Well, here we are. Two years down the track from our first issue. While some thought that we’d never make it this far, we have, but not without a lot of help. Help from some fantastic writers who generously give their knowledge for the greater angling good, help from our wonderful advertisers who ensure that this humble magazine can hit the newsagent shelves each two months, and help from a continually growing readership who seem to like the way we do things.

As we go forward we aim to continually develop the way we do things, to do more boating articles, more destinations, more techniques and more angling lifestyle features. To stay still is to go backwards, and you can be assured that we have a vigorous plan for the next 2 years to keep bringing you new material, new writers and more of those fantastic photographs.

On a less self indulgent front, we are still in the grip of a dreadful drought. Our artificial freshwater impoundments have never been so collectively low, and we must continually question the powers that be who make the decisions on public water policy. This summer will see intense pressure on all our lakes for power generation and for irrigation. There are daily calls for water to be re-directed in all directions for irrigation use; sometimes I wonder if water is being accounted for more than once! While all sensible people will acknowledge that the agricultural sector is under pressure, short term expedient decision making could have long term deleterious effects. We only have to look at the disgrace that is the Murray Darling system and how water abstraction has basically destroyed Australia’s freshwater artery. Let’s hope the same mistakes are not made in Tasmania.

While our freshwater fishery is under hard times, the saltwater aspect of our fishery has seldom been better. Around our coast the Australian salmon have been brilliant this winter, and we can only lick our lips in anticipation of spring and summer! Reports of yellowtail kingfish in the Tamar throughout winter have been astounding – Georges Bay has seen quite a few too from all reports. Bream continue to be the best in Australia and every summer we see more luderick and tailor than  the mainland states do. The next big thing will be snapper; it is only a matter of time before this fishery is blown wide open as anglers become better equipped with better tackle and electronics in bigger boats. Many Tasmanians would be very surprised to learn just how many snapper really do call Tasmania home.

And so to our second anniversary issue. We have some bread and butter saltwater fishing with Phil Ellerton’s look at Deep Salt, some technical articles such as Peter Mahoney’s look at soft plastic stick-baits and Christopher Bassano’s piece on tailing trout. For the lovers of big fish, Damon Sherriff unleashes a few secrets to finding really big flathead and Graeme Bourke reminds us of the gentler pace of life with a trip to the Gawler River.

We will also be building our on-line presence as the weeks progress, with our product reviews in the current issue online as well as some other new initiatives. Keep coming back for a look when you get the chance and enjoy the spring fishing.

Click below for the full Spring Super Sale catalogue from Tamar Marine and Marineline