Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
thats a shame mate. Did you see fish?
Bluemoon Angling Thread
- Thread starter Damocles
- Start date
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
I had a few hours on the Hodder yesterday after grayling, putting my new-found fly-casting skills to the test. All I caught was an out-of-season trout but the water was very, very "thin" (as you fly-fishers say)
Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
I created a specific thread for this but thought I should also post on here
This article is over a year old but puts some hard stats behind the number of untreated sewage discharges into rivers. The governments target is to reduce these by 40% by ...............
2040.
'Water companies discharged raw sewage into English rivers 372,533 times last year, (2021) a slight reduction on the previous year.'
Raw sewage discharged into English rivers 375,000 times by water firms
Data from 2021 released at same time as government plan to stop 40% of untreated sewage releases by 2040www.theguardian.com
And another article which names every MP that voted down a bill to stop the practice. (clue they are all Tories)
Every UK MP who voted to ALLOW water companies to continue dumping RAW SEWAGE in rivers and the sea - Carvemag.com
List of shamewww.carvemag.com
Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
were you bugging for them?
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
I was buggering about if that helps. I was using a goldhead and a purple and black fly. Not sure what it was called.
My mate had 2... cos he is a spawny twat!
I did see a few sneaking through, but they were few and far between.
I don't think any of the Scottish rivers are seeing many yet.
This has not stopped me today from looking to book a week on the Earn/Tay at the end of the month.
I am a sucker for punishment! :)
Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
I’m off to Rutland Water in mid April with 5 other like minded fluff chuckers. Three days on the mighty water.
Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
Ha, still you caught. Did you enjoy it?
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
Of course, I enjoy any sort of fishing. I'm in that 4th stage of an angler's life when he just wants to be there. Here's my favourite photo from my trip to Alphonse. If you zoom in you can see the guide trying to get my fly out of his leg.
blue44
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Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
Brilliant photo mate. The sky is amazing. Is that a drop off to your right?
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
Yes. Although most fishing is done by sight, either from a skiff or on foot, on the flats, I, personally, liked fishing over the drop offs as you never knew what was going to come after the fly. I had a couple of bluefin Trevally fishing that way and a barracuda scared the bejesus out of me.
When you are out walking like that, it's an eerie experience watching shark-fins gliding past..
Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
I can only dream. Not many shark fins on Rutland :-)
The closest I came was in Oz on the Barrier Reef. We saw a few out there whilst snorkling.
When are you going back?
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
I wish I could but I reckon the whole package, for a week, works out about £17k. Unless I win the lottery, that's well out of reach.
I may see you on Rutland in April as we're planning a trip. You can't miss me, the water is usually thrashed to a foam.
Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
when in April? - we are down 20th - 24th.
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
Not sure yet. If we're there then I'll give you a shout
Didsbury Dave
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That sounds like heaven to me. Getting the bejesus scared out of you is what fishing is all about.
Sounds a bit like a snipe and purple to me mate. Good grayling fly, I fished it last year with a tungsten hares ear on the point and a bibio top dropper.
Caught several on the Welsh Dee.
Ooo err! I foresee a Bluemoon anglers boat competition one day chaps!
Newman Noggs
Well-Known Member
Finally got time to write a bit more about Alphonse so look away from this long post now if you’re not interested.
If you can ever afford it, do it. It’s beyond anything I’ve experienced in fishing and I never thought I’d be interested in saltwater fly-fishing for exotic fish. But it does grip you.
Small to medium Bonefish are actually easy to catch. The advantage Alphonse has over other locations is the sheer number of fish. You fish for them standing in the water on a 9 weight rod and line with a 20lbs leader using a small crab-like fly that you strip slowly along the bottom. You can generally see the fish as they move backwards and forwards with the tide over the flats. They have a ghostly appearance and can be more clearly seen from the skiff (I didn’t know, but it’s a flat-bottomed boat which can be motored out to the islands and then poled around the shallow water. It has a raised platform at the back so the guide gets a better view of approaching fish). Quite often you see the bigger specimens from the boat but, invariably, when you have a 12 weight in your hand and a big GT fly on. By the time you have changed rods, they have melted away. When you hook one, they don’t half go. Longer and harder than barbel I would say. I’ve still got the scab on my line-finger to prove it.
It has to be said, there’s something magical about standing in knee-deep, warm water casting at fish you can see. Bear in mind, though, that it’s a tropical climate and, therefore, rains a lot. It poured down when we were arriving, teemed down as we were leaving and pissed down for a lot of the time we were there. On the odd occasion the sun comes out (and even when it doesn’t) the sun is blistering, hence the clobber. It is hard to get your gear dry and, as you go everywhere by bike on the island, your arse is always wet from the saddle.
The main quarry, of course, are Giant Trevally or GTs or Geets. These are measured in cms rather than by weight. 60 cms is about average (mine was 59 cms measured). One was caught on a popper in the deep water measuring 122cms while we were there. I would say that, during the week we were there, there were around 25 GTs caught between 10 or so anglers. They usually swim alongside a ray or shark and the guides can spot whether there is a GT on the ray or shark or whether they are “empty”. How they can discern this, I never discovered, certainly I couldn’t spot them. The guide having identified that a fish is “carrying” you cast the fly near it from the boat and strip quickly. If you are lucky the GT will follow and that is quite heart-stopping. More often, you spook them and they bugger off or follow the fly but you miss a strip or run out of room and they sense something isn’t right and, then, bugger off. Another thing this sort of fishing has in common with all other types of fishing is that it’s never just right. If the guide manages to manoeuvre the boat so you are upwind of the fish, one will appear directly behind you. If you have a bone rod in your hand, a GT will appear and vice versa.
Sometimes you see a big fish bow-waving in the shallows and then you pursue them to try to get the fly in front of them. My mate and the guide chased one for miles on the last day and left me dragging the boat to catch up. He got a fly to it which it followed but turned away. They reckoned it was a 100cms fish.
The other fish anglers try to catch are Trigger Fish which you often spot on the flats by a bright red and black tail wafting above the water as they feed head down. The holy grail is the Permit which are rare. My first cast of the trip was to a Permit which, of course, I ballsed up much to the guide’s chagrin. I never saw another. Both these fish are spooky as anything. I had a Trigger follow my fly one day but he sheered of when he saw my face.
One day, as we headed out across the deep water to the flats, the guide spotted a load of birds circling. He told me to drop my GT fly over the side and pay out line which I did. Within 30 seconds a Tuna had grabbed my fly and I was doing battle. After about 30 seconds, it came off but, before I could retrieve, another took it. I managed to play this one for ages and got it right next to the boat. However, the fly popped out and I never saw the fish.
Another day, we were fishing the drop off and the guide changed my fly. Because the fly is bulky, it pays to dip it in the water so that when you cast it for the first time, it sinks. I dropped it over the side of the boat and was dragging it backwards and forwards when a monster GT loomed up right below it. I couldn’t believe my eyes and wasn’t sure what to do so I dragged it backwards and forwards some more which was a bit daft. The guide, who had been messing around with the engine whilst this went on, told me to cast and retrieve which I did but to no avail.
The whole area is a conservation zone and there are studies going on into the manta rays, which ghost around and the GTs. My GT hadn’t been tagged so the guide did the honours, taking the vital measurements and injecting a chip, so it can be monitored in the future.
Other fish we saw included sailfish, manta rays, eagle rays, parrot fish, monkfish, batfish, lemon sharks, tiger sharks, sand sharks and sea turtles of various types which were a pain in the arse as they scutter away through the water like chickens disturbing the fish.
To wrap up here’s me with my first bonefish and this is about the average size.
If you can ever afford it, do it. It’s beyond anything I’ve experienced in fishing and I never thought I’d be interested in saltwater fly-fishing for exotic fish. But it does grip you.
Small to medium Bonefish are actually easy to catch. The advantage Alphonse has over other locations is the sheer number of fish. You fish for them standing in the water on a 9 weight rod and line with a 20lbs leader using a small crab-like fly that you strip slowly along the bottom. You can generally see the fish as they move backwards and forwards with the tide over the flats. They have a ghostly appearance and can be more clearly seen from the skiff (I didn’t know, but it’s a flat-bottomed boat which can be motored out to the islands and then poled around the shallow water. It has a raised platform at the back so the guide gets a better view of approaching fish). Quite often you see the bigger specimens from the boat but, invariably, when you have a 12 weight in your hand and a big GT fly on. By the time you have changed rods, they have melted away. When you hook one, they don’t half go. Longer and harder than barbel I would say. I’ve still got the scab on my line-finger to prove it.
It has to be said, there’s something magical about standing in knee-deep, warm water casting at fish you can see. Bear in mind, though, that it’s a tropical climate and, therefore, rains a lot. It poured down when we were arriving, teemed down as we were leaving and pissed down for a lot of the time we were there. On the odd occasion the sun comes out (and even when it doesn’t) the sun is blistering, hence the clobber. It is hard to get your gear dry and, as you go everywhere by bike on the island, your arse is always wet from the saddle.
The main quarry, of course, are Giant Trevally or GTs or Geets. These are measured in cms rather than by weight. 60 cms is about average (mine was 59 cms measured). One was caught on a popper in the deep water measuring 122cms while we were there. I would say that, during the week we were there, there were around 25 GTs caught between 10 or so anglers. They usually swim alongside a ray or shark and the guides can spot whether there is a GT on the ray or shark or whether they are “empty”. How they can discern this, I never discovered, certainly I couldn’t spot them. The guide having identified that a fish is “carrying” you cast the fly near it from the boat and strip quickly. If you are lucky the GT will follow and that is quite heart-stopping. More often, you spook them and they bugger off or follow the fly but you miss a strip or run out of room and they sense something isn’t right and, then, bugger off. Another thing this sort of fishing has in common with all other types of fishing is that it’s never just right. If the guide manages to manoeuvre the boat so you are upwind of the fish, one will appear directly behind you. If you have a bone rod in your hand, a GT will appear and vice versa.
Sometimes you see a big fish bow-waving in the shallows and then you pursue them to try to get the fly in front of them. My mate and the guide chased one for miles on the last day and left me dragging the boat to catch up. He got a fly to it which it followed but turned away. They reckoned it was a 100cms fish.
The other fish anglers try to catch are Trigger Fish which you often spot on the flats by a bright red and black tail wafting above the water as they feed head down. The holy grail is the Permit which are rare. My first cast of the trip was to a Permit which, of course, I ballsed up much to the guide’s chagrin. I never saw another. Both these fish are spooky as anything. I had a Trigger follow my fly one day but he sheered of when he saw my face.
One day, as we headed out across the deep water to the flats, the guide spotted a load of birds circling. He told me to drop my GT fly over the side and pay out line which I did. Within 30 seconds a Tuna had grabbed my fly and I was doing battle. After about 30 seconds, it came off but, before I could retrieve, another took it. I managed to play this one for ages and got it right next to the boat. However, the fly popped out and I never saw the fish.
Another day, we were fishing the drop off and the guide changed my fly. Because the fly is bulky, it pays to dip it in the water so that when you cast it for the first time, it sinks. I dropped it over the side of the boat and was dragging it backwards and forwards when a monster GT loomed up right below it. I couldn’t believe my eyes and wasn’t sure what to do so I dragged it backwards and forwards some more which was a bit daft. The guide, who had been messing around with the engine whilst this went on, told me to cast and retrieve which I did but to no avail.
The whole area is a conservation zone and there are studies going on into the manta rays, which ghost around and the GTs. My GT hadn’t been tagged so the guide did the honours, taking the vital measurements and injecting a chip, so it can be monitored in the future.
Other fish we saw included sailfish, manta rays, eagle rays, parrot fish, monkfish, batfish, lemon sharks, tiger sharks, sand sharks and sea turtles of various types which were a pain in the arse as they scutter away through the water like chickens disturbing the fish.
To wrap up here’s me with my first bonefish and this is about the average size.