According to the forecast, Friday and Saturday were supposed to be settled, with okay temperatures for winter and even a bit of sun. The weather gods had other ideas though. The wind only dropped out at the very end, there was precious little sun, and Max and I mostly fished in temperatures ranging from 3 to 6 degrees.

We arrived at Wartook on Friday afternoon and despite the conditions, I managed to polaroid two good fish in the first half hour, but lost sight of both when I moved into position for a cast. It was a sign of things to come though, and over the rest of the afternoon we landed two rainbows around the 2 – 2.5 lb mark, and two browns twice that size. We missed as many again. Both browns took the trusty green Emu Bugger; the rainbows a Magoo and Woolly Bugger Mk 2. As well as the trout polaroided, we saw a few break the surface, including a couple of smelters chasing good-sized (finger length) galaxias. Under such bleak conditions, we rated it as a pretty good half day.

Expectations were high for Saturday morning, but in fact the cloud didn’t really go away, and the breeze still had plenty of bite. We actually polaroided more fish than Friday, but despite what we thought were some good presentations, we only actually landed one fish. Overall, the trout didn’t seem quite as aggressive as they were 15 hours earlier – or am I just making excuses?

After a late lunch we retreated to Fyans for a couple of hours fishing before the drive home. It was a bit warmer down there, but still grey and breezy. Max polaroided two big trout, missed a solid take and caught a decent redfin. I had a single ‘maybe’ take. Then it was on the road for a spot of ‘roo dodging and some chicken and chips at Beaufort that tried hard, but couldn’t really match Max’s unpronounceable but delicious Italian soup last night. Overall, a pretty good day and a half.