scouting water - Eikendal

[JCW]

Hi All

I am new to the forum and someone on Sealine suggested I post the topic here. now I did a lot of research before heading off to Eikendal for a days fishing. Bought a stealth Start Rod, thanks Stream X, and some floating line and I was off and quiet optimistic. I had to go on a specific day due to my shifts and it was more than likely the worst day to catch a trout. overcast and rainy with a NW blowing.

I had two unconvincing hook-ups witch lasted a few seconds and off again. Phillip was a great help and confirmed what I had read about the venue. Static fishing with dark flies.

now the question - please note I am an absolute novice- you don't cover much water fishing static and with little structure, beside the reeds on the side and no visible feeding how does one find the fish? or at least entice a fish. blanking is only fun for so long then not even my famous line of " I just enjoy the time outdoors" becomes lame

what I did was resort to a strip retrieve but this did not seem to interest them either.

[dtayl13]

Eikendal is quite a place to start. It has days when it is insane but much of the time it is quite tough. It is not so much about finding the fish there. They are everywhere, although I have the best success off the jetty, at the corner closest to the gate standing about 10m along the wall casting toward the tree on the other side of the dam and on the wall near the restaurant casting into the bay in front of it. I usually use a Di5 or Di3 (5in and 3in per second sink rate) with boobies. Very slow and deep or static seems to be the key as you mentioned. Best colours for me are first choice dark olive, second choice black, third choice orange. A shortish leader ending in 4x is what I use. When booby fishing I have the booby about 5ft from the tip of the fly line. Cast out as far as you can. Leave the line to sink until you are sure it is on the bottom. Strip a few times to insure that your flies are near the bottom. Reel in the slack. Prop your rod up against your bag. Lie back in the sun and watch the tip. Either that or a very slow figure of 8 retrieve works. This is quite a sif method, but it works.

Otherwise if you want more enjoyment out of catching fish use a long thin leader on a floating line (5x or 6x) fish 2 or 3 flies if you feel confident enough with your casting to do so. Put a buzzer with a glass bead or a PTN with a 2mm tungsten bead or the likes on point (end fly) and a diawl bach or GRHE on dropper. #14 or #16 is good. Cast out and let the wind blow your line in a big U across the serface and watch the tip of your line. You can also use a 2 finger figure of 8 retrieve with the odd minute twitch if it is windless or you feel so inclined.

[Andre]

Wait until the river seasson opens again, and ask someone to take you out on the streams... you wont regret it. In the meantime, keep trying at eikendal, as said, it can be as tricky or as easy as any stocked small water. Alternatively, tie up a spekboom prawn.... ask phillip for some "chum".... and cast into the boil....heh heh... have fun.

[JCW]

Thanks guys

Im still a bit of a novice to tackle streams but will definately try find an mentour to show me the ropes. back to still waters, specifically Eikendal, obviously fishing deep and static doesnt allow you to see if the fish are interested, are the above mentioned flies (PTN, buzzer, GRHE) generally an food source available all through the winter season and do the flies occur at a specific depth?

Also how important is the exact replication of the flie seeing that i am starin to tie a few of my own?