Locally heavy falls and isolated thunderstorms possible about the northwest

Weather Stuff:

Well, it’s Wednesday and it appears the heavy rain falls are on their way. The BOM have issued a Flood Watch Advice for Northern and NW rivers. Thunderstorms are possible later today. The winds are forecast to pick up as well to around 25 knots/45kph. So it could be an interesting day.

Fishing Stuff:

I plan to head up to Arthurs for a fish with a fellow who hasn’t fished the lakes before. He visited a fishing tackle shop and they advised him to purchase some squidgy’s (soft plastics). So I guess I’ll get another chance to pit the Ye Old Green ‘n’ Gold and Black ‘n’ Yellow against the Gary Glitter. Hopefully the report from this trip will be an interesting one…

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The “Purple Patch”

Weather Stuff:

We are now entering the transitional stage, which some call “spring”. Although the days have been fine and sunny, there is still a coolness in the air. It looks like Wednesday will be wet with some showers hanging around Thursday morning. Some models are showing heavy falls Wednesday, so that will be interesting. Hard to find out what the BOM think as they are having computer issues, so the forecast hasn’t been updated since yesterday.

Fishing Stuff:

I managed to get out for about 40 minutes Saturday with JC. We fished around the Latrobe Bridge area. JC picked up a small trout under a pound on a wobbler. I had a couple of good hits on the G’n’G spinner. It was an interesting little trip as I wanted to check out a couple of spots I haven’t been to before and it has presented some more options for the area. I also notice that there appeared to be some whitebait on the move, so I would like to get back soon for a crack at the sea runners.

I’ve had an e-mail from Simon and he didn’t have any success at the Great Lake – this is what he had to report: “I fished for about 2 hours before the game. Had a hit and a good run on the grub, but then he just dropped it and swam away”.

I have found that the “grub fishing” technique just hasn’t produced the results over the last couple of seasons. This method was a sure fire way of catching trout for a few seasons, but for some unexplainable reason, Simon’s story is all too familiar. With this apparent lack of success using this method and the hideous cost of grubs, I just don’t think it’s worth it.

“purple patch" - Refers to form or performance. A horse or trainer has hit a "purple patch" when experiencing a run of success.

Fishing is a funny game. Over the last 8 years of fishing with Simon, I have been able to observe the “purple patch” phenomenon. It seems quite odd, that one of us can have a great season, catching at least one each trip, while the other can’t seem to do anything right. Although we don’t change the way we fish, this phenomenon still occurs. I have had a season where I only caught 5 total and Simon has done quite well. Then for no apparent reason the following season I will catch 30 odd total and Simon will do less than brilliant. At this early stage it appears that Simon is currently going thru the “purple patch”……. but you never know?.....

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Warnings: Nil.

Weather Stuff:

There are no significant systems impacting on our part of the world at the moment. The intense systems which brought cold, wet and windy conditions over the last 6 weeks have eased… well, for now. It look’s like the NW Coast should be fine for the weekend with mainly light winds, so the Grand Final BBQ’s should be safe.

Fishing Stuff:

I was crook yesterday and I’ll be taking it easy over the weekend in preparation for my lakes trip later next week. The nasty virus that is making the rounds at the moment is really wiping a lot of people out. So I won’t be heading out for a fish this weekend. I think Simon is heading up to the Great Lake for the Grand Final and with his team in the final; I’m not sure what condition he’ll be in for fishing? It will be interesting to see how the lake is fishing now that it is rising slightly. I look forward to his report....

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Hazy Daz of Sprung!

Weather Stuff:

I watched the moon rise last night and it was rather red in appearance. I had noticed earlier in the day that it seemed rather hazy, not the clear blue sky of previous clear days. I also noticed as the moon got higher up in the sky that it still seemed slightly orange in appearance. Today the atmosphere still appears hazy as well, once I got past the fog that is. There appears to be some smoke haze present, but who knows where from? The winds have been mostly light the last couple of days and the high pressure system close by has slowed the passage of fronts and lows that would clear the haze. Looks like tomorrow may bring a few showers which may hang around over the next couple days.

Fishing Stuff:

I visited the Forth River last night for a sea runner recon mission. Failed to find any action. The tide was rather low, but hey, you never know - if ya never go! I would like to check out the lower Mersey soon and see if any sea runners are lurking around there. I haven't heard any sea runner 'scuttle bug' around town as yet - all seems rather quite.....

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The trouble with weather forecasting is....

.... that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.

Weather Stuff:

Look’s like the next few days will be fine, but many will be watching out for the weekend with the AFL Grand Final on Saturday. At this stage I don’t think there is a clear picture of what will happen, but that’s spring!

Fish Stuff:

Here’s a question; will this break in the rain allow the whitebait to start moving up the rivers with the sea runners following? It’s now late September, so I could only imagine things must be starting to move now… surely?

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A Flood Watch continues for all northern river basins

Weather Stuff:

Well Sunday was one out of the bag. It’s amazing the contrast between Saturday and Sunday, plus today. Saturday seen a steady, cold rain for most of the day then Sunday was an excellent sunny day. But a small low pressure system has made sure that Sunday’s nice weather was short lived. But it look’s like the NW should be fine for Tuesday and Wednesday before some more rain on Thursday. It’s quite incredible how the start of the year was so dry that it was becoming a real concern and now we are experiencing quite a period of substantial rain. Hopefully this rain will be enough to get us thru the summer period. This ABC news item indicates how much rain we have been having: “Moderate rainfall in northern Tasmania today may cause rivers to break their banks once again. The weather bureau has issued a flood watch for the north and north-west, particularly the Meander River Basin. Senior meteorologist Debbie Tabor says recent heavy rain has saturated the ground, which means any more is likely to cause rivers to rise to minor flood levels. So it doesn't take a lot to tip the rivers you know into minor flood level at the moment, given the falls they've had recently."

Fish Stuff:

Simon and I headed up past Kimberly on Saturday. Although the rainfall was steady for most of the day, the river stayed clear so it did make us think that there may have been some “snow water” present. The fishing action certainly pointed that way. I had a couple of trout “suck” the bait but I couldn’t hook ‘em. We had a nice chat to the Fishery Inspectors. Simon managed to pick up a reasonable trout on the green ‘n’ gold spinner. This fish probably weighed in around the 1.5lb mark, but did seem a little under condition.

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"The lowest reported temperature was -2 degrees at Liawenee"

Weather Stuff:

The word for the weekend is, snow. The Bureau expects snow lowering to around 700 metres tomorrow, so cold and wet for us on the coast. I don’t think I’d like to be up walking around the plateau, that would be hard work. ;-)

Fish Stuff:

Not much to report on here at the moment. But I did find this quote that I thought was good: "The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad." I hope to get out for a few hours on the weekend, if all goes well… and yes I will be using my net if I’m fortunate enough :-)

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"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."

Weather Stuff:

Well, the first front has moved thru and the second is on its way. I think the second front will be the one to watch. There appears to be quite a strong cold pool behind this approaching front and it’s developing quite well. I think a low pressure system is forecasted to cross on Saturday, so that may bring some interesting conditions and probably more highland snow.

Fish Stuff:

The river level is starting to fall and I don’t think there will be enough rain in the next few days to really impact the river. I did see a fish jump in the Forth while crossing the bridge this morning… I wonder if the first sea runners are starting to move?

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Isolated thunderstorms: Brave Call?

WEATHER UPDATE:

The Bureau are forecasting isolated thunderstorms for tomorrow, mainly about the West. It would be nice to see a cell or two push thru to the NW.

There is a ferocious South Westerly stream that is really 'biting at the bit' to hit Tassie - looks like some strong winds on the way....

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Don't knock the weather.....

.....If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.

Weather Stuff:

Well, I don’t think we are going to see much of a change in the current pattern for at least the next week or so. Showers, rain, wind, cold and highland snow appears to be the order at the moment. Of course the weather is dynamic and can change in an instant, so it may prove me wrong. I guess this is the fun of Spring!

Fish Stuff:

Spoke to JC last night and he went up river towards Kimberly for a fish. He explained that the water was flowing too fast and he was unable to “hold bottom” with his bait and this is why he didn’t catch any fish. I’m sure he won’t mind me saying this… JC is still learning the art of trout fishing, but he certainly has got the art of excuses down pat. I guess this helps when you need to justify to your wife why you spent 3 or so hours away from home and come back with nothing! After a few years of fishing, you realise there is only one excuse that matters, the excuse to get out of the house, away from work and out into the fresh air by the water. It doesn’t matter too much if ya catch something or not, just enjoy being there…..

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Blue Skies

Weather Stuff:

Great to see a bit of blue sky about, although a tad cool. There is a good dump of snow on Mt Wellington, so I can only imagine there must be a good cover up on the highlands. Looks like the Bureau expect snow to fall up top for the rest of the week.

Fish Stuff:

I had a report come to me of a fellow who caught six, (6), trout from the Mersey on Saturday. No wonder I couldn’t catch any on Sunday! I know this fellow is pretty happy with himself and good on him. That’s half way to the “bag”.

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Lazy!

Weather Stuff:

Well, it’s been an interesting weekend weather wise. Thunderstorm cells made their presence heard as they moved thru during Saturday. Then yesterday, a massive area of unstable air moved up from the South. By 4pm it was so dark towards the South that it seemed like night had come early. There was some thunder activity associated with this system. So, the low that crossed over the weekend produced some interesting weather and some more good rainfalls. But, during all this, I was too lazy to grab to the camera – I kept thinking, “I should get a photo”, but never did. Just lazy really!

Fishing Stuff:

Headed up the Mersey yesterday, but never managed to trouble the scorer. The river was up and the water was brown. Had a good fish on, probably just under a pound and in nice condition. You may be wondering how I could tell this much about a fish I only had on, but lost? Well…. I was too lazy to get the net out!! So I managed to get the fish on the bank, but it came off at my feet, I held it in my hands twice, then yelled 'NO!!' as it disappeared into the brown swirling water…gone. So I left after that in disgust with myself. You’d think that I would have learnt by now, but ‘them the brakes’….

Just lazy, just plain lazy!
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Andrew 1 - Bureau 0

Weather Stuff:

Well, the thunderstorm activity last night was quite spectacular. My storm spotter instincts proved right this time. My commiserations to the guys at the Bureau, I don’t think calling the possibility of storms after the fact quite cuts it :-)
I made the call around lunchtime yesterday – I guess you don’t always need super computers! But I guess I shouldn’t be too cocky…

Fish Stuff:

The Bureau is forecasting heavy falls for both Saturday and Sunday. There is a flood watch advice as follows: “Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology Tasmania FLOOD WATCH ADVICE Issued at 5:11am on Friday the 9th of September 2005
A Flood Watch continues for all northern and Central Highland river basins.
Statement:Rain has commenced across much of the northern half of the state, with isolated thunderstorms about the north coast and central north. Locally heavy rainfall is expected by early Saturday morning. With many catchments across the north having experienced significant totals last week, strong river rises are expected in many rivers and streams, with possible flooding to develop by the early part of the weekend. Weather Outlook:Rain periods, with isolated thunderstorms”.
This rain may result in some good river rises this weekend, possibly making for some good fishing – it’s a shame I’ll be flat out this weekend and may not get the chance to head out. But you never know….

END.

The Weather Fish

Day 1 of the Weather Fish blog. Very Exciting!

Weather Stuff:

Things seem to be moving to spring now in Tassie with a mix of warm days and cold days. Looks like some nice rainfalls on the way for early Saturday, then some highland snow for the rest of the weekend. My feelings are moving towards the slight possibility of some thunderstorms about over the next couple of days - certainly seems unstable enough.

Fish Stuff:

Hit Arthurs on the weekend just gone. Looks like the small fish that were in great numbers a couple of seasons ago are finally reaching a good size. The water temp will be slowly rising over the next few weeks, helping feeding. Did see some gum beetles on the shore Saturday. The sun was certainly welcome. Still can't get over the 251mm of rain at Breona on the night of the 30th Aug. - that is an awesome amount of rain and will help things along as far as the highland lakes go. The featured trout weighed in at 2.5lb and was in excellent condition.

END.