Mixed Fortunes

Date: 28 June

Air Temp: 13C-9C

Water Temp: 14C

Water height: -8cm

Number of rods: 17

Number of fish caught: 30

Biggest fish: 26lbs Paulo Hoffmann

No 30lb+: 0

No 20-29lbs: 5

No 8-19lbs: 18

Grilse: 7

Weather:

Settled weather earlier in the week.

It was a cold night but temperatures soon warmed up to ideal fishing conditions in the morning. Low cloud and a moderate downstream wind was how the day started. During the afternoon the wind switched upstream and the air temperature dropped and it felt distinctly cool with rain showers.

Manager’s Comments:

It was a day of mixed fortunes and mishaps on the river. William M and Bill W continued to pick away at them. William with a 22lber and a smaller one and Bill with two from Golden Reach, 8lbs and 10lbs.

Slight mishap but lucky he was fishing barbless

Paulo H had his biggest Yokanga fish of 26lbs from Island. He has been fishing a float/intermediate and caught his fish a smallish Flamethrower.

Paulo with his 26lber (photo credit the Fly Fishing Nation)

Arni B took two from Poachers but then had a short afternoon. Leaving Beach after lunch, Arni left his rod in the boat and the guide disappeared down to Lake with it. Without his rod to go fishing, Arni took the time to check out the riverbank flowers and is now a leading expert on Yokanga flora.

Down below Anna K caught a nice 11lber in the morning from Lyliok. Geoff B landed two, 12lbs and 18lbs from Crow’s Nest.

Anna with one from earlier in the week

Fishing Lyliok in the afternoon Pete T landed two cracking fish. A 20lb cock fish and a 20lb hen fish. He then followed them up with a grilse and a 16lber from the Lyliok right bank (just above the Lyliok stream) in the last 20 minutes of the afternoon session bringing it to a total of five for the day for him.

Pete with his 20lb cock fish

20lb hen from the same spot

It was a fun filled after dinner session on Lyliok too. Yury landed a nice fish in the high teens from the left bank. Jasper P and the Fly Fishing Nation (FFN) photography team were on the right bank. Jasper was the first to hook up and landed a super 22lb hen fish. The wind had dropped totally in the evening and it was silky smooth water with a perfect swing on the Lyliok right bank. He had at least a handful of follows, boils and bow waves that did not result in a hook-up but he did land a further two fish bringing his total for the day to four.

FFN team in action

In the final minute before midnight Alex K hooked a fish in the bottom section of water below the Lyliok stream on the right bank which took him into the rapids. There was some shouting which sent the rest of the FFN team (and your faithful blog writer!) running to see what was happening. It turned out that Alex’s backing had jammed so he had to follow at high speed. The end result was a fish in the high teens in the net some 200m into the rapid which brought a successful day to a close.

Salmon landed in the Lyliok rapids for Alex (not FFN photo!)

In terms of mishaps, the big fish definitely won the day. There were three very large fish lost. Having played a large fish for some time, the line went slack for no apparent reason and Arni lost one of them. An anonymous lodge guest then broke when into another large fish. These things happen reasonably regularly here. There is an always an element of good fortune in hooking one of the really large Yokanga fish in the right place at the right time to succeed in landing them. Fingers crossed there will be other opportunities when lady luck is on the side of the fishermen.

Lodge manager's favourite

Henry Mountain