Bewl buzzers – 26 April 2003

Neil and I fished Bewl on Saturday 26th and it started off very promising with buzzers hatching in large numbers and trout rising all over Hook Straight. The sky was overcast and looked perfect for top of the water sport.

We agreed to try different lines to see which connected and Neil started with a floater while I put on a Lee Wulff clear intermediate with a team of three flies; caramel hopper on the top dropper, Blakestone black buzzer on the bottom dropper and a goldhead black epoxy buzzer on the point.

Starting a drift in the middle of Hook Straight, the boat took us past Seven Pound Creek to Bramble Point, where within half an hour Neil had a fish of about 2 1/2 lbs on a buzzer. The take was fairly high up, so being the idle angler that I am, I simply greased up my intermediate line and the hopper and converted it to a floater.

On the first cast I had a good take and played a very fit rainbow of nearly 2lbs for several minutes before boating it. Great, we thought, we are going to have a bonanza day.

The sun broke through and the heat was pretty uncomfortable, so we motored off looking for somewhere with a bit of shade. Dunsters Bay was full of boats and so was almost everywhere else down to Rosemary Lane. We had a couple of drifts there without seeing a fish move before heading up for a drift from Chingley Point to the dam.

By this time, the sun had retreated and a gusting, chilly wind started to make life uncomfortable. The drogue had to work hard to slow us down and we had more line tangles than it is respectable to admit to.

And yet, the buzzers were still hatching. We watched them hatching beside the boat and struggling to get airborne before the next wave saturated them. Some made it, some drowned, others were picked off by the swallows and swifts swooping overhead. Is there ever a good time for a buzzer to hatch?

Neil was sure the wind would die down as dusk fell and we were in for a cracking evening rise. Did it hell. We started a drift from Browns inlet scudding along so fast it looked like we were lure stripping just trying to keep in touch with the team of flies.

It was hard work, so we anchored up just off Bryants Farm for a while and worked the buzzers and then a selection of lures from hares ears, damsels, sparklers and cats whiskers with no sign of a touch.

For the first time all day, we did see someone tied up close to the cages take a couple of fish. I think he was fast stripping an orange blob.

Resisting the temptation, we changed back to buzzers and commenced drifting again.
It was getting late, so we opted for a couple of drifts from Hook Straight to Bramble Bay. We couldn't get close in as a couple of boats were fishing there and had been all day without moving or catching.

Finally, I changed my set up to olive buzzer on the point, goldhead black buzzer on the middle dropper and the same hopper on the top.
Soon after, I had a take and a smallish rainbow shot out of the water and gave a spirited fight before being boated. It too was taken on the goldhead black buzzer.

We fished from 11.00 to 20.15 and it was one of the hardest days either of us have ever had at Bewl. The wind did appear to put the fish down soon after 1pm, and even though Neil fished a sinking line part of the time, we barely saw another fish or rise the rest of the day.

We concluded that either the change in temperature put them off the feed, or more likely, they had gorged themselves earlier and were no longer interested. We did not have to spoon the fish as their mouths were speckled with buzzers.

The sport has been very good recently and both the local rainbow and brownie records have been broken at Bewl. I think the Brownie record is now 14lb 10oz, with a number of other large fish taken lately.