With the August Bank holiday still fresh in our minds it is a horrible thought but summer might just be drawing to a close already  ...... the fish, the trees and the mornings have that feel to it.

This morning was the first time in months that I felt a slight shiver on my early morning rounds to clear the sluices and feed the fish. Not enough to warrant a jacket, but enough to discourage dawdling. Then yesterday I spent the morning fishing (more about that in a moment) and taking photographs in the Test valley. Flicking through them later on the computer I was suddenly struck by the brown tinge of the trees; gone is the vivid green of July replaced with leaves that have just started to crinkle and darken around the edges, with a few even falling to the ground. But most of all it is the fish - by now they have seen it all but driven by a survival imperative they are ready to feed when the right thing comes along. They don't skulk in the deep pools. They don't dash away at the slightest sign of a person. They don't steadfastly refuse all offerings. These are fish that know they have to feed heavily before the winter shuts down the food chain.

 

A chalkstream September

  

Fish do definitely act differently in September as the days start to shorten; they are much bolder in the water, sitting higher, more obviously visible and less easily spooked. Eager though they are to eat as much as they can, they do get choosy. This is the month when fish will follow your fly, swimming directly under it for feet or even yards, at some point almost touching it with their nose before either committing or turning away. Being fish they tend to do more of the latter than former!

  

September Sedges Caperer (l) & Goddard Natural (r)

 

In terms of flies this is the month of the sedge, or caddis if you prefer. These big, fluttering beasts that resemble moths more than any other chalkstream insect, excite trout because they are both at the same time big, so plenty to eat, and clumsy, so easy to grab. They are the most hopeless of aviators, scrabbling about on the surface trying to get airborne. 

 

So against all the rules of dry fly fishing i.e. delicate presentation and dead drift try whacking it down on the surface or skating your sedge across the surface. You'd be surprised know many recalcitrant trout will fall for the ploy.

They say September is the month the locals go fishing who I would guess are more prone to pragmatism than perfection .......

WORLD RECORD BROWN TROUT

Here is a fish you will not find in a chalkstream, a 42lb monster caught in New Zealand that has been officially recorded as the largest brown trout captured on rod and line, eclipsing the 41lb fish taken from Lake Michigan, USA in 2010. Here is the story as related by the local paper, The Rotura News.

"Otwin Kandolf thought he had snagged the bottom when he first hooked the monster fish weighing over 42lb (19.1kg). His capture has been approved as a world record. The 71-year-old was fishing the Ohau B Canal, near Twizel, in the South Island's Mackenzie Country, when he hooked the record-breaker.

The Mackenzie Country canals have become synonymous with huge trout after a series of staggering catches in recent years. A few days into their trip, Mr Kandolf said they began spotting some of these leviathans.

"I thought gee what's that. The water is milky and these big fish just appear like a shadowy shape," said the Austrian-born former chef and ski shop owner. He saw the giant fish disappear into the shadowy depths of a pool near the hydro-canal's turbines and began casting a lure to it.

Otwin Kandolf interviewed on TV Click for full article

"I cast into the pool a few times. Then I called out 'I'm stuck, I'm stuck again'. And then I pulled and pulled and I could see my little red spinner coming up. I didn't even see the fish at first but then I did and shouted 'it's on, it's on'. He went back up the canal and I followed him up about 100m."

Mr Kandolf, who has been fly-fishing for 40 years, battled the fish for 20 minutes before his next problem revealed itself. "I had only a small, short-handled net. It was a joke of a net for a fish that size but it was all I had." So the angler waded into the water up to his thighs.

"I waited for him to come up to me. I got his head in the net and then just pushed the whole body and everything up towards the bank."

Finding out just how big Mr Kandolf's fish was would prove a saga. "We had no camera, it was dark, all the other anglers had gone and the scales we had were not big enough," he said.

There were no scales at the nearby pub where it was kept in a fridge overnight. The next day saw an unofficial weight of 21kg recorded. By the time certified scales were organised on March 21, two weeks after the event, the fish was recorded at 19.1kg.

Mr Kandolf estimates his fish would have weighed 22kg (48.5lb) when first caught."

It must be said it is hardly the prettiest fish you will ever see, but a record is a record. I suspect the clue that it grew so big is in the hydro-turbines - if it is anything like in the US these are fish that survive entirely by eating smaller fish that get mashed up in the blades. As far as I know the chalkstream record still stands with the fish caught at Houghton Mill over a hundred years ago. It topped 18lbs and was captured on a trotted mouse. 

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