Date:
11 June
Air
Temp: 2-6C
Water
Temp: 6C
Water
height: +3cm
Number
of rods: 16
Number
of fish caught: 14
Biggest
fish: 34lbs Roger T
No
30lb+: 1
No
20-29lbs: 4
No
8-19lbs: 8
Grilse:
1 (7lb ice fish)
Weather:
Calm
windless morning, still cool, steady drizzle all afternoon and temp down to 3C.
Very cold end of the day.
Manager’s Comments:
The
fish continue to turn up in fits and starts. Not all beats are occupied but the
feeling is that it is improving day by day. The truth be told it’s tough to
tell much of the time as the water temperature is still so cold that salmon
takes feel like trout takes and many fish are being lost after a few minutes
having been hooked lightly. The most successful flies are small, thin profile
and dark – like Dan’s Monkey – although I am sure once the water temperature
rises to 7-8 C that the fish will smash anything from a Cascade tube to a
Snaelda to a Sunray Shadow.
 |
| And another fresh one |
The
story of the day came from Roger and Marcus, fishing Sand Island and Cliff.
Marcus, a newly retired Olympian Alpine skier, is engaged to Roger’s daughter,
so as you can imagine there are a lot of jokes from their Finnish friends about
letting the father in law catch the largest fish. Marcus ignored this by
landing a stunning 22lb fresh fish from Sand Island first thing. This ramped up
the pressure, as during the day no further fresh fish were landed. Luckily for
Marcus they finally arrived at the top island of 7 Islands, where they would
start fishing tomorrow, and Roger hooked and landed our largest fish of the
season so far tipping the scales at 34lbs. The correct order of father in law
to son in law was restored!
 |
| Nearly in the net |
Elsewhere
Sam and Andy had good luck on Island, particularly where the water first meets
the island and the first section of river left water there. Dan C hooked five
fresh fish for the day. He landed a 26lber and 18lber but lost a fish at the
net, a hook broke on one other (!) and then he almost got spooled at the Crow’s
Nest main draw by the fifth. Kaj landed a lovely fish from Home, as did Graeme.
Ingvi had a lovely 15lb fish from 7 Islands which he took on the classic
Icelandic pattern “Krafla”.
So
much for the lovely warmer weather we were expecting today, it certainly didn’t
turn up, but our fishers nonetheless fished hard and did well. Yury cooked a
lovely dinner and Den the barman made sure everyone’s glasses were full.
Roll
on tomorrow.
Peter
Rippin
