Today I met up with Red and we fished a beautiful little stream that I suspect is rarely fished. Sworn to secrecy on this one we had made a reconnaissance back in the Winter and asked local land owners before fishing it. It meanders through wooded valleys rarely opening out through a canopy of trees. Cascading over a rocky bottom with long shallow fast runs and deep turbulent pools. Today was a boiling hot Spring day with plenty of birdsong but surprisingly not huge amount of fly life coming off the stream, just the odd Mayfly drifting up. I couldn't wait to get my fly in the water. I started fishing NZ not seeing any rising fish. I was heartened immediately as I hooked into a few spirited miniature Brownies both on the nymph and the dry on the first run.
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| Red is in there somewhere.. |
It was a case of finding the deeper pools and looking for the slack water either side to keep your fly in the sweet spot and hook a fish. One particularly nice pool gave up three Brownies to about 10" all on the dry. Casting was extremely difficult with bow and arrow improvisation proving invaluable. The rocky bottom also made wading tough - I took a stumble breaking the handle from my reel. I was not dismayed though as stream fly fishing invites you to explore some truly wonderful habitat just tucked away you would often overlook on a map - I never thought for one moment I could find a taste of highland stream so close home.
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| A rare stand of Monkshood - pretty but deadly handle with care! |
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