Manic Monday - Fishing Local

As the drawstring on life in some states around Australia is loosened, we see ourselves able to get back to more normal-ish life. Our day to day is being less impacted and we look towards a bright future where we won't be hyper-focussed on restrictions before making a move. In Queensland at the moment we are limited to 50km of travel and recreational activities like fishing and hiking are now allowed as long as social distancing rules are practised. With this in mind, what better time than now to get to know, or re-learn your local fishery? Over the weekend good friend Justin Welsh and I made the short journey to a local carp dam with the intentions to stretch our legs and blow the cobwebs off our fly line. It was great to get out of the city and breathe in some fresh country air, and even better to stand by the water trying to spot a feeding carp in the shallows. As it had been close to a year since I'd been to this particular spot I was curious to see how the dam had changed and if the fishing had been how I remembered it on past trips. Slightly off coloured water made spotting tricky, but we did manage to see a few fish cruising in the shallows. A small fly (size 10_ with bright highlights, well presented within a dinner plate to a feeding fish would result in a visual take, followed by a blistering run, then a slog back to the bank. In QLD all carp must be sacrificed to the fishing gods, this is a means of helping to prevent further spread of this invasive species and lessens the impact they have on natives like cod and bass. This was a real treat to get out on the water again and it certainly reinvigorated my interest in something I had previously taken for granted and considered mundane. Use this time to light the spark on local waters and appreciate the privilege we have when so much of the world is still in the clutches of this pandemic.