An expedition into the wilds...

Cameron and I have been singularly unsuccesful in arranging fishing trips. We finally managed to get away.

Originally, the trip was billed as 'an afternoon on the Tyenna'. But speaking to Cameron the day before, he wanted to try the Weld. Our last trip was a disaster, but armed with a map, we new exactly where to go. So we packed up the pajero and drove down towards the airwalk at Tahune. Cameron's plan was to go via the forestry roads rather than the bitumen, so we got to see a lot of nice country. We were looking for the turn off back up to the other side of the weld river. When we hit Tahune we realised we had missed the turn off! A discussion with a forestry employee revealed that the road was shut for forestry operations, so we had to go the plan B.

The Picton river joins the Huon at Tahune. There is a short walk to a swinging bridge over the Picton, so we decided to walk to the bridge and try the Picton near the bridge. Cameron had a pack with him, but I only had my wader bag, so I stuffed all into the bag and slung it over my shoulder.

The walk up the trail to the swinging bridge was quite pretty. After a short distance we encountered a sign of a parent holding a childs hand and a side trail. A bit further there was another sign with a picture of a ball, and another side trail. But the main trail was easy to see, and we followed it along. There were several more side trails, but then the main trail just pettered out, with no swinging bridge. We kept on, but the trail by now was more of a game track. After a bit we turned back, but when we got to the main trail again, there was no bridge or fishable water. We decided to try the 'game track' for a bit longer, and walked a good 500m further up. With no swinging bridge in sifght, we turned back to just find somewhere to fish. Just then we met two travellers from Denmark, who were also looking for the bridge, and had a map. We were all confused, with no bridge or good trail in sight, so we continued on. Eventually the trail hit the Picton river and ended. Still with no bridge.

We fished for about an hour, but we couldnt get up or down the river. There wasnt as much as a sign of a fish, though I thought I had a strike. It could just have easily been a twig sticking up that my fly nicked. Stymied, we packed up and headed back.

Getting back to the air walk we looked at the swinging bridge on the map and the associated pictures very carefully, only to see they were an 'artists impression'. The Bridge hadn't been built yet!

New years Day part 2

Feeling grumpy, I decided to just blow the coop and go fishing. Went up to the Tyenna, only to find every man and their uncle was fishing their. Found the weir was covered in bait fishers, so I parked and went upstream. In the first pool I dropped a royal coachman in the shade behind a willow and immediately got a nice brown. In the next pool I got no results, but a bit later spotted a bunch of fish and got another immediate rise -- another beautiful (but small) brown. After that I missed a couple, but found the river overgrown, the weather hot, and another horde of fishermen had arrived. Tried a couple of new spots, then went home, grumpy mood removed :)

New years Day part 1

Got up early and drove down the Bellerive Bluff. Was thinking of trying for bream -- but just couldnt get up the motivation. Tried letting soft plastics sink to the bottom. Got 4 flathead in short time, then the tide changed and the fishing suddenly stopped. Decided to go home after an hour.