FlyLife Australia & New Zealand — Winter 2017

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trout, offering a uniquely diverse array
of sight-fishing opportunities, but expe-
riencing the very best of it requires a
somewhat irrational decision to delib-
erately avoid finding lots of trout.

THE CHOICE
Many first-time or infrequent visitors
will find the fishing for polaroided,
tailing and spinner-feeding trout in
the Western Lakes captivating and
fulfilling. There is no doubt that the
unique scenery and the colourfully
marked brown trout in clear shallow
waters make any walk into this coun-
try a memorable experience. But most
who decide to push a little further or
to spend more time ‘out west’ will do
their research. Immersion in the local
trout bible (Trout Waters of Tasma-
nia by Greg French) and looking too
hard at the map for too long inevi-
tably leads to a particular conscious
choice: instream lake fishing — heading
to lakes scattered along creek systems
where numerous opportunities might
be expected for fish of typical size; or
dead-end searching — exploring promis-
ing tarns at the dead-end headwaters
of waterways, where limited recruit-
ment means fewer, but bigger fish.
These options aren’t mutually exclu-
sive. Many walking itineraries can in-
clude a bit of both, and a common

choice is to set up camp by an in-
stream lake for more opportunities at
dawn and dusk, regardless of plans for
the day. But choosing the dead-end
searching option does require dedi-
cating the very best days and times
of the day to searching lakes in which
you are actually hoping there are not
so many trout, and where you stand
a decent chance of not seeing any
at all. Dead-end searching requires a
steely resolve to hook the fly in the
rod guide and look straight ahead
when making a beeline towards lakes
chosen a priori. Any sideways glances

at instream tarns along the way will

likely result in the day quickly ‘lost’ to

awesome fishing for 2–3 lb fish. Who

would want this?

THE SEARCHER’S SACRIFICE

Dead-end searching is a long-term

commitment, and is almost always

choosing the path of fewer fish. But

it can hardly be considered making

a sacrifice. It is partly about quality

over quantity, not just in terms of fish

size, but also in terms of the fishing

itself. It is also about exploration and

discovery. The more lakes searched,

the more likely that perfect lake will

be found — one that matches per-

sonal ideals for scenery and fishing.

These do exist in the Western Lakes,

and not even closely studying Google

Earth or scanning all relevant FlyLife

articles will spoil the surprises that

await. Dead-end searching also pro-

vides invaluable context. Sometimes

you may even be able to update your

definition of extraordinary.

As you can probably imagine by

now, a transition from choosing in-

stream options to dead-end searching

seems inevitable for those who spend

The encounters may be fewer when searching headwaters, but the fish are usually bigger.

DEAD-END SEARCHING IS A

LONG-TERM COMMITMENT, AND IS ALMOST

ALWAYS CHOOSING THE PATH OF FEWER FISH.

Map consultation to confirm suspicions.

GREG FRENCH

GREG FRENCH