The continuing adventures of the Fluff Club, Episode 57 *

 

“Angling is extremely time-consuming; that’s sort of the whole point”. - Thomas McGuane

 

Over breakfast, I looked at two weather forecasts on my iPad: the BBC’s and the Met Office one. The former showed an overcast day, but no rain, while t’other stated rain all day. During the six something hours I was at Holbury Lane Lakes (last in March this year, pre-lockdown), we had three heavy showers. My barometer app has been pogo dancing lately, something to do with Storm Ellen and the forthcoming Storm Francis, so it was anyone’s guess how the fishing might be.

 As it turns out, the answer was ‘tough’, which we didn’t know as we rigged-up for the fray. Foggy was present, with his pal again, the Inspector accompanied by one son, also Rodney, Threepio, the Professor, Lumberjack (returned to the fold), Whytee of course, and Dodgy Phil pitched up too. Georgee thought all ten were from the Fluff Club, which I suppose gave us a bit of kudos. There were other anglers as well, and the GAIA gang, including the Admiral, so the car park was full for once, with overspill parking on the grass alongside Island ‘Lake’.

    The GAIA gang, 'at it'.

 Quite soon it became apparent that the trout were recalcitrant; we spread around the fishery, trying hither and thither. I made an errant decision, thinking I’d do the ‘four from four’ malarkey, soon catching my first from Willow, on a Wossname.

It took a bit longer to get the second, from Long, but I was ‘two from two’ thanks to a Limit Damsel.

Thence onto Island with hope still in the heart, where I spent the next three hours skulking about without generating a single take, despite fly after fly, cast after cast, spot after spot. I lapped several times, there were plenty to target, especially blues, but still zilch. I did see a pair of Kingfishers flashing along the River Dun though. Whenever I came across a FB I’d ask the usual question, but it was proving tough all around. I gave up on the 4/4 idea eventually and decided to try Pond, all the ‘lakes’ had been crystal clear and weedy, but Pond was the weediest.

I had to roll cast as I was under the canopy of the row of trees lurking evilly behind me, separating the fishery from Holbury Lane, so my range was limited. I continued sight fishing and my ‘Spark’ produced a take from a Rainbow I estimated at over four pounds, but after three powerful runs it charged headlong into a column of weed and the tippet snapped! Disconsolate, I pondered my situation. There was a good fish my side which was cruising ‘on the fin’, occasionally taking something from the surface, and returning into range every few minutes. I didn’t have a dries box in the vest, but the little ‘odds’ box in the breast pocket held an ‘emergent midge’ pattern.

I knotted this on, despite my line being a fast glass, I thought I could hold it up in the surface film utilising a short roll cast line. The fish cruised back into view, importantly only a few feet from the bank; the fly landed slightly to the right, but it paused, turned, looked at the fly, and ate it! It fought really hard, crashing and thrashing about at the surface, giving me several anxious moments, but thankfully it didn’t dive into any weed, and began to tire. I drew it towards the net twice but each time it shot away again, then at last it was mine! Result! Now then, that’s three from three … was there a possibility after all? Straight over to Island, alas they really were not interested in my attempts, contemptuously ignoring my offerings; I doubted I could even buy a bite. At 15.05 I just drew stumps and went to do the catch return. In order of appearance, my fish went 3lbs 11ozs, 3lbs 12ozs, and 5lbs 8ozs, a good bag from this fishery, albeit one short of my ticket limit. Rodney had already left, fishless. There had been no sign of Rodney’s GoPro today, but en passant the Professor said to me “I wonder if he’s fishing the three weight or the switch rod today?” There’s always something interesting on a Fluff Club outing! The Professor was yet to land one, despite fishing all of the ponds hard. Foggy was packing up, having made his brace, and I think his pal might also have had one fish. The Inspector and son had confirmed one, a little earlier. Threepio had one as well, but Lumberjack was fishless when I saw him last. Dodgy Phil was facing a skunking, having dropped two, (the first of which looked decent). No one particular fly appeared to be a consistent performer on the day, you definitely had to mix ‘em up and move regularly to find fresh fish, as I had, but still failing to get my ‘four from four’. Oh well, that’s fishing. I headed for base, quite knackered, detouring to pick up a couple of bags of ice and some beers. The ice was to keep the fish fresh overnight, until I had the energy for filleting them. Guess who the beers were for?

Tan y tro nesaf.

P.S. I'm usually uneasy with pics of dead fish, but these were destined for the hot smoker. I didn't photograph the third, I was in such a hurry to try Long again!

*in which the names of the participants are pseudonyms in an effort to be as inclusive to others as possible, in an attempt to attain the widest readership. I will be grateful for any comment the reader cares to make. Thank you.