Lures Demand Speed Limits

THE SUNDAY AGE

Saturday July 20, 1996

Geoff Brooke

THERE is a great deal of misunderstanding among anglers in about trolling, and among trout fishermen in particular. I find that many have a very casual approach to this aspect of the sport and then complain about their lack of success.

For instance, a lot of anglers will attach a lure, toss it out 15 metres or so behind the boat and simply cruise about, hoping some naive trout will strike and get itself hooked.

The successful trollers do a lot more than that, I can assure you. Those who catch trout consistently follow certain rules, and the most important is one that a thinking angler always obeys.

It is really elementary, but it surprises me that many trollers never bother about it. The rule that demands obedience is ensure that the lure is being towed at a speed that suits it. This is vital.

A flatfish, for example, has a most attractive action when trolled slowly, but if the boat goes too fast it jerks about unnaturally. And although bladed spinners, such as the popular Celta, should be towed at slow to medium speeds to avoid excessive line twist, longish spoons such as the Krocodile and the Tassie Devil work best a lot faster.

Finding the ideal speed that allows an artificial lure to perform as it should is quite simple. The angler tows it along beside the boat, just below the surface, on two or three metres of line.

The good angler observes its movement and varies the speed of the boat until the lure is moving at the ideal pace for its particular action. He then casts it out 20 metres or so to one side of the boat's path, which allows the lure to sink well down before the line tightens and the rod takes up the strain of towing it in the wake.

CLUB NEWS.

Angling club members will be interested in The World Fly Fishing (as apart from fly casting) Championships held in the Czech Republic last month. Jim Williams, a Yarra Valley member, was in the Australian team, captained by Jason Garret, from London Lakes, near Launceston. He reported that six Victorians and two Tasmanians went along and five of them contested the event on two rivers, the Latava and the Vitava at Cesky Krunlov, in Southern Bohemia. These streams, which hold grayling and chub, two native species that take on artificial fly, were also stocked with rainbow trout for the occasion, in which 19 countries were represented. Jim's best rainbow was 44 centimetres long and his best chub 39 (both around 1.363 kilograms) but the results proved once again that local knowledge is invaluable. The Czechs took first place, with France second and Poland third, and most Europeans used an indigenous technique known as ``rolling nymph fishing" which was unknown to the Australians. Our team, despite finishing 16th, impressed onlookers with their casting, and Australia will compete in the USA in 1997, Poland in 1998 and here in 1999. Australian Flycasting Titles. Although hard pressed by several newcomers, Melbourne's accomplished all-rounder John Rumpf scored 478 championship points to win the 1996 Champion of Champions title at Geelong last month. The Sunday divisions were the dry fly, won by C Scrivens, the novel casting event known as Skish, won by K Lucas, and the wet fly, won by D Gleeson. John Rumpf was placed in these sections, but the points scored the previous day, when he won all three distance events, earned him the title.