Who can tell what a trout is eating

In early September I fished Llynnau Gamallt Mawr Lake, which is one of my favourite places to fish. Tackling up at the carpark, the weather was miserable and it was tempting to head off and try somewhere else. However, the lakes are on the coastal side of the mountain and the weather is often quite different once you get there. Indeed, I track the weather reports of 4 different services, including the mountain forecast for key peaks in Snowdownia National Park the week before I fish and I can safely say that there is frequently little relationship between the forecast and the real weather.

When I got down to the lake it was a perfect day to fish. A light south westerly was rippling the surface but not so strong as to hamper casting. The weather was changeable with spells of low cloud and drizzling rain interspersed with spells of sunny brightness … good fishing weather. I start my fishing day communing with nature for 15-30 minutes sitting next to the lake and simply observing, what fly life is active, are there any signs of surface feeding, are wind lanes developing/developed, what fly life had I seen on the way in? There were a few damsel flies around the ponds on the walk in, there was a sporadic skittering of caddis already on the brew and the odd cogyn surfing the wind.

I like to make my fly choice at this stage and fishing a 3 fly rig opted for a sedge on the point, hawthorn/hopper on the middle dropper and an F-Fly on the top dropper. The caddis hatch seemed to be quite intense at times so I was fully expecting to get hit early on. I started along the reed fringe … nothing, the ripple out further where I had seen some activity early on … nothing. As I moved towards the outlet bay I was hammered by a big fish … on the F-Fly … that was a surprise. It was a big fish and it was really pulling hard and I was a little concerned that I was undergunned with a 4lb dropper. It dove for a rock shelf just off of the shoreline and there was little I could do to prevent it. Then the fight stopped. Bugger, the fish had wrapped me around a rock or some debris.  I exerted side strain, nothing. I stepped out on the shelf and applied outward strain, nothing. I tried circling the rod in the air to “unwrap” the line from the rock, nothing. It was early in the day to break off the line and replace the whole leader and with the top dropper hooked I would likely lose all 3 flies and I really dislike leaving flies in the water to catch unsuspecting fish later. I ran my hand down the line as far I could reach and applied heavier pressure, et voila the line was loose … but also moving!! I transferred the tension back to the rod in my left hand … the fish was still on … it must have wedged itself between or under a rock and I had dislodged it. 

A short fight later and the fish was in the net. The hook dropped out in the net so no unhooking was necessary but it was a really fiesty fish that was not keen to be handled for a quick pic before release. While I don’t speak fluent fish, I think it was really mad with itself for taking the F-Fly and getting caught. It seemed to be none the worse for wear so perhaps the point or lower dropper hook had snagged on a rock during the fight and my applied tension had freed it?

The bank from the outlet bay up to the narrows was also quite productive, however, the takes were tenuous and splashy. The caddis hatch had petered out but there appeared to be a smattering of cogyn. I switched out the point fly for a black shuttlecock and the middle dropper for a claret klinkhammer and winkled out a few small fish but nothing like what I would have expected given the surface fly activity, what were they feeding on? I decided to end the day with some wets and setup with nymphs that usually work, peeping caddis on point, GRHE on middle dropper and UV spot PTN on the top dropper. I ended the day with a further fish on the peeping caddis but again it was a small fish that had been fooled. 

All in all, a good day, mostly dry with some nice sunny spells where I had managed to catch one of the lakes larger residents which always brings a sense of satisfaction. Usually when there is that level of fly life active at the surface you catch way more fish in a session. While my fly choices were informed by the fly life active at the time, it does go to show that we really can’t tell what the fish are targeting at any given time.

Tight lines

Greg