Brown trout were released into Great Lake in 1870, and Inland Fisheries Service records that in the forty years that followed some of the best trout fishing in the world was had here. It is still the anchor of Tasmanian trout fishing: a hundred and seventy square kilometres of water on the Central Plateau at a thousand and thirty-four metres, dammed at Miena in 1916 and raised three times since, with the Lake Highway running its western shore and road around most of the rest. IFS manages it as a premium wild trout fishery. The browns breed on their own and today run three-quarters of a kilo to a kilo and a half; the rainbows are a tenth of the catch and the species IFS is working to build, and in the 1920s and 1930s they outnumbered browns forty to one. The lake fishes four ways. On a bright day you walk the leeward points and bays with polaroids on, covering water until you find a fish. On a still morning you take a boat to the slicks and wind lanes off the points. From late December to February the beetles fall and the insects hatch and the dry fly comes into its own, Tods Corner especially. And in poor light or a westerly you fish wets along the shore and over the weed beds. It is open all year over most of its area, which makes it the plateau's fallback when everything else is closed or blown out, and it can turn dangerously rough in an hour. Bring a boat if you can, polaroids either way, and respect the two bays with their own rules.
Water and habitat
A Central Plateau storage at 1,034 metres, one of Australia's largest natural freshwater lake systems before the first dam went across its outlet at Miena in 1916. A multiple-arch dam followed in 1922, a rock-fill dam downstream in 1967, and a six-metre raising with a saddle levee in 1982; when full the lake covers 17,610 hectares and holds 3,178 million cubic metres. Hydro Tasmania manages the water for generation: the Ouse River's headwaters come in from the west through the Liawenee Canal, Arthurs Lake is pumped in from the east, and the lake drains through a five-kilometre tunnel under the Great Western Tiers to the underground Poatina power station and out down Brumbys Creek.
The satellite record of the lake's wet surface since 1987 is drawn on this page. It is the nearest thing this water has to a gauge, since no Bureau station sits on it, and it shows the storage's rises and drawdowns across thirty-nine years. Low water matters here: it exposes rocks, old fence lines and weed beds, moves the shoreline you fish from, and changes which ramps are usable.
Fish and forage
Brown trout dominate, wild and self-sustaining, three-quarters of a kilo to a kilo and a half by IFS's account. Rainbow trout are about a tenth of an angler's catch and the population IFS is working to enhance. The lake has been through several cycles of productivity in a hundred and fifty years, from the world-class fishing of its first four decades to the rainbow-dominated catches of the interwar years to today's brown trout fishery.
The fish eat what a big highland lake grows: mudeyes, the beetles that fall from the shore timber in summer, the mayfly and other aquatic insects that hatch from late December to February, and galaxias along the rocky shores. IFS lists mudeyes, crickets and worms as the best baits where bait is permitted, which tells the fly angler what the fish are looking for; using any fish or fish product as bait is an offence.
When to fish it
Most of the lake is open all year, so the question is not whether but where and how. IFS puts the dry-fly window from late December to February, when beetle falls and hatches bring fish up, best on the leeward side of the large points and bays and particularly around Tods Corner. Sunny days at any time of the season are for polaroiding the shoreline. Still mornings are for wind lanes from a boat. Poor light and wind are for wets along the shore.
Watch the weather more than the calendar. IFS warns that the lake is exposed to extreme changes and can become very rough with little warning, in any month. And watch the level: the drawing on this page shows how far it moves, and a lake well below full fishes from a different shoreline than the map shows.
How to fish it
Cover water. On a bright day, walk a leeward shore with the sun behind you and polaroids on, looking close to the edge before you look further out, and cast only to a fish you have seen or to the water a cruising fish is heading for. A Red Tag or a beetle pattern, a parachute Adams for the duns, or a small Pheasant Tail dropped ahead of a fish covers most of what you will see. A five or six weight and a floating line, with a long leader.
From a boat on a still morning, look for the slicks and lanes off the points and fish them: a Woolly Bugger on an intermediate line through the lane, or a dry dropped in it and left. Rainbows are the bonus in the lanes. IFS notes that polaroiding from the deck of a boat can produce even when the wind is blowing hard. When nothing shows, fish wets along the shore, over the weed beds and across the structure rather than waiting.
Access and safety
The Lake Highway runs the western shore through Miena, with road around much of the rest of the lake and shacks and ramps in the bays. IFS's access brochure for the lake lists concrete boat ramps at Swan Bay, Cramps Bay, Brandum Bay and Tods Corner and a gravel ramp at Haddens Bay, usable between full supply and a stated drawdown; the Tods Corner ramp was extended in 2026. Set-rod bait fishing is practised along most shores where methods allow, so expect company on the easy banks.
The lake is the hazard. IFS says it plainly: exposed to extreme changes in weather, very rough with little warning, hazardous at any time of year. Navigation is prohibited around Miena Dam, the Tods Corner power station and the Poatina intake. Low water exposes rocks and fences. No fires are permitted on the foreshore, and vehicles must stay off exposed weed beds. Alpine weather at a thousand metres means snow is possible in any month.
Regulations
Inland Fisheries Service manages Yingina / Great Lake as a premium wild trout fishery with rules that differ by part of the lake. Over most of its area all methods are permitted and the lake is open all year. Tods Corner is artificial lures and flies only, open all year. Canal Bay is artificial lures and flies only with a shortened season from late November to late March, set to protect spawning fish. On all three, IFS states a minimum size for brown trout and a larger one for rainbows, a daily bag with a cap on the number of rainbows within it, and a ban on fish or fish products as bait. Every water flowing into the lake, and the lake within fifty metres of each inflow, is closed to fishing at all times. An inland angling licence is required.
Take the sizes, the bag and the Canal Bay dates from the current Tasmanian Inland Fishing Code and the IFS A to Z page for the lake before you fish. They move, and this page does not carry them.