Paul, Shane & I stayed at Frying Pan for this time and is so often the case, the weather was far from ideal. We walked up the arm, down the arm as far as Post & Rail and by boat to O'Neill's and Musselwood. No fish were sighted or felt.
On Sunday Paul & Ann drove to Rushies and walked over the hill near the new toilet. The sun was out and a breeze was blowing. However, this did not prevent visibility for some distance out from the bank. In a grassy bay only recently covered, Paul spotted a good fish feeding well and on a smallish beat. As I was closest I cast the flies I had on - two dries (not a good choice) as I was expecting to be doing a bit of searching. As I retrieved my flies Paul cast his beadhead nymph to the fish which had now moved to a slightly different beat but was still feeding well. Almost before I could turn round the fish was on. Paul had twitched the fly slightly, over came the fish, the line moved slightly and he struck.
A good 50 cm brown gave him a good fight and it was landed on the grassy bank. On inspecting the stomach contents there was a yabbie, black beetle, several caddis larvae, lots of mud & a fish skeleton about 20 cm long with hundreds of fine ribs. Shane opted for this to be a weather loach which seems about right.
On inspecting the water the most obvious things were chironomid pupae and this is probably what was being taken as they were certainly small and involved much mouth opening. The ripple on the water was enough to keep us reasonably disguised but allowed us to see the fish movements well.
We then walked on around the shore for a couple of km but did not see another fish. However, to see this one fish made the weekend well worthwhile.
Ann Lee