I’d heard the moths were on. Word came from Victoria, from the Four Mile, from Col – fly fishers telling tales of moths emerging from the water in the twilight – surely they were just crash landing, but no the reports were certain.  So off I set, alone, ignoring a dark and ominous horizon in favour of adventure. I headed off in the boat, south from Old Adaminaby and found some shelter out of the breeze. Sure enough, in the fading twilight moths started to come out of the water. Big moths.  Struggling at first and it seemed swimming for the shore.

My first thought was the big caddis I’d been reporting for the last 2 weeks weren’t caddis at all – that’s the problem with twilight, it’s so deceiving.

Anyway, I just fished wets and caught a couple of small browns while I thought about what to do.  All that thinking and I suddenly noticed the black clouds I’d been watching were worth a bit more attention. They were closer, black as Hades, and the system seemed to be rolling over on itself.

The weather was now coming down the lake from Providence at a fair old lick with what at first appeared to be a misty drizzle but looked more and more like a squall as it got closer.  Anchor up and off I set, thinking I could beat it back to ramp. The faster I went, the faster it chased me. I swear it felt like this squall could reach out and touch me as I blasted across the lake. I headed east to put some distance between us and that worked, then north back to the ramp and it looked like it would head down the lake but then it was as if it spotted me and closed the circle coming straight off the land towards me. I headed straight for the ramp which then literally disappeared as the black cloud engulfed me with all its terror. I came off the plane 100 metres from shore and I swear it was like someone had chucked a bucket of icy water over me – then another, then another. Briggsy, the dog looked petrified and stood motionless and hunched over. I drove the boat ashore, the rain was torrential, the wind was howling, flashes of lightning and claps of thunder directly overhead. I picked up Briggsy and ran to the Pajero depositing her on the back seat. She has never looked so relieved and showed her happiness with the biggest dog shake ever, soaking the car.  I jumped in, adding to the general wetness. What now? I tried to reverse the trailer but the rain and hail was so hard I couldn’t get my head out the window let alone use a mirror. Eventually I got it in the water, resigning myself to another dousing. By now there was a river running down either side of the ramp, boulders and lumps of clay hitting my legs. I pushed the boat off and nearly lost it – it was like trying to hold onto a boat with a bow line in a raging river torrent. I literally just got a turn of the line around the trailer before it went tight. Anyway, the rain eased, the boat winched on easily and I got home, freezing and soaked.

The next morning I inspected a very clean boat. I knew I’d have to dry everything out but could not believe how much water there was in the boat. Everything was sitting on the sealed deck in more than 2 inches of water – life is not boring.

Anyway, I went back the next night with Col and the wind was different and the moths weren’t there in any numbers. I caught one brown that monstered a giant stimulator fished static – which suggests they were still looking for the moths, but that was it. And very grateful for an uneventful trip back across the lake.

A bit of research suggests there are thousands of species of aquatic moths with a four stage lifecycle. Eggs laid by the female, underwater, on rocks. These take up to 2 weeks to hatch. Up to seven “instar” larval stages that are benthic, living on the bottom in amongst the rocks – this varies in time but can involve an overwinter stage. The pupal stage where the larvae creates a cocoon of silk and detritus which lasts about a month before it breaks from the cocoon, and swims up and heads for shore. I live to learn – now all I have to do is catch one – a moth that is.

Tight tippets

Steve

Naked trout website – charters, private water fishing and more.