Messing about on a boat. . .

[Ideation 8,216]

I spend all winter mooching about with the ferrets and dog, but in the summer, i love to fish. I have always fished since i was a little kid, tagging a long with my father and grandfather, like they did with theirs. As a kid it was always light rods with a worm, wading up streams, flicking the worm up stream and letting it trickle a long, hoping for a wild brownie from a likely looking spot, some under hang, or eddy. Now i mainly fly fish, either on the river for the browns, or on still waters after rainbows / browns depending. I'm no fan of the really busy ponds, with pegs all around them and other fishermen a few meters away, but i'm lucky to live in a place that has some good local resevoirs and lakes in the hills etc, that are pretty quiet.

 

Today my old man was heading off to one such resevoir, and i decided to join him for my first day of the season. My old man has been out a few times already and has had some good catches, to be fair to him he's a good fisherman, and ties some decent flies (although i dont tell him that!). He headed off early, and i had some other stuff to do so followed about half eleven. I got up to the water and it was a beautiful day, sun shining, birds singing and lots of life. Only a couple of boats on the water and one guy picking his way around the bank, through the bracken. My dad spotted me and started rowing for the shore. By the time i had my kit together he was grounded, and i jumped in. We rowed back across the water, scanning for life, so far he had only had a couple of bites and landed no fish. This water can be a b*****d, sometimes they dont play ball at all, and the end of last season was miserable, with lots and lots of blanks. But it can also be very productive. Anyway, we rowed and chatted and eventually decided on a spot not to far off one shoreline.

 

I sat staring at my box for a bit, and picked a couple of nymphs, my old man fishing similar patterns. We fished for a bit and nothing was doing. I got my box back out and layed it out, looking at the large array of similar but different buzzers and nymphs. After a bit a slim black fly with beady eyes and white wings landed on the box. There were a couple more about and so i selected a slim black buzzer, with a red dab at the head and a twist of metal around it. Sticking a dawl bach on the dropper, i cast my line. Within seconds of it hitting the water, the days first fish struck hard at my point fly, the little black buzzer, and after a good struggle was in the boat, a couple of casts later and the same again. By this time my old man had decided to change to the same fly as me, and a little while later we both hooked in at the same time.

 

The day continued pretty much like this, with some lulls, which found is seeking out the shoal and moving the boat about, but it was obvious we were in the right place, at the right time, with the right fly. In 3.5/4 hours we landed 15 nice fish, killing 11 (meant to kill 10 but miss counted), and had a few come off during playing them, and a pile of good bites. At three points, we were both playing a fish at the same time.

 

The end score was 8 / 7 to me, and top it all off, the last fish i killed, when weighed was my personal best from this water at a healthy 5.7 lb. All in all a cracking few hours sport, in good company.

 

 

 

 

 

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Nice stuff butt, great write up as always.

[higgins 75]

Good stuff,i,m off to shell island in a few days for a bit of sea fishing,,

Higgins

[northern lad 2,292]

nice one jai,looks a great day tidy biggen,the deowl bach is a very effective fly on my waters.have to say im not particularly keen on shoulder to shoulder fishing either am thinking of trying ladybower res this year is the shimano felindre anywhere near you,i beleive its VERY well stocked,i must admit i fancy a bash at dever springs,chance of a monster atb buddy dave

[niall_b73 41]

nice writeup, great fishing

 

niall_b73