May draws to a close with a bang...and one I had to share.

We have been very fortunate here in the south , both April and May producing some amazing weather, this too was certainly supported with many fish catches from around the country.

As for myself, I managed a trip out last week planning only to fish a few PM hours and promising myself only to cast to fish that I could see.

With the water at a local private lake being a little coloured, I remained determined to stick to my self imposed rule. During the session , my final fish fell to a natural damsel nymph, having pursued the fish for a few hours and trying a few "glitzy" offerings along the way, it was clear that I was going to have to work on this fish.

Following a number of rejections I did not want to scare or irritate the fish , so, resting the area I walked away or simply observed the movements of the fish as it moved up, down and around a very well protected area. The fish could be seen randomly inhaling subsurface nymphs, with a scattering of Mayfly coming off the surface too, I felt sure a natural imitation would be fly to try, but two good casts the fish simply looked and moved off. Not deterred I sat back a while reviewing the fly box, knowing the fish was interested and appeared to be feeding, tying on a very slim natural damsel I did feel an air of confidence in that this could do the trick, one cast later we were connected and straight into some soaring runs well into the backing. After a 20 minute battle and what I thought was a large fish....., turned out to be this huge 13lb 8oz monster.

Moral of this capture... be patient and take your time. Tight lines.