The first $5,000 tagged brown trout from the State Government’s Tagged Trout Promotion has been captured.

During early October, the Inland Fisheries Service, as part of the State Governments Tagged Trout Promotion, released sixteen brown trout into nine inland waters across the State. Each of these fish are worth $5,000 when captured by a licenced angler.

John Mitchell, from Paradise was the first angler to catch one of the tagged trout from Huntsman Lake.

John who has been a long term trout angler, received this seasons licence as a gift from his daughter and was inspired to fish at Lake Huntsman by his grandson, who has been fishing the lake regularly to try and catch a tagged trout. John decided to spend a lazy afternoon fishing the lake in his second hand dingy that he had done up, with some second hand rods and lures passed down to him by his father. John captured the fish while trolling along the shoreline and reeled it in. He considered putting the fish back but decided to place it in the eski. It was not until he got around to cleaning his catch that he realised it was tagged.

Encouraging recreational fishing is part of the government’s 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s future and this season there are still 15 chances to catch a tagged fish at the following locations:

• Athurs Lake - 2 
• Bradys Lake - 2 
• Craigbourne Lake - 1 
• Huntsman Lake - 1 tagged trout remaining
• Lake Leake - 1 
• Lake Mackintosh - 2
• Lake Rowallan - 2
• Lake Sorell - 2
• yingina / Great Lake - 2

To find out more information and the terms and conditions of the Tasmanian Tagged Trout Promotion visit the IFS website: https://www.ifs.tas.gov.au/