Day 2
The weather was pleasant enough, the foggy morning giving way to a bright, still and warm day by mid morning. The only problem was that there were very few fish around and those that were sighted were really disinterested in any fly I put their way and they seemed to be incredibly spooky.
After a morning of stalking and spooking fish I returned home for a while planning to return later in the afternoon for another look.
The afternoon proved to be no different although I did manage to catch a brown around 3lbs but in rather poor condition and that was the sum total of my fishing so far and now I only had one morning left in which to fish.
Day 3
Bloody hell more fog, this time considerably thicker than the other days.
I went to another of my favourite spots and set off with high expectations with little bit of desperation thrown in.
I hadn’t walked 10 metres before I spotted a nice looking brown, as seems to be my habit I spook the thing before I could catch it.
This went on for an hour or so the fish either taking off the minute a fly landed anywhere near them or they would take a half hearted look but refuse the fly.
Although the fog was making everything rather damp it was still pleasant enough, the water was very clear so visibility was quite good. At one stage I had four fish all swimming around in front of me and none of them seemed interested. I did what all good fishing addicts do… I kept on trying.
Eventually my luck changed and after seeing a fine looking brown trout sitting off about 5 metres from the shoreline, I managed to land a nice cast just ahead of where the fish was laying and without hesitation it rose up and took the fly.
Then the game was on, it leapt and jumped all over the place but the fly held and after 20 minutes or so I was able to land the fish.
I knew it was a reasonably heavy fish but I didn’t think it was as good as it turned out to be… 5lbs of very handsome jack fish. The markings on this fish were quite simply gorgeous it was very spotty and nicely coloured and in very nice condition.
The day had started to look up for sure.
You can see in the picture that the markings on the fish are very clear.
It was with high spirits I continued fishing, there is nothing like a bit of success to blow away the cobwebs of the previous days poor fishing… It is amazing how easily we forget the frustrations and trials of the day before.
More spotting and spooking fish and I decided to turn around and fish my way back to the car.
About half an hour after the first fish was landed I saw another nice looking fish sitting rather high in the water but not really moving or doing anything.
I landed a fly about a metre in front of the fish thinking that the breeze would carry it a bit closer but the fish didn’t wait for that it quickly moved forward and took the fly. I couldn’t see the fly nor did I see the fish take it but I did notice a small section of leader that was still floating move, I lifted the rod and got that wonderful feeling of weight on the end of the line… The fish exploded into action, leaping and running and in general putting up a pretty good fight.
Again I could tell it was a reasonably heavy fish so I played it with a fair measure of caution and 15 minutes later I landed a very nice 4 1/2lb brown hen fish, she was in even better condition than the previous fish.
After this I fished my way back to where I left the car and returned home very happy and feeling good about my favourite fishing area I saw well over 20 trout and at least 15 of those I would estimate were over 4lbs, all in all this three hours on the last morning totally made up for the disappointment of the previous two days.
I think maybe having one of my daughters come along to take pictures and hang out made the experience even more enjoyable, catching fish is one thing but doing it in front of a witness is just somehow a little bit more fun.
