Episode 125: North West Tasmania Sea Run Trout With Jamie Harris

Jamie’s Tips For Sea Run Trout Fishing

• From September to December the sea trout in Tasmania’s northern estuaries are often gorging themselves on the annual whitebait run. Through the rest of the year sea trout are still available but feed on other items, such as crabs.
• Sea trout fishing is all about current and tides. Jamie finds it’s almost not worth fishing the run in tides or periods when the barometer is falling. Run out tides in the period around and following the full moon work best, particularly if the barometer is rising and the sky is overcast. Low light periods at either end of the day are prime times. 
• Focus on the rocky shorelines where there is good water movement and the whitebait are aggregated or forced to push past ambush points.
• A little rain can help increase flow and stimulate a bite, provided there is not enough rain to dirty the water.
• Move around until you find fish. Trout move around in these systems following bait. So if you’ve put a bunch of casts in to a likely looking spot and drawn a blank it’s time to try elsewhere in the river.

Jamie’s Tackle Recommendations For Sea Trout

• Any 2-4 or 2-5kg spin stick will work. Jamie uses a Shimano Zodias 270 medium light spin rod with a Shimano Ci4 2500 size spin reel loaded with 8lb braid. A rod length of fluorocarbon leader completes the outfit, which may be overkill on the smaller fish but ensures that Jamie has a fighting chance if a ten pound plus fish takes the lure.

Jamie’s Best Sea Run Trout Lures

• Squidgies Bio Tough 3” Flick Baits are Jamie’s preferred lure for sea run trout fishing. He fishes these on 1/8 oz (or 1/6 in deeper areas) jig heads, casting across and up current, then working the lures back erratically and relatively quickly. Jamie uses these where the water is deeper and faster flowing. Put plenty of pauses in the retrieve as fish often take a lure on the drop….. and always work the lure right back to the rod tip as trout will sometimes grab it at your feet.
• Squidgies Bio Tough 3” Wigglers are a great option for shallower or slower flowing water and are fished on the same jig heads as the flick baits, or lighter (down to 1/12 oz) depending on the depth. The tail slows the sink rate of these lures compared with the flick bait and doesn’t need to be worked as much as the flick bait, but can be allowed to trickle down on the current as it flows along rocky shores.
• Hard body lures are effective at times, Jamie like the Ecogear MW62 and (occasionally) MW72 is silver colour when he’s fishing shallower grounds away from timber. He slow rolls these lures without imparting too much more action.
• In the very deep systems such as the Arthur and Pieman Rivers trolling large minnow style lures such as Rapala CD9, CD11 and F18’s can be effective. Due to the depth it is important to troll close to the banks with the rod tip almost touching the fringing reeds and vegetation. In these larger systems the bigger trout have often shifted their focus from whitebait as their primary food source to lampreys.