Sunday 3 July 2016

Hotter than the Mediterranean

Date: 1 July

Air Temp: 22C to 25C
Water Temp: 16C
Water height: -17cms
Number of rods: 16
Number fish caught: 8
Biggest fish: 17lbs Jeremy Clayton
No 30+: 0
No 20-29: 0
No 8-19: 4
Grilse: 4

Weather: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, more of the same sunshine and a light breeze.
 

More like southern Europe than the Arctic Circle

Manager's comments: It was really very tough conditions on the river today. The fish that were caught were almost all fresh, many with sea lice and others had not long lost them. Clearly the fish are still coming (perhaps temporarily in smaller numbers) but conditions for catching salmon were a long way from ideal.
 

Perhaps faster water will yield a fish

Small flies were the order of the day and many rods chose to fish 20lb leader material instead of the standard 30lbs+ that we use on Yokanga. Patterns like Silver Stoats were preferred over the more garish Willie Gunns and other spring style flies that we tend to use at this time of the year.

 
Ready for action
 
The best fish of the day was a 17lber from Poachers landed by Jeremy C. Under the conditions it was a real achievement to connect with a fish at all let alone land it. Anyway, a nice fish for Jeremy to end his week on.

 
Landing at Seven Islands
 
Rae and Peter were fishing down at Crows Nest and although they did not land anything themselves they did report seeing many fresh fish running through the main draw. Surprising but encouraging that they are still running the river despite the warm temperature and bright sky.

Henry Mountain

 
Beautiful multi sea winter salmon