For our fourth week at Kau Tapen we welcomed a group from the USA that have been coming for years, as well as some of their friends for who this is the first time. It was the Randolf H group, but unfortunately Randolf couldn’t come this year and we missed him a lot.

 

It was an excellent week and we caught a very good number of fish, most of them being very fresh and bright and giving our guests a very good fight with great jumps and lots of emotion. It is great to have hard takes, long runs and see those wild jumps with the reel screaming loudly.

 

The water has been low, still, but the number of fish seen in the pools is incredible. It seems that the low water doesn’t really affect the runs, and even big fish can go up river despite some very shallow spots. The fish are unbelievably strong, and no matter what, they have to go up river to spawn and so nothing is stopping them. We noticed that a couple of fish have cut the lower part of their tail’s due to the swallow spots in their ascension up the river. The water temperature has been between 10 to 15°C, making the fish very active and strong.

 

The weather has been changing almost every day, but it has been quite nice, with warm days and cooler ones. We had a little bit of rain but not enough to make the river rise. The wind has been very strong on some days but mostly regular and fine for fishing.

 

We have been using pretty much the same equipment as last week, so floating line, with long leaders or intermediate or slow sink tips. The small nymphs are working the best and we caught fish with a large selection of rubber legs, prince nymphs and copper johns. Before dark we tend to switch to a small black streamers such as the small leech or sunray.

 

The top rod this week was Nicole S with 22 fish. The biggest fish a nice fresh 22 pounder has been caught by Bob. Well done to both of them.

 

During this week we had a personality at Kau Tapen. He name is Bill Y. He has fished all over the world and for a lot a different species. He is on the board of many environmental foundations. He also has designed a special fly named after him that has caught fish in 11 countries and worked outstanding here as well. He was a real delight and he hopes to come back soon.

 

Importantly, we have found new pool on the lower beats that has been created because of the spring floods, and as he caught the first fish there we named it “Youngie”, his nickname. He was another personality this week especially as he is a great magician and he amazed all our guests, staff and guides with his tricks!

 

This group of guests always feel at home at Kau Tapen and they will all come back next year, as they can not miss the experience and atmosphere that we offer here at Kau Tapen besides the great fishing and service we provide.

 

By Jean Baptiste Vidal

Fishing Manager

Kau Tapen Lodge