The continuing adventures of the Fluff Club, Episode 75 *

 

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits” – Albert Einstein

 The car park was as full as I’ve ever seen it, apart from a corporate day I attended here once. Sadly it was not a vast horde of Fluff Boys that were responsible, there were only four of us Fluff Boys plus Dodgy, but its good to see Manningford Trout Fishery is doing well, customers-wise. Indeed, other vehicles came and went throughout the day. Dodgy isn’t a FB member, but does like to join us fishing from time to time;  that said, I know his three previous wives consider him a f b (of an entirely different ilk). Monies changed hands and we had our permits: the Professor and Whytee going for 4 fish, the admiral and Moneypenny for 2, while Dodgy surprisingly went for 3. Into the fray, then.

 There was still plenty of spaces around Manor ‘Lake’, as some of the visitors were up on Squires, and at least one fishing the young River Avon. Whytee had a plan, the method based on a previous visit in February, while the equipment was a recently acquired, used rod and reel, which needed their ‘baptism of fire’. The rod was a Sharpe’s ‘The Gordon’ 9’ 6” #7 (80’s/90’s) and the reel a Pflueger 1878 ‘Supreme’ reel, probably from  the same era. In use you’d say the rod was definitely stiff, but Whytee found that very stiffness helped prevent tailing loops and helped punch the floating line into the breeze. The method is one that works well here: fishing a small nymph, buzzer or blob underneath an indicator.

 Whytee started with a size 14 black buzzer about 30” deep, near the inlet, and this brought two stockers quite quickly. That called for a change, so on went an ‘original’ Apps, size 12. This was the result of a recent YouTube viewing of a video of Peter Appleby demonstrating the proper tying of his ‘fly’, both four- and eight-legged ones. The third stocker soon graced the landing net, all of them were fighting fit, punching above their weights. To Whytee’s right, esconced in a folding chair [knee no better despite the third replacement], Dodgy pointedly asked if there were a spare indicator he could try? W took D’s rod, noticed the tangled leader, and rebuilt the entire cast including an indicator made from a straightened hook and booby cord, depth-adjustable due to the deployment of float stops, while Dodgy moaned about the time it was taking to rebuild his rig! Adding an Apps variant on the business end, the rod was passed back to D. Then Whytee set off for a walk around Manor to kill time, and hadn’t gone twenty yards before a loud “Fish-on!”, Dodgy likes to let everybody know.

Passing the others on the perambulation, with the usual information exchanges, Whytee learned the Professor had one, the Admiral hadn’t troubled one yet, while Moneypenny had performed a “long distance catch and release”, formerly a speciality of the Admiral’s, and closely related to the ”dropsies” which regularly afflicts the Professor.

 When Whytee got back to Dodgy, still in the same swim, he had caught his three, but lost one which threw the hook while jumping out of his landing net. Dodgy shallowed his depth to twelve inches, and soon secured his limit, crowing like a cock, and headed for home. Trying this, that, and the other flies, Whytee extended the fishing until the agreed time for lunch. The Professor had now switched to an indicator system and fishing near the inlet he too had three in the bag before stopping for the break. Moneypenny came by, a little fed up, having now lost three fish before running out of any further action at all, and he too bade farewell. The Admiral joined the picnic table, having hooked a fish that soon managed to escape, old habits die hard!

 It was pleasant sitting in spring sunshine, but hunger sated, the urge to fish returned and back onto the banks the trio trudged. The Admiral had also opted to use an indicator now, and fishing into the wind was the best solution to the horrible, slimy, half-dead blanket weed clumps the thin sunshine had been bringing to the surface most of the morning. Whytee was trying a size 14 Dayglo yellow Blob under the indicator, and a slow bite resulted in the hooking of something more substantial; the fish was played very carefully, particularly because of the four pound tippet, and even more so when the beautiful Brownie was close enough to see, the little fly clearly visible in its top lip! In due course Whytee prevailed and after what seemed like an age a stunning five-pound-fifteen Brown slid into the net! Phew!

 The Professor soon got his fourth, and while filling out our catch returns before leaving we saw the Admiral landing one, it looked like he was going to get his brace after all.

A hiki i ka manawa a’e.

 

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