Bluemoon Angling Thread
- Thread starter Damocles
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BlueMoonRisin’
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Tight lines mate. Don't be catching covid again up there; )
Newman Noggs
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All the best. Let us know how you go on.
Saddleworth2
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Price of lines is bloody scandalous. Even Mike Barrios lines are knocking on £50 these days.
I don't think they do Spey lines anymore?
It was a shame Hardy had to fuck about with theirs. The Mac2 and Mac2+ were brilliant.
The Mac65 is dogshit.
Rio's integrated Scandi line is my current fave. Its got a really short head, so suits me cos I am lazy. It shoots miles, and you can use super fast tips and heavy tube flies for spring fish.
Only trouble is they are 95 bloody quid, and I get through one a season!
Saddleworth2
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Ooof. I get through a floating line every season. My current one is a wulff triangle taper which so far I like. Snowbee make good lines but they don’t last. I replace the other 18 on a rolling three year basis. I have a 5 weight Barrio floater which I use for more delicate dry fly. You are right I don’t think they make Spey anymore. So what is an integrated Skandi line?
Saddleworth2
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Its not corona you need to be worried about up here mate. Its cordyceps.
Particularly virulent in the gamekeeper and ghillie fraternity I'm told.
Below an image of a Tweed ghillie explaining the finer points of an improved clinch knot to an interested guest on his beat:
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
I won't tell you lads how much I paid for a new line in Alphonse. We were going out to fhe flats in a boat when the guide spotted birds circling. He told me to drop the GT fly out of the boat and pay out some line. Within 30 seconds the rod was wrenched nearly out of my hands and I had a tuna on. After playing it for about a minute it came off. Before I could retrieve the fly, however, another tuna snapped it up and off it went again. I played this one for around 5 minutes before it ran at the boat and threw the hook.
The upshot was that the line got stretched and the twist arising from letting the lure run out behind the boat became permanent and casting became impossible. Let's just say it wasn't cheap.
The upshot was that the line got stretched and the twist arising from letting the lure run out behind the boat became permanent and casting became impossible. Let's just say it wasn't cheap.
Didsbury Dave
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Just back from 3 nights at the fantastic Queens Head in Hawkshead, after doing two more days afloat on Esthwaite Water. We think this was days 7 and 8 we have had on there over the last few years and we havent had a fish.
Thursday was calm and warm and we got busy, fishing two dead bait rods on various spots whilst lure fishing and trolling when we moved. We worked hard and mid morning i missed a run on sardine. The same rod went again soon and i thought I had my first Esthwaite pike, but had to settle for a mad trout. We had a hit while trolling but it fell off. A decent first day.
Yesterday we skipped breakfast and were first boat out at dawn. The wind was bitter so we sheltered in a bay. Just as we were getting despondent I had another run on the dead bait by a reed bed. Fish on, and this was a pike of about 6lb. I’ve never been so pleased with a small one because boy, it had been hard won. A squall forced us off for breakfast and when we headed back to the same spot my mate had a run within a minute. He thought it was off but then was suddenly attached to a pike which we landed, about the same size as the first.
No more action and the wind howled but it was mission accomplished after a long slow learning curve on a rock hard water. I’ll be back for the big ones.
Thursday was calm and warm and we got busy, fishing two dead bait rods on various spots whilst lure fishing and trolling when we moved. We worked hard and mid morning i missed a run on sardine. The same rod went again soon and i thought I had my first Esthwaite pike, but had to settle for a mad trout. We had a hit while trolling but it fell off. A decent first day.
Yesterday we skipped breakfast and were first boat out at dawn. The wind was bitter so we sheltered in a bay. Just as we were getting despondent I had another run on the dead bait by a reed bed. Fish on, and this was a pike of about 6lb. I’ve never been so pleased with a small one because boy, it had been hard won. A squall forced us off for breakfast and when we headed back to the same spot my mate had a run within a minute. He thought it was off but then was suddenly attached to a pike which we landed, about the same size as the first.
No more action and the wind howled but it was mission accomplished after a long slow learning curve on a rock hard water. I’ll be back for the big ones.
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
Hope you had the four-poster room at the Queen's Head !
Looking at that trout, how would one know if it was a ferox trout ?
Looking at that trout, how would one know if it was a ferox trout ?
Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
Ferox tend to be quite dark in colour and found in deep water. That looks like a normal lovely big brownie. Look at the tail on it!
Saddleworth2
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Nice trout mate. Did you chap it on the heid?
Didsbury Dave
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No. I put it back. It was in beautiful condition.
Saddleworth2
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Looks a good 4 or 5 lb. Lovely specimen.
Didsbury Dave
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Yes it was about that. Not my quarry on the day though. Out of season too I assume at this time of year. Is it April - September?
Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese
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The fish don't know that mate ;-)
Great catch. Esthwaite building a good reputation as a fishery of the last couple of decades, but I believe there is huge untapped potential for the coarse/ specimen angler in the lake District - particularly pike and perch, but I suspect bream and roach too. The problem is that a lot of the waters are so big it will take either a lot of time or local knowledge to work them out.
Didsbury Dave
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Esthwaite produces big bags of roach and bream to bank anglers.
Didsbury Dave
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Last Sunday afternoon I fished a couple of dead bait rods in a canal basin but didn’t get a bite.
Today I had a few hours on a local reservoir and elected to use the dead baits again. An hour or so in and I had a run. The usual short but explosive fight and a nice low double pike was in the net. As I chinned it for the photo it kicked and rolled and my finger ended up getting caught by the teeth. The was claret everywhere by the time I returned the fish and it bled for the rest of the afternoon, covering everything in blood. Learn a lesson from my mistake: take plasters fishing.
Today I had a few hours on a local reservoir and elected to use the dead baits again. An hour or so in and I had a run. The usual short but explosive fight and a nice low double pike was in the net. As I chinned it for the photo it kicked and rolled and my finger ended up getting caught by the teeth. The was claret everywhere by the time I returned the fish and it bled for the rest of the afternoon, covering everything in blood. Learn a lesson from my mistake: take plasters fishing.
