Tuesday 21 October 2014

Leopards

You can't get too much of a good thing and once again the test was fantastic. It forecast two days of continual rain but that never showed and it made for a pleasant trip and a great group.
It started well and i had this lovely brown on Beat 11 in the morning. It came up and took my size 16 klink brilliantly. However there was a hatch of Pale Watery Dun's sailing downstream and i couldn't imitate them properly. Another couple of grayling and a brown made for a lovely day.
The following day we thought we would take the long walk top beat 3 as neither Phil or i had fished that far down before. It was a lovely morning with the sun glinting on the water and plenty of wildlife about. Can you beleive it Mick was there already and had taken his car, never mind there was plenty of room. There were good numbers of fish rising but i didn't have the perfect flies. Fishing a duo of a black klinkerhammer gold bead hares ear gave me a few options and a bit of stealth kneeling behind the reads and an old tree stump gave the fish confidence to keep rising. I had two brownies that were very different and almost leopard like spots. They were very colourful fish.
A i walked back up river i knelt by a bend in the river and i could see a shoal of small grayling sitting on the bottom. I took the dry off and and dangled the hares ear in front of them. It took me ages to get any interest but i found by lying the fly on the bottom and lifting infront of a fish triggered a take. They were a bit fussy but i managed to induce a couple.
A few more fish later and the evening was pulling in and we started to head back a Buck and Doe Fallow Deer put in an appearance until they got scent of us and made a run for it.

Monday 22 September 2014

A win at last

Once again it has been a while since I had done some fishing but I had committed to Shane that I attend the annual BOS v Barclays match. This time I was looking forward to taking part but a bit nervous about whether I could properly compete. The BOS team is full of cracking anglers these days and feel that the last few times my thought process has been naff and keep doing the right things but at the wrong times. We had a good trip up and a few walks around Stirling before my obligatory Haggis Supper - Mmmm fantastic! Practice day on Lake of Menteith was overcast in the morning and then as the mist and cloud lifted the sun came out gloriously. It did put the fish down a few feet but if food was in front of them they would still take. The wind was a big factor and with a gentle breeze they were more confident to take.
While everyone was on Midge tips this cracking fish took on a Di7 which gave me great confidence that is was more about the depth and presentation than anything else and that stayed with me. At the team talk in the evening there were fish over most of the water with the two main concentrations in and around Loch End or from the cages to Mallin Shore. The lines were mainly midge tip although Ross and Ash had done well on Slow and Fast Glass. The flies were similar with 2 small boobies (Cat, candy, Coral) with small flies in between (crunchers, buzzers, cormorants, daiwls). The team was great and sharing of flies and tactics really helped me to get my head in the right space. On the competition day it was similar weather with the sun changing the conditions in the last few hours. I was drawn with Derek Purves and I was really looking forward to a good fishing day out.
The first bay we went into and I was 3 down in a very short period of time to Derek’s Midge tip and the doubts started to creep in. I knew I hadn't quite got the depth right on the midge so decided to change to the slow glass. As we turned back into the bay for another drift I soon connected and two on at once. The fish were so hard fighting that there was no way I was going to get both so when one dropped of it was a relief and I was up and running. I then had another 2 on the next few drifts and all was well with the world at Loch End. We then traded fish until Derek's Midge came into its own and caught a rapid 5 fish. I was pleased at the end to have done as well as I had although being beaten 12-8 is not always so good for the team. We took the Jeff Bailey trophy for the best boat and I the top bag for Barclays. The rest of the team put up a great consistent performance and we were able to pip the Scots by 67 fish to 60 and take our first win for a good number of years.

Thursday 5 June 2014

Barclays National @ Pitsford

It was back to Mike and I to arrange for this year and to make it easier we bought it to Pitsford. A great couple of days with no rain saw the Northerners (Radbroke and North East) win with a maximum 24 fish between for 48lb 12oz.
Practice day went well and i was fishing with Phil, we didn't have a lot of fish but drifted all day. We learned what we needed in that the fish were close to the shore and hatches of sedges and buzzers. There were a few catching and those that had stayed around bog bay and the causeway seemed to have had more than their share. On the day itself i was fishing with Matt from Barclaycard and our info was about the same so after a little diversionary tactic in the small half we settled in and anchored in on North Farm Shore just below the causeway. We had a few takes and felt the fish were behind us as London Northern were catching well however expected a few fish to go looking further down the bank for food. I put a damsel on the point with buzzers on the droppers and fishing into the bank i had my first take and felt mighty relieved. Another followed but then it dried up.
We kept considering moving which in hindsight would have been the best thing to do but hey there were fish around and with Matt's first fish in the boat we were feeling better.
I added another but then it was early in to arrange the weigh in and to retire to the Westone manor Hotel for the AGM, Presentations and refreshments! The others had caught a lot of fish and the best catch was Gerald Farnell with six fish for 13lb 11oz including a 5lb 2oz Rainbow on buzzers and Daiwl Bach's. Surprise of the evening was Clearing who managed to come in 2nd place and achieved their target of beating Barclaycard - providing lots of banter for the evening.
Another good event - maybe we'll try the same venue next year.

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Flooded

We had seen it on the news with sandbags holding back the water from peoples houses but until you see the extent for your self it is difficult to comprehend. Although the River Test was on it's way down it was over it's banks in a few areas and flooding was still around, It was difficult to find a dry parking place! I am not sure how high it got but this cabin was a casualty. However with chesties on and kitted out we were ready for a bit of wading. It was not as bad as we thought and although it was pushing through it was still fairly clear and as usual you needed to be smart about where and how you fished - nothing new then. We started on the main river and had a great morning session catching some superb brownies and Phil a rainbow. We were using heavily weighted peeping caddis and you had to pick the slower parts of the river. The carriers were quite tricky and i couldn't quite get a method going although Phil was able to have a few fish on smaller pink shrimps. It was Grayling we went for and finally on the last afternoon up on the top beat i was able to roll cast along the tree line and pick up another four fish that appeared not to have been spooked. The second of these as a really nice grayling well over a pound that fought great on my 4 weight in a fast current. Another magic couple of days!