Fact Sheet for Great Lake excl Canal Bay and Tods Corner

Introduction:

Great Lake rates as Tasmania’s second most popular water in terms of angling effort. All angling methods are permitted except for Tods Corner and Canal Bay which are reserved for artificial lures only. Brown trout were first released into Great Lake in 1870 and in the following forty years, some of the best trout fishing in the world was experienced. Since this time the level of Great Lake has been increased three times in order to provide storage capacity for hydro-electric power generation. As a consequence, the fishery has gone through several stages of high productivity. In the period 1920 - 1940, rainbow trout dominated anglers catches with forty rainbow trout caught for every brown trout. Today the fishery is dominated by brown trout of 0.75 - 1.5kgs while rainbow trout represent approximately 20 –25 percent of an anglers catch. Boat anglers are reminded to take care as the lake is exposed and can become very rough. Hazardous conditions can occur at any time of the year with little warning.

Fishing Information:

Shore based anglers have many options open to them. Set-rod baitfishing is practised along most shores and is often very productive. Best baits are mudeyes, crickets, and worms. For the fly angler, polaroiding the shoreline on a sunny day provides good value with the number of fish spotted often exceeding that of the more popular polaroiding waters of the Western Lakes. The secret is to cover plenty of water until you start to find fish. Beetle falls and hatches of various aquatic insects during late December – February provide good dry fly fishing. The best spots are generally on the leeward side of the large points and bays around the lake and the Tods Corner area. Trolling on Great Lake is very popular with deep diving lures, downrigging or lead core line used to get lures down into the strike zone just above the weed beds. One of the best spots for this type of fishing is the south-western region of the lake, in particular Swan Bay. For the fly angler with a boat, wind lane fishing on a relatively still morning is a real highlight. Polaroiding the lake from the deck of a boat can also provide some very productive outings even when the wind is blowing hard.

Fisheries Management Information:

The spawning runs of brown and rainbow trout at Liawenee are monitored and actively managed and the monitoring has been continuous since 1960. Since 2005 the management of the fishery has been under the Great Lake Fishery Management Plan. Under this plan regulations and measures are enacted to actively manage, protect and build upon the existing stocks of rainbow trout whilst protecting and utilising the brown trout population. Rainbow trout are trapped as they swim up the Liawenee canal then stripped of their eggs and milt and the fertilised ova is taken to the Salmon Ponds for on growing. When the fish are at a size that will ensure a good chance of survival they restocked into Great Lake. A further measure to protect rainbow trout stocks has to been to increase the minimum size for rainbow trout of 400 mm and a maximum bag limit of 3 rainbow trout per day. Brown trout are also trapped as they swim up the Liawenee canal then stripped of their eggs and milt and the fertilised ova is taken to the Salmon Ponds for on growing.

Region:

Central

Other Fish:

The climbing galaxias (Galaxias brevipinnis), the spotted galaxias (G. truttaceus), The Great Lake paragalaxias (Paragalaxias eletroides) and the Shannon paragalaxias (P. dissimillis) have populations at Great Lake.

Facilities:

There are four significant concrete boat ramps at Swan Bay, Haddens Bay, Tods Corner and Cramps Bay. Numerous other informal launching areas exist around the lakes perimeter but many are not servicable at current (low) water levels. A low water level ramp has been constructed at Boundary Bay for use whilst the lake is at a low level. Informal camp areas exist around the lake but there are no amenities. Hotel accommodation can be found at Miena.

Regulations and Species

Stocking Information

[View Stocking list as of 23-11-2009 (50 Entries)]