Alone on the River!

As the recent strong wind had abated and turned into the South I thought that yesterday would be a good day on the river. I was not disappointed. I arrived to fish at about 14.15 to find a steady trickle of Mayfly coming off the water and a good number of rising fish.

Unlike the previous Wednesday when I only hooked about every third fish that came to my fly, yesterday the trout were in a more determined mood and hardly any were missed. A lot of small fish were around but the big ones were lurking in the usual spots, close to the bank and behind or under overhanging trees.

With a bit of effort and stung hands from nettles while clambering into these difficult to get at places, I had a great afternoon’s fishing. The four most notable fish weighed in at 1.5, 2 , 2 and 2.25 lbs. All of the fish were in great condition and safely returned to the water. I did find one of the 2 lb fish had two blue spots on its belly. It did have that wonderful colour that is typical of the trout that we get from Hooke Springs. I caught it towards the bottom of the stretch and it is interesting to speculate where it came from but it could have travelled quite some way from where it was put into the river.

The highlight of the day was landing a 2 pounder from a side stream. The birdlife was also interesting. I saw a kingfisher and a family of geese on one of the side streams and I have never known so many ducks on the river. Cheeping duck chicks were everywhere and protective parents would frequently do the wounded duck display by splashing their way up the river, much to the my annoyance when I was trying to be stealthy. However, the commotion did not seem to put the fish down for long.

When I left the water at 1930 an evening still had settled in and few fish were moving. I saw no other members and that really surprised me given the near ideal Mayfly fishing conditions.

Jim