River Wye

The river wye was looking excellent again this year for our annual trip. The water levels were quite and with a good flow, there were plenty of insects coming off. 

I had a good walk even though i was laden down with man-flu, and started in the pool in the second field. I like this pool in the mornings as you can fish the nymph really well in the flow that comes through, letting it fish a bit more naturally. I then like to wander the stretch fishing the dry as you can then cover more new fish. 

I started well and had a lovely brownie on my second cast and managed to add another 2 brownies and 2 rainbows to that as the morning went on. 

I went for lunch and met the others and as i was doing a bit better i thought i would go back and keep going. As i sat on the bench i saw a movement on the far bank and it was a water vole. Really large, brown with longer fur and a snubbed nose - brilliant. It was the first one i had seen for many many years. As i was walking back it was like buses and there was one swimming across the river without a care. What a fantastic scene. I hadnt seen them there before so i'll have to read up if they are a natural population of re-introduction. Either way it is great to see them. 

I stayed where i was for the afternoon but the fish had gone quiet. I then went a walk with the dries and it appears that i had missed the hatch and it had gone quiet now. 

Anyway still a lovely day day. Very enjoyable!

50th Anniversary of the Barclays National Fly Fishing event

 Draycote was the venue and we had a great turnout from people who had fished in the past, including a nice touch of embroidered caps with the initials DJT on the back in memory of Derek Thompson who have fished with us for many years but passed away recently. 

The day was a little wet with 3 wind direction changes and the fish were either switched on or switched off. With the maximum of 24 fish the winners were Thames and Solent with Shane Tibbits, Ross Jordan, Dave Curry and Matt Irons. Great effort. Neil Oshea took the Best bag of 13lbs 1oz. 

I managed half a dozen and ended up 5th which i was pleased with as i hadn't fished for a while. My partner Frazer Duffy Snr looked after me giving me an orange eyed booby for the point of a washing line and i took all my fish on that. 

Quick evening on Pitsford

I managed at last to get Mike and Adam out at pitsford for an evening on a boat. It was quite a late start and lots going on.

We started in the small half where it was a little quieter and Mike was casting good.

We swapped with Adam and headed to just past the gravels. Had a good drift across and returned to a better anchor hold.

There were a few fish around but not really that interested. Tried damsels, Daniel Bach’s, fabs and daddies.

We had the benefit of a great sunset to see us in though.

A double booked Wye

 Yes when we turned up in the car park on the Wye there were other anglers there and we started to get worried. The keeper explained that they had a new system for bookings and there had been a couple of teething problems. However he said that our party could fish on the members water today - what a treat!

It was a bit damp and there wasn't much fly coming off at all so fishing was hard. I went up the pool with different dries and nymphs without success. however what a fantastic place to be. There were dippers and great wagtails bobbing around all day and as i looked through the bridge there was a water vole just crossing the river. 

I thought the fish would be in the deeper water so for the afternoon i decided to try upstream where the flow was a bit slower and see if i could target fish. Martin had fish rising in front of him so i walked a little further upstream and there was a fish rising on the far bank between two bushes. I did a really smart cast across, mended my line and saw the fish come out of the deep and hammer my black klinkerhammer. What a beautiful brownie.

  

I had a few other takes on the same method but they didn't stick. The mayfly by now had started to come off and as i sat by this pool i watched one hatch by the bush and drift downstream only to be hammered by a trout. So i changed to a Grey woolf and cast the same way and crash, it had taken me and i landed another brownie. 

A little wile later i could see martin into a fish that was really bending his rod so went along to net it for him - it was great 2 pound rainbow. 

It was definitely a real treat to fish the members water and learned loads about the beat should i ever be lucky enough to fish it again.

A wet Draycote

Its been ages since i fished with Mike so a day on Draycote was eagerly anticipated. However after some decent weather it was forecasting torrential rains and very high winds. 

Fortunately they hadn't called it off but had restricted it to just half the lake. It wasn't a great disapointment as we were going to fish just up from the Sailing club anyway. The rain was due at lunchtime so we agreed to get on with it just being a 4 fish limit.

Mike was on form and first cast he was into fish. Can you believe it 2 on his cast and fighting like fury. He managed to net one, and played the other on his net till i netted it. 2 fish up on me already. I turned round to get out and there i am in a tangle. I manage to get out of it and Mike is in again and it is all over the place. I manage to get out of the way while he finishes playing it and netting it. As i cast back over i am in a tangle again. Can you believe it but as i cast out again Mike is in. That 4 fish down and i've not had a proper cast yet - mad!

We then started to catch together. They were taking on a Damsel or green buzzers. mike was on a 15ft midge tip and me a 3 ft midge tip. He had the depth perfect but i had to leave it a little but they were coming and by lunchtime i had 3. It then started to rain and got persistently harder. After an hour we were getting bit more miserable. The banter had increased and i was put under massive pressure to catch my last. However i hung out as long as i could and just after he had reeled in and said thats it, i managed to catch. 

We hot tailed it into the cafe to dry and then to the pub before we had to get back for the weigh in. 

Clearing had won and barclaycard were second. My team Radbroke was a person short so never expected to be in the prizes. However we had both had a really eventful day.   

Pitsford Coaching

 We are back up and running with the Pitsford coaching again with Cid secure measures in place. Anyone can book on a an hours free casting lesson as this link. 

Book a Casting lesson

Del and Jack

It's been a long while but i gave Jack a Fly Fishing experience for his birthday and Del came along as official "net girl". After a quick casting lesson in the front of the lodge he picked it up really quick so off we went and being afloat on Pitsford was an experience itself.

It was good weather and after the dog days of summer it had been fishing well in cloudy conditions. However today was forecast to get a bit bright so we had to get going quick. And we did but it was me with one first cast off the dam on a Red Daiwl Bach. I was hopefull if it stayed like this it would be good.

However the day just got brighter and harder and the fish slowley turned off. I managed to pick up another as we drifted towards the boils but i couldnt manage to get jack his first trout. It was a great day and as a carp fisherman he is used to not catching so spirits were not dampened and we will try again

River Wye

Another great day on the River Wye at Monseldale. It started great as Martin had a nice small brownie within the first 10 minutes. However the fish were not really on. There were Mayfly hatching most of the day but there were not that many fish rising. Most of the fish caught were on dry mayfly but they seemed to come on in short spells and the luck wasn't with me today as when they were on i was looking at flies, butterflies, birds, aquatic insects or appreciating the wonderful place - never mind a great place to be!

My last national to organise

This was my last National to organise as i handed over to Dave Mynors to take it up going forward and one i didn't particularly enjoy as the weather wasn't great, the fishing wasn't great and i seem to be doing it for others now not myself. Never the less the 24 anglers caught 38 fish in a cold wind when the fish had switched off the feed which meant it was an open match where the result would be decided by consistency of the team fishing which can't be a bad thing. Also rather than deciding the result by weight of everyone bagging up, this was down to numbers. The South team won on the day with 13 fish for 28lbs and Barclaycard 2nd with 7 fish for 19lbs 7. Simon Summers too the best individual bag with 4 fish for 11lbs 1 and in the prizes again was late entrant Mike Philpott with the bast fish a 3lbs 12 Rainbow. I managed a couple of excellent trout both over 3 lbs and also a cracking perch at least over 2 maybe more, fought great.

Geoff Bailey Trophy

It was the Barclays vs BOS Fly fishing match this week and the Scotts managed to win a great fought contest.

Practice day was a lovely day on the lake without the expected rain and midway through the afternoon they switched on and Mike and i had a few fish at Loch End. They didn't seem to want to take the naturals much although there were a few buzzer coming off and also, strangely what seemed to be small blue bottles, although i can only think that the water levels had come up.

Competition day was really enjoyable with Stevie Nichol and we settled into two boobies and a cormorant on a Slow Glass or Midge tip. There were loads of follows and rises and it was a great challenge for us to convert them. The gale force winds predicted seem to miss us slightly although it was high winds and gusty. The rain fell though all afternoon but we kept picking up fish to lift the spirits. Stevie fished well and beat me 10-8 but between us it was enough to win the best boat of the day and the Geoff Bailey Trophy.

The Sun

Phil and I headed back to the River this weekend and started on the Berwen beat. The levels had come down, there was clarity in the water and with a few fish rising well it was looking good. A few casts in i had a small Salmon parr to get going.

Phil soon got in his stride through.

..and was picking off the best of the Grayling with this one of about 12ozs.

Although i had my share as well

The second day we decided to try a new Beat for us The Sun Beat. We started on the meadows but a poor description as there were loads of trees lining the bank. Although once you got in the water it opened up and we had some great sport.

It was glorious weather with the sun shining no stop which made the hills and scenery look absolutely fabulous. Especially from the Sun at Trevor where we had a relaxing beer before heading home.

Big deer Hair fly

Had a lovely day on the River wye today watching trout taking lots of mayfly as they hatched and as they floated downstream. You just forget how big these flies are. It was Martins first time but he had 5 great fish that came to a big deer hair contraption. It was just big and bushy and what the fish wanted.

Seaumas and Phil had a few too. Phil made friends with the cows who stood in the river with him most of the day.

I managed 4 fish that all came to the Grey Woolf. They were taking happily in the morning but when the hatch got bigger i was left with lots of takes but no fish. My best was a lovely big headed slim brownie maybe a pound and a half but could be 2 and a half if he keeps eating those mayflies.

Draycote flat calm

This years Barclays National was on draycote again and the reports were that it wasn't fishing that week. On practice day there was a bright sunshine and a cold wind which kept the fish down. The surface of the water was littered with buzzer shucks so the fish my have had a good feed last night. John Clarke was my boat partner and we had a good day motoring around looking for the best spots. Toft shallows was doing well and it appeared that the better fish were held there. On competition day Paul Ravenscroft and i headed straight there and were surprised that not many boats had followed us. We started well and had 4 fish in the first hour. They were not as big as yesterday so we decided to go searching out in the middle one the shoals for some better fish. There was a little more cloud today but mostly flat calm. The fish however were moving but we struggled to find anything they wanted.

After a few hours of that we moved to near the boat dock were there were quite a few fish rising nearer the bank. paul found the method with a team of buzzers cast at a rising fishing, pulled then left static resulting in some vicious takes. My leader was a bit long and i was fishing a bit but after Paul had his limit i borrowed his rod and finished off. Good teamwork! They were only smaller fish though and the winning team was Clearing Services who had found the bigger fish on Hensborough Bank. Vernon Beak had 4 for 9.4 an Dave Rumball 4 for 9.2

Grayling on the Dee

A nice easy drive from Cheshire across to Llangollen this morning got me in a relaxed mood. As we started fishing though it seemed as though it was going to be tough with no fish rising. I managed to tempt this lovely Grayling on a black klink. As is usual it took out of the blue as i was watching 3 canoes come past politely on the far bank. I did think that they might have pushed the fish over to my side and was hoping a few more would come down.

Phil was having the best of the fishing though and persevered to land a few including this nice one.

There was still not much moving and the river was running high making wading difficult. I was struggling to get across to the middle where the better fish seemed to be so i decided to stay on the bank and keep moving along the beat. I changed to a ballon caddis as there were a few about being blown out of the bushes. I managed 4 small grayling from the currents off the reeds and bushes close to the edge. They were not big but very entertaining. After meeting a few for Phil i went back and as i knew what i was doing this time i managed 6 including a brownie on the last day of the season. A great finish to the year for me.

Mayfly time

Had a great trip to the River Wye yesterday and a couple of mayfly hatches. They were not massive hatches but enough to keep the fish interested. It was not easy fishing but rewarded with fish like this.

There were a few fish rising when we started but they were not interested in my flies. It was only later morning when i saw a few mayfly about that i put on a grey woolf. One had risen in the pool below on the far bank and it took a few casts to drift over the edge of the reeds where it had come it. But when it did "SPLASH" and i lifted into a lovely fish.

I kept moving up and down the river as the fish seemed very easily scared off but they did return to similar lies. Also you seemed to need a bit of stealth and cast upstream correctly and accurate, but when you did they took the mayfly so visciously that you thought they had come miles to get it. Late afternoon there was a downpour but this seemed to start off a bigger hatch and more fish rising. I had my last fish at about 6.30 and it was all quiet. We left for home thinking it was over but i bet the massive hatch was later!

Barclays National

Barclaycard took the team win at the Barclays National that was held at Draycote this week where 7 teams battled it out. Just a four fish limit these days keeps the result interesting and the trophies spread out. London Northern took the took the Blagdon Bowl for second place.

Draycote was fishing it’s socks off with plenty of buzzers around and all apart from 2 caught their 4 fish limit which made for great sport. Ash Cooper was the best of that with 4 fish for 10lbs 15ozs.

Practice day was flat calm and bright sun for most of the day and as well as the bung we spent a good part of the day trying to tempt the bigger rising fish in the middle to take. On the competition day day conditions had changed to a good ripple and overcast and the hoppers were working great. My best was a light green size 12 on the point that they wanted static, figure of eight or even stripped when you cast at them. It was great sport but why do you always have a downpour just before the finish!

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.