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Flood and Dry Weather  --Vol.10--

Tilseth Pool

From our second week (approximately the 3rd week in July) in the River Gaula, the fishing condition began to change a little bit. One day Mary Anne and I fished new Tilseth Pool from the left bank. In 1994, our first year, Tlseth Pool was a shallow and large current. The flood in the next year changed it into a fast current.

Now the middle part and the end of the pool were reborn into a deep conical pool and many big rocks lay on the deep river bed. No one can deny it is a perfect point. That was why we paid much attention to it.

In the evening I fished down towards the end of the pool, passing by its deepest part. A salmon jumped high in the air at the end of pool, which is a border between the pool and the fast current downstream. The salmon came to Tilseth from downstream. It had been a long time since I last saw a fish coming to me.

I was full of happy expectation and carefully measured the suitable distance and timing. The salmon was nearly 100m away from me. Considering that the fly needed some time to cross the wide river, I calculated that the fly would cross the fish at my second or third casting.
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The river fell day by day and the water became more and more transparent.

My line drifted thoroughly and I retrieved it. Checking the fly quickly, I cast it towards the opposite bank. While the fly was crossing downstream, I imagined how fast the unseen fish was coming to the fly. If it is a slow fish it will cross my fly at my 4th or 5th casting. But if it is a fast fish, it will be quite possible it crosses the fly at my next casting.
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I fished down, passing by the deepest part of Tilseth. Here I saw the salmon coming from downstream.

Only imagining the scenery that the fish was swimming fast made me believe that my salmon really would come swimming very fast. Watching the line extending further downstream, I felt a bit uneasy. I retrieved the line a little earlier to prepare for the next casting.

On that moment I felt a strong pull from the line in my left hand. The salmon snatched my fly! I never thought it might come so early. Oh, no, I had already retrieved the line. It was too late. Unexpectedly, I set the hook to the fish just when I felt the bite.

Fortunately, the hook did not come off yet. I continued to fight with the fish. I was amazed at high speed of the salmon and also frustrated with my misjudgment. The salmon was about 13lb. I was lucky that the hook did not come off before I landed it.

Dazzling River

After supper we headed for Tilseth again. It seemed that the water level somehow became lower and its colour more transparent than only a few hours before. The water temperature was 10.5 degs C. It was not so high as what we guessed from the weather and the water amount. Probably mountain snow lowered the water temperature.

Soon after we started fishing, Mary Anne's rod bent and a silvery salmon jumped from the surface. She was fishing down me. The place and size of fish were the same as the one I had caught just before. Well, does a shoal of salmon finally come upstream? I expected so but the river became quiet again since then. No fish jumped, even not a little one. Not only salmon but also grilse and sea trout were supposed to come here now. But actually no fish came. I thought something was mad.

We dropped in at Club House. Newly arrived anglers, most of whom were British, were hearing the explanation about the beat. A new week just began. NFC week starts from Sunday, 8 p.m. That meant my salmon was the last one in the 2nd week and Mary Anne’s was the first one in the 3rd week.
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Mary Anne caught a salmon at 8 p.m. That means this is the first salmon in the 3rd week.

Rosemary

Those two fish were caught with Rosemary 1 3/4 inch. As the water colour became greenish and transparent, orange flies like Fishing Fire, Orange Flame and Gaula Parson somehow became unsuitable. As the weather was fine and the inside of the water was light, those regular patterns looked too bright.

On the other hand, Rosemary and Green Wasp matched the water colour and looked like creatures that naturally lived in the River Gaula. Therefore we chose those flies more frequently, which resulted in really catching salmon.

I had vaguely believed one thing about the relationship between the water colour and the fly colour. Every creature has got its own colour to win the keen struggle for survival. Some creatures that are on full alert not to be eaten by their superiors in the food chain often have got protective colouring.
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A fresh fish of 13lb with sea lice on its gills.

Roughly speaking, a creature with protective colouring is doomed to die as food. The fish colouring that is easily merged into its surroundings seems to other fish as food, whereas the noticeable colouring seems to act as a warning to predators, "Don't touch me or you will be afflicted with my prickle (or poison)." There are many examples in the nature.

Nevertheless, anglers tend to use noticeable colour, expecting the fish to find their fly. But I think that the effect is often contrary to what was expected. For example, the River Gaula containing rain has got blackish colour. Then black, orange or red flies are effective. But this year the river contains a lot of snow melting water and the water is transparent and greenish. It is not by accident that green flies are effective. Through many experiences I believed firmly that the fly of protective colouring was effective in most cases.

-- To be continued --
2003/02/02  KEN SAWADA
Tranlated into English by Miyoko Ohtake