River Dee

This week i had a couple of days with Phil on the River Dee at Llangollen. It was a gorgeous place in the valley and even had a Steam train chuffing past every hour or so.

It started off great and before Phil had chance to tackle up i had this really nice Grayling on bank. I saw a fish rise in the fast water and cast my black link a few feet above and as it drifted down it came up and took it.

The wind was a bit cool and very gusty. Unfortunately it was downstream and into me so casting was not great and as much as we persevered with dries it may not have been the most productive method The weather was a bit better on the second day at least no cold wind! I cast at quite a number of fish with the dries but struggled to find what they wanted. We switched over to beads in the afternoon and Phil managed to catch a Sea Trout of at least a pound. A first for him and it made the trip.

Lintrathen

I was picked for the Barclays v Bank of Scotland match at Lintrathen and as we tackled up it felt like being a good day. It had fished well the day before, my partner was Stuart, a Barclays scot from Glasgow an sprits were high. As we headed out is started raining and did not stop all day, at times it was torrential. We persevered though and managed to pick up a few fish on ace of spades and cormorants. The Loch had emptied though as all the anglers had headed for shelter and it it felt a lonely we place. There were a few boats in the bay next to the lodge so we decided to try there so at least we could ask others what they had done. As we drifted out of the bay we saw a boat catch a few and followed in behind taking a few ourselves - we had found the hot spot and now needed to dry off!I didn't get my camera out as it was so wet but this is another photo on a better evening.

Competition day i was with Tom Ferguson and the weather was much better. As Tom was just getting in the boat it moved and he toppled backward with a nasty crunch of his back against the boat and boat dock. Fortunately didn't go in but even so had cut his hand and lip and bruised his back badly. It meant for a tough and painful day but he kept with stoically, a tough character! We popped in my hotspot and i had interest straight away but it didn't stick. We then moved into Tom's favourite area and i managed had a great small brownie, lovely to catch a wild fish and and return it safely. We went back into the bay and fished there most of the day and i managed to catch 4 fish which was a good result for the day. Vernon, Ralph and John were top rods for the day with 7. As the rain came on at at just before 4 it was a wet end to the day again and i was feeling miserable but as the result filtered through that we had won by 29 fish to 43 spirits rose and it was a great end to a pleasant few days in scotland

Return to the Brann

A disappointing return to the Brann this time as water levels seemed down and we did not see any fish at all. However it is a fantastic place to be among the hills. There were a few large ephemeropteridae dancing together but the fish did not seem interested while we were there maybe later when they lay their eggs and die off.

Mayfly on the Wye

We arranged the trip this year to see if we could co-incide with the mayfly season. As the year is running a bit late and with a cool wind there was a small mayfly hatch but they were not pre-occupied yet. There were a few fly about in the morning, Iron blue dun, dark olives and a few small buzzers. I started on a hares ear on the bottom and it was slow going. I did manage to catch one from underneath a tree and a nice brownie. That was enough to relax up and thought i would then fish dry fly all day. I walked around looking for fish rising however they seems to be all on different things so couldn't find a method. I had one on a black klink and anothe on a fark olive but it was fairly slow. Around 4 o'clock the mayfly started to come off so i thought i would sit around and see if they cam on. I tried to catch a few but seemed to be too slow as they fluttered up to the top of the trees. I noticed one drifting down and caught it in my net. It couldn't escape from its case properly so i freed it and let it dry out but it would never fly.

There was the occasional splashy rise so I put on a Grey Duster and persevered. It was floating down great and i saw a fish very slowley saunter up to the surface and sip it in, i struck and a great Mayfly caught brownie, just what i was after.

Barclays National 2016

Two days on draycote and it was in great form. Loads of fish around but you still neee to be doing the right thing to catch them. Clearing were on top form and won the day finding the bigger fish with 3 at around 5lb. nine foot down on the buzzers and a bung did the trick but techniques varies with daiwls, and emergers as well as the blob accounting for a good number. Everyone bar one had their 4 fish limit which was a great average for the day.

Avon Springs

Today Phil, Seaumas and I travelled into Wiltshire to Grayling fish on what I call the Hampshire Avon at a fishery called Avon Springs. There are a couple of lakes with a mile of the river running alongside. It is a lovely chalk stream although it was running a bit heavy and had a bit of colour in water.

We spread our selves out and I had the walk and started fishing on the weir. I started on a bead head and a french leader but with the wind blowing in my face and the water pushing through it was not long before I got naffed and a fly was in three. With that I changed to a floating line and a shorter leader. I often think that when the water is pushing through it disturbs some of the larger food items from the bottom so I put on my chunky peeping caddis as a treat for them. Fishing up stream, mending and letting it trot down stream looked great and after only a few minutes I increased my depth and I was straight into Grayling. Only a little one but a great start.

I took another few Grayling of about 10ozs as I kept fishing and walking and casting across the the far bank with a few overhanging trees. As I turned the bend the river it widened a little and I saw a fish rose, I cast over the back of it and trotted down and it took straight away. It nearly jolted the rod out of my arm as it went upstream. It was a short spurt but then wallowed around for a while and I was relieved at a 2lb plus brownie, great colours and full tailed - brilliant! It had been a lovely morning so I turned my attention to a bit of kick sampling and some lunch and let Phil take over in the swim. He didn't dissapoint andhad a good number of fish on the peeping caddis too. I did another spell in the afternoon and had a few more grayling all around about 8/10ozs which were great sport on my 4 weight. Another really enjoyable day.