
Red Tag regulars, Iain, Rebecca and John returned for their longest yet small waters stint with the addition this time of John’s wife Lorraine, having her fly fishing introduction.
Iain and Rebecca were armed with their new, lovingly and beautifully built hand made Taransky cane rods, a 2/3wt and a straight 3wt for Rebecca.
What a work of art these rods are and to Rebecca’s credit she stuck with her cane rod through wind and heat with determination and great results.

Rebecca is delighted with her first ‘caning’, above, while Iain proudly looks on and then to top off her efforts, this magnificent 3+ pounder wild brown was brought to hand with a real team effort.

High bank polaroided by guide, perfect presentation by Rebecca, great rod control on the cane 3wt and finally well netted by Iain.
This was the toast of the trip till Iain took the small water monster, top, on his Sage ’00 — yes, a 5-pounder on his 00 (was too windy for the cane) in the last session of the trip.
Below, Iain shows how to put a bend in the 00! This is the best small water wild brown landed by a Red Tagger since guiding Tasmania’s small rivers and streams. Both tales are getting bigger as you read.

Not to be forgotten, John was quietly and successfully going about his love of Tasmanian stream fly fishing with Iain’s straight 3wt cane rod, seen below with a very respectable wild brown.

Finally to top off all-round trip success here is Lorraine, below, with one of her wild brown’s taken on her first fly fishing tour.

To top off the commitment of this dedicated fly fishing group, it must be said not one nymph was even considered during the many days and varied weather over the whole trip with the single dry fly only presented to every fish.