Fly Fish New England

Did some end of season fly fish tutoring and guiding today. Karl went very well and refined his casting technique as the day progressed. Clear water, cold weather and an early spawning season made for some tough fishing. We did spook some big fish towards the end of the day. A big day with lots of new skills to practice, ready for the season open in October.

River trout fishing this season is almost over. Time to reflect on this season and remember the fish carrying capacity of a river is always limited by the worst conditions it experiences. Photo 1 in this post is following 3 years of consistent rain and moderate temperatures. Today following a dry and heatwave spring, in the same river not a fish to be seen. Things to consider when picking your spot.

Out on the local rivers today - some water but very clear and still suffering from the early season low flow and heatwave. Beautiful day all the same. Will have to go east to find some end of season trout.

Might give a Tom Jones a shot before the season ends. The Tom Jones was designed by John Lancaster in 1971 for use on trout feeding on Redfin fry in central Victoria and is one of the great wet flies. More information is found in: Australia’s Best Trout Flies; compiled by Malcolm Grosse; edited by Robert Sloane. 1997 Flylife Publishing, for Fly Fish Australia Inc. Hobart TAS.
Thanks Dennise for the update:

Apparently, he (JL) was fishing, very successfully, for big browns below Lake Cairn Curran.
His wife commented on the fly as being less of a fly and more like a piece of grass in the water.
And, at that time, Tom Jones was singing ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home’ on the radio .
Tom Jones as a name suggestion was born !

Just need to find some smelting trout and put a Tom Jones in front of them 👍🏾

One last session on the Meander in Tasi. Overcast day and a bit cold and windy. Got a nice little brown to take a large nymph under an indicator. Bouncing the fly over boulders worked a treat.

Took a look at the Huntsman this morning, windy and very low. So tried the top of the Meander. Quite the adventure! Had one on but dropped him. Went a little further downstream and had some luck. Must remember that at this time of year the fish are after protein for spawning - so big flies!

In Tasmania in the Autumn. Just working out what is going on in the Meander Valley. In a happy place.

A relaxing lunch during my recent guiding. While taking a break and having a bite to eat we could also watch the water for rising fish. Good fun but not good for your digestion, if you have to hurry off :)

Day 2 the weather held till afternoon and the fish were down. Had some rising in the morning and managed to hook one ☝️ 🤗

Big day on the water Today stalking fish in the New England. Had two on and a good number of fish spotted and rising that we fished to. Hope the weather holds for tomorrow and we put some in the net. Great day out!

Peeping caddis flies, based on stick caddis retrieved from a trout stomach. Sometimes you have to take one. Good use for old fly line. My old weight forward is going to make a lot of caddis flies.

Thinking about stick caddis and trout selectively feeding. So important to match the hatch - particularly for Brownies!

My revised stick caddis fly ready for action!

Worked hard for fish today. Appears they were exclusively on caddis today. Not an easy one to pick.

Went looking for local fish. Bit lean but saw a few and this red and black fellow. Lots of snakes about.

A couple of not so Woolly Bu**er experiments with luminescent cores for night and low light evening opportunities.

As much as I appreciate the effort that goes into the creation of flies that look like the actual insect or other food item, I just don’t have the patience for all that. So meet my grasshopper! Looks a bit like a red tag on steroids, and as I have caught more fish on red tags than any other, I think that’s ok. 👍🏾 Can’t wait to see my Taghopper on the water.

Went out and straightened a few leaders today, chasing browns under rainbows. Good dry and nymph action. Gotta love grasshopper time!

Still scoping the trout fishing in the region after our high temperature days. In the meantime whipped up this guy for a friend chasing salties. Should do the trick!

Looking to Autumn and prospecting some new brown trout water 🤞. No fish yet watch this space.

Getting prepared for action. Lots of water around - hope there are plenty of survivors after the heat. 🤞

Opening day.
Comedy of errors.
No rain so I figured the fish at this spot would either be dead, or bigger than their epic condition last season. They were bigger.
But if it does not rain in the next 2-3 weeks, they'll be goners.
Water still nice & cool though.
Left my specs at home, so tying knots by feel = bad knots & lost fish.
Biggest fish lost when a knot in the fly line I had not noticed jammed in the first runner.
Sitting there trying to tie on a fly (taking four times the usual due to no specs) and a black snake slithers up next to my leg. Seemed he wanted company after a winter hibernation? Threw a little piece of bark on him, but he was not concerned at all, just came closer like he wanted a lap, lifted his head, tongue flickering!
Tried shooing him away, but he just looked amused! Eventually grabbed a stick behind me & pushed him away. Even then he just slowly went behind me & tried to come from the other side. Threw the stick on him and eventually he got the message.
Got better at tying knots blind as the day went on and netted some nice ones.
Then the lure kids turned up so I headed home.

With opening season just 3 weekends away we are positively bursting with lots of exciting news on what to expect in store when we re-open this season.

Update no.3 "The Mural"

This is very exciting. Long story short.
We were keen to have a mural painted on the back wall of the tackle store.
Philip Thomas of Fly Fish New England introduced us to Ned Pankhurst. Ned is a talented artist who specializes in marine life and paints fish caught by some of Philips clients. Ned was keen but referred us to Ella Thomas, who is Philips daughter and a recent graphic art design graduate. Ella was very excited with the prospect of painting one of Ned's pieces onto the 2.4m X 3.5m wall.

And here is the finished product showing a fishermans gloved hand carefully releasing a small brown trout underwater. Just wait until you see it for real, its just amazing!

Last day at Coffs, they had either all wised up, gone elsewhere or the conditions were wrong (it was windy & hard to get a good drift). Except for this one.

A quick trip to Sawtell. Off the mark already with 4 small luderick on the w**d fly from a little run in the estuary between some rocks. Low tide more or less. Wrong conditions, but if you got a drift which went deep enough, Bingo!

A cracking day on the carp yesterday.
Snakes have started moving as well, this red-belly black was over 4ft long and almost slithered across my toes. What a beauty!

August Carp