Ladybower

After reading some good reports on Ladybower lately, I decided a visit was long overdue - so I drove up early this morning at around 7am. The scenery is breathtaking as soon as Ladybower comes into view, spectacular is the only way to describe this fishing venue, especially with a sprinkling of snow on the peaks. After checking in and squeezing some information out of the man in the lodge, I made my way down to the last bay before the bridge starts at Snake Pass. A regular informed me to try this area as its proved a successful spot lately.

I set up a 9ft rod with a Di7 (sinking line) and a very short leader, this method fishes your fly deep along the bed. There had been snow through the night so the water was extremely cold, no doubt the trout would be hard on the bottom. After looking through my fly box I decided an orange Blooby will do for starters, this fly is a blob/booby cross and can often prove deadly on stocked stillwaters. After scanning the awesome panoramic views for a while, I stepped up to the waters edge to make my first cast.

Using slow jerky retrieves quickly put me onto the fish, my first rainbow is pictured below and as you can see the stamp of fish was satisfactory. All fish I caught gave a cracking good fight and performed a few acrobatics to boot, while I talked them into my landing net. I lost 2 at the net and caught 4 to reach my bag limit in a couple of hours using cats booby and orange blooby. It would have been nice to fish catch and release for a while, but not at this venue as they don't do it, you have to buy another ticket if you want to carry on fishing (bummer). I can't complain though, after having such a blistering morning session. I scanned the beautiful landscape once more before returning to the car to find another venue for the afternoon, life ain't too bad.