Stuart Fraser: Good day chasing rainbows

I have found the best way to fish Swanswater fishery is to go out with a single fly. It has worked well for me in the past and did so recently.

Fishing the main pond at the dam wall, I went with the floating line and a single hothead Damsel. After an hour or so with only a couple of offers I moved on to the island and the second platform over the bridge.

Taking a slow figure of eight retrieve and almost counting down I connected into a nice blue. Leaping all over the place, it managed to slip the hook.

Several fish were head and tailing on the surface, so I opted to go on the dries. I changed to two yellow owls ten foot apart and short lined my cast. The two flies bobbed tantalizingly on the surface as the fish cruised close by. Several minutes passed before one unlucky fish tuned on the tail fly. This was a nice rainbow, and the management has to be complimented on the quality of their fish which are fully finned and tailed.

To finish, I went on to a yellow dancer which is popular at the fishery. Despite many anglers fishing on the bung and getting fish, I decided to stay on the lure. It worked and I took a nice rainbow of 3lb. One good feature of the fishery is once the limit has been reached, anglers can then go catch and release on the smaller ponds. A good fishery, and I will be back soon.