Twin Lakes
Ian Ainslie inspects a private fishery in Tasmania's south east.
What does it take to get a group of fishing industry professionals jumping around and yelling like a room full of teenage schoolgirls at a concert? Little more than a plentiful supply of large rainbows willing to eat flies, and an invitation to fish for them.
That’s the scene that greeted Brad Harris and myself as we entered the car park at Twin Lakes in south-eastern Tasmania one Sunday morning in October. We had received an invitation to attend an E.J. Todd Loomis/Snowbee product launch at Twin Lakes, and then to sample the fishing. Due to circumstances beyond our control we were late and had unfortunately missed the product launch, but we had arrived in time for the fishing!
Twin Lakes is a 3000 acre playground with wedge tailed eagles, echidnas, spotted quolls, wallabies, possums, wombats and Tassie devils. It lies less than an hour’s drive to the east of Hobart, kind of on the way to Port Arthur (at least that’s what you can tell your non-fishing companions).
Private riding trails suited to mountain bikes and horses (bring your own) wind their way through the whole property and if you fancy trying clay bird shooting the experienced instructors can point your gun in the right direction.
For those wanting to stay overnight there’s cottage accommodation set on the edge of one of the lakes. The cottage has three double bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, modern bathroom, cosy wood heater and glass sliding doors in the living room that open out on to the deck.
The two lakes—hence the name—are stocked with browns and rainbows and boast a productive ecosystem with good hatches of duns, mudeyes and the like. All fish are grown in the lakes and are well educated in the ways of fly fishers.
Many of the fish we saw landed were approaching the double figure mark and according to the owners there are fish up to 20 lb available.
Fly fishing tuition is available and tailored for anglers of all ages and levels of experience.
For further information visit www.twinlakes.com.au and have a look at the photos to see the reasons why grown men behave like schoolgirls