, it spun backwards creating the mother of all tangles. I figured the fish was close to exhausted and my only chance was to handline him in a bit and go for the net. I got him to the yakside, but as the net touched him, he broke the line and swam off.










Well, you could hear my shouting from Devonport I reckon. This time I'd really blown it.
Nothing to be gained though, so off i went again, trolling the proper lines this time. Another hour in and the heavy rod buckled. Yes!, finally I was over-gunned rather than under. This fish was in the net within 3 minutes and i finally had my Atlantic Salmon.










Setting off again, I'd gone about 50m when the light rod went off and boy did it go off. This fish jumped several times and the fight lasted 20 minutes or so before he joined his mate in the yak. This one was slightly larger.
Now it was time to head back, I'd been on the water for 3 hours and would need to be back well before dark as the mountains would be cutting the light off early. 
I managed to troll up a 38cm brown trout on the was back, but the salmon were absent.









38cm brown trout

Then at 6:30, I snagged my light line and had to go and unhook it. As i cast it out and pedalled off, It was hit and hit hard. This fish jumped 7 or 8 times and was really fighting hard. Once i got it close to the yak I could see that the lure was in the back of it's head and not real secure. I tried not to put too much hurt on to avoid the hooks pulling, but after 30 minutes of fighting I felt I had to tighten it a bit and take the risk. these fish seem to have a pattern to their fight, they move into midstream, jump a bit, go on a few runs, then circle deep below the yak. This fish was larger than the last two and I had a lot of trouble bringing him up when he went deep. I got him near the yak 3 or 4 times, but each time the sight of the net would send him on another run. Finally i got him in position to net and the net hit the lure, pulled the hooks and the fish was free. In a twist, the line had wrapped around his belly and held him briefly against the yak. I made a lunge for him, but this was enough to give him a burst of energy and off he swam. Bugger!



















I pedalled to the upside of the bridge where I saw something in the shallows. I cast my line at it and was rewarded with watching another salmon follow the lure back to the yak.
In total for the day, I caught 8 trout and 2 salmon, but lost 3 more salmon that I really should have landed.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

That was a great read Junglefisher and, by the sounds of it, the large number of anglers who've lucked out over the years would be extremely jealous of your fish whispering skills.

Well done!

I love the second photo and reckon you should enter it in the photo comp.


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## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

To bad about the ones that got away,but you've got to be happy with the couple you got and the trout,awesome stuff.
If it only fishes good 1 out of 30,you picked the right one.


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## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

Onya Craig, i was thinking about you last night wondering how you got on. Enjoy eating those beautiful salmon.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## scorpio (Dec 15, 2009)

WOW!!! What a great report.


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## FHM (Mar 21, 2008)

Very nice report and great catch on those beautiful salmon. I am envy of you because Altantic Salmon are my favourite fish. Might do a trip down to Tasmania soon.


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## Melbit (Jun 24, 2008)

Bloody hell Craig...brilliant fish!! Great report of a successful outing.


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## vertigrator (Jul 25, 2006)

Good stuff Junglefisher. You are nailing some good Tassie fish. 8)

I feel your pain on thos salmon. They can be slippery buggers! It can be fairly common to lose more than you land on light tackle and also their fighting tactics can have them throwing hooks with metre plus jumps out of the water.

I'm looking forward to more reports of your Tassie adventures.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Cracking fish Craig!  What a magic spot


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## suehobieadventure (Feb 17, 2009)

Awesome I really want to do a yak trip in Tassie maybe next year  Great report seriously nice fish.


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## DougOut (Dec 31, 2006)

Tas. Lake Barrington "Wish you were here"  I'll drink to That.  
also like the new avatar Craig ..... very Apple Isl. ;-)


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

Brilliant report that should be destined for both photo comp and report comp entries. I really can't wait for my April trip now  . Thanks for sharing a great day.


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## kanganoe (Apr 30, 2008)

You did good there mate.Horrible to lose the good ones but you got the good result.


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## cam07 (Sep 12, 2008)

good to see youre still getting round and getting into some good fish have fun chat soon


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