Coastal landbased fishing, inshore boat fishing and trout fishing in Tasmania generally requires only light gear.

For chasing freshwater trout and wary sea runners in clear, shallow water, a 3kg spin outfit is ideal. See eBay listings here.

A 6kg spin outfit is popular for general estuary and light boat fishing in Tasmania. See eBay listings here.

The above light outfit can be used on shallow, low-energy beaches to catch cocky salmon and yelloweye mullet, but a dedicated light surf rod is better for this purpose.

A reasonably heavy surf rod combo is required for Tasmanian West Coast salmon fishing, see eBay listings here. Elsewhere in Tasmania, a light surf rod with around 6kg line is better suited to the species and fishing conditions likely to be encountered.

For offshore boat fishing, a rod/reel combo loaded with 15kg to 30kg line is ideal for general reef fishing, and can also be used to cast lures to pelagic fish such as bluefin tuna, albacore and kingfish. See eBay listing here. Rods around 7′ long are ideal for boat fishing. Many Tasmanian fishos use rod combos with overhead reels to troll for bluefin tuna, and with big tuna around 30kg line is not out of place.

There are many lures suitable for chasing trout, but a proven local favourite is the Tassie Devil. See eBay listings here.

Another proven favourite is the Rapala Trout 3cm minnow. See eBay listings for this and similar lures here.

Fly fishing combos, complete with rod, reel, tapered leaders, flyline and flies, are available in various sizes. A 3-weight is OK for small rivers while a 6-weight is better for lakes. See eBay listings here.

Good-quality tapered leaders are important when fishing with light line. See eBay listings here. These are an item where it might pay to invest in a quality brand.

Carry an assortment of flies suited to Tasmanian fishing. See eBay listings here.

Tasmanian waters are cold, and a good set of waders are essential if you are going in the water. Choose warmer neoprene rather than the colder PVC. See eBay wader listings here.

Metal slice lures work well on Tasmania’s salmon, silver trevally, flathead and barracoutta. See eBay listings here.

Use larger metal slice lures on high-energy beaches where big salmon are expected.

Soft plastic grubs work well on bream, cocky salmon, escaped Atlantic salmon and freshwater redfin and trout. See eBay listing here.

Soft plastic paddle tail lures are popular and effective lures in the smaller sizes, see eBay listings here.

Weighted jig heads are needed to rig most soft plastic paddle tail lures, although some have the jig head built in. See eBay listings here. It pays to use the lightest jig head possible, and light resin jig heads allow an angler to present a more realistic suspending lure action.

Squidding is popular in Tasmania, with large calamari squid and smaller arrow squid both being abundant. Unbaited squid jigs such as these work well on both types of squid, see listings here.

Baited ‘spike jigs’ work well on large calamari squid. These jigs are cast under a float and left out until a squid takes the bait. Bait the jig with a small fish such as tommy ruff or mullet. These large baited jigs look clumsy compared with the smaller jigs more commonly seen, but they are effective … see listings here. The barbed version is even better if you can find them for sale.

Smaller squid can be targeted with baited spike jigs such as these … see eBay listings here.

The secret for successful squid fishing is to fish dusk, darkness and dawn, when the water is clear. Summer is usually best.

Floats are useful for suspending a bait, and work well when fishing for some Tasmanian species. The polystyrene floats in the following listing are slid onto the line and a stopper is placed above the float to set the depth fished. See eBay listing here.

Star sinkers or snapper leads are generally used on a paternoster rig for surf and boat fishing. For most other fishing, ball sinkers are used, as part of a running sinker rig where the sinker slides along the line, allowing a fish to easily run with a baited hook. See eBay listings for ball sinkers here, see listings for star sinkers here and for snapper leads here.

Hooks in mixed sizes are needed. Suggest 4# to #8 for whiting, mullet and snotties, 10# to #12 for garfish, 1/0 for bream, and 4/0 for salmon and flathead. See eBay listing here.

Flounder spearing is popular in Tasmania. A submerged light is generally used to find the fish, see eBay listing here.

Worms are an excellent bait for trout, see worm farm listings on eBay here.

Other items you may need are wire trace to stop toothy ish such as barracoutta or sharks biting through your line, see eBay listings here, swivels to stop line twist when using spinning lures here, a filleting knife to clean your fish here, a burley bucket to attract fish to your area here, a waterproof torch here, a sharpening stone for knives and hooks here, bait jigs to catch baitfish such as slimy mackerel and snotties here, a sharpening stone for knives and hooks here, and of course a tackle box here.

Lastly, if don’t want to use traditional smelly baits, you can try a commercial bait product such as this.

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