Tuesday 11 June 2013

Hot Hot Hot

The hoped for change in the hot weather did not appear yesterday. More bright sun and tee shirt weather I fear. Maryke went off to the point of the Island where she assured us she would do a naked rain dance she had learnt in South Africa. Tim P donned his bowler hat and hoped that pretending to be a judge at a hunt puppy show at the height of English summer might induce the Rain Gods to act.

Tim P
None of the above worked and by mid after-noon we recorded a water temperature of 22⁰C – a record I’m not sure that I ever want to see broken or even matched. Despite this our valiant team fished hard and quite cannily. They ignored the normal deeper holding pools and concentrated on any fast, bubbly water where the dissolved oxygen might give the salmon at least some energy.

Maryke off to do her rain dance
Middle Camp fishers will understand that Party Pool and it’s like, normally hugely productive, were simply non-starters. Generator Pool was full of fish, concentrated at the top in the faster water, yet even with our four best rods fishing it after dinner it yielded only one fish for the day. However it was a highly important fish – Gerard I’s first Atlantic salmon, indeed his first fish ever as he was totally new to this wonderful sport of ours before he arrived here just 48 hours earlier.

19 salmon of the total of 31 at Middle yesterday came from the rapids above Clarkes, the rest from wherever there was streamy water. Successful flies were the usual eclectic mix with quite a few taken on skated flies and the Mediator being a favourite sub-surface fly. Sizes were generally 8 through to 10 and all fish were taken in floating lines.

Toasting Gerard and his first salmon
Kitza too had a quieter day although their water temperature remained at 17⁰C. They recorded 28 salmon for the day with Harry B having six beautifully fresh fish from the lower beat, two of which were just under 10lbs. They were using slightly larger flies and their favourite yesterday was a 1” Stoats Tail.

Up at Pana they recorded a water temperature of 19⁰C and with sweltering weather and a bit of a walk needed, Damian took only one rod downstream below the Lagoon where Henry G banked a well-earned 7 salmon.

Change on the way?
Last night we had a wonderful halo around the sun and we all felt that Maryke's rain dance might be working. Early this morning the wind finally shifted out of the South and we have a stiff, cool breeze from the North East accompanied by good cloud cover. Getting up early Ian S noted the water temperature had dropped to 16⁰C and making the most of it he dashed off to Generator and landed four salmon before breakfast. That’s more like it!

Christopher Robinson