Inland Fisheries Service News
Largest ever fine for poaching giant freshwater crayfish
On Monday 20 August 2018, the Magistrates Court convicted a northwest man of offences relating to giant freshwater crayfish. Magistrate McKee heard Mr Bakes illegally hunted, caught and ate the highly protected and threatened species from November 2013 to November 2017. This is most serious case about giant freshwater crayfish ever dealt with by the...
Know the bag and size limits
Our inland fisheries are amongst the best trout fisheries available in the world. Over the first couple of weeks of this season, we have become aware that some anglers are not following size and bag limits. Of particular concern is taking undersized fish exceeding bag limit, and exceeding the number of fish permitted over 500 mm....
Wild brown trout spawning run
We have been working hard over the winter months managing and protecting the brown trout while on their spawning migration. On the Central Highlands we have a number of traps used to catch trout as they move up stream to spawn. The traps enable us to collect ova and wild adult fish we then use...
The 2018-19 trout season begins
Over the weekend the 2018-19 angling season took off with a bang! The weather was reasonable for this time of year. Saturday morning was fantastic until some rain moved in at lunchtime. Thousands of anglers around the state tried their luck with some fantastic fish caught. Our Officers were out with five teams patrolling 46...
Opening weekend outlook
Most inland waters open this weekend. The brown trout fishing season starts on Saturday 4 August and the outlook is fantastic. Winter has so far delivered good rain in the West, Northwest, North and South of the state. Today dams in the Mersey/Forth, Pieman and the lower Derwent catchments are spilling with the upper...
