Got there last friday afternoon and had a bit of a spin before the boys showed up. Hooked and dropped a small fish in the second pool then hooked and dropped another fish in the third pool. No more action was had on friday.
Woke up 5 am Saturday to find no gas so no hot showers or cooked breakfast, so had some weetbix and a crap coffee before setting off. We hit the house pool first and Jeremy hooked and dropped a decent brown at his feet (easy fish to lose the ol' at your feet hook up) excited by the good start we hurried along, for nothing after nothing after nothing. Eventually Ben pinned a small fish at 370 grams.
We continued on for nothing after nothing after nothing. Decided to turn around approx 6km downstream from the cabins and with the benefit of upstream I pinned a fish at 470g, then shortly after another at 530g - a new leader!!!
We got no more fish for the session.
That afternoon I took the boys to a spot on the Guy Fawkes I know and soon after Jeremy pinned an undersized brown (his first of species). Shortly after he spotted "the biggest trout I have ever seen" cruising the narrow creek - his spirits were boosted. Soon after he got a small rainbow the biggest of the trip so far at 560g
We then moved away from this spot and onto the common at Ebor to find a pool with a quantity of fish hitting the surface. Out came the longwand and a small white moth tied on (they were everywhere) no action, hrmmm so I tried a red tag, no more info - the only thing they could have been eating was tiny damselflies or some other midge, so I grabbed the smallest fly I own and tied it on - on the water a matter of seconds and was hit. A feisty 27cm rainbow was soon landed.
The boys added a few more to the tally using (ahem) worms under a float!
Sunday morning we woke at 5 ready to go and promptly fell back asleep... woke again at 7 and proceeded to the pools. Nothing looked at the celtas we were throwing and the boys bouyed by their luck with worms started throwing them around. Jeremy hooked up to something unstoppable in one pool before being bitten off (WTF???? and no it wasn't an eel, no slime on the line...) We moved on upstream and the boys shot up the Little Styx whilst I proceeded to an 'old favourite' hole further up the Serpentine. I flicked a number two red body vibrax to the shaded cliff face across the river, let it sink a few seconds and started the retrieve, the instant I turned the handle the line locked up and it was on! A fish tore across the river from the depths before leaping to the air. A few more deep sustained runs and a few more nerve racking leaps and I finally beached the fish. By no means a PB but I was pretty certain I'd be taking fish of the trip out with it! A 1.9kg 55cm buck rainbow trout
Certainly a great fish by any standard!
I carried my new prize back downstream and then up to meet the boys, where they proudly showed off a 760g brown as I approached, the look on their faces was priceless when I held up the big rainbow!
Over the next few hours a few more decent browns and rainbows were caught. Not the exciting times of a couple of years back when we nailed multiple 3kg+ fish, but certainly another trout trip to remember!
Oh yeah, and some tasty fillets to boot!
:p:mad: