Recent happenings - Freshwater Fly Comp wins!

Well not much fishing for about 6 weeks
As still recovering from the effort put into the Darwin Fly Rodders Freshwater Competition
Been really flat mentally - but that about to change too.
Just so much occurred during comp and prefish outings
I just could not even think of doing a write up

But here is the gist of it.....................

Peter and I have felt for many years we were on the verge of running a place, if not winning the Freshwater Comp. Previous years' pre-fish outings saw us catch 20 plus toga in a session, even one pre-comp trip - four barra.

But come comp day - very poor results
So this year things changed - yeeehahhhh!

During the actual 2019 Freshwater Comp - we were casting demons, always having our flies in the strike zone, confident in our flies from fishing the billabong the three weekends prior to the comp - it paid off in a big way
here is video of the the pre-comp outings

By end of this years 2019 competition - Peter got runner up individual - still has an issue with all the fish he dropped that could have readily changed this result one place higher. I came in fifth but felt if I hadn't dropped so many fish I too could have made a good run on best individual score (15 toga dropped first day alone and some were big slabs of Saratoga - more on that failure later)

However, I did get the the largest Toga of 62cm, (Peter got one 61.7cm - thanks for the poor measuring Peter!)
So that was a new Rod as a prize for me
which is good cause I lost a fly rod when zipping between spots during a pre-comp outing

We also got the champion team with our combined individual scores -which was AWESOME!

Lovely Trophy now sitting at Peter's place (I get it second half of the year before handing back next comp as we defend our title)

We both got a nice large arbor fly reel for the team result

We didn't find any barra during the comp - actually only a half dozen barra were caught during the comp by only a couple of fly fishers

Sadly - I lost so many good fish - post-comp analysis points to my weed guards as the problem.

I used mostly small leech or damsel fly patterns for the comp in size 4 and 2 B10s Gamagatsu hooks. I as it turned out I wrongly used 80lb mono guards which I cut too short - thus making them unable to fold down when the fish struck. Peter was using same sort of V mono guard style but his was only 60lb and significantly, three times longer. I feel he got less bites than me but more fish in the net - even though he lost a few good fish too.

Casting way into the back of the lilies almost guarantees losing fish and thus flies, but some where right on edge of weeds and we still lost them. I used almost half of the main flies I was using  - so glad I tied 30 of most of the main flies in the various sizes

Currently working my way through my freshwater boxes cutting all the mono guards off the the flies left over from comp and re-tying on longer lighter mono weedguards.

I actually think I could have given the individual title a run if I had hung onto half the Saratoga I had dropped on the first day of comp alone! Dropped five awesome slabs early on second day that could have done the same!

It was awesome fun actually winning a comp rather than fading away as in previous years

So much fun that now I want the double - Fresh and Salt comps in the one year
So hungry for this to happen!!

Again as with the fresh - the Salt is a comp we have done well but always had one bad day to knock us down the table standings. I have regularly caught biggest of one species or the other,  most comps but need to get a few and plenty of them to get the points needed to win. the Grand slam points have  always evaded me with 5-6 species caught on a day but never the glory, and thus points, of catch all 7 species needed for a slam.

The tides for the 2019 Salt are quite different to previous comps I have fished
2019 comp tides will be a rising tide from dead low at dawn to a neap high mid-morning
Normally the tides picked are predominantly a low tide mid-morning - so that productive low light sunrise has the fish leaving the mangroves at first cast of the morning. Then when wind increased - as it always does on a comp day - chase the pelagics until lines in time to fill out a few lines of fish species.

This year due to tides - I think I will have to fish the flats as the tide rises into the mangroves first thing at dawn down the back of the harbour - here hoping for barra, salmon and baby tarpon in backwaters of one the little creeks, then a 45 minutes fast ride to chase pelagics out front of Bynoe as tide tops out - here focused on macks and Queenfish around rock mounds and sand bars. Then come back into harbour rock bars to get trevs and snapper. We have a few other back up spots for the macks and the queenfish themselves can be found the full length of the harbour but we want the big ones for those better points as we complete a line and start upgrading.

This plan rounding out the chances of catching the seven species for the Bynoe slam that is worth mega points during the comp
The advantage of the queenfish we can catch and have caught recently is they are all 80-90cm which is also great points - a line of 20 queenfish this size will certainly see us in the top group of teams for the comp - got 16 big queenfish over 85cm on a recent trip so hope that occurs again during comp time

So that's the plan - as to it happening ?????????????????? - we shall see come September 7-9th.

In prep for the comp I hope to be fishing the rising tides in Bynoe as often as I can
I am not that into sinking lines and flies into the big deep holes in the corner of the creeks that feed into Bynoe for blue salmon (BORING!!!!!!) - so hope to catch at least one of each of the three species in the first hour or so as the tide rises back over the flats and into the backwaters - focusing on junction points at areas the creek splits up - those classic ambush points.

To that need of plenty of pre-comp fly fishing - I finally got my act together on my boat - rather than fishing all the time in Peter's

I have been going to sell my boat - but every time I think about - I just can't!
It is an awesome boat - yes its got a crack in keel - 25cm - the last of the keel to be re-welded - should be fine after that
Need to empty out fuel tank so it can be tipped over for welding but that's easy
The motor is iffy but still not that bad for a motor almost 10 years old - and I have put soooo many hours on it since I got it 7 years ago

The trailer needed some guide and roller adjustments - that after first go expanded into replacing  three rollers but then to find I needed a much wider set of rollers on the main keel - will get those this week. On the weekend, had a mate, Jose, from work help me with this work as I know bugger all about trailer rollers and skids - though should be right next time I need to do so!






Once the trailer is sorted (this week), then get the weld done (within next two weeks), - then get on the water as much as possible - particularly rising tides leading up to the Salt comp. This to be able to catch the targeted flats fish for the comp and get better at seeing them before I cast

So plenty of outings (and blog entries if I get my act together) between Start of July and the salt comp early September.
Flies to be tested, developed then tested again - thinking of plenty of shrimp patterns.
all those flies to be tied, all that dry season glorious blue sky days of fly fishing!

     - so looking forward to it!

Bring on the double ! 2019 Fresh done and won! 2019 Salt to go - a plan made, hope is boundless!

It will be fun even getting close!
And all that fly fishing! between now and then! Bring it on!
Who would live anywhere else tahn Darwin and surrounds!

Here are a few images from 2019 Fresh Comp