Mine's A Double!

Catfish Virgin (Still!) · #1 06-02-2009, 06:49 PM

I couldn't resist it! I had an opportunity for an afternoon session at Avington Fisheries - the legendary home of BIG TROUT

There's probably a few dents in the car roofs in the car park:

The last time I fished this place was probably over 30 years ago when I managed a couple of double figure trout over several visits. Although the place has obviously matured a lot, it hasn't really changed that much. The tactics are pretty much the same. If you want a chance of the really big fish, you must stalk and locate the fish and then specifically target that single fish. If you fish "blind" you'll catch trout but typically "only" in the 4lb to 6lb range, super fish but the real challenge is to find the big girls!

I had a total of 4 hours to try and find my target and I was determined to be patient and disciplined. Plenty of good fish were evident but after about 50 minutes I finally located a "better" one in the top corner of the top lake. I thought it was around 8lbish and was the biggest I'd seen so far. Over a period of about 20 minutes I cast to that fish about a dozen times but it ignored everything. I gave it a rest but continued watching the fish while I had a drink. Next cast, with the same weighted buzzer fly, it responded to the "plop" and snapped it up!

An excellent fight from a fit heavy fish eventually saw me slip the net under it. My guesstimate of the weight was quite a way off as it went a very satisfactory 10lbs 04oz:

According to the keepers the markings behind it's head are from the fish trying to ram the netting when they transfer them from the stock ponds to the holding pool before they introduce them to the fishery. Other than that it was a very fit solid rainbow.

For the next couple of hours I wandered around the three lakes trying to find the bigger fish. I found two or three but they were very spooky and drifted away out of reach. I then found two very big fish together, both well into the teens! I patiently fished for these for about 40 minutes, whipping the fly out when "smaller" fish appeared. Eventually I reckon I "worried them" into having a go because one of them suddenly turned and snapped up the fly. All hell broke loose and for a very short while I had it on, but then it was gone, it had thrown the hook! Needless to say, after that, not a fish was to be seen. I'd blown my chance of a "double double".

It turns out that my fish was the biggest landed today! An interesting and enjoyable challenge, it sure as hell beats work!