28/01/09:  The Australia Day long weekend has been an annual trip for a bunch of us for a number of years.  Over those years our accommodation has varied in many different styles.  I of course still rough it in a tent while my mates have up market sleeping arrangements these days.

02/01/09: Summer in Tasmania is very unpredictable, but to get a dump of snow is not what a trout fisherman looks forward too.  Unfortunately the cold snap again upset the dun hatches, but we did find a few brave "boats" on Penstock Lagoon but no fish on them on this day.  So as we always tell visitors to Tasmania "Always come prepared for inclement weather conditions"

21/11/08: We arrived at the shack (Great Lake) as the snow started to fall.  Unfortunately for Dale and I, we had to fix the baffle plate on the heater before we could light it.  This was one of the heaviest falls of snow we had witnessed for a number of years.  As the photos show it turned into a "white out" and made a mess of the fishing for the weekend.

04/10/08: The first weekend in October is the shack challenge hosted by the North West Fly Tyers Club.  The competition is held between club members 4 shacks, and the trophy (a mounted oversized woolly bugger MK II) is a much sought after prize which is proudly displayed at the winning shack for 12 months.  Pictured is the President of the North West Fly Tyers, Brett Chatwin presenting the winning shack owner Phil Blizzard with the trophy.  And a bunch of very happy fishermen.

20/07/08: Phil Blizzard, my good mate from Burnie sent me these incredible photos of Swan Bay.  Phil went to the lakes mid July 2008 to reclad his shack, but was hit with temperatures plummeting to a very cold -11°c.  The next morning he went for an early fish but was confronted with Swan Bay being frozen solid.  Note Phil standing on the ice and how far the rocks are out on the lake.

15/05/08:  Gordon Johnson from Sydney sent me this extraordinary photo and he goes on to say - "Well, ever heard of the saying " like fishing in a barrel". This is mid November in a small stream near Lake Wanaka - on one of the better days. All the fish are rainbows between 3 - 6 lbs, and even though they are still heading up river they readily take flies. Not all the pools are like this one, but this is a great place to take someone that is learning to fish. It takes about an hour hike up river through the scrub to get here, but it is well worth the walk."

24/02/08: Here's a sight for any tourist who intends to visit Tasmania for a fishing trip.  This is what we woke to Sunday morning, remembering the day before was one of the largest dun hatches for the season.  Always bring your warm clothing!  Phil Blizzard took a number of photos of his and Dale's shack and a couple of my boat as I left my camera at home.

28/12/07: Owning a shack is not all fun and games and going fishing every day.  Noo!, there is always plenty of maintenance and repairs to be done, house keeping and of course chopping wood for the wood stack.  Four of us sacrificed a days fishing to cut up several large tree trunks, (which were purchased and delivered). When cut up it equated to around 10 ton of wood.  It does get very cold in the highlands during winter and it is best to keep the wood stack topped up.

06/10/07: Tasmanian boasts some beautiful fishing locations and Ti Tree Bay is no exceptions.  One of my favourite fishing areas as seen in this picture of Graham Brooks of Somerset Tasmania.  Graham had a tough fight with this fish, with the fish the eventual winner, breaking off at the net.

04/10/07: Here is a couple of glorious scenery shots we woke to, we had three days of heavy snowfalls early October 2007.