Inspired by Alan Boyd's recent big trout I headed up to Killylane Reservoir early yesterday morning on the hunt for a specimen. This time I scouted the entire circumference of the lake and after a few searching casts arrived at a little rocky point jutting into deep water. A sizeable fish rolled on the surface about 20 yards out so I cast a humpy to a spot on what I guessed might be the line of travel. For once my intuition and accuracy seemed to gel for the line tightened almost as soon as the fly hit the water. After a few arm bending dives the fish came to the net - a beautifully marked brown trout of a couple of pounds. A quick snap was now in order so I could show Alan the evidence. I always carry an old compact camera for these jobs having once lost a phone to Davy Jones' locker and with the trout safely posed I reached into my jacket and pressed the power button. The camera came on. The battery icon blinked. The camera went off. Dead. I could have used the phone but the fish was out of the water long enough and would be too stressed by the time I extracted it from its watertight pouch and entered the password etc, etc. So the fish was gently returned to the lake and after getting some water over his gills made a few slow circles then shot into the depths. So the moral of the story is - REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR BATTERY. Duh!
Anyway Alan, that's the way it happened; and it was bigger than yours. Honest.
