Casting upstream into the white water at the head of the pool, the curre
nt quickly pulled the line and fly past me. I wasn't quite ready for the swift flow and quickly re-cast to the same spot. This time I put in a mend and followed the fly with my rod. After a few passes, there were no takers, so I went and stood right next the white water and cast into the current seam. Aiming just into the fast current flow, I let the fly drift into the slack water hoping the fish would be there waiting for some tasty morsel to come out of the raging current. After 10 minutes, still no bites. Maybe it was still too early?Fishing on fruitlessly, the darkness gradually faded away as the sky brightened and I could hear the odd splash of fish feeding. After snagging and losing my fly to the bottom, I switched to a size 12 beadhead PTN. Casting back to the white water, I let the fly drift as far as I could before casting again. The fly occasionally found the bottom but I managed to retrieve the fly, after all, having the nymph roll along the bottom is good!
Then a hit! The tug on the line woke me up from my stupor. The fish wasn't big, and I was half expecting a peacock bass. Instead, showing me its broadside was a cichlid type tilapia. This was interesting! A few casts later, another one. Then some more...
I didn't expect this type of fish species (sorry, no pic!) to be in such fast water. Apparently, they were all hanging out at the edge of the white water and picking on the nymphs and bugs that came out from the churning water. After a couple more of the cichlids, I moved down to the quieter water to try for peacocks and sebarau.
Up until now, I had never hooked a sebarau and was quite looking forward to get one; and this was the ideal place for it! Changing from nymphs to small clousers and surf candies, I failed to raise any peacocks. I could see a big one next to the rocks but he wasn't interested in any of the numerous flies put before him, only occasionally going for my fly line. I finally managed to hook a peacock on an all white baby surf candy. It was only when I was playing the fish that the big one began to chase the hooked fish looking for a easy meal!
It was past seven thirty when I went back to the flowing white water for another go. By now it was bright and I could see the bottom of the river better. After hooking a few more cichlids,
I noticed a ghostly shadow following the hook cichlids then swimming away at the last minute.
"Could it be...?" I wondered. I called old Master Q (yes, at 7:40am!) to confirm if sebaraus took nymphs. "Yes, yes.." was the answer. It was now almost eight and time to leave... just a few more casts..!
Suddenly, the rod jolted and took a deeper bend than usual. This fish was definitely much bigger than the others thus far. The fish then lunged forward taking a long run and the reel started to sing. The music from the reel said: "This is no cichlid or peacock!"
Wondering if the 5 lb tippet would hold, I played the fish just a little longer. In the mean time the reel seat was starting to come out of the rings from all the reeling I had to do. As you can see from the photo, it was a good thing I had 'O' rings to secure the reel, otherwise there would be a sebarau swimming around wearing a fly reel as a fashion accessory.
When the sebbie was finally landed, I cradled it up and took my few shots and put it back in the water as soon as I could. It was such an exhilarating experience. I cannot wait for the next trip to try again!
Many thanks to Master Q for the advice!
Til the next time...
BTW: You might want to check out TarponCraz with his similar encounter at -- http://flyfishingsg.proboards38.com/index.cgi?board=FreshWater&action=display&thread=1177210694&page=1
