The Continuind Adventures of the Fluff Club, Episode 14
(In which the names
of the people and places are disguised to protect the innocent)
"It's a disease, this fishing, but it's not the afflicted that suffer, it's the next of kin." (JH Hall)
It's not a resurrection: the reason why this blog hasn't happened for a while is that stuff has got in the way, so your chronicler was a no-show for the last (how many?) Fluff Club trips out. Here we go though, the same destination visited back in episode 3 ... but no catastrophe this time! Incidentally, I did get around to replacing that fatality: I went instead for an Airflo Delta Classic #6/7 which although cheaper actually casts better than the deceased Greys GRXi - or should I say it better suits my casting style (or lack of it!) and actually feels very nice, throwing good loops too. But rods can be so very personal, can’t they!?
Forecast for the day was sunny intervals reaching 26 degrees of the Celsius scale, we actually surpassed that. The consensus betwixt the Fluff Boys was that the fishing might be on the difficult side.
The holiday season is on us so it was no real surprise that only four of the Fluff Club assembled. We really need to do something to attract new members, our weekday twilight tying troupe is dwindling, no new joiners for quite some time.
There were seven or eight other anglers fishing, so we signed in, paid up, and readied ourselves for the fray, then set off. All four of the ponds were clear so the fishery could again rightly assume it's role as the best sight-fishery in Hampshire. Kitted out with an Orvis #6 outfit I headed off to the furthest water, looking for fish-holding areas as I walked the banks of the first three. The river was very clear too, carrying a good level and with a few Brownies in view.
Given the conditions and time of year I set to with a Damsel nymph pattern, casting along the three Willows of the left-hand bank, where I could see trout moving. A few more casts and I had a follow but no take, a couple more casts and I had a take, only for the fish to come unstuck as I was winding spare line back onto the reel thinking I had the upper hand. There were other fish to cover but after a while all interest in the Damsel fly ceased so I thought I should put on a Blob to shake the fish up a bit. Second cast and bang! A good Rainbow fought hard, I thought I was in command of the situation and as I reached down for my landing net the fish just came off mid-jump. Two hooked and two long distance releases, the Admiral would have been proud. At that point the Admiral actually hove into view, informing me he had got one, Dell-boy had lost one, and the Professor also had one in the bag. With 50% of his ticket secured the Admiral wandered away to try a dry fly to slow things down in the search for his second. I told him I hadn't seen any surface activity, but he replied there was some on the largest of the four waters.
When fishing a Blob pattern with the rolly-poly retrieve I find that the fish can go off a particular colour quite quickly, perhaps because the fly makes such a commotion that all the fish notice it; the received wisdom is that you should change colours regularly, but I had several new, different fly patterns I wanted to test so my biscuit/red-band Blob was consigned to my fly patch for the time being.
I switched flies and retrieves a few times before hooking a fish on a #16 nymph featuring tiny chartreuse bead-chain eyes and a UV rib over hare's ear dubbing. I clung grimly to this fish, and finally netted an ugly Rainbow with an oversize head which made it look like a bit like a Codling. The priest visited with alacrity; three hooked one banked.
There were still some fish around so instead of moving I knotted on a blue-flash Nomad/black Leech pattern based on one I had been whupped with at a Troutmasters heat back in April. I cast towards a pair of fish off to my left and the Blue trout dutifully took, was played carefully and netted, now I was at four hooked two banked, so a 50% catch rate, which made things feel much better.
Not far behind me, on the largest of the four 'lakes' I noticed the Professor take two fish in succession (using another PTN variant) and decided to try that pond, moving up the opposite bank to an area where a few trees provide canopy shade over the water close in, where I had previously seen goodish fish hole-up sometimes. There was a fish in residence. Creeping into position I had to use the bow and arrow cast to get through the treacherous, overhanging branches, but my target detected something was not right and shot off out from the shade and off out of sight. There were lesser fish moving into sight and I tempted one just under three pounds which really made me struggle within the confines until it made the mistake of zooming out of the cover, and I followed it out from under the tree. Now I could manipulate the rod correctly and was soon guiding the trout over the rim of the landing net.
Lunch was in order and would provide the chance to switch to a mini-sink-tip #5 set-up. Back at the car Dell-boy was still fishing the first pond, less than a cast away from his car. We chatted; he told me about the one he lost, and that there were still fish moving through the swim. He switched to a Damsel-based lure, and while I was changing over my outfit his rod bowed into a nice 'bow which he soon netted, definitely bigger than any of mine.
The Admiral turned up so we ate together, chewing the fat about this and that. Dell-boy changed ponds, hunting his second fish.
Afterwards I thought I would try under the trees by the inlet to the first pond. Creeping in I saw a very nice fish, which moved to investigate my fly several times but would not take. Before long it melted into the inky darkness of deeper water. I switched to the second lake, trying the top end where the old wooden hut hangs over the water in a small copse. There were a couple of fish but something again gave me away, so I moved out.
The Admiral got no takes to the dry, and had switched back to nymphs, soon getting his second, after that he fished for takes with a copper-wire nymph that had the hook bend completely removed. Interestingly, he had a lot of close-up inspections, but none of the trout actually took a bite.
I noticed the Professor heading back towards the car park as I headed back to the fourth water, so I assumed he had made his four-fish ticket. Back at my first swim I re-tied the successful #16 nymph and tempted a nice trout to take, but alas the hook gape opened a little in the fight and the fish was gone after just a couple of minutes.
I switched to a small PTN variant which could actually be properly called a MTN, as instead of Pheasant the feather fibre is a Macaw parrot centre tail, blue one side and yellow the other and looks great. I covered a few fish whereupon a small Blue accelerated into view and engulfed the fly. This had to be the smallest Blue I have ever caught, but that was four fish in the bag. I headed back to the cars to find the other Fluff Boys gone. I chatted to the manager, now into his second year of tenure. He told me most of the fisheries in our area are struggling to even break-even, many are loss-making. He buys in his stock at 120 fish at a time, currently costing £600. The ticket prices yield approximately £13 per fish, so you immediately think he has an £8 margin, but the foot-fall at the fishery sees few visitors on weekdays, so it can take over three weeks and more to 'sell' that 120 stock unit, out of which there are three weeks' wages, plus costs of mowing and weed cutting, the grass cutting machinery and insurances, landowners cut, and all the other overheads to find. Of course, corporate days help enormously, but competition means there aren't enough of these to make a big difference, so for now it's tough to survive.
I think I'll tell mission control she ought to let me go fishing more often ... But only when I'm wearing running shoes or a stab vest!
"It's a disease, this fishing, but it's not the afflicted that suffer, it's the next of kin." (JH Hall)
It's not a resurrection: the reason why this blog hasn't happened for a while is that stuff has got in the way, so your chronicler was a no-show for the last (how many?) Fluff Club trips out. Here we go though, the same destination visited back in episode 3 ... but no catastrophe this time! Incidentally, I did get around to replacing that fatality: I went instead for an Airflo Delta Classic #6/7 which although cheaper actually casts better than the deceased Greys GRXi - or should I say it better suits my casting style (or lack of it!) and actually feels very nice, throwing good loops too. But rods can be so very personal, can’t they!?
Forecast for the day was sunny intervals reaching 26 degrees of the Celsius scale, we actually surpassed that. The consensus betwixt the Fluff Boys was that the fishing might be on the difficult side.
The holiday season is on us so it was no real surprise that only four of the Fluff Club assembled. We really need to do something to attract new members, our weekday twilight tying troupe is dwindling, no new joiners for quite some time.
There were seven or eight other anglers fishing, so we signed in, paid up, and readied ourselves for the fray, then set off. All four of the ponds were clear so the fishery could again rightly assume it's role as the best sight-fishery in Hampshire. Kitted out with an Orvis #6 outfit I headed off to the furthest water, looking for fish-holding areas as I walked the banks of the first three. The river was very clear too, carrying a good level and with a few Brownies in view.
Given the conditions and time of year I set to with a Damsel nymph pattern, casting along the three Willows of the left-hand bank, where I could see trout moving. A few more casts and I had a follow but no take, a couple more casts and I had a take, only for the fish to come unstuck as I was winding spare line back onto the reel thinking I had the upper hand. There were other fish to cover but after a while all interest in the Damsel fly ceased so I thought I should put on a Blob to shake the fish up a bit. Second cast and bang! A good Rainbow fought hard, I thought I was in command of the situation and as I reached down for my landing net the fish just came off mid-jump. Two hooked and two long distance releases, the Admiral would have been proud. At that point the Admiral actually hove into view, informing me he had got one, Dell-boy had lost one, and the Professor also had one in the bag. With 50% of his ticket secured the Admiral wandered away to try a dry fly to slow things down in the search for his second. I told him I hadn't seen any surface activity, but he replied there was some on the largest of the four waters.
When fishing a Blob pattern with the rolly-poly retrieve I find that the fish can go off a particular colour quite quickly, perhaps because the fly makes such a commotion that all the fish notice it; the received wisdom is that you should change colours regularly, but I had several new, different fly patterns I wanted to test so my biscuit/red-band Blob was consigned to my fly patch for the time being.
I switched flies and retrieves a few times before hooking a fish on a #16 nymph featuring tiny chartreuse bead-chain eyes and a UV rib over hare's ear dubbing. I clung grimly to this fish, and finally netted an ugly Rainbow with an oversize head which made it look like a bit like a Codling. The priest visited with alacrity; three hooked one banked.
There were still some fish around so instead of moving I knotted on a blue-flash Nomad/black Leech pattern based on one I had been whupped with at a Troutmasters heat back in April. I cast towards a pair of fish off to my left and the Blue trout dutifully took, was played carefully and netted, now I was at four hooked two banked, so a 50% catch rate, which made things feel much better.
Not far behind me, on the largest of the four 'lakes' I noticed the Professor take two fish in succession (using another PTN variant) and decided to try that pond, moving up the opposite bank to an area where a few trees provide canopy shade over the water close in, where I had previously seen goodish fish hole-up sometimes. There was a fish in residence. Creeping into position I had to use the bow and arrow cast to get through the treacherous, overhanging branches, but my target detected something was not right and shot off out from the shade and off out of sight. There were lesser fish moving into sight and I tempted one just under three pounds which really made me struggle within the confines until it made the mistake of zooming out of the cover, and I followed it out from under the tree. Now I could manipulate the rod correctly and was soon guiding the trout over the rim of the landing net.
Lunch was in order and would provide the chance to switch to a mini-sink-tip #5 set-up. Back at the car Dell-boy was still fishing the first pond, less than a cast away from his car. We chatted; he told me about the one he lost, and that there were still fish moving through the swim. He switched to a Damsel-based lure, and while I was changing over my outfit his rod bowed into a nice 'bow which he soon netted, definitely bigger than any of mine.
The Admiral turned up so we ate together, chewing the fat about this and that. Dell-boy changed ponds, hunting his second fish.
Afterwards I thought I would try under the trees by the inlet to the first pond. Creeping in I saw a very nice fish, which moved to investigate my fly several times but would not take. Before long it melted into the inky darkness of deeper water. I switched to the second lake, trying the top end where the old wooden hut hangs over the water in a small copse. There were a couple of fish but something again gave me away, so I moved out.
The Admiral got no takes to the dry, and had switched back to nymphs, soon getting his second, after that he fished for takes with a copper-wire nymph that had the hook bend completely removed. Interestingly, he had a lot of close-up inspections, but none of the trout actually took a bite.
I noticed the Professor heading back towards the car park as I headed back to the fourth water, so I assumed he had made his four-fish ticket. Back at my first swim I re-tied the successful #16 nymph and tempted a nice trout to take, but alas the hook gape opened a little in the fight and the fish was gone after just a couple of minutes.
I switched to a small PTN variant which could actually be properly called a MTN, as instead of Pheasant the feather fibre is a Macaw parrot centre tail, blue one side and yellow the other and looks great. I covered a few fish whereupon a small Blue accelerated into view and engulfed the fly. This had to be the smallest Blue I have ever caught, but that was four fish in the bag. I headed back to the cars to find the other Fluff Boys gone. I chatted to the manager, now into his second year of tenure. He told me most of the fisheries in our area are struggling to even break-even, many are loss-making. He buys in his stock at 120 fish at a time, currently costing £600. The ticket prices yield approximately £13 per fish, so you immediately think he has an £8 margin, but the foot-fall at the fishery sees few visitors on weekdays, so it can take over three weeks and more to 'sell' that 120 stock unit, out of which there are three weeks' wages, plus costs of mowing and weed cutting, the grass cutting machinery and insurances, landowners cut, and all the other overheads to find. Of course, corporate days help enormously, but competition means there aren't enough of these to make a big difference, so for now it's tough to survive.
I think I'll tell mission control she ought to let me go fishing more often ... But only when I'm wearing running shoes or a stab vest!
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments and/or feedback are always welcome