Great Lake Highland Trout

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Central Highlands, TAS, Australia · Fly Fishing · Intermediate

Tasmania's Central Highlands hold some of the world's best wild brown trout water. Great Lake and the surrounding lakes offer polaroiding, tailing fish in the shallows, and classic loch-style fishing.

A trout fishery built on top of a hydro reservoir

Yingina/Great Lake is a highland plateau lake in Tasmania's Central Highlands, managed by the Inland Fisheries Service as what IFS itself designates a "Premium Wild Trout Fishery," run in partnership with Hydro Tasmania. The lake is a hydroelectric storage rather than a natural fixed-level lake, and its surface can sit many metres below Full Supply Level depending on generation demand. That is why the concrete boat ramps built for full-level conditions can strand a trailer or hide submerged hazards at low water, and why IFS's own guidance is to check the current level before launching rather than trust the ramp being usable. Camping is restricted to the formal ground at Miena, the small township on the lake's shore, rather than informal camping around the rest of the shoreline.

Two threatened natives share the water with the trout

Great Lake paragalaxias and Shannon paragalaxias, both listed as threatened, are native to this system alongside the introduced brown and rainbow trout that draw anglers; spotted and climbing galaxias also occur here. IFS's management reflects that dual mandate: brown trout are sustained mainly through natural recruitment rather than heavy stocking, while active enhancement effort is concentrated on the rainbow population, and inlet streams within a set distance of the lake are closed to fishing year-round to protect spawning fish and the native galaxiid populations alike. Using live fish or fish products as bait anywhere on the system is prohibited, which functions as much as a native-species protection measure as a trout-fishery one.

Where the rules tighten: Tods Corner and Canal Bay

Most of Yingina/Great Lake is open to fishing year-round, but the Tods Corner and Canal Bay arms run on a defined season instead and are restricted to artificial lures and flies only, with no bait permitted — a stricter rule than the rest of the lake. Bag and minimum-size limits apply lake-wide and differ between brown and rainbow trout, with an additional cap on how many rainbow trout may be retained. Both the season dates and the exact limits are revised between seasons, so confirm the current figures directly with IFS rather than from a number repeated here or elsewhere.

Sources

Getting there & access

  • Fish from: land-based or boat
  • Boat ramp: Concrete ramps at Swan Bay, Cramps Bay, Brandum Bay and Tods Corner; a gravel ramp at Haddens Bay; a low-water alternative at Boundary Bay on the western shore south of Liawenee
  • Facilities: Public toilet (Miena), Camping ground (Miena)

Ramps are built for the Full Supply Level down to roughly 17m below it — at low water the lake can be extremely shallow with submerged hazards, so check current levels before launching. Do not park on or obstruct a ramp. Fishing from a boat within 100m of an angler fishing from shore is prohibited unless the boat is securely moored. No fires permitted on the foreshore.

Access information source

Species

  • brown trout
  • rainbow trout

Best times to fish

  • Early season wets (Aug-Oct)
  • Summer polaroiding (Dec-Feb)
  • Overcast days for loch-style

Recommended gear

Essential

  • 6-weight fly rod
  • Wet flies and nymphs
  • Waders
  • Warm layered clothing

Optional

  • Drift boat hire
  • Polaroiding sunglasses
  • Landing net

Regulations and requirements

  • Tasmanian Inland Fisheries licence required
  • Season and method rules vary by water — check IFS
  • Bag and size limits apply

Rules change regularly — always confirm with the relevant fisheries authority before you fish.

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