It's been an absolutely stunning week for sighting fish around
the margins.
The water has been clear and by and large the lake has been very still.
I've only seen brown trout and all have been good sizes. Around 2-3 lb
seems to
be the norm but I have seen a few that would have been 5-7 lb and on
22/8/02 I saw the largest wild trout I have ever seen. I estimate it
was around
0.8m long and every bit of 20lb - yes a monster fish with very broad
shoulders - it looked like a shark just mooching along. I'll come back
to
that later. The flies I have been getting inquiries and takes on have
been #14 black & peacocks and #10 black nymphs. Whilst the fish
are easy to see
they are very lethargic and are not actively feeding. I have come
across quite a few just lying doggo on the bottom. The fish I have
caught have been
as light winds developed and created some movement in the water. The
visibility drops at that stage but the fishing is so much easier.
Anyway back to "Walter". Yes Julie and I have given the monster fish a
name. It was in dead calm water about 50 meters from the shore and
right on the
surface when first sighted. On cue it moved in closer to the bank as I
tied on a larger fly figuring that the #14 black and peacock that I had
been
polaroiding with was no match for this fish. I selected a yabby pattern
that I had tied. The original pattern of this fly was created by a
Kalkite local
Chris Milnes and he tells me it works well particularly on bigger fish.
I have modified the pattern further and attached a copy of the recipe
in the next few days. Whilst I did get couple of casts at this big
cruising brown he didn't even
acknowledge I was there and eventually swam off into the depths.
Probably just as well, I was only using 4lb tippet and it would
have been a real quandary of what to do with such a classic fish if by
chance I ever did land it. That last sentence is bullshit I would have
loved
to just touch this fish. By the way this big fish had a companion of
about 5-6 lb just following a few meters behind and a little deeper. As
a general
observation I have noticed that often when you see one fish
polaroiding, particularly just after the spawn run, you more than
likely will see one or
more others in the close proximity. The name "Walter". Well if you have
seen the movie On Golden Pond you will
recall that the elusive fish was called "Walter". Hopefully the outcome
will be the same as the movie and whilst Walter will allude me for a
while
eventually I'll catch him and like Norman Thayer (played by Henry
Fonda) I'll put him back to live another day. I used to wake up feeling
my oats
this morning I woke up thinking of "Walter".
Stephen Chatterton