The Best Morning Fly Fishing Ever
In the many years of fly fishing on still water lakes, I have very rarely had such an enjoyable morning’s fishing. I arrived at Barn Elms around 8.30 and tackled up in the carpark as normal, then headed over to the lodge to for a chat with the guys on duty that morning. The sun was beginning to warm up, there wasn’t much wind and I could see plenty of fish rising and cruising just under the surface of the water.
I went to one of my favourite spots on the Roxy lake and threw my green damselfly into the water before starting to pull my line off of the fly reel when a good size rainbow took the Damsel on the drop just under my feet. This was a sign of things to come…I took another two fish in as many casts and decided to go for a walk.
I am not a stalker and have never enjoyed that part of fishing, however when it’s that easy to catch I thought why not go looking for a bigger fish to cast to. So I ended up over the back of the Roxy lake where just in front of the trees I could see a few nice fish rising in the same position every time. My back cast was not good as I didn’t have a lot of room to cast any distance, but could easily reach the fish I was after. I put on a small olive green Nymph with a small gold head, and on the second cast I got the larger rainbow I was after. I then repeated this method on a second fish that was not too far away and hooked that one within three more casts.
After a quick break I headed over to a spot halfway down the Diawl Bach lake, and within 5 casts back on the green damsel, I had number fish number six…
I can honestly say, I had one of the best few hours fishing ever, and I finally do understand the joy of catching a fish that you have purposely gone for rather than blind casting and retrieving.
What a joy, thank you Barn Elms Trout Fly Fishery!
Mark Watts
