What’s not to love with all the March long weekends this season?  It’s a perfect time of the year to get out in our great outdoors and enjoy a few extra days fishing.

Our Fisheries Officers have been inspecting good quality brown and rainbow trout from many waters including Lake Crescent, Woods and Arthurs Lake.  Some good Atlantic salmon were also inspected following the release at Wayatinah Lagoon.

During the March long weekends, Fisheries Officers have travelled from the River Derwent and highland lakes to Lake Pedder, conducting boat and land patrols.  Around 400 anglers were inspected for angling licences, bag and size limits in addition to boating safety.  It is fantastic to hear about the level of compliance and our Officers have enjoyed having a chat with both local and visiting anglers.

We would also like to congratulate both participants and organisers of the Easter 2016 Trout Fishing Competition held at Lake Pedder for the boating safety that was demonstrated.

A small number of offences were detected involving unregistered boat operation and vessel safety equipment.  Four infringement and conditional caution notices were issued.

Please remember that it is compulsory to wear an approved life jacket (PFD) in a vessel under six meters whilst under power and the minimum safety equipment for motor boats on inland waters includes:

• a fire extinguisher
• bailer, bucket or bilge pump
• auxiliary propulsion of either paddles, oars or outboard
• an anchor rope and chain.

This includes boats with an outboard motor of less than four horsepower that do not require registration.