November

November saw the first of duns on Penstock. Hatches were late, but the fish did respond at some stage through the hatch. This heralded the start of consistent dry fly fishing in the highlands. Jeremy Levinson and his “band of merry men” took time away from their parched mainland farms for some healthy competition in the highlands.

Jeremy was at very short odds to take out the trophy, having had the most experience, but found himself trailing by almost ten fish going into the last day. A fly change late in the day coming down the home straight almost saw him clinch a miraculous victory (catching well over a dozen fish) but the consistency of his counterparts was just too much. Next year!!!!

Mid November also saw the return of a long time client and good friend, Michael Beech from Queensland. Michael loves the rivers (as do I), giving me the perfect excuse to break up the month with another trip to the lowlands. Having already had a very good day encountering excellent quality fish, it was not until late afternoon that he landed his biggest ever brown trout of over five pounds.

The fish was polaroided and hooked at the head of a large, deep pool. The fish rushed under submerged willow branches and seemed destined to be confined to a fisherman’s tale. With seemingly no way to recover the fish, Michael proceeded to strip off and swim out to the tree, untangling his line before returning to the bank. On picking his rod back up, the fish was still on and in due course, landed – a fabulous effort and one I will never forget!

By late November, more bright days meant better polaroiding and warmer weather. Bob Pearce and his good friend Andrew also visited at this time and caught fish on dries, wets and nymphs during their stay. One day of wade polaroiding saw them land numerous fish between four and six pounds. Considering the number of fish landed, this was probably the best “bag” of fish I saw all season.

December »