Post by FrancisThong on Mar 19, 2009 12:29:01 GMT 8
I like to share this catch report that was done almost a year ago. Although I enjoyed the success of catching this Arowana, but I was also guilty of not debarbing the hook. Thus, I like to take this chance to share my story and also to encourage more anglers to consider debarbing their hooks before fishing, particularly for those species that are hard to come by and their recovery from any trauma is much slower. Some of you had received this previously but I hope to share this with more friends here:
For those who enjoy fly fishing for trout would probably find it difficult to find similar sort of fishing in a place like Singapore. Although I had been to NZ, but I must confess that NZ is still the place I think of most when it comes to fly fishing in general. I must say catching arowana is one of the closest ways to imitate fly fishing for trout.
My good friend, Jimmy has been catching Arowana (cousin of Australia's Saratoga) on hoppers successfully. He has been very generous in sharing his wonderful experience and methods to catch this special fish. However, he also often shared his frustration of the arowana's spookiness. There is usually only 1 chance to present the hopper to the fish before it is spooked. I experienced 1st hand yesterday morning. I stalked the fish for almost 45 minutes without much success but I realized it did noticed the nymph trailing at the end.
It got me thinking this morning and I decided to use a smaller stimulator as an indicator. Furthermore, the royal stimulator would land more gently than the Mdm X. This arowana had seen many hoppers and I decided to challenge its memory with a different fly. I searched my fly box for a nymph with appropriate weight and added it at the end. I even measured my tippet to ensure that the flashback nymph would be in the right depth.
I knew the Arowana would still be feeding as it was patrolling near the shore. Perhaps it was not taking dry in the later part of the morning, but it must be feeding on something else. Yoshi and David have always reminded me that 90% of the fish's diet is made up of nymphs and thus I knew this would be the key. I was careful in presenting the flies and as Yoshi had taught me previously in NZ, I did not allow any fly line to land on the water. I just dropped the flies gently and drifted it across. I ensured that there was no drag and upon the 2nd presentation, the Arowana nailed it. I saw the fish turned around as the fly drifted across and when the indicator sank down, I lift up my 9' rod to set in the hook. It started to jump around like a frisky rainbow trout and I quickly landed it with my trusty 5wt.
Although I was happy with my effort, but I was sad to see the nymph had been embedded into the membrane surrounding its eye. I tried to remove the fly cautiously but the fly was not debarbed. I took the decision to snip off the tippet and let the fish swim away. I spent some time to revive the fish and watched it swam away. One of the main reasons that I am not too keen of luring these days is the mess that a treble hook could cause to a hooked fish. Fly fishing is usually more clinical but we can certainly make it better by using very sharp hooks and ensuring that we debarb them for easier release.
I was disturbed for 20 minutes or so by the plight of the Arowana caused by my carelessness. I proceed to continue to fish and landed 2 good size Peacock Bass on my newly developed fly when they rejected the usually reliable red-collared bendback whistler.
For those who enjoy fly fishing for trout would probably find it difficult to find similar sort of fishing in a place like Singapore. Although I had been to NZ, but I must confess that NZ is still the place I think of most when it comes to fly fishing in general. I must say catching arowana is one of the closest ways to imitate fly fishing for trout.
My good friend, Jimmy has been catching Arowana (cousin of Australia's Saratoga) on hoppers successfully. He has been very generous in sharing his wonderful experience and methods to catch this special fish. However, he also often shared his frustration of the arowana's spookiness. There is usually only 1 chance to present the hopper to the fish before it is spooked. I experienced 1st hand yesterday morning. I stalked the fish for almost 45 minutes without much success but I realized it did noticed the nymph trailing at the end.
It got me thinking this morning and I decided to use a smaller stimulator as an indicator. Furthermore, the royal stimulator would land more gently than the Mdm X. This arowana had seen many hoppers and I decided to challenge its memory with a different fly. I searched my fly box for a nymph with appropriate weight and added it at the end. I even measured my tippet to ensure that the flashback nymph would be in the right depth.
I knew the Arowana would still be feeding as it was patrolling near the shore. Perhaps it was not taking dry in the later part of the morning, but it must be feeding on something else. Yoshi and David have always reminded me that 90% of the fish's diet is made up of nymphs and thus I knew this would be the key. I was careful in presenting the flies and as Yoshi had taught me previously in NZ, I did not allow any fly line to land on the water. I just dropped the flies gently and drifted it across. I ensured that there was no drag and upon the 2nd presentation, the Arowana nailed it. I saw the fish turned around as the fly drifted across and when the indicator sank down, I lift up my 9' rod to set in the hook. It started to jump around like a frisky rainbow trout and I quickly landed it with my trusty 5wt.
Although I was happy with my effort, but I was sad to see the nymph had been embedded into the membrane surrounding its eye. I tried to remove the fly cautiously but the fly was not debarbed. I took the decision to snip off the tippet and let the fish swim away. I spent some time to revive the fish and watched it swam away. One of the main reasons that I am not too keen of luring these days is the mess that a treble hook could cause to a hooked fish. Fly fishing is usually more clinical but we can certainly make it better by using very sharp hooks and ensuring that we debarb them for easier release.
I was disturbed for 20 minutes or so by the plight of the Arowana caused by my carelessness. I proceed to continue to fish and landed 2 good size Peacock Bass on my newly developed fly when they rejected the usually reliable red-collared bendback whistler.