At last the day arrived, huge anticipation, some nervousness (would I still be able to cast a fly line) and massive excitement just being fishing again.
Had driven up to my mums the previous evening and so arrived at the Brenig at 08:00 and went to the café, couple of bacon rolls and coffee got the day off to a good start
Realised had forgotten clippers so went to the shop and bought a pair
Only been fishing on a boat once before (30 years ago) and so didn’t realise I needed a life jacket but fortunately D had bought a spare (he had also bought a cushion which he leant me, about which more later)
D had however spent the last 30 years fishing reservoirs in boats and so had all the necessary equipment.
Piled everything into the boat, D in the driving seat me up front and set off where D had been successful a couple of weeks before and started to fish
Me = Single Booby and Intermediate Line
D = Sink tip 10ft and 2 droppers with Booby on point
Soon realised I had absolutely no idea how to fish these flies
My previous experience of reservoir fishing was limited to fishing off the bank with largely sea trout flies (bloody butcher, dunkeld), traditional nymphs (hares ear, pheasant tail) or lures (muddlers), Boobies had not been invented but from the little I had read a slow retrieve should do the trick
Nothing much happening for the first hour or so but then D got one on the Booby just after the flies hit the water, I switched to a floating line to see whether having the flies higher in the water worked for me (it didn’t).
Mooched around various areas until we found a drift near the Osprey nest where D was fairly quickly into a fish (same Booby).
Went back along that same drift 6 -7 times and D finished with 8 fish whilst I had not one sniff even though I was fishing the same booby he was catching all of his on
Back to the cushion that D had so kindly bought with him, whilst it was without a doubt more comfortable than sitting on the wooden boat seat the fact that it had no back support made for an increasingly uncomfortable day, just having a cushion is definitely a young persons option
Called it a day at 16:30 and boy am I going to ache tomorrow!!
Even though I caught precisely nothing it was fantastic to be back on the water and I had an immensely enjoyable day
Lessons Learnt
· DO NOT go boat fishing again without a seat with proper back support
· Need to have a think about why D had 8 fish (and a number lost) whereas I had not one sniff
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