Air Temp: 8C to 10C
Water Temp: 14C
Water height: -7cms
Number of rods: 16
Number fish caught: 18
Biggest fish: 32lbs Lucas R
No 30+: 1
No 20-29: 1No 8-19: 15
Grilse: 1
Weather: Warm and mild on the
Saturday evening which all changed on Sunday when we woke to considerably lower
temperatures, a leaden sky and intermittent rain and drizzle plus a strong
upstream wind.
Guests and guides assemble on the first morning
Manager's comments: The Saturday
evening session proved well worthwhile. Guests reported having seen lots of
fish both on Lyliok, Home Pool and on up river as well. Edward E hooked a fish
within less than 30 casts in the Pots. He coped with the pressure of an
audience of three and landed a lovely fat hen fish weighing 13lbs. Lyliok
produced fish for three of the four rods, Jeremy C notably landing fish
weighing 14lbs, 15lbs and 18lbs and also lost a fourth. Very deserving of a
post-fishing drink! A total of 10 fish were booked for the Saturday.
Sunday was altogether a different
proposition. Wind made casting tricky on many of the beats and under those
circumstances it is hard for the guides to keep the boats in the same position.
Colin J was the top scorer with three including a 24lber from Sand Island.
Colin was fishing an intermediate tip and a double but others fishing in the
same way did not connect. Some in the party opted for a sink tip and a tube and
also had action so I don’t think you can draw any conclusions as to what is
working best.
The one constant was that
collectively the party lost way more fish than the 18 that were landed. Having
commented at the beginning of the week that we rarely see fish jump on the
Yokanga, the salmon seemed determined to show themselves at every opportunity
hopping and leaping with reckless abandon. Soren C, a regular visitor over many
years, commented that he had never seen so many fish move in one single day and
others up and down river reported having seen plenty of running fish. I suppose
it is good to know that they are indeed coming even if they don’t want to play
ball!
Lucas with his personal best 32lber from Poachers
Lucas R, a second time visitor to
Yokanga, landed his personal best, a 32lber from Poachers. He is now wearing
the coveted 30lb+ grey baseball cap. He and Federico S had a fish each from
Lyliok (right bank above the Lyliok stream) after dinner.
Preparing the Sashimi
Interestingly we fared rather
better under the same conditions of water being warmer than the air last week.
It was only in the evening that we realised that we had a rising river. Only
5cm up but seemingly enough to put them off or have them take short. At the
time of writing the heaters are on full blast in the lodge and the river
is stable and should start dropping. I don’t wish to tempt fate but this should
set us up for the week.
Guests head out fishing
Henry Mountain
