Opening Weekend Gear Review: The Setup We're Running on the Lakes

Opening weekend of the Tasmanian fly fishing season is behind us and the first weeks of guiding are underway, which means the questions have started rolling in. A lot of them are about the gear, the exact rods, lines and rigs you've seen in our early-season videos up around the highland lakes.

So Tasmanian fly fishing guide Matt Stone put together a run through of the setup we're using right now, while the water is still cool and streamers are doing the work, for both loch style fishing and working the edges. If your kit has been in storage since autumn, our off-season gear checklist is worth a look first.

Then here's the setup in full...

Check out the video recap in the player below:

The Rod: a 10 Foot 6 Weight

For early-season lake fishing in Tasmania, the rod doing most of the work is the Stalker Legend 10 foot 6 weight. It has the backbone to throw a couple of weighted flies without folding up, and a soft enough tip to protect light tippet when a good fish grabs.

Matt says, "The 10 foot 6 weight is our go-to rod for this time of year, with plenty of power through the back section for throwing a couple of weighted flies. It's still got a nice soft tip to protect those tippets. The extra length over a 9 foot rod gives you a bit more casting distance, and it lets you hang your flies at the end of the retrieve, which is a really important part of how we fish the lakes."

That hang is often where the take comes, so the extra reach earns its keep. It's paired with a Legend reel, which matters more than people think early on, when there are some solid fish about and you want a smooth, reliable drag.

The Line: Intermediate, Around 5 Inches Per Second

On the reel is an intermediate line, and this is the setting most worth experimenting with. We run something in the three to six inches per second range, with about five inches per second covering most days. That gets the flies down to the five to six feet of water the fish are most often holding in on our lakes.

There are dozens of intermediate lines out there, straight intermediates, sweep lines, sink tips, and most of them work. The trick isn't the brand, it's matching the sink rate to the depth the fish are sitting at on the day, and being willing to change it if the first choice isn't producing. A green or camo colour is a nice subtle option.

The Leader: Straight-Through Fluorocarbon

The leader is deliberately simple. Rather than a tapered leader, we run straight-through fluorocarbon, around 3X, which is about 9lb. Early in the season you don't need to go light, the fish aren't going to shy off it, and the extra strength is welcome when you're swinging weighted flies. It also lets you adjust the spacing between your flies more easily than a tapered leader, and it doesn't affect their sink rate as much.

Here's how it goes together:

• Start with about 15 feet of 3X fluorocarbon, roughly three arm spans.
• Attach it to the fly line with a simple clinch knot.
• Measure about 8 feet down and tie in your top dropper with a triple surgeon's knot, leaving a tag of about 10 centimetres. That tag gives you a few fly changes before it gets too short.
• Run another 6 feet or so to the end of the leader for your point fly.

That's a two-fly rig, which is what we find most successful at this time of year. You can add a third if you like, but two is plenty for now.

The Flies: Light on Top, Heavier on the Point

We've tried to take the guesswork out of fly selection in the fly shop, but the logic behind the two-fly rig is simple. Your top dropper wants to be the smaller, lighter fly, something unweighted like a little Fuzzle Bugger in olive or black. Keeping it light means it fishes a slightly different depth without dragging your point fly up out of the zone.

Matt adds, "With a two fly rig you want something smaller and lighter up top, so it doesn't pull your point fly out of the water you want it in. So far this season a red and black streamer on the point has been really successful. If nothing's happening on a fly after a while, just snip it off and tie another one on, and you're away again."

Both flies are in the shop, so it's easy to match what we're running.

The Setup in One Place

From the fly line down, here's the whole rig:

• Rod: Stalker Legend 10 foot 6 weight
• Reel: Legend reel with a smooth drag
• Line: intermediate, around 5 inches per second
• Leader: straight-through 3X fluorocarbon, about 15 feet
• Top dropper: a light, unweighted fly like a Fuzzle Bugger, about 8 feet from the fly line
• Point fly: a red and black streamer, about 6 feet below the dropper

Get that combination down and you'll be fishing the lakes the same way we are right now.

Rather Leave It to Us?

Hopefully that answers a few of the questions that have come through since opening weekend. If you'd rather have it all sorted for you, every guided day includes premium rods, reels and flies, so all you need to do is turn up and fish. You can see the options on our packages page. And for the bigger picture of how the season builds from here, our 2026/27 season preview is a good next read.

Tight lines, and get out there and give it a go.