Lake Dunstan at the moment..
The browns on Dunstan have all but left the top flats. I was there last Saturday. For a while, a large section of the lake was dead calm. In about 2 hours fishing it, I saw only a few rises. I caught one on one of Dad’s buzzers and then went exploring the Clutha River through the various delta channels. I saw a few fish in deep, fast water but could do little with them. I had some nice action in the lee of a willow island to a few rising fish. All up though, the fishing was slow and the rainbows have not arrived on the top flat just yet.. not many anyway.
On Sunday, Kevin and I went out for a few hours, We decided to fish down the lake towards Clyde. There’s lots of fishy water down the road shore. One section in particular had my attention from regularly driving passed it. We went there. We did a number of drifts covering deep to shallow water, weedy to sandy and some rocky edges. Almost every drift resulted in a fish event. We landed 5, The best fish was a 4lb plus rainbow on a nymph David Lambroughton gave me. I was also fishing one of Stu Tripney’s damsel flies, which also picked up a fish or 2!
So that’s it.. If you’re keen on a day on Dunstan, maybe try down the lake. This time last year the top was very slow. By May, the fishing on the top flat was pretty good again for rainbows. Until then I’ll be exploring between here (Cromwell) and the Clyde dam. Hopefully it will produce the goods.
No fishing this weekend.. I picked up a stomach bug and it has me fucked.
Ronan..
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- Into one on at the head of the lake.. Very few fish here now.
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- Some exploring up one of many Clutha channels in the delta..
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- I kept one for the smoker..
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- Down the lake with Kevin, We found some fish. Seems a better option than the head of the lake now..
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- A nice wee brown for Kevin..
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- A fat rainbow on one of David Lambroughtons leggy nymphs. I fished it like I would a bugger, let it sink a little longer maybe..
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- Fish of the day!
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- Some big trout around!
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- Kevin takes us home! It was nice to fish some new water and better to find fish there!
I’m pretty sure that’s an eel mark, Ronan. Starting to look like Autumn again!
Do eels have big enough teeth to do such damage? I assumed trout due to the cut.. Autumn is here alright.. Nice time of year and I have the next 10 days off! My stomach bug has finally gone. 9 rough days!
No but they clamp down with a vice-like grip. The resulting squabble should be enough to break flesh. I think a trout would cause a much more defined cut. However it’s really the position of the marking that makes me thing eel, because I’ve had an eel take a fish I was playing in exactly this place. Everything I’ve read about trout is they target the front third, not the rear third. But we really need a biologist to tell us. I’ll ask on the Board! Hope the fishing is good!!
Yea, A bite mark in that place is probably eel. They don’t have speed on their side so they have to blind side them! I’ve regularly caught fish with a similar mark in that place but never one with the skin broken (I think!)
Incredible 10 days fishing! Blog up ASAP!! (That might have to be early next week!)