Well, what a Xmas break down here in our
little corner of the world – magic weather – magic fishing – fresh or
salt – just brilliant – we don’t know how lucky we are.
In fact ‘lucky’ could pretty well sum up my Xmas – as the new article
will show – I sure as hell was lucky – nearly as lucky as I was stupid
– read on….
New Article – Little Things Mean a
lot
The distance between disaster and delight can be a very short step indeed.
A case in point………
The Jury is Out
While fishing at Lake Otamangakau over the Xmas break I was lucky enough
to coincide my trips with the Cicada Hatch. Now this is something else
– cicadas all over the water and fish gobbling them down, but it can
be frustrating. The big O has a well deserved reputation for being a
hard place to fish – plenty of fish, but plenty of feed.
There will be an article on this type of fishing coming soon in a NZ
Fisherman magazine near you. But here is an interesting fact from my
diary….
I caught 15 fish in 3 trips up to the Lake, including a ten pound Brown
and several Rainbows over 7 pound.
I did not catch one fish when using a Cicada imitation on its own, but
when I used a Cicada with a little nymph suspended a foot or two below
the Cicada I caught fish. Interestingly enough 7 of the fish were caught
on the nymph, 8 on the Cicada. You figure it out.
Information Please
For some time now I have tried to get information on the principles
behind the efficacy of Tuna Circle (a.k.a recurve, JAP, or longline)
hooks. These shaped hooks have been around for aeons, but I can find
little info on why they are so effective at hooking up.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Back to Little Things
I got into some hot snapper fishing up at the Bay of Islands recently.
I caught a couple of good fish and despite the fact that the leader
had taken a bit of a hiding, ‘buck fever’ took over and after the second
fish I hooked up another big bait and fired it out.
Almost immediately something grabbed it and took off.
After a few minutes I could see a big (very!) snapper in the crystal
clear water below the boat. The rod bucked and I watched the snapper
bolt for the bottom. Unfortunately it bolted away without any hindrance
from me or my gear. Winding in I found the leader had broken not far
above where the hook would have been.
Silly boy! For the sake of a few seconds to renew the leader I lost
a very big fish. Yet again that old adage, little things mean a lot,
bounced back to haunt me.
Great Fishing
We seem to be having a great season – big numbers of
snapper and kingfish
– the marlin and tuna are in with a vengeance – and the hot weather
is providing some excellent dry fly fishing for trout – and it can only
get better.