Blog (Page 2)

Baha SUCCESS! - 11th July 2010

The plan for Sunday had been a fishing trip for Nick's birthday, but WeatherSA (those bastards) had predicted cold fronts and Armageddon so we'd called it off. Then an amazing thing happened, we woke up to the most beautiful day. WOW! They’d gotten it wrong...when has that ever happened before (where's the sarcasm font).

Anyway, Nick gave me a call and we ended up heading for the dam at 9am. The girls joined us and picnicked on the side of the damn while Nick and I went about missing fish after fish. I suppose the good news is that there were fish around, and after missing 2 or 3 fish each, we eventually both landed one which ended Nick's dry spell with the club.

In fact, Nick's fish was one of the most amusing fishing experiences I've had in some time. We were both bobbing on the water in our tubes, a few meters apart, when Nick hooked into a fish directly under me. The fish headed straight for the surface, putting in a good jump just behind me. This resulted in Nick's line tangling with my fins and waders as the fish fought bravely. The fish then cunningly swam circles around me, while I fought it in the manliest way possible...with my bare hands. Nick meanwhile was eating a sandwich...I think...ok, I dunno, I was fighting the fish minus a rod so I didn't have time to look at what he was doing. Eventually I untangled myself, and was about to land the fish with my hands when I realised it was Nick's birthday, so I let him put away his sandwich and land the fish himself. What a catch! Bwahaaaa!

By this time the wind was picking up nicely, so after a picnic and another short fish we headed home.

So what did we gain from this outing? We now know what colour the fish at Mavela can't resist. The down side...I'm not telling you...Bwahaaaaa!

Baha FAIL! - 16th June 2010

Youth day was upon us, as was a lot of snow, so Nick and I grabbed the fly sticks (and float tubes) and headed for the berg. We opted to fish Mavela for the normal reason...its closest.

After a lot of bitching from Nick, I picked him up at 6am and we were on the water by 7:30. Sadly my eagerness didn't pay off, and 6 hours later I hadn't even had a knock. Nick missed one in the morning, but other than that I would've sworn the dam was barren of Trout.

I'm not really sure what it was? I suppose a lot of things were against us, namely:

• A cold front had passed over the day before
• The water was crystal clear, there was not a ripple on the surface, and it was sunny - all of this rendered us highly visible
• It was mating season and the buggers clearly had only one thing on their minds
• The entire bottom of the dam was covered in weed, so there was plenty of food

As for tactics...I tried every fly in my box, twice, and Nick even tried fishing New Zealand style rigs. We fished the middle of the dam and we fished the entire shore; We tried fished deep and we fished shallow, using every retrieve we knew (so at least 2). The end result - FAIL!

But on the up side, fishing with Nick is never boring...need I say more?

Uitzicht and Bracken Waters - 6th June 2010

During the week Nick had taken a bold step and joined the NFFC (Natal Fly Fishers Club), so on Sunday we jumped in the Paj and headed for Uitzicht, a club water in the Kamberg area. Neither of us had fished this water before, but due to a rather humorous Butt Farming sign, we both knew exactly where it was.

A cup of coffee and toilet break later (which involved me getting locked in the gents by an excited Nick) and we were inflating the tubes on the side of a great looking dam. We waded into the chilly water and just after kicking out Nick realised he'd lost his net. He sulkily headed back to shore and as he turned I had my first knock. Yeehah! Sadly I missed it, but it did leave me expecting good things.

After finding his net in the shallows Nick headed back out and we fished pretty much the whole dam with no luck. Two hours later, fishless, were back where we started. Thankfully, on my last cast before breakfast, I got into a nice size Rainbow Trout which jumped several times before I got it into Nick's net (hey, someone’s got to use it). It measure 20 inches and was caught with a large Mrs Simpson on a slow retrieve.

Our energy was revived by the fish and after a couple of rolls we were back in the water. At this point another member joined us and the 3 of us fished for another 2 hours with no luck. Since there were 2 dams on the site we deflated our tubes and headed for the other, smaller dam.

Sadly the cattle must've been drinking just before we arrived and the water was churned up and muddy. The area near the wall (where it was deeper) was clean so we headed onto the wall to fish. This smaller dam contains a lot of good looking weed and would've been better fished with a floating line. Sadly we both had intermediates on, and were too lazy to change them, so we ended up fishing a small area between the weed but with no luck.

At this point it was only lunch time so we decided to move to one of the other club waters in the area. We canceled our Uitzicht booking and headed for Bracken Waters.

Once parked in amongst what appeared to be carnivorous cows, we noticed you had to pass through a small gate in a barbed wire fence to get to the dam. Nick, deciding he wanted to be first in the water, made a dash for it. Sadly this resulted in his tube catching the fence. Hehehe...my cunning plan was working. We got into the water and he quickly realised he was sinking. Bwahaaaa! This was a good chance for me to nail a few fish while he drowned. Sadly this was not to be. The dam was badly weeded up, and it took me 10 minutes to make my way through thick weed to open water. When I finally got there I decided I felt too guilty and headed back to shore. I opted for a different route which turned out to be even weedier. FAIL! By the time I got back to the shore I was stuffed, and there was a fence between me and the car, so I had to get back into the water and go back through the weed. F#$#!!

Anyway, after this disaster we packed up, hit a few Laurentinas, and then headed home. All in all a very eventful day, even if we didn't get a lot of fish.

Baha Bushmans - 16th May 2010

With only two weeks remaining in the river season I was beginning to feel the pain of having only had one outing, mostly due to a snapped Achilles. Thankfully I managed to get a pink slip on Sunday and recruited fellow Baha Boy Nick Nortje for a trip to the Bushmans.

I picked up Nick at around 6am in Pietermaritzburg and continued the long drive to Giant's Castle. We arrived at 7:30 and started kitting up. It was Nick's first time on the rivers so this took a bit longer than usual. We whipped off his intermediate line and wound on a new floating line, eager to get onto the water.

The river was flowing at a good rate as we stepped into the chilly water, slightly downstream from the swing bridge at th picnic spot. I had tied on an Elk Hair Caddis, which worked well for me on previous visits, while Nick started with a Royal Wulff.

Other than a cold front that had passed over 24 hours before, the conditions were perfect. There was a slight breeze blowing up the valley, but it was sunny, and the water was cool. Thus I was rather upset when an hour in we had caught nothing. This said, we had managed to spook a large number of fish. I can only image our poor result was due to us trying to fish side by side, as well as a bit of rushing due to over-eagerness.

Eventually I managed to pick up a nice sized wild brown on a White Wulff in the tail of a pool. Shortly after this Nick picked up his first ever river fish on his Royal Wulff. We continued upstream slightly more relaxed now. I landed two more fish, and Nick missed a nice rise.

Satisfied that we hadn't blanked, we headed to the restaurant for lunch. A few beers later we were feeling rejuvenated and headed back down to the water.

Our afternoon session was far more successful. We were fishing better together and weren't rushing to get ahead of one other. Nick was also starting to get the hang of the river, and had shortened his casts, realising that he wasn't in a dam, and that long casts only resulted in excessive drag.

We also fished the pools a lot better. In the mornings we'd been neglecting the tail ends of pools, much to our determent. I'm sure everyone has made this error at least once. You see a good pool, rush up to it, and cast straight to the head rather than fishing the tail first. Once we rectified this we managed to pick up fish in most pools.

I picked up a further 4 fish in the afternoon session, mostly on Elk Hair Caddises. Nick managed another 1 but did miss a good few rises. I also missed a lot of fish in this session and could've ended up with 3 or 4 more. If I had to guess, I'd put this down to lack of practice and too much slack in the line.

All in all it was a great day. After walking back to the car through a herd of Eland I was feeling more than satisfied. Who knows? Maybe I'll get in one more fish this season.

Silverhill - 3rd - 4th April 2010

Sharon and I spent the Easter weekend at Silverhill (Kamberg) with my dad, sister and Cassia. Silverhill is a 4 star resort offering various activities including fly fishing in several, small, stocked dams. Upon arrival I looked at the photos they had stuck up...there were none of fish. I then looked at the brochure...fishing was mentioned, but again no photos. At this point I perhaps should've been more suspicious.

On Saturday morning I planned to be up and on the water early, but after a severe outbreak of hayfever (I'm guessing due to the thatch) and very little sleep, I ended up only hitting the water after breakfast.

Although the dam I fished was small, I took the opportunity to make use of my float tube for the second time. Hopes were high after I landed a nice 20 inch Rainbow after about 15 minutes, but it turned out this was to be the only fish of the morning for me. It was a hen fish carrying a lot of eggs and in very good condition. I picked her up right off the bottom, trolling, as I moved to another location. Apparently this negates the fact that I caught the fish, but who the hell cares.

There was a large number of insects on the surface, but no signs of fish, so after about 2 hours I made my way back to my chalet for a quick shower.

I was hoping to fish one of the other dams that evening, but eventually had to get my priorities straight and opted to head for the bar to watch the Sharks game instead. After a few side bets were placed at the bar, I'm glad to say that the Sharks pulled off their third successive win. And even better, my dad's guess was closest to the final score, so we walked away with a nice kitty of drinking money.

Sunday was my dad's, sister's, and Cassia's last day. After breakfast we all jumped into the trusty Paj and made our way up the 4x4 trail to the top dam. Once we were up there my dad and I had a quick fish while the girls went for a walk. Sadly there were no signs of fish about, and we both blanked. In our defense we did only fish for half an hour or so, so we didn't give ourselves a huge chance. The pressure had also been dropping which never helps the fisherman.

Either way it was a great weekend with one good fish, some fantastic scenery and great accommodation.

Technical Lotheni - 20th - 21st March 2010

Thanks to a not very cooperative Achilles, it had been a long wait for me to get into my first river of the season, some 6 months after they opened.

Western, Karen, Sharon and I headed up to Lotheni for the first long weekend, hoping for a combination of some relaxation and epic fly fishing. Now I've always known that the Lotheni River was very technical wild Brown waters, but this weekend really just emphasised that point.

At around 2pm on Saturday Western and I walked from the campsite, back towards the main camp, rods in hand, and eager. We entered the river at the small feeder stream the road crosses, and I carefully chose my first fly for the trip...the deadly R.A.B. The river looked full compared to last year, but we were on a stretch I hadn't fished before so it was hard to tell. I examined the water, and it looked good, even though I couldn't immediately spot any fish. Carefully I pulled some line of the reel, and gently laid my fly on the water. It drifted back to me perched smartly on the surface, but nothing.

Meanwhile Western had also stripped some line off this reel, and tried the somewhat different tactic of shocking the fish to the surface with giant splashes. Truth be told, this wasn't his fault. Sometime since I gave him his rod last year, it had developed the incredible ability to muster up a howling gale from even the most pleasant conditions. The Indians had their rain dance...we had something better...Western's rod.

We slowly made our way back to camp, fishing in what were very tough conditions. I tried everything in my dry fly arsenal with no success. Not only were there no rises, but I also didn't see any fish, or even signs of them being around. To be fair, the howling wind was making it difficult to cast, and the ripple of the surface of the river meant the chances of seeing a fish was slim. It would probably have been a better option to put on a nymph at this point, but I just love the dry fly, and was going to have to completely give up before switching to a nymph is such good dry fly water. (Okay nymphers...go ahead and attack me now).

Eventually we were back in line with camp and called it a day. Being trout fishing we couldn't even find reprieve in the walk back to camp, as we clambered through head high grass, brambles, and up incredibly steep banks. That first beer sure was earned.

A few mates from WeizterFish were staying in the Mountain Cottage, so we headed over to find out what we were doing wrong. It turns out not much. Daryl and Koos had arrived the day before and had been fishing solidly since then. One of them had been nymphing, while the other fished the dry fly. Neither of them had had much success, and they had both blanked in the afternoon, along with us.

The next morning we headed out with the same vigor as we had the day before. This time we fished the stretch from Cool Pools back to the Swing Bridge. The girls tanned in the sun while we bashed through bushes, climbed up hills, fell into rivers, stubbed our toes, oh, and did some fishing.

We continued with the dry fly tactic hoping for an improvement the previous day’s performance. True to its word, as soon as Western touched his rod the wind came up again. Luckily it wasn't as strong, and was on and off, so we got some fishing in. The stretch from Cool Pools offered a few large pools, and even with our "careful" approach, we still didn't manage to spot any fish in them.

About an in hour, and still fishless, I spooked my first fish. It’s not often that you’re happy about spooking a fish, but in this instance it offered proof that there were in fact fish in the river.

We continued upstream, and I was fast running out of flies and options, when I noticed a hatch coming off the water. Almost immediately I picked up a small Brown from an undercut on the bank. I was fishing a #16 Royal Wulff on a 7x tippet. Finally! A few more meters up river, and I noticed a fish feeding off the surface. I landed my first cast perfectly, but nothing. The second cast however saw the fish rise to the fly and I was on again. Another few meters, and I was into a third. Things had certainly taken a sudden turn for the better. All three fish we in the region of 6 inches.

In the same period Western, who was fishing next to me on the opposite bank, managed to get 2 fish to rise to the fly, but sadly missed both. He was also fishing with a Royal Wulff.

And then, as quickly as it started, the river went dead, and we headed back through the brambles to the Paj. We drove back to the pools and had a quick dip before heading back to camp for lunch.

So as I mentioned, the Lotheni is a fantastic piece of wild Brown Trout water, but it is not easy. In fact, it’s a difficult, technical piece of water that requires precision casting with very light tippets and small flies. But then isn't this what Brown Trout fishing is all about?

Jet Ski Epic - 21st February 2010

At 4am on Sunday I was up and ready for the first epic Baha Boys deep sea fishing trip. Nick and I hooked up the Jet Ski and headed for Umdloti, stopped at a garage of course for a quick coffee and kak (you can't go at sea).

At 5:30am we pushed the ski into the surf, and Nick pulled off a dodgy launch. There was a decent shore break, so the plan was we push the ski into the water, Nick jumps on and starts it, then I jump on and we go. That’s pretty much how it went down, except that as soon as Nick jumped on, a huge formed in front of him, and he put full steam to punch through it, not knowing if I was on the back. Seeing this happen, I took a good grip on the ski and pretty much did some barefoot skiing over the wave. Nick turned around looking a bit worried, and then laughed as he saw my white knuckle grip on the ski.

We tacked up behind back line and then started off with some trawling. After limited success we stopped over some structure to try and pick up some bait. We had no luck with this either so we went back to trolling. At around 7am we spotted some birds over the water, and when we got there the water was boiling as tuna nailed baitfish on the surface. We trolled through it a few times with no luck, and then tried chucking some drop shot at them. Nick had one knock but we picked up nothing. Eventually it died down and we continued trolling.

When we've gone fairly far north we turned around and started trolling back to where we started. FAIL! We were using a two stroke ski, and it was producing a large cloud of fumes. Since we were now heading in the same direction as the wind, the fumes started to build up around us. I was facing backwards watching my rod and chatting to Nick. Suddenly he stopped responding and I smelt a strange odor in the air. BWAHAAAA! Chunda! So there's a new chunda boy in town.

When we got back to Umdloti we'd still picked up nothing. There was a bit of excitement however as some dolphins started following us on the ski. They were next to us, under us and all around us. In fact, they were so close I could've reached out and touched them.

We trawled for a few more hours while the swell got bigger and the wind stronger. Eventually we decided to call it a day and beached at around 10:30am. A few of the other skis had beached, and I'm glad to say that everyone blanked - hey, it’s better than just us blanking.

We loaded up the ski, gave it a wash, and then dropped it off with Nick's boss.

It was a great first deep sea outing, and I look forward to the next one. A big thank you to Racetech Yahama for loaning us the ski.

Float Tube Bliss - 24th January 2010

On Sunday morning Nick and I headed out to Mavela to do some Trout bashing. Although we knew the conditions weren't going to be ideal (they never are in January), I had to get out there. I'd bought a float tube, which had been sitting in my cupboard, unused, since September. Not only are ruptured Achilles expensive, they're also a pain in the ass.

Anyway, I picked Nick up at 6am, and we were in the tubes and on the water by 7:30am. It was already sweltering hot, and the water was far too warm for my liking. A fisherman who arrived a little after us measured it at around 25 degrees. Looking back, I think we were lucky that the trout weren't dead!

I worked my way around the edges fishing the weed beds and between the reeds. I soon realised that this probably wasn't the best idea due to the water temperature, and headed for the inlet, hoping for some cooler water. Nick opted to fish the deeper water (definitely the better option), and had a couple of knocks, landing one, while I got nothing.

At around 10 we had a quick break and a bite to eat, before getting back into the water. By now we were both sweating, and nick had decided to toss the waders and fish from the tube in just his baggies. We both headed for deeper water, and I'd soon picked up a 19 inch Rainbow fishing deep and slow. Being the fist fish in my tube I called Nick over to take a photo. FAIL! After he'd snapped off a few shots I released the fish, to find him laughing heavily. A later look at the photos revealed all he'd got in way my head! Grrr.

By now we were both sweating, and headed for the shade of a tree to relax under and have lunch. The were a few clouds forming, but none were blocking out the sun just yet.

At around 2pm we got back into the tubes and headed out for our final session. The wind was starting to pick up, and the odd cloud would cover the sun for short periods, offer some relief. We headed towards the cooler water of the inlet, and fished as deep as we could in the area. We both had a couple of knocks, and I managed to pick up a 4 inch stockie. At around 5pm we called it a day, packed up, and headed home.

Although the conditions were far from ideal, neither of us blanked, which was great. Both of us loved fishing from the tubes, and I'm sure we'll be back soon...prefereably once the weather cools down.

Smashing Colmonell - 20th December 2009

On Sunday I got up at the usual 5am, packed my fishing kit, and met Shaun in the basement. We headed for Colmonell, stopping for the mandatory cup of coffee at the Bean Cafe.

By 7am we were kitted up and on the water. There was a fair amount of activity around us in the shallows, and I could see it was sizeable Rainbows, so things were looking good. At around 8am I pulled out my best Rainbow of the year, a hen fish weighing in at 2,6kg. Shaun quickly informed me that I was cheating as I'd used the infamous Mrs Simpson. This of course was all biterness as he had none in his box.

Shortly after that I pulled out a stockie of around 15cm on a damsel nymph probably my smallest ever still-water fish). And then, sadly, everything went quiet. Eventually we switched tactics and Shaun started dead drifting a nymph on a strike indicator. This produced another good Rainbow from amongst the weed beds - it weighed in at just over 2kgs.

After a short lunch breaks the weather really started to move in. The wind was howling, making it difficult to cast. Since we hadn't produced a fish in a while we packed up and headed home. What a fantastic day's fishing!

Two Weeks In A Row - 21st November 2009

For the second week in a row Sharon was working, which meant that I had the pink slip to go out and do some fishing. Western's girlfriend also had plans, so for the second week in a row he joined me.

I arrived at the water at around 7am after complicating the process of getting there. Western was running again so he was going to join me at around 10am. The good news was that I'd remembered the key this time, and so I could actually do some fishing instead of sitting around in the car.

There was another club member there setting up his tube so we had a quick chat while we kitted up, and then we both hit the water. The wind was howling, but luckily it was mostly from behind so casting wasn't too difficult.

I managed to land a small Rainbow Trout of around 17" just after 8am. It took a large Mrs Simpson as I was lifting it out of the water for my next cast. Success! Sadly this was to be the only fish of the day. Western did arrive at around 10am but never even saw a fish. And as for the man in the tube, he had no luck either.

At around 3pm, when the howling wind finally got the better of us, we packed up and headed to the local pub for a few beers and the rugby. Not too bad for a man in a cast...

Colmonell With Western - 14th November 2009

So after a long fishing layoff I finally made it back to the water. On Saturday morning I woke up at 5am, packed the car, and was on the road by 5:30. Just over an hour later I pulled up to the gate at Colmonell. FAIL! I'd forgotten my gate key. Luckily for me Western was following me up, so I gave him a call and then started the wait.

Then it was time to keep myself occupied...I taped up my leg and kitted out 2 fly rods. This took me all of half an hour so I whipped out the camera and took a few misty photos. This killed another 30 minutes so I made a few phone calls. All in all I managed to occupy myself for the majority of the 3 hour wait.

After what felt like an eternity Western finally arrived with the key and we were in. FAIL! I'd never fished Colmonell, but you have to wade through a little marsh to get to the water. I held me breath and prayed the cast taping was water-proof.

Fifteen minutes later we were flogging the water in cold, misty conditions. This was soon forgotten as I hooked into a fish on my third cast. It turned out to be a decent sized Rainbow which gave two or three good jumps during the fight. Western was then made to wade out through the weeds to retrieve the fish, since we'd forgotten the net in the car. It was a good sized fish of around a kilo and was soon back in the water.

Sadly the rest of the day did not go as well. We didn't manage to land another fish, although it was still fantastic to be out there flogging the water. It was a pity Western didn't net a fish, but there's always next time.

All in all Colmonell seems like a good dam with some decent sized fish in it. During the morning I spotted a few rises and a couple of big fish. Sadly after lunch we didn't even see a fish. Still, its worth another visit.

The Tank Chair - 6th October 2009

So after months of careful consideration, and being pissed off since I'm stuck in a cast, I'm come up with the perfect Christmas present for me this year. So its time for all of you to pool your money together and get me one of these bad boys...

I give you, the TANK CHAIR!

With one of these chairs I could be out fishing right now. And better yet, I'd be doing it in comfort and style.

Of course I'd need to make a few modifications. For example I'd be adding a cooler box to carry the beers, and I'd have to replace a few of the parts with stainless so I could fish salt water as well as fresh water, but otherwise this is the chair for me.

No excuses...you know what I want. I love Christmas. And remember, its a time for giving...

Club Waters Trip 2 - Mavela, Again - 30th August 2009

After fishing Mavela last week and only landing one, I decided I needed to give it another try. Bruce and I drove up early to find very different conditions to those Nick and I had fished last weekend. It was overcast, and there was a strong wind blowing, making casting from the bank difficult. Due to the ripple on the water we also couldn't see the fish like Nick and I could previously.

Bruce had brought his tube, and after setting it up he got into the water and I headed off down the bank. A couple of hours of tough fishing for me produced nothing. Although I did have two big hits which I somehow missed. Bruce did have more luck in the tube and managed two Rainbows of around 30cms.

After a quick snack we swapped and I got into the tube for another two hour session. During this session the wind dropped down, the sun came out, and last weeks midges (mayflies) arrived. Suddenly Bruce could see the fish from the bank, much like we could last week. But again the fish didn't seem interested, and he landed nothing from the bank.

I had a bit more luck on the tube. I picked up a 40cm Rainbow on a dragon fly nymph. I also lost one on the same fly when it swam right at me and I couldn't strip in the line fast enough It was only the second time I'd fished from a tube, and the first time I'd landed a fish from one. It was fantastic, and I'm certainly looking forward to getting one.

It was time for lunch so we relaxed on the bank for a while eating the 3 tons of food Bruce had bought, and then it was time to get back onto the water. As I got up I noticed the tube was as flat as a pancake. Glad I wasn't on it when that happened.

I fished the bank again while Bruce took a snooze on the bank. I'd sneakily borrowed a fly from him, and was into a fish on my second cast. This quickly put an end to Bruce's snooze as he rushed to kit up.

We fished for a little longer, with no more success, until the wind picked up and an electrical storm started. And that was the end of that. It was a great day's fishing, and I look forward to getting onto the water again. Next time I'll try another water.

Club Waters Trip 1 - Mavela - 23rd August 2009

Since joining the NFFC about a month ago I hadn't had a chance to fish any of the club waters. Thankfully I put an end to this over the weekend.

On Sunday morning I picked up Nick Nortje (I write his full name since he likes it popping up in Google) and we headed to Mavela, one of the club waters. We arrived at around 7am and were on the water by half past seven.

Mavela is a largish body of water with good clarity. It is relatively shallow (as far as I could see) with a lot of weed beds. All in all it looked like a great spot for trout.

While tackling up we noticed a lot of activity on the surface, and when I got down to the water I saw why - there were a lot of hatches taking place. I had already kitted up with an intermediate line, and being a bit lazy, decided to fish it for a while before changing to a floating if I need be.

Nick started off by fishing his was across the dam wall, while I opted to fish up a bank where there was a lot of surface action. After fishing all the usual suspects on my intermediate, with not even a touch, I decided it was time to try a floating line with some dries. This too proved to be unsuccessful.

Having said that, I've never fished dry flies on stillwaters, and I was unsure of exactly how to tackle it. The obvious answer would be to cast a dry in amongst feeding fish, and then give it the odd twitch every now and then. However the fish weren't feeding in one area, so throwing it out and leaving it there seemed fruitless and counter productive - besides of course being highly frustrating. Stripping them in slowly also didn't seem to be the correct approach. My solution was therefore to attach a dropper to the dry, and fish it with a slow retrieve over the weedbeds. Good idea, kak results!

At this point two other fisherman arrived with tubes, and we watched intently, wondering if they'd have more luck in their tubes than we were having on the bank. We continued fishing while they kitted up and made their way into the water.

As luck would have it, literally 5 minutes after they got their tubes into the water, I picked up a decent Rainbow of about 15 inches on a dragon fly nmyph. The fish was strong, fought hard and looked to be in good condition. Thanks Nick for letting me catch the first fish in my club waters. *Bwahaaa*

After that we struggled for another few hours before Nick managed to pick up a good cock fish, of around the same size, in full breeding colours. The two float tubers, as far as I could tell, had still picked up nothing. At this point I feel its my duty to point out that Nick's fish was a complete fluke (I hope he's reading this). He tossed out his brightly colour fly, and started retrieving it. During the retrieve process he got pissed off at the midges around his head, took off his cap, and started swatting at them madly. It was at this point that the fish nailed his fly, and he was "on dad"...Lucky bastard...

Sadly that was to be it for us. We fished until around 1pm when the wind picked up, but managed no further fish. What was so frustrating was that we could see a lot of fish in the shallows, cruising on the edges of the weed beds. Hours of sight casting to them with every fly in my box produced not so much as a follow. Clearly a trip back is in order to work those bastard out..