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.