Went to Bellerive bluff at 6:30 am -- left about 7:30 am. One flathead caught when I had a tangle on my reel, and let the lure sink to the bottom. No cocky salmon. A fisherman there had caught a couta before I arrived, and apparently had seen a 10lb sea run trout there the week before.

Went to Arthurs on the way to Launceston. A COLD and rainy day. There was a massive front I had to drive through, with driving rain and high winds. But I saw blue sky behind the rain, so I kept on driving.

Tried to fish the Lagoon of Islands, but couldnt find the road in (I bought a map to figure that out later). So I went to the cowpaddock.

Got a fish on an olive wooly bugger. It was small and skinny, with not much fight. It eventually got off. A bit later I was fishing between some trees. My cast hooked around a tree, and a nice 1.5lb brown slammed the wooly bugger. Lots of fight, and a strong, healthy fish! My first Arthurs fish!!!

A little later my line was tangled. As I was untangling the line a fish hit the stationary fly and peeled of line. But I couldnt respond due to the tangle, and lost it.

Saw 5 kangaroos and a bunny.

Went to Bellerive Bluff, as I needed a break from 'Statistics for Managers'. I tried to get Alex to come, but he was too tired. Probably a good idea -- it was freezing, and windy.

There was a cast of thousands on the bluff, but not much catching. After 30 mins I hooked a good salmon. No one else caught anything. After an hour I gave up and came home.

Experts at Arthurs

Had to drive to Hobart for a course. So I took the opportunity to swing via Arthurs on the way down. The conditions were perfect -- a leaden sky, with a slight wind, and a cool but not cold temperature. I drove into the cowpaddock, and suited up with my new intermediate line. Attached a green wooley bugger, and off to the races -- hopefully.

After scrambling over the rocks and through the scrub to get to the lake, I found I was about 50 yards away from two other fishermen. They were both expert, carefully searching for fish.

I waded out slowly, and started flicking the wooly bugger out there. My new line cast beautifully -- I couldn't belive how well it cast! There was no fly life, so I was blind casting for fish. If only I could find some ....

After 30 mins one of the other fishermen gave a grunt. I looked over in time to see a nice fish go airborn about 100 yards away. So the fish were there! The fishermen were exchanging comments, and like all good fishermen I tried to eavesdrop to get a clue. I couldn't pick up much, but one thing I did get was 'it was a gentle touch'.

After an hour my bugger hit weed between two tussocks. 2 casts later it hit weed again. Since numerous casts between the tussocks both before and after had hit no weed, I think it was a fish short striking twice. And that was not the only short strike I got -- as it got darker I got more and more gentle taps. Now one of them did result in a lily pad leaf being attached to a hook. But I am sure others were short strikes. Finally, it was dark, and I decided to have a few more castsbefore going in. I got a hard hit, but no hookup. After a few more tries I decided I HAD to leave if I wanted to be able to find the car in the dark. So I left, and Arthurs still has me beaten. I've lost track of the trips there, but STILL no fish from Arthurs!

I saw lots of wildlife on the drive back:

23 kangaroos
2 possums
1 wombat
1 rabbit
1 deer -- I have never seen a wild deer in Tas before.

Jim was up to stay for business, and we foolishly decided to head off for an early morning jaunt before we started work.

It all started well, with a 4:30 am start getting us on the river just after dawn. I loaned Jim a rod, but he didnt have waders, so he used some boots he had for work on building sites.

We tried Brumbies Creek at fieshermans lane, near Cressy. We parked at the parking lot, and worked our way upstream. Brumbies was running high, but not totally unfishable.

After 45 minutes to an hour I finally got a fish -- a good 12" brown. But we were running out of wadeable river, and it was cold, so I offered Jim a breakfast at McDonalds. We headed back to the car and, of course, the car wouldnt start. I called RACT, only to be told my membership had expired -- it ran out last year and the renewal went to the old address. I couldnt renew my membership, as I had lost my wallet 3 days before, and didnt have replacement credit cards. And then my mobile phone battery went flat.

Oh crap!

Fortunately, Jim had both a functioning credit card and a functioning mobile phone. After use of his equipment we then had to wait for the RACT guy to show up.

15 minutes later a battered pickup appeared. Was this RACT? Low and behold it was -- but he was also the local school bus driver, and he kept pointing out that he had to rush, as he had a school bus run!

In the end we had water in the engine from driving through puddles to get to the river. The guy sprayed wd40 and we were right to go. But not without a lot of anxiety and money first! But was is a fishing trip without a disaster :)

Went to the north esk to try my luck.

Started at Cora Lynn. The river was high and tea coloured. It was too fast to wade, so I moved upstream to try the meadow stretch. The water was slower, but chocolate milk. No fish to be seen, and gave up after 30 minutes and came home.

Saw 3 kangaroos and 2 platypus though.