Paul Arden | Thursday, 11 November 2021
Bit of a late FP — I knew I had to cover today for Martyn but I went fishing, of course, and have only just got back :)) Yesterday I awoke at 7am to get roving but it was raining. 8am same thing. 9, 10, 11 and 12 — all raining. I don’t want to give you the idea that I’m a fair-weather fisherman, because I’m not, but here it’s really difficult to find Snakehead babies in the rain, so I slept on instead.
I ended up getting out the hammock at 1am, after more than anyone’s fair share of sleeping. And then I couldn’t sleep a bloody wink last night!!!
7am this morning I was still awake, and so I went fishing. Not I would say in peak condition. Now you know I’m building up to an excuse, don’t you!! Found four sets of babies found, but my shots let me down. I had one adult chase twice — and refuse both times — and a free-riser eat, but I forgot that I’m going through a “no striking phase” in my technique and I struck and so missed the bloody thing.
Anyway tomorrow is another day.
I thought today, that I would write about one of my go-to flies here in Malaysia. Certainly it’s my no1 for Snakehead. It’s a pattern of Vince Margossian on the Gold Coast, Australia. I fished with Vince a few years back for Kingfish and this style of fly that he invented we were using then.
I’ve been modifying it over the years, experimenting with colours, size, dislocating it, testing different legging techniques and so on. It’s very versatile like that, but most flies are. What I also find interesting about it, is that I often make minor modifications to it during fishing as well. I carry extra foam, ink pens, superglue, some spare feathers etc. in my Tacklebox.
The embedded video is an old one. Some bald guy, with not very much of a beard, ties a Vince Loud-Mouth Popper variation in the second half of the video. Nice fish though! I bet he got a full night’s sleep the previous night!
So that’s about it from me today. I’m currently relocating the Battleship to a different part of the lake. Tomorrow a change of fish and I hope to catch at least one of the buggers!
Have a great day/evening depending on your time zone. It’s evening here and I’m off to camp in Angry Elephant Bay. Then it’s time for a Zwift Ride, some weight lifting, a bit of rooftop man yoga, followed by Spud Curry and beer. The perfect jungle evening!
Cheers, Paul