I’ve not been fly fishing for months and was keen to get out at Siblyback when the weather seemed suitable. Having spoken to a few members recently it seemed that the lake was fishing very well particularly to washing line tactics with cormorant droppers. Ron tied up his most successful cormorant pattern at the fly-tying meeting last week so I had a good idea of the tactics I would start with.
As is often the case, the weather changed and the weather on my chosen day took a turn for the worse with a very cold NE breeze and a 4 degree drop in daytime temperature from the previous few days.
I went with John and we both agreed we should start on the North shore with a breeze coming from behind us and where we learnt that another member had caught 4 the previous day.
We were both fishing similar tactics initially, and I had tied up a detached deer hair body Daddy for my buoyant fly on the point. A size 12 cormorant and diawl bach made up the droppers. No surface activity at all had us wondering whether we were using the right tactics, until about 20 mins later a fish rose 50 yards along the bank and 20 yards out. I didn’t know John could move so quickly and he was on it before I’d had time to reel in! I think it was his second cast and the fish was on, taking one of his middle droppers. A strong fight ensued with a couple of 15-yard runs before the fish was finally netted. A good start and a nice 2lb Rainbow.
No further action for a while and a heavy downpour followed by the wind changing from North to Northeast. The temperature seemed to drop another couple of degrees, and I wasn’t happy fishing so high in the water with no sign of fish. The point fly was changed to a green tag black & peacock spider. Five minutes later I was into a good fish that had taken the point fly, telling me they were infact a bit deeper. I got very excited as it came closer, my net was ready, and I could clearly see it was a decent brown trout of at least a pound and a half. Two yards from the net and it swirled away, jumped and threw the hook.
Nothing further happened and we decided to walk round to the West Shore and ultimately to Stocky Bay. Along the west shore the wind was blowing quite strongly towards us, and I didn’t fancy spending my time untangling a 3-nymph cast. I set up another rod with a slow intermediate line and just the one lure. However, despite us both leapfrogging, all the way to the dam, we had no offers at all. Over the dam and onto Stocky Bay where we were confident of fish, but they had other ideas, and a fruitless hour was spent casting across the wind. Crylla was looking sheltered and very tempting so after a coffee and a sandwich we arrived full of confidence. Crylla was infact sheltered and I returned back to nymphing tactics again without success.
We had only one more throw at the dice, especially for me to avoid a blank, and that was Two Meadows. It was not going to be easy with the wind pushing straight down the lake making casting difficult.
I set up the intermediate line with a red headed mini cat’s whisker on the point and a diawl bach 5 feet up the line. Back to Front casting was needed to get straight out any sort of distance without being whacked on the back of the head by a lure. A slow roly poly retrieve resulted almost straight away with a solid take and a 12oz brownie. Same retrieve soon had a solid take and a 2 ¼ lb Rainbow, quickly followed by two more of about a pound and three quarters
John had a couple of fish go for his dropper on the dangle but missed them. Another angler came past, and he had caught three decent rainbows from Two Meadows in the afternoon. It looks like it may have been a mistake for us to initially walk straight past Two Meadows in our haste to get to the North Shore.
All my fish came to the size 10 Cat’s Whisker. On looking at the photo of the fly below it appears I was lucky to hook any of them properly….. the hook needs a good going over with a sharpening stone.
