The complete range of Pro Angler fly gear is great value for money and they have just opened their new Sydney shop at 111 Victoria Road, Parramatta.

Look out for the new Pro Angler & Red Tag Trout Tours Huge value all-inclusive Tassie fly fishing tour & gear giveaway being launched in the next edition of the Pro Angler Magazine coming out mid Spring … not to be missed! 

Over the last couple of seasons, Trevor has become a Red Tag regular, twice a season, on-e in mid spring and again in Autumn, single day each time.

This time Trevor opted for some shallow margin lakeshore stalking, hopefully on the dry, and Currawong Lakes didn’t disappoint.

We kitted him out with a Pro Angler Stalker Master series #5wt, which is a 9′ long 4 pc and rated medium-fast so it has a little forgiveness built in.

Here Trevor demonstrates the smooth bend on the #5wt which resulted in this lovely conditioned rainbow trout to hand.

But, I think his most enjoyable fish of the day was stalking, successfully presenting the emerger to and then releasing this lovely brown.

Earlier in the year Gavin — Mr. Pro Angler — to the uninitiated, sent me one of the new Aire series 6′6″ #2wt 4-piece ultrafast rods to try and it is a beauty.

A number of clients, and myself, have successfully tried it out and it loads fast, handles the light line as it should, shoots line effortlessly and delivers a dry with precision.

That is just the presentation stage, and it has landed up to 1kg+ wild browns in tight conditions and it does it as well as any lightweight rod I have tried.

The short length is very handy down here on Tasmania’s small, clear and delicate streams and rivers where overhead trees form dappled canopies and those fat wild brown trout love to lurk!

Down under, down under, our next trout season is getting closer. Yes Tasmania’s opening is Saturday August 2 for the traditional ‘wild brown trout’ season.

FLY LINES
If you haven’t done so already, clean and straighten the fly lines by pulling off the reel and gently cleaning with mild detergent or preferably the manufacturers recommended cleaning agent.

This helps get rid of any line ‘memory’ that may have built up in the line by being wound on the reel for a long period (ie, since last season).

It also helps the line run through the eyes or ‘shoot’ better when first casting thus laying out straight and true.

REELS
Clean and re-grease, check backing is OK and the knots are still good and strong.

Backing to reel, backing to fly line, then fly line to leader and any tippet or leader joins (eliminate any old wind knots left over from that last rushed trip).

RODS
Check joins are smooth and tighten OK, no loose bindings at eyes/rings, the tip eye is not worn/grooved to wear fly line or damage leaders, etc, and finally grip is OK — not cracked or split.

FLIES
Make sure the hooks are in good nick, sharp and clean, no rust in older ones or damaged hook bends.

Tight lines and best of luck for a good season.

Garry (father of Matthew) had a day out on his own with Red Tag and had a ball. There must be something, as well as the trout, in our water that brings out the best in these Queenslanders.

Not only did Matthew star on a later trip (see Matthew’s Monster below) but here Garry gets a first class wild brown (around the 3lb mark) on the trial Stalker series #2wt Red Tag is testing for Pro Angler!

With some skillful rod work, good tackle and quick thinking Garry finally got this lovely fish to hand — another one on the pink bum ‘hopper.

Very taken with this prototype from Pro Angler and the boys tell me they will have a 6’ 6” or 6’ 9” model in the next season’s range — keep your eys open for them, they are little gems!

Having seen Iain putting his 00 through its paces and assisting by netting it, John soon got into a decent stream fish of his own.

Seen here with the Pro Angler #3wt and some weight on another good wild brown trout.

Iain is patiently waiting to return the net favour as soon as John has his fish under control.

Being a keen and very capable small water flyfisher, Iain brought down a new 00 3pc with him for this trip. Don’t think he was too disappointed with some of these wild brown trout workouts during the tour.

While below, John looks on while the Iain’s rod gets an even bigger trout to tackle.

There are now many types and makes of fly lines on the market. Make sure you understand the use the manufacturer intends of each category of line and its coding, ie, WF is for weight forward, DT is for double tapered, F/S is sinking tip, etc.

The single most important gear set up in fly fishing is that the line # or wt should match the rod # rating you intend using it with.

That is, the ratings are now universal and a #6wt line is manufactured and tested to be most effective with a #6wt rod.