Chirk Training Days are always exciting but this one was made extra special by the appearance of what appears to be a Daubenton’s bat. Fishery owner Shaun had mentioned that he’d found a seemingly dead bat earlier but when he had picked it up to dispose of it, it bit him! Undeterred and still full of the milk of human kindness (and probably rabies), he moved the bat out of harms way in the hope that it was just ‘stunned’ and might recover later.Several hours later and in broad daylight, the bat emerged and began feeding only inches above the surface of the water of the main pool!
The Daubentons bat is renowned for its ariel prowess and we were treated to spectacular views of this extraordinary creature taking Caddis flies, Terrestrials and even Dragonflies in mid air! It flew so low over the water that one large trout followed it for some time. This prompted some of the more frustrated anglers to search their fly boxes for a suitable bat pattern! After a few hunting trips to the Oak pool, the bat retired for the afternoon and was later seen roosting by the toilet block. Hopefully he will reset his body clock and be none the worse for wear.
As usual, we followed the familiar Chirk Training Day format of casting in the morning and fishing in the afternoon separated by a light lunch. The weather ‘did us’ again by providing perfect fishing conditions whilst we were casting and perfect casting conditions when it was time to fish! And as if to add insult to injury, the swarms of tiny flies that filled the air and that the Trout had locked on to were much too small to imitate effectively, being smaller than a pin head! Never the less fish were caught on Nymphs and Emergers. These formed the bulk of the the larger invertebrates found in our kick sample and we were able to find close matches in our fly boxes. Another excellent and exciting day at Chirk Fishery. Thanks to all those who took part!
Bat display!
Top rod John ‘O’ with the best fish of the day!
Joe had a Double Haul!
Ginny with a Grinny