Martyn White | Thursday, 21 September 2023
An odd week for me,my days off fell on a public holiday this week so I decided to go and climb a mountain. I've not been up any since about April-it's just been too hot- and I certainly noticed a drop in fitness, but a few climbs will sort that out.
The weather has been nice and as the days are shortening, I decided to make the most of the last of the days I'd be able to get out after work and got up to some early evening carping, which was a lot of fun. It's still plenty warm enough that there are plenty of terrestrials around, we get a beetle that resembles a coch-y-bonddu so I had a nice time on the lake over a couple of evenings before dinner. It was too dark to properly sight fish but it was easy enough to sit on the bank and target rising fish. There were a few bigger fish showing themselves, but I didn't get into anything over about 8 or 9lbs. It was all highly enjoyable though!
Hawaiian Dave had a midweek Seabass session and got a few fish, nothing spectacular as it's still a bit hot, but the numbers seem to be coming on. Another couple of weeks and things should start really firing as the fish move in and start chasing the big scad and herring. I'm looking forward to getting out, and we're definitely going to get some advanced booking done so we don't miss the prime pre-spawn fish as the weather cools off. Luckily I don't have to tie anything, I've a box full of beasts, bulkheads and other big flies that didn't get used last year because we couldn't get boats booked after the secret of big fly time got out.
After writing about bendbacks last week, I just found out about Ahrex's new bendback hook which they designed with Chris Adams from Ammo Flies. I've not got my hands on any yet as I'll have to order them from overseas, but the photos I've seen look very good, especially as the hook point is parallel with the bent portion (which is a decent length). This shape should give great hooking without sacrificing weedlessness. If it's the same stout wire as the other saltwater hooks, it should be an excellent modern bendback hook. I'll still be bending some of my own when I want a shorter front section or smaller fly, but I am very interested in getting my hands on some of the Ahrex jobs to play with. Just in case you're wondering, I've no connection to Ahrex.