I have recently taken up fly-fishing. The nature of
fly-fishing appealed to me because of the skill required to capture a creature
who is very sensitive to it's surroundings, and so will baulk at
anything that does not appear to be natural in it’s environment. The stalking
and deception required to capture these creatures truly brings out the primeval
instinct of the hunter.
The nature of the areas we fish are also truly beautiful and
for a person who loves the Australian bush and has mostly fish the oceans
shores, this type of fishing has added a whole new dimension to the adventure
of angling.
My first fly-fishing adventure was to the Snowy Mountains in
October at the beginning of the trout season. It had been a good snow season
and the fields were still open although the snow was melting quickly and the
Thredbo River was rising centimetres by the day. Our first day saw a number of
trout but we were unsuccessful. The second day on the River I caught my first
trout, a rainbow on fly. It was a small trout of around 40 cm but a capture that
will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life.
Fishing the Thredbo River
Small rainbow trout caught and released
That afternoon we changed our fishing location to Lake
Jindabyne and fished the few hours before sunset. A truly magnificent evening
with a mirror lake surface and late afternoon diffused colours, set the scene.
Fishing a sinking streamer with a quick jerking retrieve had
me hooking and after an impressive fight with several jumps landing a beautiful
52 cm brown trout.
A late afternoon brown Lake Jindabyne
Beautiful brown trout
before release
My first fly-fishing experience was truly memorable for I
had fished in beautiful surroundings with friends that had a love for this type
of angling and had caught and released two species of trout on a single day.
The experience has inspired my desire to use my art to capture the essence of
this type of adventure.
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