Paul Arden | Tuesday, 12 October 2021
Back in the groove again. I’m hoping to have guests soon too. Covid restrictions have been lifted to allow interstate travel now but still no International guests at the moment. I really hope to have them before the year end, who knows? This is might be my favourite time of year on the lake and that is because we have Babies, Freerisers AND Gourami, all to chase.
I lost a MASSIVE fish on Friday night off babies. Of course because it got away it instantly became bigger in my mind! But I hope to find them again and probably will. I think I actually found them again the very next day. Put in a perfect first shot - and I do mean absolutely on the button - and only got the follow! A few minutes later, while still stalking them, the parents chased off quite a nice-sized Snakehead and made it look small. As that one fleed passed the boat, I took the shot, it paused and ate :)))
Incidentally I’ve been coming to the conclusion that legs make a difference. Frogs legs! It seems that I get more eats because of them and often more fish will now take on the pause, which was an exceptionally rare occurrence before. Of course another possibility is that the fishery has been under-fished over the past 18 months. So I won’t have the full picture until later on but it’s been an interesting experiment.
Talking of experiments and the “dislocated Popper” that I have been testing on and off for about 12 months… when compared to my standard Vince Loudmouth and a REALLY long delay on the stroke, I’m now of the opinion that the delay/standard popper approach is better than the dislocated fly, if only because the fly can be thrown more gently and that always makes a difference. The “dislocated popper” was body, tail and hook all tied separately and knotted to the wire tippet. This allowed the hook to freely dangle. I haven’t given up on it and will keep experimenting. After all, thats really what flu fishing is about as far as I’m concerned… ie developing fly patterns and improving them through fishing.
How significant are these changes? Well, without doubt, now that my accuracy shot game is back on form, I can see a) more chasers becoming takers and b) I’m setting into most of the eats I’m getting. However there is one big caveat here; I don’t know how much the fishery has changed and become “easier” because of lockdowns. That absolutely must have made a difference too. But even so, I think I may have upped my game!
Good stuff on the Board!
Furled Leaders:
https://www.sexyloops.co.uk/theboard/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3628
Fly line stretch:
https://www.sexyloops.co.uk/theboard/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3622
The Wiggle Cast:
https://www.sexyloops.co.uk/theboard/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3627
And much more! Drop me an email if you want to get involved. There has been a request for Dr Way Yin to reappear as “Guest of the Week”. I’ve known Way from a long time ago and he will be our special guest shortly. :)))
Have a great week!
Cheers, Paul