mightyboosh
Well-known member
It's winter, so that means freshwater fishing, or more precisely in my case, fishing for trout with coarse fishing methods.
A chilly start to the day at 10 degrees C, but it soon warmed up. The venue is a natural dune lake. Just over the dunes is the wild west coast of the Tasman Sea where great white sharks and marlin cruise the waters.
Arrived at 0900 after a 2 hour drive. As per usual, not another soul to be seen. Unfortunately, the wind was in exactly the wrong direction and since I was determined to fish a sliding waggler, this meant a long walk around the lake so the wind was on my back.
Rig was a homemade sliding waggler which holds 14g. Mainline and leader were 6lb mono and fluorocarbon respectively which seemed ridiculously light after a summer of saltwater fishing. Bait was presented at around 20 feet, a couple of feet off the bottom.
Bait was whole cooked prawns, 3 - 4 inches long, mounted with a baiting needle.
Rod was an old Daiwa spinning rod. At 10ft with large rings, it is bizarrely well suited to this style of fishing. My new rod rest heads were employed and bodged on to extending broom sticks. I can't wait until my bank sticks arrive in shipping!
Once setup, it was just a question of waiting. At 1030, I got my first bite, typical timing for this water. The takes aren't dramatic, the float just disappears. Unfortunately, it didn't stay disappeared and popped back up.
Next bite was 10 minutes later. My strike resulted in nothing and the prawn came back bitten off just below the hook. Who says trout are stupid?
Next bite resulted in a solid hook-up. After a spirited fight, a beautiful 2.56kg (5.6lb) rainbow graced my net. SUCCESS! It was immediately dispatched and is now residing in my friend's smoker.
The next few hours were very quiet. Some reading material helped pass the time, not the Angling Times I'm afraid.
The fish started biting again at 1500. Had a hook-up. Took me straight in to a snag. Unusual because there aren't many snags in the lake and this isn't typical behaviour for these trout. Couldn't get my tackle back, so reluctantly pulled for a break. Next cast, rod almost got pulled off the rests, again very unusual. Fish slipped the hook after putting a good bend in the rod.
Connected with a good fish on the next cast. I was certainly thinking in terms of a double figure trout, then it started thrashing at the surface and realised I'd hooked an eel. This "python" was over a metre long. I was planning to get a photo, but was relieved when it slipped the hook close to the bank.
I have no desire to catch eels, so presented the bait a bit shallower and caught a nice rainbow at around 2lb almost immediately. Since I already had a good fish in the bag, this was released. Next cast resulted in a fish of around 1lb which was also released. Since I promised to cook dinner, I called it a day and went home happy with my bag.
A chilly start to the day at 10 degrees C, but it soon warmed up. The venue is a natural dune lake. Just over the dunes is the wild west coast of the Tasman Sea where great white sharks and marlin cruise the waters.
Arrived at 0900 after a 2 hour drive. As per usual, not another soul to be seen. Unfortunately, the wind was in exactly the wrong direction and since I was determined to fish a sliding waggler, this meant a long walk around the lake so the wind was on my back.
Rig was a homemade sliding waggler which holds 14g. Mainline and leader were 6lb mono and fluorocarbon respectively which seemed ridiculously light after a summer of saltwater fishing. Bait was presented at around 20 feet, a couple of feet off the bottom.
Bait was whole cooked prawns, 3 - 4 inches long, mounted with a baiting needle.
Rod was an old Daiwa spinning rod. At 10ft with large rings, it is bizarrely well suited to this style of fishing. My new rod rest heads were employed and bodged on to extending broom sticks. I can't wait until my bank sticks arrive in shipping!
Once setup, it was just a question of waiting. At 1030, I got my first bite, typical timing for this water. The takes aren't dramatic, the float just disappears. Unfortunately, it didn't stay disappeared and popped back up.
Next bite was 10 minutes later. My strike resulted in nothing and the prawn came back bitten off just below the hook. Who says trout are stupid?
Next bite resulted in a solid hook-up. After a spirited fight, a beautiful 2.56kg (5.6lb) rainbow graced my net. SUCCESS! It was immediately dispatched and is now residing in my friend's smoker.
The next few hours were very quiet. Some reading material helped pass the time, not the Angling Times I'm afraid.
The fish started biting again at 1500. Had a hook-up. Took me straight in to a snag. Unusual because there aren't many snags in the lake and this isn't typical behaviour for these trout. Couldn't get my tackle back, so reluctantly pulled for a break. Next cast, rod almost got pulled off the rests, again very unusual. Fish slipped the hook after putting a good bend in the rod.
Connected with a good fish on the next cast. I was certainly thinking in terms of a double figure trout, then it started thrashing at the surface and realised I'd hooked an eel. This "python" was over a metre long. I was planning to get a photo, but was relieved when it slipped the hook close to the bank.
I have no desire to catch eels, so presented the bait a bit shallower and caught a nice rainbow at around 2lb almost immediately. Since I already had a good fish in the bag, this was released. Next cast resulted in a fish of around 1lb which was also released. Since I promised to cook dinner, I called it a day and went home happy with my bag.
