Sunday 14th of October 2001 saw the first trip of the CCFR to Lake Liddell in search of some sport on the local carp population, but let's start this story on the Saturday evening. The weather was looking grim, and the forecast wasn't much better. It was raining, a howling wind from the south west and the forecast for Sunday was more of the same with thunderstorms thrown in for good measure. One would be forgiven for thinking that someone up stairs didn't like us very much. But when I woke on the Sunday morning at about 3:30am (keen ey!) there wasn't a breath of wind, the rain had stopped and there were stars lighting the early morning sky....... you beauty!

I was on the road by 04:10 and picked up Mark Williams and Frank Gallo on the F3 at Wyong on our way up to Liddell, which is between Singleton and Muswellbrook, in the NSW Hunter Valley.

At this time of the morning there was very little traffic and we arrived at Liddell Camping Ground on schedule at 6am. The weather left a lot to be desired. In the short time it took to get from home to Liddell the wind had picked up from the north west and was howling across the lake, so much so that there were a few white caps starting to show. To make life even more interesting and just to add a bit of challenge to the outing there was a nice smattering of cloud to make seeing the fish just that little more of a chore.

Not to be put off by such conditions, twelve of the keener members of the club made the journey and were all gun-ho to get amongst the action. We put the 4 boats into the water and headed off in search of some bays that offered some protection from the wind.

Mark, Frank and I headed to a bay that can be seen from the New England Highway and decided to park the boat and walk the banks in search of our intended quarry. It didn't take long for Mark to spot the first target from his position high up on the banks. It was a beauty too - larger than your average Lake Liddell specimen. I had first shot at him and started loading up the 6 weight. Because of the high bank behind me I got the fly stuck in the undergrowth before it even hit the water. I quickly untangled it and made a few casts at the fish. It didn't seem the least bit interested in my fly. I threw at it again and again got tangled, so Mark had a cast at him from up on the bank. The fish was then spooked by the line hitting the water from that height.

It didn't take long before we saw another one to target. Again I had first shot and cast a couple of nice casts, and thought to myself, gee that didn't even make a splash! The fish ignored me again... I brought the line back in to find that the fly was gone......8^(

I tied another fly on and again had a cast at another fish that had come in close to the banks. A few quick strips and the big white rubber lips of the carp opened and inhaled the little fly. A strike strip and bang it was on. A good couple of runs soon had me down to the backing on the reel as the fish headed for the deep. The rod was pretty well loaded up and I knew it was going to take a bit of work to get this fish in far enough for Mark to gaff it. A few minutes passed and finally the fish was close enough for Mark to have a gaff shot..... missed!..... off the fish went again. Same scenario. Finally Mark gaffed the fish, my first ever carp on fly and a good way to start with the fish being about 6lb.

We then took it in turns to spot for each other as the conditions did not make spotting easy from water level. I got up on the bank and started looking for a fish for Mark to target. It didn't take too long to spot one cruising within casting distance of Mark's eight weight a few casts just past the fish and some slow strips, again saw the white of the fishes mouth, a take, a strike strip and Mark's rod bent in battle with another carp. Frank's turnto gaff and it wasn't long before another carp was landed.

Mark: 1, David: 1, it's Frank's turn. Mark and I spotted for Frank, but the cloud cover and the ripples in the water were making life difficult and we spotted very few fish in a considerable period of time. Frank's luck just wasn't in and we either spooked a few fish or on one occasion while Frank was casting at one and I was spotting, Frank caught me on the back cast. By the time I got the hook out of my shirt the fish was gone.

We decided to walk along the bank a bit further and it wasn't long before Mark and I heard "YES!" and Frank was into his first fish for the day. My turn at the gaff and the carp was soon sunning itself on the bank.

We continued along the bank seeing a few fish cruising and having a few casts at them. I spied one on top of a weed bed just over a rod length from where I was standing. I flicked the leader over a couple of times and slowly stripped back past the fish. A white flash and another carp had fallen for one of Dave's specials. This fish was a bit sluggish at first and didn't really put up much of a struggle until he caught sight of the three of us on the bank and took off like a rocket.....down to the backing in record time, again I knew it was going to take a while to winch this one back to the gaff. We finally landed the fish and put it on the scales.... 7lb of Lake Liddell's finest.

Time was starting to run out so we slowly headed back towards the boat and continued looking for fish lurking in the area that we could easily see under the cloud cover. I spotted the big carp that I had a shot at in the beginning in exactly the same spot. I had a few casts, but again no interest at all in the fly. Just as I was about to move on, another carp came over a few rocks just behind the big one and I cast at it, a few strips and bang I was on again. This was a smaller fish and was soon lined up next to Frank, with the gaff being used perfectly to land it.

Mark had discovered that the tail had come off his fly so I gave him one of mine to try. Almost straight away I spotted a carp right in close, about 6 feet from the shoreline and slowly cruising out. Mark had to finish tying his knot and had a cast at the fish. The fish went for the fly but didn't hook up. Luckily the fish did not spook and Mark had another quick cast at it. He landed the fly in perfect position and the carp had another shot at it. STRIKE - and the fish was on.... a short fight saw a fish of about 3 - 4lb on the end of Frank's gaff.

We headed back to the boat for the bumpy ride back to the boat ramp. Bob Williams, Roy Brown and Gordon Bauder had just got back to the ramp and reported that they had all caught a few carp the biggest being an 88cm bruiser caught by Bob. Gordon caught his first carp which was also his first ever fish on fly, a great effort given the tricky conditions we were fishing in!

The other boats all reported similar numbers of fish and everyone had caught something, so I guess you'd call that a success. Quite a few of the fellas can't wait to have another go at the carp and hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder to us next time!