Tracy&James | Sunday, 8 November 2020
Wow, the latest entry into the PULD challenge that we set a few weeks ago is spectacular; Bernt has thrown 140ft with just one back cast. We now have a fantastic leader board, though not unsurprisingly, I am still bringing up the rear. I really do need to practice more and am hoping that the weather improves here in North Wales so I can have another attempt, or maybe two or three ;-)
I was hoping that some of my fellow female casters would have a go too, though as we will be running the challenge until the end of the year, there’s plenty of time for them to have an entry.
Considering the way the latter part of this year is progressing, with more and more lockdowns and travel restrictions, we need something to look forward to, so James and I have beenreviewing our previous fishing trips. We asked each other to nominate a specific holiday as the best trip yet and curiously we both selected different trips.
Mine was our first trip to Christmas Island, where I caught so many bonefish (my favourite species) that I lost count. There were windy days when the bones would come quite close, but one of my most memorable days was a flat calm, where the water was like looking through glass. I thought it would be difficult to cast to a fish as the splash would be more discernible than when there was a ripple, however I remember casting to a particular bonefish that was feeding. It was so clear that I could see its mouth moving as it was excavating the sandy bottom for food. I cast a reasonable distance away for fearing of spooking it, but amazingly it flew to the fly and took it immediately.
James chose our second trip to Long Island, Bahamas, where we had a fantastic time catching bones, cudas and sharks even though it was incredibly windy for the whole month that we were there. I wondered if the reason we had such a great catch rate was due to many other anglers not fishing because of the weather. It was also the trip that I hooked, played and lost a huge shark, the first time I had played such a big fish; James reckoned it was in excess of 100lb. I may have lost it, but it was a great experience and James states that this is one of his top fishing highlights, watching the fish just run and run.
Hopefully we will have the opportunity perhaps in 2021 to go on another memorable fishing experience.
To encourage more PULD entries, here is the current ‘Leader Board’:
I really want to increase my entry to 3 figures and I hope to see many more entries before the prize is won, including a certain Mr Arden ;-)
Cheers, Tracy