Having been off fishing for a few days since I broke my fly rod I could stand it no more so i dragged out my old rod and reels and set off to a choice spot in the Shag River. It was one of those truly magical evenings, calm, mild although a little overcast and the river was in beautiful condition. There were the occasional rises but nothing worth getting excited about.
I rigged up my sinking line and attached a black woolly bugger which is fast becoming my go to streamer fly for night fishing… I have had good success with olive and brown woolly buggers when there is a little more light around.
Early on I lost a fish again nothing too exciting. I decided to fish my way downstream and just prospect the likely spots, saw a couple but nothing doing.
I got to a big deep and very ugly pool… This thing is so full of snags it is unbelievable, there is in fact an entire tree on it’s side in the lower part of the pool.
I know there are some good fish in the hole and I expect it would easily hold a dozen or so without any problem. It has everything, great shelter good food supply and good depth.
Then it happened, after a rather streaky cast just downstream of a submerged willow the lure got thumped. I’m not exaggerating here one second I was quietly the fly retrieving not really paying attemntion to anything the next thing I know the rod was nearly ripped out of my hand, I got the rod tip up and moved backwards trying to let the some of the handful of line I had out and as usually happens at a time like this the line made itself a nice big knot which jammed inthe first ring.
So there I was in the dark holding the rod with my right hand while trying to hold the line and undo the knot with my left hand… This did not work, meanwhile the fish was angry as hell and showed it by repeatedly tearing around the snag filled pool only stopping to leap out of the water and thrash about.
Eventually I tucked the rod under my right arm and attacked the knot with both hands and this time I was able to get it undone. As any fisherman knows a trout will strain against the rod with quite a lot of power for their size and if anything stops the line from coming off the reel freely it usually results in a break off so I considered myself very lucky to still be attached to the fish. I still had no idea how big the fish was but I could tell it was of a reasonable size and after all the dramas I was content to just gently fight the fish until I could land it.
You would think that all would go smoothly now wouldn’t you… Not so, as I attempted to land the fish it flipped out of the net and tore off into the middle of the pool again. Most fishermen know that a missed attempt at netting a fish more often than not results in a lost fish, still grateful that the fish was still hooked I worked him in for another try… Again he flipped out of the net.
Finally on the third attempt I did manage to land the fish and it was then that I saw that indeed it was a rather nice brown trout of 5lbs and in great condition.
5lb Brown Trout
Apologies for the rather poor photo but it was taken in the dark with my mobile phone camera.
