Our second week at Kau Tapen has come to an end and I’m pretty safe in saying the week was a success. We had a mixed group of guests from around the globe—nationalities included the U.S., Denmark, Sweden, Kazakhstan, and Australia—and everyone got along famously.
Fishing continued to be steady, with no obvious incline or decline of fish caught throughout the six-day period. And we seemed to be averaging several hook-ups per rod per day. Of those hook-ups, the quality of fish caught this week was outstanding! We landed two fish weighing more than 20 pounds and a good number in the high teens. Yulkin from Kazakhstan while fishing the lower beat landed his first 20-pounder. A thick, fresh sea-run brown that took seemingly endless runs up and down the pool… and also up and into the air!
Cheryl had the pleasure of landing our first 20+ pounder of the season. I’m told she fought the fish like a pro. Word is the 4-pounders she’d caught moments before took longer to land than her double-digit sea-run. Congrats, Cheryl, on your epic fish, which buckled our scale at 22 pounds!
We continued to catch fish on a range of different sized flies this week. Of note, these fresh fish have been aggressively eating larger flies despite the low-water conditions. Floating lines with slightly heavier sinking tips have also been working well.
We had a few short, sharp showers at the beginning of the week that brought the river up a few centimeters. But it very quickly dropped back off again. We’re currently seeing huge numbers of fish and with a little more water the fishing could become extremely exciting. Let’s hope we can continue to catch this quantity and quality of fish through next week, as well.
Thanks to everyone for a great time, and safe travels home!
—Toby Burrell
Guide, Kau Tapen Lodge
Water Temp: 9-14 degrees C
Number of Rods: 11
Number of fish 10lbs+: 54
Average weight of fish: 10.8lbs
Biggest fish: 22lbs (Cheryl)
