Fishing - Checking twice leads to angler snagging trout of his life

It's been a long time coming, but finally, the first tagged trout worth $5000 has been caught for the 2025/26 season by lucky angler Leo Oakley.

A long-time licence holder and trout angler, he has spent much of his life fishing around Tasmania and likes to stay at his shack in the Central Highlands. 

Last week, Leo hit up the shack to do a bit of maintenance and planned a bit of fishing.

That proved to be a worthwhile decision when he hooked and landed the first $5000 tagged trout of the 2025–26 season at Brady's Lake.

Although Leo usually prefers fly fishing, the weather forced him to do a bit of trolling along a sheltered shoreline toward one of his secret spots.

Just as he got to the area, he hooked up and carefully played a fat little rainbow trout to the boat.

After already landing a couple of keepers, he was going to release the fish.

But luckily, he spotted a yellow tag.

A week earlier, Leo had caught a tagged brown trout at Big Waterhouse Lake.

But it turned out to be part of an IFS research project, which was not eligible for a prize.

This time, his luck changed as he was confirmed to be $5,000 richer.

He will remember it for a long time because he caught it on a lure he made himself called the “Oakley Special”.

The tagged rainbow trout measured 37 cm and weighed around 0.8 kg, being one of eight trout Leo landed that day.

There are still three $5,000 tagged trout in the Brady's chain and another twenty-six tagged trout waiting to be caught across the state, including the first tagged trout caught from Yingina/Great Lake that is worth a whopping $25,000.

Reports of better trout fishing are starting to surface as temperatures rise, although it looks like the wind will hang around until December.

Lake Leake, Toom's Lake, Bronte Lagoon, Brady's Chain, Lake Pedder, Lake Echo, Lake King William, Laughing Jack Lagoon, Dee Lagoon, Little Pine, Penstock Lagoon and more were all mentioned to give up trout last weekend.

A lot of water is still flowing through our catchments, and clarity isn't ideal, but we're in for some good fishing over the next few months.

Bass Strait off Northern Tasmania is firing with some mega Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) being landed during October.

Multiple big barrels weighing from 80 kg to well over 130 kg have been landed lately.

The tuna fishing community is buzzing, knowing big bluefin are again around in huge numbers.

The Bass Strait SBT fishery is going from strength to strength, statewide, and many long-time anglers say it's the best they've ever seen in Bass Strait, attributing it to improved water quality.

This, in turn, has seen aquatic life thrive—specifically baitfish—which are attracting a wide range of fish, including these big SBT Tuna.

Other fish like Snapper, Yellowtail Kingfish, Whiting, and even Dolphin fish are being caught in greater numbers, contributing to what is now a world-class fishery.

The majority of recreational anglers are concerned that the Tasmanian Government has been assessing the viability of a commercial Australian Sardine fishery in Bass Strait.

The concern relates to the possible adverse effects the sardine fishery may have on the now-booming SBT fishery and the possibility that sardines will be used to feed farmed Atlantic Salmon.

MAST began work at Millbrook Rise Boat Ramp in New Norfolk on the 15th of October, replacing the old wooden jetty on the left-hand side of the ramp.

Work involves constructing foundations to support a new floating pontoon, and during this time, the contractor will maintain access to one lane of the boat ramp and to the existing pontoon for public use.

This work is due to finish at the end of this week but ongoing work will continue to put the pontoon in place.

People are advised to take care in the area and follow all signage and directions from onsite contractors.

Tip Of The Week- Anglers often have multiple fishing reels with different sizes of fishing line spooled on them, and in turn, they can forget what size line is spooled on each reel.

If this is you, use small labels with numbers, words, or colours to remind you which size line is on each reel, to avoid confusion.

Send in your pics, tips and reports to valleyfishes@gmail.com.

Tight Lines until next week.