THE APPROACH OF WINTER
It’s taking some getting used to is this weather! The cold, wet, windy, dark days are here again and they seem to have arrived with an indecent rush. One day we were fishing in lazy, hazy late summer conditions and this week it’s almost wintertime.
Weather apart, the late autumn trout fishing is always very good; the fish are always in such marvellous condition. I’ve been out twice this weeks and blanked on Monday fishing into a nasty wind with no sunlight. I did not see a fish in three hours which is most unusual. Nor did I even get a gentle little tug on my fly during that period. I went home very disappointed and that is mainly why I ventured out again later in the week.
Laneshaw Reservoir, East Lancashire
Thursday at Laneshaw Reservoir, high up just off the Keighley Road out of Lancashire, saw some sunlight by eleven o’clock but there was a steady westerly wind that whipped up a white froth in the exposed margins. I started off with a size 14 green and black Montana nymph on a four pound tippet attached to a floating WF5 and explored the margins, casting about ten yards out and down and letting the wind take the fly wherever it would. The tactic worked and I landed a brace of three pound rainbows which gave excellent sport on the light tackle. I returned both fish and, as I’ve noted before, the swim went dead as the returnees passed the message around of danger lurking on the bank.
I moved around the reservoir and crossed the dam. I noticed an area of very still water under the far dam wall with the occasional fish dimpling the surface. I made a mental note and continued round to fish opposite the members’ hut where there are several little bays that have appeared since the summer drought. They often harbour a number of fish that cruise quite close in and have given good sport in the past few months. After about twenty minutes it became apparent that there were no fish in the bays or at least no fish that were tempted by the Montana nymph or a GRHE.
Summer Tactics
I moved back to the sheltered area of slack water by the dam where there was still evidence of dimpling fish. The first problem was getting down the exposed reservoir walls to the water’s edge. There was a lot of slime on the angled stones after recent rain and I was wearing wellies. I travelled part of the way on my backside and fetched up a couple of feet away from the water. Fearing my cumbersome arrival may have spooked any fish in the vicinity, I decided to sit quietly, watch for activity and have my lunch. Let everything settle including my trembling knees.
I wondered what to put on the end of the line and as I was considering tactics the sun burst through the clouds and everything started to brighten up. There was now quite a bit of activity in the water and I decided to go for a floating Daddy. This fly has brought excellent results from mid-May for me at this water even in the very hot weather. The beauty of Laneshaw is that it is high up on the moors and did not suffer as badly as sea-level waters in the hot summer weather.
I flicked the Daddy out, a mere ten yards. Immediately there was a bulging swirl around the fly. Three seconds of stillness and then back came the trout and took the Daddy in a twisting dive. It did not realise it had been hooked for a few seconds and then away it went like a rocket. The light tackle was tested to extremes but after several leaps, quite a large (4lbs) muscular rainbow came to the net. What a pleasure it was.
I scrambled along the stonework another twenty yards to where I had spied another series of dimples and, after drying out the fly, I dropped it into the estimated path of the trout. The same thing happened again; an investigatory swirl around the Daddy, a brief period of calm followed by a surging attack and downward dive that set the hook. This fish came up through the surface and tail-walked along the water before diving deep and turning away from me. It took a serious amount of line off the reel before I managed to turn her (as it turned out) back towards the bank and, eventually, into the net.
These autumn fish are in such splendid condition, full and muscular. Despite fighting very hard both fish were away like supercharged submarines the second they were put back into the water; a sure sign of good health and strength. I took one more on the floating Daddy before making my way round to the car park.
A late consolation goal for the rainbows
Back on the windy side of Laneshaw, I could not resist a final cast and I found a convenient little peninsula around which the wind was funnelling the water into the eastern side of the dam wall. The wind was quite fierce and the waves running fairly high. I lost sight of the fly but knew exactly where it was because a fish swirled around in like a surfer in a big wave. Everything tightened and another good rainbow began to fight the rod. It was a good sized fish, too, but I’ve been watching too many fishing programmes on Discovery Channel. I turned to pick up my landing net and decided to line my rod parallel with the water “and let the rod do the work” as the experts have instructed me. Bang! And everything went very slack. I must have got it all wrong but it’s the first time I can remember for some years being broken by a fish. The break came at the join between the 8lb butt and the next section of the leader, both fluorocarbon.
I had already given the outfit some hammer with five hard fighting fish in the 3-4 lbs range and perhaps I should have checked my line and knots as well as not going off half-cocked trying to copy some guy lure fishing for tarpon in Costa Rica.
The next few weeks should provide good rainbow fishing unless the very cold weather arrives. This period is excellent at Raygill Fisheries in West Yorkshire and Barnsfold Water near Preston as well as the smaller fisheries that lie in the folds of the Lancashire Pennines. If the day turns out to be bright and sunny do not be afraid to go back to summer tactics and try the floating Daddy.
Tight Lines!
Eddie Caldwell
