Fluke
 

Hi,
Farmoor reservoir, Oxford, Tues evening - cold, moderate wind, few
buzzers coming off but no action (some being taken on Boobies). Fishing
the usual buzzers on a long leader with a strike indicator - fish rose
at the indicator. I made a kind of involuntary strike and hooked up with
something. Saw it was on the top dropper but was very strong - I
guessed I had foul hooked it. Played it very gently because of this but
as it came closer could see that A. it was hooked in the mouth, B. it
was a decent fish (2lb 12oz). Eventually landed it - hooked throught the
lower jaw very firmly - it must have taken a buzzer moving at 30 mph. So
much for deception. No more takes. Stomach full of daphnia. I guess it
was over wintered - they do not usually stock at this weight.
Lessons to be learned??

Gordon

On 2005-04-14, Gordon MacPherson wrote:
Hi,
Farmoor reservoir, Oxford, Tues evening - cold, moderate wind, few
buzzers coming off but no action (some being taken on Boobies). Fishing


I was going through all the Oxfords I know here in the states and got as
far as Oxford, Mississippi (the only one I know) before realizing this
was Oxford across the pond; Inspector Morse's Oxford. I also remembered
I fished that reservoir in the early 90s with boobies and fast sinking
lines and had some fun despite an unrelenting headwind.

snip
Lessons to be learned??


When fishing buzzers hold on as tight as when stripping muddlers?
Seriously, I am not sure what lessons there are. Fish feeding
in still water are always moving, they can accelerate
really fast and the buzzer may have caught its eye resulting
in an instinctive and aggressive take. It does seem unusal though.

Just my tuppence.

Gary

[...] it must have taken a
buzzer moving at 30 mph. So much for deception. No more takes.
Stomach full of daphnia. I guess it was over wintered - they do not
usually stock at this weight. Lessons to be learned??

Here's my 2p worth of speculation. Suspect the fish was
*very* close to the fly, and the sudden motion of said fly
provoked a reaction strike. Since some buzzers were coming
off, the fish would be somewhat attuned to the naturals rising
up through the water column. The fish that rose to the indicator,
and the one you hooked on the top dropper would seem to indicate
the fish were cruising relatively near the surface (depending
somewhat on how far down the dropper was, and how far it
ascended when you attempted to strike the riser).

Lucky? Assuredly. :-) I guess if it'd happened to me,
I'd have adjusted the indicator so that the top dropper was
hanging maybe a foot below it, and perhaps raise the point
fly to 3 ft. or so below the indicator, and try that for a
while, in hope that the fish working nearer the surface wasn't
just a fluke. :-)

Todd (remove hook to reply)