Many small pinkie snapper are being caught from its mouth upstream to Hillwood, where one angler on Hillwood jetty saw a much bigger snapper breaking free.

Elephant fish are coming aboard off Beauty Point, and with several kingfish taken recently from a kayak at Bridport, these fish are also likely at the Tamar’s mouth.

Sizeable flathead were boated at Bridport on March 5, on soft plastic lures cast while drifting over shallows while big, tasty blue-spotted flathead are being caught down East, about a kilometre off Mariposa, near Falmouth.

Gummy sharks are also abundant, there but many are under the 75 centimetre minimum so must be returned.

Inland, Mersey River anglers are advised by Hydro Tasmania that flows upriver at Liena were to be reduced from 1.7 cubic metres per second (cumecs) to 1.5 cumecs on March 2 and, because of an outage at Rowallan power station on March 6, flows are expected to remain low for the next three weeks unless significant rain falls.

The Inland Fisheries Service has repaired the navigation light at the Woods Lake boat ramp. Similar problems can be reported by emailing infish@ifs.tas.gov.au or ringing 1300 463 474.

Four Springs Lake anglers are being distracted by schools of trout, feeding hard but only about 15 centimetres long. No doubt these are some of the 4538 domesticated rainbows stocked on February 10.

Autumn involves duck shooting, and with the three-month season opening on March 11, thoughtful anglers will steer clear of hides - especially early and late.

Most northern rivers are running at summer levels with little activity until some mayflies appear.

Occasional exceptions, often large and usually challenging, are trout jumping at dragonflies and damselflies, especially along rivers like the South Esk.

A keen angler afloat recently on the South Esk was impressed by the size and desire of brownies jumping at them.

Good trout take dragonfly larvae or mudeyes so well that many are bagged on the real thing, or copies. But without using a hovercraft, persuading a fish to take an imitation of a flying adult is often an exercise in frustration. 

Dragonfly jumpers to find are those working a confined space, often among rushes.

Using something like a Black Spinner or Red Tag dry fly, one method is to get the range right and then, after waiting for the next jump, to bump the fly down on the trout’s nose and hope for a reflex take.

If trout is patrolling, others set in its path a mayfly spinner copy.