fishydreams

This weekend was my first chance to get out on the river for a while and I managed to fish on the evenings of both Saturday and Sunday. The river was in pretty good shape and there were a few fish around.

The gypsy barbel seemed very spooky initially and I was forced to go down in size both in nymph and leader. Curiously the fish would often be frightened of the little splash created by the nymph as it landed. When they are “on” they can often be attracted to this and even swim over to investigate, often accepting the fly in the process. I found that it was better to offer the fly from slightly upstream and often give the nymph a little movement when it was close to the fish.

All told I had seven or eight barbel and a carp. A couple of barbel managed a famous trick of theirs which involves somehow transferring the hook from their mouths to a snag. I don´t know how they do this. The fish is usually on a tight line and then it seems as if everything goes solid. I never want to leave a fish caught up in any snag and so I always make a point of wading out and retrieving the fly. This happened twice and I found the nymph embedded in some underwater obstacle on each occasion.

I was very pleased to catch the carp which also took a nymph cast from a little way upstream. These fish are so strong that you really just have to hang on during their initial runs. I have a little theory that carp have poor eyesight or they “switch” off their visual senses a little when feeding on the bottom. Often the nymph can go right past the fish´s nose and you think “it MUST have seen that!”

I decided to take a photo of the nymph the carp took just so that I can use something similar again if the need arises. You never know.

This is the “nymph” the carp took. I don´t have anything else quite like it!

And here is the carp. It was as strong as an ox.

Pretty things these

This is a gypsy barbel just before it went on its way.