Well I did a post recently on the Wess,s Tean stretch and the Buttercup brown has been driving me mad!!
Well here goes the update...
It might be me but I do get rather obsessed when I can't beat something, it stays on my mind most of the time, I have been in bed at night thinking of ways to get this brown, I am not talking a fish that is easy to catch here, this fish is totally unapproachable from the front, you need to get around the back of it, it will only feed around mid day to olives which usually last for around a hour then it will go back under roots in 4ft of water, you can't make any sound under foot, you cannot put much fly line on the water and certainly put mono over it head!And drag!! How do I know all this? Well I have tried to catch this fish on four outings and each time made a certain mistake which I have then gone away and thought of my next approach.. As many of my blog followers will know I have always been a specimen hunter, in barbel, chub or carp, Game fishing is something that has really made my angling complete, the use of a fly rod has something very special that only we fly men know how it, I am a sucker for a 'specimen' fish and I still love catching small free rising trout but the rewards of a 'clunk' are buzzin.... ..catching that bigger, wilder trout is very hard indeed, and to the dry is even harder, fish like these are not that big by being foolish..
As I have said before I could put some heavy nymph through the run and stand a much better chance, but if your like me I do love the dry and that's what fly fishing is all about (my view)...
I turned upto my view point behind a tree in bunches of nettles, this position has become very familiar to me! The nettles trodden down, I know every shadow that lies on the river, every boulder and stone on the river bed! I think most anglers know that feeling from being in one of your favourite positions on the river...
The fish was there as normal, holding right in the slow off on a rifle, about 2inches from the surface, I knew there must be a good hatch going off as this fish would stay high up in the river spending no energy sipping olives, at the back end of a hatch the fish would go to 4 or 5 inches below the surface and rise on the last dregs of the hatch..
There were Grayling rising further back and they were taking what looked like to be emergers as the trout was taking the full dun...the Grayling would shoot from the bed of the river and hit the fly and return back to the river bed..
Today the buttercup was acting different, it was totally walloping duns and looked to be totally preoccupied with them, I knew this was my big chance...
I set my camera up on video and left it on the farmers fence pointing to the spot, pressed record and walked downstream, got over the fence and crawled upto my casting position, behind a tree in a hole, from this point I could not see the fish but could see the rise.. My heart pounding as normal I was waiting for the right moment, wait for it to rise then drop it on as not to spook it, I then went for it putting some false cast in then finally dropping it in, the fly landed a into the food lane, as it dropped on the surface I saw the fish take a olive to the right of my fly and then head for my fly!! Mouth out the water, swirl, then tighten up....yes the hook set home... Buzzin my head off, I was just holding the line tight as I got in the water and the fish was just holding and violently shaking it head, I knew this fish had never seen a hook so it was acting strangely until it saw me with the net, It shot down stream without my knowing at a instant turn of pace, this catching me out big time and my fly line got stuck around my reel, the rod looped right over and I was waiting for a snap but managed to release the line and it took line off it needed, I knew then I was in for a good scap, I was on stroft 1.40 kg so was limited in the stick I could give it.. I managed to get the fish upstream of me and it then started to hit roots and roll, ever time it saw the net it would bolt off, I got to the point where I thought I was going to lose the battle, I could see I had only hooked it in the lip and started to think it was going to pull, I made a last pull to the net and she came in!!! Wicked, I had a great feeling of relief, I had just done what had been driving me mad for a weeks, I had done it, a wild clunk to the dry...I picked her up to weigh in my mcleans net and she tipped at 2lb 2oz... Shaking I held her in stream to get her wind back and got my camera at the ready.. Picking the fish up was untrue, a true 2lber in fin perfect condition, wild as they come and hard a fook to catch, the underside was the lovely buttercup yellow I have seen..
Made up I took a few pics and held her in stream and she kicked off as sharp as ever..
I slumped down next to the river and sparked up a bensons,took in what I had just had, a great feeling...I looked up the river and saw another huge fish sipping olives, should I get the rod out again or was I really bothered now, then reaching over the fence our farmer shouted across 'ows they goin on Glen' the fish bolted! 'Sound youth' I replied..He had spooked the fish, i was not bothered, I had 'lived the dream'!!
You can see the video of catching the fish if you click on the link below...
Woody tells me my language is terrible and now I know...you can see the brown rising amongst the shadows of the three trees in the river, you can see the fish also rise as my fly hits the water just to the right of my fly...the rises in the middle downstream of the trees are Grayling, notice they are of no interest to me!!!
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