By Richard Hassall
The St Clair outing is now done and dusted. I have been called to the reporter’s desk after a mixed outing for all, but on a high, remembering the weekend vividly before returning to work like most of us. One thing can be said about St Clair – it is another world where you can forget the everyday and focus on the possibilities and dreams of tight lines in a beautiful environment with mates.
The turnout was very encouraging, with Col setting up on Wednesday, Mick appearing late and Bruce leaving early. In between Tony, Ken, Bruce, Mac, Janice, John, Hamish, Mal, Steve, Garry, Murray, Jeff & myself stayed the duration. Weather started with rain and strong winds from the south west, however, by the last day there was no wind and sunshine, making it hard to leave after an excellent bacon and egg roll provided by Col and his helpers.
The flapping of tents during the night made sleeping hard, and fishing with white caps and casting into the wind difficult. The nights were cold making it a must to squeeze around the fire. The fishing was good early & slow towards the end. Some boats ventured out, but most fish were collected from the bank. Bass were enticed by all sorts of flies with Col showing it is not just fur flies & Craig’s Nighttime flies that achieve the result. I was not sure if the flies tied specially the week prior worked or not, but they certainly look the business. Seeing Janice catch a 47cm bass to beat Mac’s PB was a highlight and enjoyable to see. Unfortunately Mac had a grey moment with his filming skills and had turned the camera on & off at the same time.
Fourteen fly fishermen catching 37 fish is a good effort over a few days. I was wrapped to land a 48cm bass (PB) on a Craig’s for my first fish of the trip. After that I nearly went back to camp, but of course decided to chase numbers as my hook gape got wider with a good tally. Everyone would agree that the smaller fish surprised with how good they pulled, and it was certainly fun trying. Around the campfire it was humorous seeing Jeff shrink wrap Mac’s dinner and Ken’s quick hands saving the water crackers that fell into the fire. Jeff convinced me that a big star above was a Chinese satellite watching and listening. He said it was moving to the left slowly. At first I thought it was stationary but I too thought it was moving. Feeling gullible, later he said it was a planet and we were wrong. Quigley enjoyed the outing as well, with Mal feeding him chicken & sniffing out dead fish from the mud. Thanks to those that made the trip & contributed. Looking forward to the next outing.
