Food for thought

This was the title of my talk this week to the Northampton Fly dressers Guild at the Cardigan Arms ( I have added their site to my links ). I tried to take my Wildlife monitoring knowledge and demonstrate this with all the samples i have to try and bring alive what trout are thinking when they are eating. The weather has been naff so my gathering of samples was not great. I had break the ice but came up with a few Damsels and Corixa's and that went down great as they swam around the trays.

It's a Shame you cant do a talk in the summer when all the flies/nymphs are about. However there was plenty of samples to work through ant it seemed to go down really well.

First ever fly line

I was out with Matt this weekend at Ravensthorpe trying to catch his first fish. It was due to be a nice day, cloudy but warming as the day went. That was how it was and with black buzzer hatching early, olive buzzers later and a few fish on top, perfect conditions i thought. Unfortunately it was a little more difficult than that. I set up with a Wetcel 2 which is a little old but it has a great feel to it, small white lure and a black and silver gold head on the point. I had heard the fish had been mid water to to the bottom. The first stop was in willow bay and though they were not fast and furious the first 3 were in the boat and i was convinced of the method. Matt although not casting as far was on a Di5 and getting to the depth. Every now and then the rod was dip over with a take but they wouldn't stick. It went a little quiet so we headed over towards the far shore where the small green buzzers were hatching and a few fish on top. Although a number of others were chasing these surface fish i went down deeper onto the Di7. An early fish for me confirmed there were fish at depth and although i questioned Matt's takes I was amazed that i saw his rod arch over twice with nothing to stick. It was then that Matt declared he had a fish on - YES!!! I cooley reached for the camera to take a few shots for posterity while he played it.

As it came to the surface the fight got a little less and DAMM!! it was only a full floating and three flies. I pulled it in carefully with the hope of a fish still on the end from the previous owner but to no avail.

We moved around a little after this and got a good view of the whole reservoir. We finished off back dragging across the front of the Dam where i thought something could just pick up his flies. Fortunately for me they grabbed mine including a nice 3 to 4 pound rainbow. Time was up and i had failed to catch Matt his first trout. Never mind the challenge is still on!

Bob Pickering Challenge

The final Bob Pickering Challenge match was held today at Grafham with memories for Bob - where have those 10 years gone? but also for John Wilson who died at the weekend. It was Johns idea to get a few more together and hold this for the last time before the trophy is handed back to Andrea to keep and although he tried hard to attend thanks to Mike Philpott who finalised the arrangements and made a great day. We all enjoyed ourselves and with Ash looking professional and ready for action ( with a cool box big enough for the job ) he was destined to win the day with 5 fish for over 12lb.

Dougie was on form as usual although it had been so long since he had fished you can see him in his course gear asking "where do i shove this line?"

Vernon was also on form and managed to come 2nd with 5 fish for 10lb. Rumour has it he only fished half a day as it took so long to work out how to put his MFI boat seat together!

My boat partner for the day, Shane Tibbets was third with 3 fish. Although i was sure that mine would have weighed more if I had left in the stomach contents of killer shrimp!

It gets dark early these days and as the sun came down over Grafham and the Bob Pick Trophy we headed off to the Lion at Buckden for a very civilised sit down and for Andrea to present the trophy. With a few beers in memory of Bob and John they would have approved!

John Wilson and Julian Davies pass away

Having been ages since i last added a post it is really sad that i have have to write about loosing two friends over the weekend. John Wilson from Market Harborough was a lifelong friend/colleague/mentor of mine and someone i always looked up to and respected, unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer this weekend. He gave me many subtle steers in life that i shall always be grateful for. Our approach and outlook on life were very similar but his came in an engaging way with more experience. He had a great way to get me relaxed, positive and motivated, as i am am sure he did with others to,o and this meant I always fished well in his company which gave me many treasured memories. John had a great passion for the outdoors and absolutely loved all aspects of it. He enjoyed being out in the fresh air of the countryside and marvelled at how spectacular it can be. He wrestled with his conscience around how killing an animal could be conservationist as i do, but in his era of commercial excess, pesticides and habitat loss i have no doubt he gave back much much more! One of his qualities i admired most was that he was an excellent leader, not only managing many staff at Barclaycard and Barclays Bank but also their fishing clubs. He did this in an all encompassing way making everyone part of it and its success. The Barclays Fishing Club and thoughts of him will live on for many many years. Julian Davies was still fighting his cancer battle and we thought was on the winning side until unexpectedly passing away suddenly this weekend. Many Monday nights in Julian's company has been entertaining, engaging and enjoyable. He has done an enormous amount for fishing in Northamptonshire through Gilders and Mid-Northants. I have worked for him when he was Chairman and with him when a Vice-president and was always impressed how he had an aura of authority and used it in the right ways. Out on a fishing boat though and he was fantastic company but fiercely competitive. I remember very clearly how i am sure he tried to knock one of my fish off the line at Grafham that would have taken me one ahead. Funny how I perhaps liked him more for it too!

River Ure

What a great couple of days at Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales fishing for brown trout and grayling on the River Ure. It runs down Wenesleydale and is almost as good as the cheese!

Last week it was the site of floods that left people stranded that had to be rescued but luckily for us it is a spate river that levels out very quickly and when we arrived it looked great. As i stood on the banks if I wasn't fishing i did fancy climbing the hills. The beat was 17 miles of meandering river with some great pools with a mix of open grassy fields or overhanging trees. Mmm mouth watering.

Day one was spent in a chicken fields next to the bridge and with loads of rising fish in the foamy water. It was almost as though I was being watched!

Trying many flies I settled on olive patterns of beacon beige, kites imperial as well as partridge and orange and snipe and purple. I must have been out of practice and lost 4 fish that i couldn't keep on. yes thats what i want!!

The second day started great with a Dipper perched on a rock as as it swam for food and Common sandpipers were on most pebbly spits making a racket to distract you away from their nests. As i searched under the trees on the far bank i put a size 16 black parachute dry on a short leader. This allowed me to get closer more consistently. A fish rose under a bush and i cast a foot above and let it drift over the rise and up it came again - yes i was in! It is surprising how well a fit river brownie can fight on an 8ft 4wt.

It was afternoon before the next fish after we had moved to a pool further down the river. Phil cast to a fish with a dry sedge and yes he was in with another great coloured buttery brownie, magic.

It was starting to drizzle a little and i thought one last pool. It was shallow gravel on my side and i walked up that casting to the far bank. There were a few sedge coming off and as a fish rose up stream i cast upstream again and a perfect second rise and i was in again. A lovely fight and it was safely in the net. Pub and food i think next!

My last morning and it was raining steady. It kept getting worse so i decided to head home and leave Phil too it. I wasn't far down the road and the text came through - just had a grayling and it stopped raining - damm i should have stayed longer!!

The shortest boat trip

Matt had attended a beginners course but had not been out since, so tonight was a bit of casting practice. It seems though that they had put a few fish in the small half recently so just a 50 yard hop in the evening boat and we were fishing. I forgot how much there is to learn when you start fishing, just setting up and casting takes a while to get to grips with but tangles - wow they always take ages! Matt did well and casting improved loads and he was fishing well. My first two fish took well, early in a long cast they hooked themselves and after a bit of pulling and jumping at least we had something to take home. The next fish was played by Matt and he was a natural! We moved for the last 45 mins into the shelter of the bay and the swifts and swallows were buzzing the water but unfortunately the rain had started. After 10/15 mins i was starting to think that the fish were not here and suddenly the line went tight and a large fish wallowed on the top on a full cast - nice! Matt played it like an expert and and there was a pristine 4lb brownie in the net - gorgeous! There were a few fish rising and i finished on the dries. Raining a bit heavier now it was nice to get in the dry but a great evening though.

Impatience

Yes i suffered with that today and couldn't stop pulling my flies. When i did stop i had 3 fish but it wasn't enough as those all around me bagged up. Pitsford was fishing it's head off with black and green buzzers hatching, daddies being blown onto the water and straight lining or a bung with buzzer imitations the method. James made hay while he could and this 3-11 rainbow fought like mad and as his first first on Pitsford for a long time welcomed him back from Holland in grand style.

He couldn't stop catching along with many others. From a fishing perspective it was a harsh lesson for me to learn but with great company it made me realise why we fished together so frequently and i look forward to many more on Rutland shortly.

Two big girls

Yes the fish and not me and mike! This weekend was the Barclays Nationals on Eyebrook and practice day with Ash Cooper was my first trip of the year - wow. We started at Sams Dyke and after interest as expected moved in to mucky bay. All the boats were anchored and quite tricky manouvering between them, I had decided to drift all the time so it was something i was going to have to get used too. As a few others were catching well it was hard going for us and were going to need a few more flies that could work. Mike and Martin had struggled too but when we arrived there seemed to be fish rising everywhere. After throwing dries, wets and nymphs at them without success it was Ash who provided the breakthrough and caught one on a Cormerant. This then accounted for 4 fish for me before we moved off. Mike and Martin returned to the same area later and took 4/5 on a slime and blob. That was it - tactics set!

Competition day and the wind had changed completely. Every boat headed for Sams Dyke and Mucky Bay, chucked out the anchor and sat back for the day. For us we tried the far bank but it was a bit calm and not too many fish about so we set on drifting into the bank along the cabin to the chestnut tree. We had 3 fish on a blob with martin on the Di5 and me on the fast glass, a patern set for the day. It was mid afternoon as we drifted into the bay next to the lodge. There was a line of clear water and orange coloured water and the fish seemed to be running this. Half way in a drift and bang i was in and i tightened up, it headed round the boat and out the back and kept going no matter how much pressure i put on. As it wallowed on top about 20 yards behing the boat i suddenly realized Woooo it was big! After a good number opf hairy moments around the drogue and martin had it in the net -god it was fat, and big - a 9 ponder and my biggest to date, magic. Just to make sure we didn't foget the day the drogue caught in a gust of wind and it was under the motor. Being close to the shore it was inevitable we were heading to beach. We managed to jump ashore and in the wind the boat was banging about and we needed to push it up the shore to secure it and as I thought about it Matin summoned up the effort and pushed like mad - it looked like he was walking on water! As he went to get the bailif I cut the rope, freed off the engine and unwound it from the prop. Back in business. We just kept persevering and ended with 10 fish between us which was impressive as we were the only boat on the drift. Mike and ash had remained on the far bank but fishing at anchor and had bagged 8 fish including an 8lb 1oz rainbow. Combined it was enough for 2nd place behind London Northern.

At the weighin can you beleive it but no best troph for me as ralph painter had a 10-14, what a cracking fish. A great start to the season!!

Opening Day Pitsford

Still a bit cold and muddy for me at the moment but there seemed to be a good number of people out today catching fish. The banks are restrictive for two main reasons. It would be good to get the bank erosion works out of the way and open up Brixworth bay and the Pines. Other than that it is only inside the bays themselves that are restricted due to the soft mud however the points of the bays are the most productive this time of year.

The Gravels and North farm shore seem to be the most productive.

Mike Martin Passes away

I was sorry to hear that Mike Martin passed away yesterday. I think recently he was a big force in the Northampton Branch of the fly dressers Guild who met at the Cardigan Arms in Moulton, but hadn't seen him for a while.

Mike worked for many years at Barclaycard and I remember a good number of fishing chats in the Greyfriars house office when he was working with the early PDQ terminals.

A number of years ago I fished quite often with Mike especially in the Barclaycard North team in the Barclays National. One that sticks in my mind was that we were fishing together at Pitsford and while he wouldn't stop fishing the dry fly he did have 4 fish up one end of the boat while i was fishing with a Black dog nobbler and had 7 at the other end. A strange combination but with us and the other boat we managed to win that year.

Fondly remembered!

Only 2 weeks to the start

I don't think I am going to be ready this year for the start of the fishing season especially after seeing Pitsford and Ravensthorpe this morning. Only 2 weeks to Ravensthorpes opening day and i couldn't even find the holes in the ice where they have stocked the fish!!

Ravensthorpe above is completely iced over today. Add this late winter weather to how low the water level is and i am sure this will change the behaviour of the fish. For a few seasons now Cotton End has fished well but i wouldn't be surprised if the Dam is going to be more productive.

In addition Pitsford above was also mostly frozen. I guess they are going to have an extra week and should be different. I think it will be the low levels that affect Pitsford more. The Erosion works are very welcome and look to be coming to a conclusion but i am sure there is no point raising the levels until that is complete. When the levels come up then there may not be too much food close in. in the meantime it is going to be a muddy affair getting to the waters edge. If it's still still frozen it will make the mud easy to walk out on!

2012 opening days

You may have received your letter from Anglian Water like me today but they have confirmed the opening days as:
Ravensthorpe Sat 3rd March
Pitsford Fri 9th March
Grafham Fri 16th March
Rutland Sat 31st march

The season ticket prices are out as well with a Gold setting you back £785, silver £610, Blue £479, Green £510, Economy £385 and starter £230.

There is also an open day at Pitsford on satuerday 25th Feb if you want to have a chat with the wardens and seems they have a few tackle demos etc.

The water level is massively down at pitsford at the moment and they are still shoring up the the banks to stop the erosian. Hopefully this will all change by the start of the season, if not we might be fishing for mud crabs!