A day to remember.

A last minute job cancellation meant only one thing for me…FISHING. I decided to meet up with mike targeting trout, fly fishing. He was heading down to map out a particular lake on the wykeham complex using his lowrance elite ti7 and navionics software, which makes it very easy to do so. As many of you will know, I love many types of fishing, but fly fishing really stands out. After we said our hello’s and a chat with the fishery manager it was time to get on the water. I had 2 rods set up, one with lures and another with small natural imitations(buzzers). I decided to give the lures a swim first. Within half an hour mike already had 3 fine trout to the net. All I managed was a lost fish. I changed to my other set up and still nothing to show for it.

After lunch we headed back out. I still needed a fish to save a blank. I went back to using my lure set up and changed my fly. I chose a Zonker pattern. A Zonker is a a trout lure generally larger in size, tied using a strip of rabbit fur for the tail. It mimics the movement of a fish fry or even a leach. I decided to try a different part of the lake. Several casts later l put a long line out, counted to 10 and started a steady retrieve. As the fly got to with in 10 meters from the boat I had a really aggressive take, finally I had a fish on and it was a REALLY good fish, but something wasn’t right. I seen the fish take as it rolled on the surface and instead of seeing the rainbow flank as I’d expect, it was rather large and green! I had hooked into a pike. I gave mike a call and he headed my way. This wasn’t the intended species so knew I’d have to take my time if I had any chance of landing it. A good 10 minutes later and we had her in the net. With adrenaline pumping around my body I was over the moon. This fish looked like a new personal best for me. Jake, the fishery manager hurried around when he heard the unexpected news. He weighed her in at 23lb 14oz, smashing my previous best of 17lb 2oz. A few photos and we put her back. She didn’t take long to recover and swam away to sulk for a while. I was one happy man and after that I kind of lost my mojo for trout fighting. I pushed on and managed a couple of trout. What a day. A day I will never forget.