When you have to go, you have to go! The weather forecast said air temperatures of 4C (say 38F) and strong NE wind. What I didn't expect were the intermittant flurries of snow! Having bought an 8 fish ticket and wearing more layers than a polar explorer, I trekked round to Bramble Point, set up my 10ft rod with an intermediate line with two cormorants as droppers and a small white and green lure on the point. The water level was high so I had to wade 20 yards through shallows to get into thigh deep water. The wind coming onto my left shoulder almost allowed me to cast a full line. I counted it down for a few seconds and on the 3rd cast, bang and I was in. The fish took to the air a few times before I remembered my landing net was on the bank. So I walked us both back and having grabbed it netted a beautiful blue trout. It had taken the white lure. Twenty minutes later I caught another lovely blue on the cormorant.
By this time, in spite of me wearing my Patagonian fingerless mitts, my finger tips were so cold they were numb. Interestingly, I found I could still tie knots, but by sight, not by feel! I also found that the advantage of having numb finger tips is that you don't feel anything when you prick your finger on a hook. It got just a bit too raw to stay there so I surrendered the location to a chap called John (who had cleverly put some old cut up neoprene waders as leg warmers on top of his lightweight waders). I then wandered round to Seven Pound Creek to get out of the wind. Here things were a lot quieter both weatherwise and fishing wise. Another brave fly fisher there had only had one fish. For a few moments the sun was glimpsed though the clouds and the temperature rose a couple of degrees. I thought I was on the Costa del Sol!
I decided to move on via the Fishing Lodge. Having chatted with Janet I treated myself to a couple of Kit Kats (something I am not normally allowed) I worked my way up the bank between the Lodge and the dam. Was I glad I moved? Yes I was! I was immediately into fish and they were up for a tussle, jumping and running like crazy. I caught another 5 but 3 others threw the hook whilst in the air! I even caught one on an orange blob, a fly I have never tried before. Most of the fish were blues, but the final one was a cracking rainbow, worthy of a picture.
Great blog, Alan! And thanks also for the tip about roly-poly. I used it to catch three more fish in Seven Pound Creek yesterday, including a very nice rainbow.
ReplyDeleteHi (sorry I have forgotten your name, an age thing, these days I write everything down, hence the blog). Later in the year when the water warms up and the food and fish are near the top retrieving a minkie booby across the top of the water using roly-poly is a very effective way of catching trout. When you see the bow wave caused by a determined fish chasing lunch you get a real adrenalin rush!
ReplyDeleteHi Alan. My name's Graham. I went out on Sunday, the day after the competition. I fished the bank again, but this time I made my way up to Rosemary Lane. I got no fish until I arrived at Goose Creek where I caught two blues around midday. I got them both in a twenty minute period. After that, things went quiet. At Rosemary Lane, I met three other bank fishers who had one fish between them before giving up at about 3pm. I fished my way back to the club house. From the dam wall I could see lots of buzzers in the water, but only two fish broke surface. I caught two more blues at Canoe Corner at dusk, again in a twenty minute period. I was the last to leave the reservoir: why do fishermen quit before dusk? See ya!
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