Strahan is a fishing village on Tasmania’s West Coast, about a four-hour drive from the island’s major centres of Hobart and Launceston.
The West Coast is a wild and woolly remote area, which must be kept in mind when fishing the region.
The coastline is subject to turbulent weather, with huge swells rolling in unimpeded across hundreds of kilometres of open ocean.
Strahan township is on northern-most part of Macquarie Harbour, a relatively sheltered body of water covering an area six times the size of Sydney Harbour.
The harbour provides some great fishing opportunities, and is hopefully returning to health after recent challenges to its water quality.
The harbour has an average depth of only 15m, going down to 50m, with a narrow entrance to the open ocean.
This shallow entrance, combined with strong freshwater inflow into the harbour from the King and Gordon Rivers, has created an ecosystem of stratified water, some of which is naturally low in oxygen.
The arrival of salmon farms in the early 2000s saw water quality decline, with problems escalating fast after salmon tonnage peaked around 2015/16.
Read an ABC report on the salmon farming timeline here.
Also, the inflowing King River is biologically near dead as a result of legacy mining tailings, which polluted the river’s sediments and some of the adjacent harbour with heavy metals.
Salmon farming has since been pulled back to some degree, and good fishing can again be had in the harbour.
Read about Macquarie Harbour’s improvement here in this ABC report.
Relatively sheltered boating can be had throughout much of the harbour, keeping in mind it is a large area that can quickly become rough and cold.
The King and Gordon River keep the harbour brackish for much of the year.
Freshwater tends to flow on the surface through the harbour, with the middle layer of water containing the least oxygen.
Incoming saltwater wedges tend to flow along the bottom.
The narrow harbour entrance and freshwater inflow creates what are called “barometric” or weather tides, with rain, wind and storms sometimes being the main driver of tidal movement.
There is a range of fish available to boat and shore-based anglers in and outside the harbour.
Fishos will find in this region Atlantic salmon (escapees from farms), rainbow trout (both escapees and wild stock), brown trout, Australian salmon, bream, mullet, flathead, flounder, cod, ling, barracouta, silver trevally, tuna, gummy and school sharks, striped trumpeter, morwong and crayfish.
The most popular spots around Strahan are arguably Ocean Beach, Macquarie Heads, Swan Basin, Strahan jetty, Regatta Point, Lettes Bay, Kellys Basin and Cape Sorell.
Macquarie Harbour
To catch the harbour’s Atlantic salmon and trout, work the rocky points through the harbour at morning and dusk.
Look for current pressure points and bait schools.
Feeding trout will make visible disturbances.
Any small lures can work, as well as streamer-type flies.
There is usually a spring run of bait in the harbour and big trout follow.
The beach at Macquarie Heads produces good fish for landbased anglers, with sea trout around in the weeks before Christmas.
Australian salmon schools arrive in the harbour as the freshwater flow reduces in summer and more saltwater flows in.
Fish inside the heads at Hells Gates and cast to the channel.
Camping is available near the beach.
Boating
Macquarie Harbour has several launch sites.
Strahan has two sealed boat ramps, at Mill Bay and Letts Bay, with another nearby at Macquarie Heads.
Outside the heads, boaters fish around Cape Sorell and Pilot Bay, which have great fishing for barracouta, morwong, trevally and trumpeter.
Trips outside the heads should be done only in ideal conditions.
Crayfish and abalone are on local reefs in season.
Strahan surf fishing
Ocean Beach is 6km west of Strahan, with more than 30km of beach to fish, with big salmon and sharks.
The mouth of the Henty River produces sea trout in spring, and Australian salmon in summer.
There is soft waterlogged sand in this area that can suck vehicles down, making recovery difficult, so obtain local advice before driving the beach.
Another great Tasmanian coastal location, but on the usually calmer and warmer East Coast, is St Helens.
Here is a list of recommended tackle for Tasmanian waters.
Strahan tides
Tasmanian FADs
Tasmanian fishing regulations
Tasmanian marine reserves
Tasmanian saltwater fishing seasons
Trout fishing spot access programs
Fisheries assessment reports
Buy a freshwater fishing licence
Tasmanian lake levels (hydro)
Tasmanian river flows (govt)
Bag and size limits
Private Tasmanian trout fisheries
Return to the Tasmanian Fishing Map
Email corrections, additions, pictures or video here.
