After such rewards on my last visits, I encouraged my buddy to head to the adaa estuary stretch and see if it was as productive for him there but he went and never saw a thing.
Feeling a tad guilty, I took him the next day to the estuary stretch which was forecast as calm conditions and a low high tide of 3.5mtrs.
Determined to fly fish the lower levels, I started a few hours before him catching half the falling tide and wading gradually forward as it waned.
I was fast running out of ythan terrors due to them getting hit so hard & their basic construction of single chicken feather but had one left, white with a black tinge on the feather and standard silver wrapped bodies.
I fished it steadily on my ultra cheap but surprisingly sturdy #6 daiwa with sinking line until success came. A few knocks here and a finnock or two there but the fly never seemed to have the same appeal in the clearer conditions as previously.
There were a few guys slightly upstream of me from morning, which I assume had thrown countless terrors at them, so I had to select something appealing they definitely hadn’t seen.
Several options in my box that would be normal go to’s for seatrout on the river but my eyes landed on a black n blue flash damsel. Crazy I thought but I’ll give it half an hour.
3 casts and a steady strip retrieve with an occasional pause to let the tail flicker saw 3 follows and plucks from the finnock, next cast I changed to a steady twitching retrieve and enticed a solid grab from this beauty.
Amazed at the response the damsel was receiving, I confidently recast but soon snagged hard on a sharp barnacle covered rock just a little too far out to retrieve and lost the magic fly
Back into the box and the best I had to replicate it was a mini damsel with a fritzy type blue & black body, on it went and it seemed to work in attracting attention but not quite with the same consistency as the lost one.
My buddy had arrived and began fishing traditional wet type flies above me but after having limited success, I waded up and suggested he switch to a damsel on the point.
The look he gave me suggested I’d absorbed a bit too much salt water but I explained the interest it was generating and the now departed groups that had been chucking chicken feathers earlier.
Off he went visibly unsure, as I watched on eagerly above him. A few finnock showed interest quickly and with his confidence now building, he lifted into his first proper lump of a seatrout.
A serious tussle with one of the ythans finest ensued with the fish pulling line so fast through his fingers that it tore through the skin until as instructed he got it safely on the reel.
It gave a great account of itself and to see him buzzing with excitement during the encounter and after, finally admiring its beauty in the net made both our days.
A few quick pics and away she went.
We continued on with steady success and I lost a couple of bigger ones but had a few like this.
Including a surprise that proved trickier to handle than expected.
Another cracking day on the Ythan estuary for the memory bank.
