Windswept Lake

[willowgrub]

Im lucky , Ive got rivers nearby , including one through the town , and lakes futher away behind some of the bigger hills before the real mountains start . Thats good because the weather is often totally different in these locations . The drizzly Easterly quater winds that pile gloom up along the coast , often get stopped by the foot hills , and behind them ,inland an hour or so, the weather can be better . How much better is often a moot point . I quess the qualifier is that one area is really hopeless to sight fish in and the other is acceptable .
The last two wednesday afternoons Ive driven for an hour past the gloom and cloud , to a windy, harsh looking lake with intermittent sun ,and a wind chop that is big enough to see into , rather than the fine texture that obscures all the underwater detail .
Its still tough to pick out a fish amoungst the sloshing chop, small waves , visual distortion , and stirred up debris . Sometimes the fish get taken , or lost ,fishing blind . Thats luck . My kind of catching is to target fish as they wallow in the chop , moving slowly through a soup of potential food . Dislodged insects, from midges to mayflies to big ugly dragon fly nymphs to snails , beetles , blowflies , and small fish .
The first afternoon I lost 4 after convincing hookups on a foam dragonfly nymph. 3 came into the net as well . Nice full fish arround 2 kilograms, and a lot more educated as they slipped away . There was a plethora of wind induced twists , and knots , and fortunatly it is a lonely spot . My vocabulary expands in proportion to the problem .
Today I was back , drizzle in town but an intermittent sun on the lake. Windy too . Maybe the wave angle was more straight on today , the sun was missing more as well . But a lake to myself with 4 and 5 lb fish is worth some bother . Todays starting rig , a humpy with a small nymph on a dropper . I had seen a lot of the shoreline before a glimpse of golden brown transfered to a sinking dry and the nymph taken . That is the fish in the picture . 5lb in prime condition , and as you may have quessed , it wasnt at the top of todays food chain . I am looking forward to the red flesh enhanced with some chilli oil , garlic and soy sauce .
I tried a floating dragonfly after seeing two fish leap after the hovering predator flies . The first two takes didn t stick . I really only assumed the first take ( as in " I though my fly was there, where the hell is it" ) and probably struck too late for a good conection . Second time I was a little fast after the nose came up out of the chop . The third time I was ready , gave a good looong delay ( slow take slow strike ) and enjoyed the muscle of another good brownie . That one went back . I was beginning to wonder why I felt so drained , it was after 4 pm and lunch was a mile away in the car. I hate that , when you really need to be sensible and stop fishing, but you feel like you finally have the system beaten and wouldnt mind a bit more .
Tinned tuna and dry crackers , a million dollar view up the valley , and a good feeling inside .
Thats a nice way to split up a working week .

[gusstrand]

Very cool - looks like the lake I learned to fly fish in, as a kid, actually. Thanks for the pics, too!

[willowgrub]

Thankyou for that link . Your lake sounds a lot more interesting , with the wildlife , history and remote location . My lake sits about 500 m above sea level and 8 kms from the end of the black top . Occasionally a deer will get shot on the hills behind the lake . (Theyre introduced.) If you are really lucky you might see a New Zealand Falcon, or some small native lizards .
There is a good population of English perch in my lake , some getting to 3 lbs . Probably there are some decent eels in there as well .