A beautilful stream with beautiful fish... what fly to use?

The chirping of the alarm clock woke me up at 4.30am on Sunday's morning. My tired eyes fought against my eye lips to steal a glance at the time. Light flashed across my room and thundered roared from a distance. Raining. The room temperature was just right cool for a lazy Sunday's morning but I had to wake up.

Just before sunrise, my friends and I reached the stream. It was cloudy and the rain had stopped. With my rod and reel ready, I pondered about what to tie to the leader(I did not use a tippet, lazy me). The river was exciting. Minnows were running for their lives while their predators worked hard for breakfast. I chose a woolly bugger.

Gingerly, I moved in the swarm with both my feet in the water. I caught a pattern in the water. The woolly bugger swam across the target with short pauses. The pattern moved, made a dash for my fly but UTURNED. 3 tries, I switched to a black crazy charlie with tinsel finish. This crazy charlie made it into its mouth at least 8 times but somehow, no hook ups. I changed by angle of strike to the left and immediately the line was tight a tug of war started. A little fellow that fought hard. Shot it with my phone camera and released. During the battle, a pretty decent 3-4bls'er followed behind. It had to swim side ways when it hit the swallows with the hooked one. Upon releasing, a few more decent peacock basses swam across my sight and disappeared into the shadows of the stream.

My fly found its way tthru the air and into the water once more towards the sightings. 3 short burst, the fly line found its way fast through the guides of the fly rod. Suddenly, I was totally awake. I knew that I had made the right decision to get out of my comfortable bed and braved the rain to the stream.

This fellow is fat. Thick on its back and fought really well. The Tiemco Euflex is just too weak to stop the fish. I had to fight the fish with the help of the fly line instead. Big splashes for good minutes. A warrior in the shadows of this stream.

The crazy charlie was found midway in the large mouth. My fist could actually entered the mouth while I tried to remove the fly quick. Billy helped me took a few photos and the fish swam away freely.

A good morning for me with dear friends. Breakfast was minced meat noodles, awesome. Sweet aroma from the freshly brewed coffee made the whole morning even better.

I am looking forward... to fight the Sleep God to fish again...

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My virgin post...

In 2008, I think my line was wet only twice. TWICE! I caught only 2 peacock basses on a spinning setup. Scored 2 for 1st trip in Lower Pierce Rsvr and 0 for the 2nd. 

As a fly fisherman, I have left my babies(fly fishing equipment) for more than 2yrs collecting dust for years.

Out of the blue, I was invited by a group of friends to target the alluring Cichla Temensis in a certain water hole. I have seen such beauties landed by local anglers in local waters but never did I took effort to go hunt for them like the good old days.

Procrastination hit me hard. Staring at my equipment, I did not know what to take. The easy way out? Spinning setup (overkill) is already in my car's boot for months but seen no light for months too.

My feet paced the room for moments and finally they brought me to a stop infront of a drawer where two beautiful babies hide. Two sets of TIEMCO Infante(s). One pearl white and one blue. My heart skipped a beat. I chose the pearl white set. This white one has fought countless battles with me and never a moment when I did not feel good about having her. The blue one has not seen the water yet and not even a reel has mated with her. 

I took out my Abel Trout Lite and started cleaning the fly line. Loads and loads of memories just came flashing across my mind... those good old days in the water with a fly rod in hand.

Armed with only a few flies (wooly bugger, crazy charlies and a few more surface flies) I took on the water. While my friends were armed with spinning and casting outfits, I stood gingerly by the water and suddenly my mind went blank. My phone rang and the silent was broken. Reception was bad and I was trying to make up the intermittent messages. Finally, the caller hung up and I could set up my equipment.

The ticker from my little fly reel made her presence felt too. 

I did not take too long, 2 young peacock basses fell for my wooly bugger. Noticing that the fish flashed just below visible water depth and not hitting my wooly, crazy charlie was next at the end of the line. Two more fallen by my little charlie and a few misses as well. Soon, it was quiet again after a span of about 15mins.

I moved and found a plant sticking of out the water. Just a few casts, another fell for the charlie. Just as I was releasing the fish, I felt a sharp pain in one of my toes. Leeches! Upon raising my left foot, I could still see that the black fat ass was still sinking its teeth into my toe. Without hesitation, my pliers had it in her jaws. I checked the cut it had induced. Blood came flowing out of the cut but thank goodness, it stopped. I took a gamble to remove it hoping that its acid has not found it way into the cut. Phew... just in time. No bloody mess and no troubles for my friends. I left that part of the water quickly and found another swallow bank.

One more fell for the charlie and the irritating mosquitoes started to swarm around me. Not flies. They were mosquitoes and they started feeding on me. It was time to go.

I will be back, another day soon. No signs of the Cichla Temensis for this trip but I am not giving up yet.

Total 6 landed, 5 shots.

The best thing is to chance upon an old friend who is also a fly fisherman. We were sitting face to face on different table but we could not recognize each other till I saw something familiar. 

The 'Fly Fishing Singapore' tshirt.

:)