Sunday 4 October 2015

September Competition - The Day of the Daddy-Long-Legs

The killing fly - Daddy-Long-Legs
Our two previous competitions, in June and July, had suffered from low water levels at Burrator, low fish numbers being landed and comparatively low turnout by club members. So, having had quite a lot of rain over August and into the start of September, the waters levels were on the rise and Burrator was over 50% full. So we all hoped that our next club outing on Friday 18th September would prove more productive, and we were not greatly disappointed.

The competition was won by Bill Watson from Callington with five fish for 6lb 2oz, Stuart Payne was second with three fish for 4lb 6oz, Pat Power was third with three fish for 3lb 7oz, and Tony Vallack was fourth with two fish for 2lb 8oz.

Pat with his third place catch
As can be gauged from the above weights, the size of trout landed; all rainbows, was not large. The average seemed to be around a pound and a quarter and the 'Sweep' for best fish of the day (the princely sum of £9.00) was shared between Pat Power and Terry Denley who both had fish of 1lb 8oz. Having said that there was plenty of sport to be had. Many fish were hooked and lost. I had four fish in four casts come off after a short fight or at the net and Bill Watson hooked at least four or five other trout in addition to the five he took to win it.

Peter Phillips - A picture of concentration
Of the nine members who took part; Pat Power, John Jeffrey, Tony Vallack, Stuart Payne, Kelvin Nikulin, Peter Phillips, Bill Watson, Terry Denley and myself, only one failed to land a fish or two and that person shall, to spare his blushes, remain nameless.

The day begins to darken over Stuart Payne
Another pleasing aspect to the fishing was the availability of surface or near surface sport, with virtually all the fish caught found high in the water. Bill had all his fish on Daddy-Long Legs fished dry.

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