Hutt Valley Anglers Club - New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...

noticeable. Some of the pools had reduced flow and there wassignificantly more slow moving water that would not assist thefishermen.It turned out to be a hot and sunny day with only a light breezehampering casting at times.There were some interesting tales of missed opportunities andsome on-river observations made by the anglers but overall it wasan enjoyable outing with a few fish caught.One of the competitors had some difficulty keeping fish on his line.He hooked up to a dozen trout but only managed to land three ofthose. It must have been a very frustrating day for him.Another angler who caught only a couple of trout had taken his dryfly indicator off and replaced it with a bright red synthetic fibreindicator for improved visibility. A rainbow trout of around a poundand a half rose and tried to eat the bright red indicator!Another two anglers were making their way to the start of theirbeat to commence fishing when they passed a large backwaterwhere three brown trout were cruising. One of those fish wouldhave been a sitter because it was zooming around like a vacuumcleaner picking off minute insects both on the surface and in midwater.One fisherman hooked a rainbow trout that ran towards him. Hewas fishing with barbless hooked flies so he quickly stripped in lineby hand to take up slack. When he tried to reel in the slack line hefound that his fly line had wrapped around his rod tip so he playedthe trout by hand until he was able to untangle his rod just beforenetting the fish.Most of those in the competition reported hooking and losing a fewfish. The riverbed was extremely slippery but no-one appears tohave fallen over.As always, the knowledge gained in these club events enriches ourangling experience.By comparison, in the Wellington competition the previous weekthere were 7 x 6 = 42 angler hours yielding 90 fish whereas for ourcompetition there were 7 x 2.5 = 17.5 angler hours with 16 fishcaught.The result of the Doughty Shield competition is:1 st John Olds, 4960 points2 nd Damien Bengree, 2890 points3 rd Ian Lawson, 2880 points12Hutt Valley Angling Club Incorporated — December 2013