A New PB From Avington!

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

I sneaked into Avington on Tuesday for a short afternoon session, a good decision as it turned out! Within 10 minutes of arriving at the first lake, I located a good rainbow that looked to be about 11lb. It was patrolling under some dense branches but occassionally ventured out into open water.



At the third time of asking, it sipped in the Black/Orange Stalking Bug and all hell broke loose. Fortunately it headed out into open water and after two very fast runs and a dogged fight, I eventually had it in the net. A porky little devil but in excellent condition it tipped the scales round to 14lbs:



I then spent the next hour or so wandering around the lakes but failing to spot any other "special" fish. I ended up back on the first lake where the talk was of "the big sod ignoring everything"! Well it was and it did! I found "it" fairly quickly - a superb brown of perhaps over 15lbs - but for the next two hours it ignored or flinched at everything I offerred. It was indeed a very spooked fish and eventually melted away probably confident in the knowledge that it had beaten everyone for the day!

Frustrated, I headed back to the second lake for another look:



Normally you have to work hard to locate these bigger trout but sometimes you get lucky and just stumble upon one these giants. Well, there it was, just very slowly cruising the margins about two rod lengths out, occassionally disappearing amongst the dense weed. I watched for about 15 minutes and on it's second "return journey" I flicked a size 14 Green Buzzer into its path. It just slowly sipped it in and again the water erupted. It's first incredibly fast run literally took it to within a couple of yards of the far bank and I was looking at parts of the backing I hadn't seen since originally loading the line on the reel! I'd heard people talk about "down to the backing" but that was the first time I had ever experienced it. It took about 15 minutes to get some sort of control and slowly ease it back towards me and after a lot of short powerful runs it finally slid into the net. I even got a round of applause from the assembled "audience"! Another stunningly conditioned rainbow that weighed in at 17lbs 04oz - a new PB for me:



Yet another exciting few hours resulting in a "limit bag" of two fish for 31lbs!

One of the keys to this stalking lark is to get your chosen offering down to the depth that the fish is at quickly. The crystal clear water tends to disguise just how deep the water is, it's usually a lot deeper than you think. You find your fish just gently cruising, cast the fly and then find by the time that fly "gets there", the fish is long gone! So, weight is important and anticipating the fish's route (hence the time spent observing what the fish is up to) are both key elements. Here's some examples of my favoured flies I tend to use at Avington, all heavily weighted with lead or tungsten (sorry for the poor picture quality):

[paddy2k7_red4life]

a cracking read mate.well done

[pingu]

wow another great brace there neil

dave

[BoldBear]

You are lucky to have such a fishery near you, what fantastic fish.

[dave fish]

looks good well done

[rob@home]

The mans on fire @ the moment .... well done Neil theres just no stopping you now is there?hows the coarse fishing going this season you had any luck?hows the elusive catfish?spect you've been too busy fly fishing by the looks of it haven't you?

[KABBYCHRIS]

Well done some cracking fish

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

Originally Posted by rob@home

The mans on fire @ the moment .... well done Neil theres just no stopping you now is there?hows the coarse fishing going this season you had any luck?hows the elusive catfish?spect you've been too busy fly fishing by the looks of it haven't you?

Still warrant the Forum Name, but then again, I've not been fishing for them!

As for coarse side of things, I've spent today rounding up the gear from various corners as I'm off to the tidal Trent tomorrow and Sunday for a Fish-In organised by another site. It'll be a good social event and hopefully I'll find a Trent barbel or two (I've never had one from that river). Should be interesting as I've just been out and bought a set of alarms (there's a novelty for me!) mainly because I'm hoping for some activity during darkness. I'm a bit undergunned for this "Carbelling" lark, only taking 1.25TC and 1.75TC rods, they're the biggest I've got! They're talking of 5oz/6oz leads/feeders and more!

I'll report events early next week!

[rob@home]

5 or 6 oz leads!!! dear God man you'll need a boat rod for them wont you?
Best of british to you mate anyway let us know how you get on & make sure to take a few piccies. I haven't been out for a few weeks now had a few problems @ home but I hope to get out next weekend maybe after those roach again. Hopefully if we have some rain between now & then, the stour will turn into a stagnant pool if we dont get some soon(prayer for the rain Gods)

Rob.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Well done mate