Two final trips for 2015 - Harrietville

Denis and I found an empty weekend and decided at short notice to go fishing for the weekend. Left home Friday morning and were fishing at Smoko by 3.00pm. Water was low at 1.23 and weather was perfect. We waded that section of difficult water and caught 40 trout. A few good ones amongst them and we had a great afternoon struggling through the overgrown river. Midway through Denis added a nymph to his dry fly and out fished me 5 to 1. The nymph was taking plenty, with great reluctance I added one to my dry as well and joined the fun. A great start to the trip. Next day we fished Howards bridge and Frosty corner and ended the day at Tom Bibby bridge. The Keenan Taylor trophy was up for grabs and I finally nailed the winning fish in the last pool at Tom Bibby, a 37 cm Brown. We took 114 trout for the weekend including a number of fish around 34 cm which were in beautiful condition.
20-24 April
Michele and I had a week to remember. Arrived on Monday departed Friday. Rain had fallen the previous weekend and the river was back to 1.30cm, a perfect height. Tuesday morning i took 3 good fish at school bridge as I walked past on my way to Grannies pantry.  Took another 13 as I walked back home. After lunch I quickly waded Frosty corner . Caught plenty but it was very windy and I was pressed for time. Michele picked me up and I had about 25 for the day. In the morning I managed about 10 about 34cm which is a good stream fish for the Ovens.
Wednesday morning I waded Smoko. Had a tandem rig including an Elk hair caddis and a trailing nymph. Couple of fish in the first couple of runs and fished the deeper pools up river. At the top of the run a magnificent brown trout appeared from 40cm of water. She turned, her big white mouth opened and engulfed my caddis. I waited for her to turn and lifted my rod. Got her, worked her carefully down stream through the pool to a small island of stones where I landed her gently and kept her in a small pool of water. She was a monster, beautifully marked and recovering in the shallow water. I took photos, measured her carefully and just looked at how fat she was. After taking the caddis out of her mouth I held her in two hands and walked her up to the pool where she lived. As she entered the water her mouth opened a few times and she flicked her tail and gently swam away. An amazing moment for me.