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.

Llangollen

This week Phil and I had a few days on the River Dee just outside Llangollen with the llangollen and District angling club for some late season trout and early season Grayling.

It was a great river, a decent flow, clear, over boulders and wide enough not to be able to cast to the far side with my 4 weight. There were fish rising most of the time that ranged in size which changed my technique. I was expecting to get the french leader out with czech nymphs, however who could resist a couple of days of dry fly fishing. My timing seemed all wrong as i struggled to find what they were feeding on. I managed a few takes on black but my flies seemed a little bit too big. By the time i had a rest and did some sampling it was then Phill that found a small black knat they wanted and had a good few fish. By the time i caught on i was already behind. The same happened the next day too as they seemed to change to green from black and i was still be hind the curve.

However i did still have a few nice Grayling and brown trout too. I also managed a few Salmon par, one of which was a decent size and deceived me until i could see the finger marks on it's side. Another great place to fish and whilst away it was good news that the Barclays team managed to beat the BOS - another great result.

Bit bashing

Another fishing trip for my nephew Oliver was well overdue and too help out in the summer holidays i thought we could have a bit of "man time" Heyford fisheries in Nether Heyford is a simulated canal where you can practice pole fishing the far bank but rather than for tiddlers they put some decent fish in. In addition to this they have what the call Acorn lake to keep the kids or "those not catching" enternained and i thought we could fish this and be guaranteed a bit. Well i wasn't quite prepared how may bites as they kept coming one after another all day. My arm was aching like mad as i did all the baiting up and with 4/5 maggots at 30 second intervals it was definitely a Repetitive Strain Injury. It was interspersed though with me also doing the un-hooking which as we counted i must have done 67 times! Using a whip and then a few sections of the pole it was great sport and ended with a brilliant net full at the end of the day. Great Angling!!

Barclays National 2015

This years National was again at Pitsford over two days and was set to be quite difficult. On practice day Mike and I struggled to find many fish apart from a few browns wich would need to be put back after you kept one. However we had noticed that they had tipped a stocking in over the causeway and for the last two hours decided to see if we could catch a few - especially since I hadn't done much for a while. I was amazed that after a short while of getting the position right and reducing the size of the Orange blobs to 12's and 14's we got into a rythem and we must have had 30 fish returned by the two of us. I had not done this for a long time and gave us both a boost of confidence. However as always competition day was different and was absolutely chucking it down and the fish had moved to into the corner. Mike and Ash were on them first and all but bagged up. We then jumped in their spot and started catching but by then they had thinned a little and were moving around more. However I had 4 for 8-4 which was not bad on the day. On top of that I can't remember having fished with John Clarke before and it was a shame because he was brilliant company and made it a really enjoyable day.

Overall the most successful team were Thames and Solent with 16 fish for 40lbs 8ozs who managed to find the better quality fish in Sailing Club Bay including Shane Tibbetts with a 3-8 and Ross Jordan taking the best fish Trophy with a rainbow of 4lbs 3oz. Oscar Boatfield 3rd individual with 6 fish for 13lbs 4ozs.

Second place went to Barclaycard helped by Ash Cooper leading the way to finding the early fish and Mike Philpott taking the best bag of the day with 6 fish for 14lbs 8ozs. These stockies were a little fresher and liked the orange blob too much before they had a chance to feed up! Third place went to Clearing Services and Vernon Beak took 2nd place and the most fish trophy with 6 fish for 13lbs 13oz

Derbyshire Wye

What a fantastic river in the Moseldale Valley. The Cressbrook and Lyton beat of the River Wye was our destination for the day and how dramatic and picturesque it was. After a civilised briefing from the warden we took a slow walk up stream to see what we fancied. There was a decent flow on the water that was fairly clear but it did have a bit of colour in it which maybe a tinge of peat. We were hoping for some mayfly but as there was no rises anywhere it was probably a wait for the weather and hatch to warm up so i started on a nymph. After a few dabbles in some small pools it was difficult to get a decent run but as i walked up there was a lovely pool with a fast run in and then split round both sides of an island.

I sat on the bank behind a small bush and as i cast upstream on the edge of the faster water it felt fishy. It wasn't long and the sight indicator twitched and i was into a superb little brownie and you always feel better when you get the first one in.

I then got into it and realised there was a few fish in the pool including some cracking rainbows and didn't realise that this was one of the very few places that the breed in this country. I managed 8 fish from the pool and they kept getting bigger and bigger -I was over the moon.

Phil and i had lunch looking over the river and we saw a few fish rising so Phil had a flick and caught a fish.

This got us going and we both fished the dry for the next few hours catching a few fish but it tailed off. I managed to pick up another couple of rainbows from a deep pool which gave a great fight as i perched quite precariously on a steep bank so i could flick the fly under a tree. What a great place and i'll definitely be back.