Success! An outing that not only delivered nice weather that allowed some of our most stalwart members to wet-wade but also delivered some compliant fish. Jim Hyatt won the attendance prize and has written the June outing report detailing the impressive achievements of the attendees. Let’s hope that this is merely a portent of greater things to come.

Over the past seventeen issues of the Newsletter the “Know your Fish” articles, apart from three notable exceptions, have dealt with local species that we may encounter on our Club outings. Having almost exhausted those readily available species, including the humble toady, future articles will deal with the more exotic species that our more peripatetic members may encounter in their travels.

As several of our members are planning to fish the Hinchinbrook area in the next couple of months (Covid restrictions allowing) this month’s column deals with one of the most challenging species that they may encounter. Permit are amongst the most desirable fish species any fly fisher could hope to entice into taking his fly. Sometimes called the “fish of a thousand casts” due to the fact that they are so darn difficult to catch. These fish are incredibly elusive and have fantastic sight and senses. They are also known to refuse the most tempting flies that were acceptable only the day before and can drive the most ardent member of the Temperance Society to partake of strong liquor.

Our Club has some very good fly tyers and the flies they produce are works of art that are consistent and lovely to behold. Then there’s Yours Truly. My efforts are consistent only in the unfortunate fact that I don’t believe I have ever produced a work of art although some of them do resemble the works of Picasso.

Whilst browsing the web I saw that some ingenious tyer had used half a safety pin on a jig hook as the basis of a new fly. I dashed to the fly bench and produced the creation below that would frighten Dr. Frankenstein.

Realising that this fly would never tempt a fisherman to part with his hard earned cash, it would test the truth of the old saw that commercial flies and lures are really designed to catch fishermen rather than fish. This comment is soundly based on the indisputable fact that fish do not buy flies. Would this fly that John West would certainly reject tempt a fish? The fly was put to the test on our latest Club Outing and I succeeded in fooling two flathead to consume it. QED.

All those terrible looking flies that I threw in a drawer never to see the light of day because I was too embarrassed to expose my ineptitude to other members will now proudly decorate my tippet on future excursions.

Iain

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