the fly fishing hunger day 2

TIME TO FISH

so as you can imagine myself and ken chatted into the wee small hours looked at flies and generally chewed the fat with quite a lot of laughing thrown in so we decided a 4 am start would be the best thing as temps were due to rise in the afternoon and would make fishing slightly uncomfy so we made a plan to fish local (lake carmine) till lunch time come in get some lunch and tie flies for the rest of the day till it was beer time , sounded like a good plan to me .

4am coffee time

without a doubt our guide ken makes the finest damm wake up brew in the world grinding his own beans and brewing up enough coffee to keep you awake for days at a time and there big cups as well this was to be a morning ritual for the rest of the week big coffee then down to the local shop for breakfast donuts and supplies for the day

a Scotsman runs through it

well on the way to carmine we decided to check out kens local river which i was going to fish later in the week although it was only around 5am the water was lovely theres something that still gets me going wading around barefoot in rivers an absolute joy first thing in the morning

first view of carmine

over the last year Ive seen a lot of kens pictures of this place both fish and stunning views so to actually see it in the flesh was something else quite stunning , and there be fish to be caught

locked and loaded

so with the boat loaded and launched it was time to set up the gear , far easier to do this at the bank side than on the boat as i was setting up i could actually feel it getting warmer although it looks quite dark in the picture it was quite warm

AND THERE OFF

so ken fired up the engine and we where off , i just sat back and enjoyed the view this was kens playground he knows the water like the back of his hand its a case of when we stop we fish no questions asked and let me tell you every time we stopped the boat and fished we had fish either first or second cast let me tell you theres a lot of so called experts out there who blow there own trumpet Mr capsey is not one of those the guy constantly put me on fish all week in a number of locations and conditions people like him are few and far between but do you here him boasting about it , no never the guy has to rate as one of the finest fly anglers I've ever fished with he is so in tune with whats going on in the water its like the guys got a sixth sense and i know he will hate me saying that but the guy has probably forgotten more than some will ever learn........

CAPT CAPSEY FIRED UP

FIRST CAST FISH

so your fishing a completely new location with untried flies you know what species your fishing for your just a bit unsure as to what your going to start with so i say to ken what should i start with "oh hell those black nosed dace clousers you tied up they will love those in here buddy"

well i didn't need to told twice on a dace went and i cast a fairly moderate length of line and started to short strip straight away , the water was only about 5 ft deep and crystal clear so i didn't need to get it down to far , halfway in bang my first carmi fish was hooked , turned out to be a gorgeous looking yellow perch and an average sized fish for a yellow perch i was more than happy a new species "cheers ken the fly worked then LOL"

A SMALLMOUTH

second cast i pulled one of my target species a smallmouth bass man these things go like rockets and just don't give up after a crash course in bass thumb i had it in the boat photographed and realised i was more than happy i could catch those things all day they really are like small freight trains and they don't understand the word stop ..........i need another fix already

AND IT JUST GETS BETTER

look at the feckin size of that thing ken shouted as i thumbed a big smallie into the boat , my black nosed dace had done it again now i was a very happy boy , i really cant explain how much these things fight I'm addicted already this is simply the fishing version of crack , if this goes on I'm going to end up not going home

i had some rubber legged flies that i had made a few weeks ago (see earlier blog~) and i thought they may do well so i stuck one on and hey presto another species this time a rock bass and they are just as scrappy as there larger cousins what a blast on a 7wgt

1st days total for me

63 smallmouth bass

17 yellow perch

8 rock bass

88 fish in total to the fly i really think you cant complain at that ken had around the same as we were matching each other fish for fish pretty much

stay tuned for more fishy adventures in the u.s.a tomorrow

mcfluffchucker

(a cave in Scotland)