Guiding.

Last weekend I had a 6KG snakehead on the nose. I sent the catch photo to a few friends on WhatsApp… inspiring images and the largest fish to my boats this year! But bit of an odd reply from one of my guests, not to “catch the fish before he arrives!”  I thought it was a joke, but apparently it wasn’t. :D

So… to find the same set again is actually possible. It’s about a 5% possibility. And then of course there are two adults and the other one might be bigger. In this case it isn’t but we will ignore that!!

The reason I say 5% is because many years ago, while guiding Michael, we had a shot at an adult that Michael put the fly behind. This fish, unusually, turned around and chased the fly.

The other adult then tried to eat Michael’s rod tip, which he got out of the way just in time!! It was a dramatic frantic moment that is surely etched on both our minds forever.

The first fish I estimated at 5KG and the second fish was double the size.

Now, knowing that there is a potential 10KG+ fish got my attention. And regularly I would look for it. Over 6 weeks we found it twice. The first time was about 3 weeks later and Flavio caught the smaller one. It was 5.5KG. A stunner. The other one followed the fish to the boat. And again looked twice the size, according to Flavio, who was fishing solo.

The second time was another three weeks later. By this time the babies were 12 inches long. I was fishing alone and made the shot. The big one moved but a baby grabbed the fly first. Game over. Consequently finding a set again, takes around 21 days with dedication, which is just under a 5% chance and then you still have the other fish to catch. And maybe even the first again too!

The reason people don’t catch fish here, perhaps as much as they would like, has nothing to do with me or anyone else catching the fish first; it has to do with the fish actually seeing the fly or not. That’s the bit that has to happen!

This lake is 80km long, about 30km wide and a labyrinth of bays, arms and islands! I don’t fish the same stretch of water twice in a month usually. The next three days in fact, we will be fishing water that hasn’t been fished by me since Graeme from Auckland fished it back in January. We will cover around 90-120km at walking pace hunting water that hasn’t been fished on fly for 9 months. And then we will fish some other water, none of which has been fished in the past month or more.

A more under-fished fishery for Giant Snakehead I don’t think you’ll find anywhere.

So worrying about me catching a fish is of course complete nonsense!! Me not catching any fish would be far more worrying.

I think I’m up to 1 in 3 now incidentally. By that I mean for every 3 sets of babies found, I personally expect one fish in the boat. I’ve learned something about the strike. Just like the shot, time slows, and there is more time than you think. And sometimes there is a lot more time!!

I’m on my Ironman Taper.  A bit early but it’s under control! Very excited about this next IM.  And next year… I’ll be in the next age category. Looking at the times from last year, maybe a place on the podium is even in reach next year. I always said it might be a case of the last man standing :)))

Wet Season is coming in fast. I’m looking forward to the great company!

Have a great week.

Cheers, Paul