Serpent hunting - in Lancashire?
Good lake eel landed on the fly
A recently took my son, Jason, fly fishing for trout and got more than I bargained for in the slippery shape of a 4 pound eel.
The fish nailed a black fly just under the surface (on the second slow draw with a medium sinking line) in about 20 feet of water.
It fought very hard for several minutes on the fly gear but the real test was trying to get such a long slider into the damn trout net.
The way in which this fish battled had me foxed at first. My first reaction was that I had possibly foul-hooked a large trout or that it was even a pike.
It initially dived deep and then came up to the surface and continued to thump along hard from side to side. At one stage it was tail-walking in a vertical position, but under the surface. It really knew how to test me.
Every time the small trout net was seen he shot off or wriggled out, making the task a very tricky one.
After landing and weighing it I returned the fish to get even bigger...
Eels tend to be despised by some anglers as the smaller ones are expert at wrecking tackle with obscene amounts of slime.
The larger specimens are quite a different proposition however and not as slimy.
Personally I love them and the bigger the better!
I also managed to net a good trout a little later on, which was an altogether much more 'sober' experience.
Happy days ...
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