As I was heading out yesterday, I got to thinking what tactics I was likely to use for my day on the particular stillwater to which I was headed. It is a small private piece of water, tucked away in the hills in a spot where I was highly unlikely to spot a soul. Not on the way in, not there, and not on the way out. Despite the buckling berg-wind gumtrees and climbing temperature, I was in high hopes, as one usually is. The water would be alike to a lead crystal whisky tumbler: startlingly clear and reflecting light in an array of angles to dazzle the eye and mind. The water would be cold, since the warm day we were now encountering was one of the early ones of the impending spring. The fish would be strong. They always are.
I would be fishing the margins. I had left my float tube and waders at home. As I thought about it, I realised that it would be very similar to my foray to the same farm just a few weeks prior. On that occasion I had changed up to a 3X tippet for the strong fish there, and strapped on a combination: a large dragonfly chasing a small bright Woolly Bugger just 12 inches ahead of it in the dropper position. The day seemed perfect, the deep green water just so alluring, and screaming “big fish!” at me like that sort of water can do. I fished along the edge where brittle broken reeds met this trouty elixir, and I inched and wiggled the flies along with a powerful sense of faith and conviction.
Nothing.
I persisted for a few hours.
Nothing.
Then I figured the flies weren’t reaching down into a zone where a Trout would feel safe to dart out of his lie and show his position in these bright clear conditions. So I took the Bugger off, and put a small GHRE it its place. Small enough that my make-believe dragon behind it could easily be pictured devouring this morsel. And with a bead heavy enough to pull this little “chase string” down a bit, but not plunge it into the sticks and weeds at the bottom: a brass bead. I changed the dragon for one slightly smaller, but still big enough that the GRHE could be its dinner.
I wiggled the little ensemble in what I thought was an alluring way. Much shimmer and dashing, much chase and snatch. Something for a cunning Trout to intercept and choose whether to snatch at the chased or the chaser.
Nothing.
I tried the same rig on another, but not dis-similar stillwater a few days later.
Nothing.
But as I headed out yesterday, my mind started to page through the possibilities in my mental catalogue of options. I had already decided on the five weight with a floating line but what should I put on the business end? I paused at a particular page and pounced on the solution: I would put a small brass bead GRHE in front of a dark brown dragon and wiggle it enticingly in the shallows. Why on earth would that not work?
Well, here’s the thing: It did work!
I had a very pleasant few hours on the water. Not a soul in sight, as predicted, and some trout ambushed my little duo of otherwise-focused chaser and chased. They pounced on it!
Interestingly, the Rainbows all went for the dragon: a dark brown FMD on a size 10 hook. And the Browns, (yes: I got some beautiful spotty Browns!) all pounced on the GRHE. The one with the not too heavy, brass bead, that shimmered in the clear water and bright sunshine. I wiggled it along a drop-off, and these beauties shot out of the deep and intercepted the duo just before it escaped onto the open shallow shelf.
The dragon was the same size as the previous two outings, and so was the GRHE. I stuck to the 3X tippet on account of there being some big fish about. I didn’t do anything differently.
Which brings me to an incident that occurred many years ago. There was a local hotel and watering hole, which had gone through a succession of owners, each of whom had bought the place with more gusto and enthusiasm than business sense. In my capacity as bank manager I found myself in front of a local farmer who was wanting to borrow a bundle of money to have a go at being a hotelier. We reviewed the financials and the not inconsiderable gearing ratio that would be involved. I would need to make a lending decision, and was looking for something to go on.
I paused and asked him what he intended to do differently to the string of unsuccessful owners who preceded him, to which he replied “Well, its simple. We are going to hire barmaids with bigger……..”
He never was a great fisherman.