Despite dire weather forecasts for Saturday and Sunday many anglers headed out for the opening weekend of the new season. While bad weather did eventuate on the Sunday, Saturday was not too bad as a start to the season. There is little that will deter a keen angler for the start of the season.

Inland Fisheries Officers covered 31 waters in their open weekend patrols and found successful anglers at most. A total of 378 fish were caught by the 561 anglers that were checked.

Great Lake and Penstock and Bronte lagoons were standouts in terms of the number of fish taken for anglers checked. The River Derwent also fished well despite the absence of whitebait so far.

Overall compliance was very good with only 15 offences detected, some for not wearing lifejackets, excessive speed on the water, a few anglers jumping the gun on Friday night, use of illegal strike detectors, unattended set rods and two for fishing without a licence.

Unfortunately the weather was as forecast on Sunday with a cold front making its’ presence felt. Still some anglers toughed it out and came home with rewards.

Overall a good start to what should be a cracker of a season.