During April, I had the pleasure of guiding a very eager and knowledgeable young George, who was so enthusiastic he’d already read up on everything, had his gear ready, and was just eager to cast a line or two.
Well, he didn’t have to wait long; his first round with a slow retrieve nymph hooked a beautiful big brown, but sadly snapped him off.
Still, that only made George more determined, and over the course of the day, he struck time after time on dries, casting long and having beautiful drifts, landing some, losing some, but at the end of the day, his smile was from ear to ear.
To say that George is now hooked is an understatement.
With the season rapidly coming to a close, it is time to reflect on some of my clients who have been with me during the first half of this year.
Brenton catches his first on a dry fly
Brenton enjoying a good cast
As some have said, “It is better to have tried and lost than never to have tried at all.”
Peter & Elizabeth on the Lake River
And that has been the tale of parts of this season, although the fishing has been a bit hard, there have been fish there and some gave themselves up but many were missed or lost…or just didn’t show on the day.
Close encounter, looking for frogs
Still, each and everyone who came out on to the rivers or the lakes still enjoyed themselves thoroughly and for the beginners, they learnt a lot so hopefully they will keep up their new-found love of fly fishing.
In mid-December, Nick decided to give fishing a try during a challenging season. We ended up targeting two rivers to increase our chances of success.
The weather was perfect on the day – there were plenty of insects, but the water wasn’t very active. We tried our best to catch as many fish as possible, but we missed a few. It seemed like the fishing gods weren’t in our favor that day.
Philip went fishing in early December. The weather was perfect, the river was flowing well… everything was in order, but where were the fish?
After driving through the property, we set up camp under a beautiful willow tree to get some shade. But guess what? A big black Angus bull came along! We both stared at each other for a while, and then he decided to give us a wide berth and walk down the river edge.
Even though the signs were there, the fish weren’t showing themselves at first. So, after morning tea, we moved on to the river, hoping to catch some action.
Philip tried his best, but he couldn’t land a single fish. Several of them tried to give themselves up, but they were no use. At the end of the day, though, he enjoyed the river, the surroundings, and what he learned from this trip.
Last year, I had the pleasure of taking two newbies, Tony and Tanya, out for a fly-fishing day. I hoped to teach them the basics of casting and what they need to know to start their fly fishing journey.
Tony and Tanya were eager to learn and joined in the casting practice with enthusiasm.
After a while, it was time to get on the water.
Everything seemed perfect for the day, but the fish stayed away or rose outside the casting distance like they were teasing us.
Despite the challenges, Tony and Tanya had a great time and plan to return.
I recently had the pleasure of taking out my long-time friend John over two days, firstly on a private lake and the next day on one of my favourite river spots.
Nice casting
Day 1: Although the weather was patchy with early morning showers passing over at times and the temperature down a bit the day gave way to some nice moments and good fish activity, alas most of it was not quite close enough to begin with. During lunch, however, on the lake’s edge right near us, a nice brown made himself known not that far away. John immediately put his rod into action where I showed him and wham … a lovely take by a very nice brown around the 3lb mark. Sadly John had him right to the net twice only to see him escape for another day. Although we tried several more places, no prisoners were taken after that.
Day 2: I took John to a part of one his favourite rivers that he told me he had not fished on before. It is a mix of good deep pools, fast-flowing water and good cover along the edges. The weather was good to start with, with the temperature climbing steadily as the day went on. A slow start to begin with, as the temperature rose, the wind died off and the insects came out John began to see some action but misses to begin with were the order of the day.
Over there, John …
Still, the action was positive. In one nice long pool, we watched as John’s Emerger drifted past a Tea Tree and a frisky brown came hurtling at the fly…sadly though it looked to us like the fly was bigger than the fish, all up about 3″ long.
Stalking a couple more with no success at that point we moved past this pool only to hear ‘Splash, Splash, Splash’ right behind us and what we saw was amazing. An Eagle we had seen earlier flying above us had dived into the river, grabbed the trout John had been casting to and then flew off … never seen that before. It was quite amazing.
Moving on John managed to land two nice browns but to protect their age no photos were taken. Finally, before lunch, we moved to a nice deep but small pool where there is often a resident brown of good size. John’s first cast hit the water and before too much drift the brown came charging at the fly … missed him. Bugger. Cast number two lands, drifts and the trout charges again … missed again. Damn. Cast number three lands, drifts and the trout charges once again … yep, missed again. Curses. This fish has repeatedly bested all the anglers who have tried for him so far, it’s getting a bit of a reputation.
Challenging waters …
The day ended up with some strong winds sadly which cut short our trip but looking back over it, the river had great flow, the Duns were huge and everywhere when the moment was right.
Caddis moth
To top that off, at our last river bend every overhanging tea tree or bush had a massive Caddis moth mating dance going on, it was like a huge snowstorm. They were everywhere — good news for the rest of the season.
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