Adam Rice and the art of trout fishing

Fishing, especially for trout in Tasmania’s inland lakes and waters, is not a common experience. 

And unlike so much in the digital world of now, its rewards are not immediate. There’s no bells and whistles, chatter of voices or the clatter of weapons, loud exhortations for more of the same. 

Fishing is a world of long silences. 

The feedback is subtle, the flicker of movement in a far-stretched wisp of nylon cord, the quickest flash of disturbance on distant water. the tiniest twitch communicated through fingertips.

After some 45 years at the water’s edge, Adam Rice well knows these quiet signs and delicate details that a rainbow trout is—just possibly—within striking distance. 

He’s devoted the largest part of his free time, day and night, to the pursuit of this prey. And outside of that, he’s made it his mission to spread the word around Tasmania about the sheer joy of fishing.

And those long silences.

He’s spent the long weekend at a fishing competition at Lakes Crescent and Sorell, and the results of that will become known through the pages of the newspapers and websites of Font Publishing. 

Actually, this is his tenth year writing for the Derwent Valley Gazette.   

Adam is a single man – “have been for five years now,” he says – and that allows him to enjoy the a good deal of freedom, get away from the house and out to where the waters are fresh. 

“I love my fishing,” he declares. 

He’s well known in the fishing community, well beyond his home in the Derwent Valley, including a life member of the New Norfolk Licensed Anglers Association, among several.

Fellow fisherman and novelist John Buchan described the sport of fishing as “the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions of hope."

Adam’s passion for that elusive but attainable goal began, he thinks, when he was about five years old. “I started out with dad, eventually learning from experience that fishing is one of those things that requires calm but delivers exhilaration. There’s a thrill of the chase, even now.” 

Adam Rice is 50 this year. “I’ve got to that place where there’s more of my life behind me than I’ve got in front of me,” he reflects. 

In his writing about fishing, he wields insider’s terms like ‘leader’ and ‘jig head’ in the same way he uses his rod: words to reflect his relationship and response to the fish are carefully selected. 

A ‘hit,’ for the novice, is that special moment when the fish bites. 

He also furnishes a deep understanding of the ecological sciences underpinning trout fishing, including the impact of ever-larger boats and climate change, to dwindling food sources for the fish themselves.

His preference, when and if he lands a trout, is to get a photograph for posterity, and then release the creature back into the water. 

And it turns out Adam Rice prefers fishing at night, even right through the night if the conditions are good. 

“I think one of the most important things, in life as well as fishing, is being patient,” he notes. 

“What I’ve learned is that you will get a result, as long as you’re willing play a long game. As far as the fish is concerned, keep your cards close to your chest. Don’t act hastily… patience is your closest ally.”