Always Nice To Hear

I took Paul for a guided days fishing a few weeks a go teaching his about nymph and dry fly fishing, it was lovely to get an email off him with the kind words below.

 

“I spent 2 seasons teaching myself to fly fish on the upper Severn from books and YouTube. Practicing casting in fields, picking up the odd helpful tip here and there from other fly fishermen. I did not catch a single fish in that first season. But loved it all the same. It was more about getting a feel for casting and being in the river environment so not catching fish was ok. Second season my casting was improving (maybe not much!) and I was starting to consider approach, tactics and fly selection a lot more. It paid off and mid summer 2017 I caught my first ever fish on the fly, a beautiful Grayling. Thereafter I wanted to catch fish. Not just endlessly practice anymore! I managed a handful of stockies  since but very sporadic and more through accident than design. There were now just too many occasions where the fish were jumping and I just could not tempt a single one. Teaching myself had worked up to a point and was an extremely valuable process BUT there was a definite point where there were questions that I simply could not answer by myself.  The choice to head out with Andy was made at just the right time to give me that boost and encouragement before things got frustrating. We went to my favourite area and in one session caught more and bigger fish than I had managed in 2 seasons by myself. And on nymphs which were a total mystery to me up to this point!  Having gone out since I was able to replicate the success with another 9 fish and one monster rod snapping Grayling in one day and so on. Proving that coaching from Andy is spot on, providing the tools and understanding that change the game completely in a way that works. He keeps it simple, convinces you that it’s simple, and installs a great deal of confidence. The trouble with teaching yourself is that you never know if you’re doing it right or wrong. If you catch a fish was it chance or something you did right? If it’s not happening are you doing something badly wrong? It reaches a point where progression slows down or stops with all these unanswered questions. Andy clears all that up, removes the doubts from your mind and replaces it with confidence in your approach and trust in the process. It’s well worth doing and I’d say anyone trying to break into fly fishing would be well advised to go ahead and book a day sooner rather than later! It’s amazing value for money without a doubt, especially considering the lifelong benefit from just one day out. You can’t really put a price on that. Quite important for me is that he doesn’t do the work for you. Anyone can pay a guide to find the fish, select your fly, tell you how to cast and basically do all the catching for you. But Andy is a true teacher who makes you do the work so you get the learning. I’ll be heading out with Andy again asap to keep improving”.

 

 

Yours Sincerely

Paul Martin

11,500 Miles To Catch A Grayling

Nigel originally from the UK but Moved to New Zealand wanted to come back to the UK to catch a grayling in Wales, listening to Nigel talk about sight fishing and fish on average 3-5lbs made me a little jealous and also think I hope he isn’t disappointed with the size of the fish in Wales.

I thought I would show Nigel my style of nymphing which seemed of great interest to him and also said that he could see it working back home in New Zealand, as Nigel worked his way through the first run several grayling around the pound mark came to the net, but he really wanted that special fish and asked if I could show him a spot that would hold bigger fish, I explained that every run will hold a bigger fish but it’s a case catching them can be the problem, as they didn’t get big by being stupid you really need a good presentation to fool them.

As we worked our way through the run a few better fish came to the net all to my little black nymph on the point, a couple of fish in the 40-42cm range and then a lump of 47cm which should make anyone happy and Nigel did seemed over the moon, the fish kept coming and a lovely part of the day was you could actually see fish in the run and watch them feed as well.

We had a walk further up stream to a nice run that sometimes throws up a bigger fish, but today wasn’t the day for this run all that seemed to be feeding was quite small fish, by the time Nigel had worked his way down the run it was around 3pm and as on so many days this year it’s been like a switch has been thrown and the river just dies, but Nigel had knocked another item off his bucket list and I was glad to be of assistance.

Busy Time Of Year

Well this is a crazy time of year for a fishing guide, but the weather has been quite good so things have been looking up, lots of clients and best of all loads of fish.

Also lots of people coming for casting lessons from complete novices to people coming to improve their skills, it’s been a very good year so far with everyone picking it up really quickly, or it must be the quality of the instruction !!

We have also had some amazing weather sun, wind, hot, cold and surprisingly not that much rain, bar for the one day the river rocketed up and coloured but it didn’t actually rain where we were, as we walked up the river the Carno brook was ragging and just above where it flows into the Severn was still clear and on its bones.

One gentle man had flown 11.500 miles to fulfil another item off his bucket list and catch a grayling in Wales, and he did rather well ( more to follow on this )

 

Quick Walk In The Sunshine

Quick walk in the sunshine with the rod, to start with the fish really seemed thin on the ground, mind that might have been something to do with the cormorants that were about, I think I fished two runs before I started to find a few fish and the best bit the new nymph caught the lions share of the fish.

Bloody Technology !!

Well out for a play and about time really ( seem to be a full time downhill mountain mechanic rather than fishing guide the joys of being a parent) I had knocked up a couple of new patterns last night so I thought I would give them a swim and boy did they work well, better than my crazy mobile phone especially when I wonted to take a pic of the better fish it went all to cock and wouldn’t do a thing.

Mind had a good morning catching around 20+ grayling a single fantastically marked brown trout all in around three hours, but the best bit was being out in the fresh air enjoying a spot of fishing.

Low Clear Water

One super short outing fished one run before I was summoned home to sort child problems out, but it went well in a short slow clear run (lets hope it stays like that to )  seven grayling and two small trout, shame it all ended to soon.

At last

I went out quite early today around 8am, the river yesterday was chocolate brown but had dropped and cleared really quickly over night so all looked good, there was a gale force wind blowing down the river making bite detection a lot harder than normal so I most probably missed a few fish, but I did manage to catch two nice grayling one at 47cm and another of 44cm loads in the 35cm bracket and a shed load of trout.

The Best So Far.

                                                From pleasure fishing to guiding, waders have always been one of my biggest bug bears! All I personally ask of them is that they keep the water on the outside. I’ve had neoprene waders and nearly every make of breathable waders, some lasted just minutes, some lasted weeks and some lasted months, but my Orvis Sonic Seam waders have lasted the longest of any waders I have ever had, 3 years.  To some of you 3 years might not seem that long, but, bear in mind I’m most probably in my waders around 250+ days a year with guiding and pleasure fishing, walking miles on guided days from one client to another and they have performed brilliantly.  Unfortunately, today, I got that feeling in the crutch that every fisherman/fisherwoman has come to dread,  they had finally started to leak.  I must say a very big thank you to Orvis hope the next pair last as long.

 

 

 

What A Morning

Took a trip on the bike over to the Wye today as it had warmed up quite a lot, I have so much stuff to do at home I must admit I was in two minds, but it was really worth it, starting in the first run I fished for around ten minutes with not a touch and then it started it was almost a fish a cast, in two ish hours 30 + grayling and 7 trout, I fished new Zealand style with a KJ Olive nymph and my Orange and Violet nymph, I also had a fish come up to the dry but I didn’t hook it, I did see another 3 fish rise but I didn’t see any insect life in the air or on the water, most of the fish were under the pound mark, the biggest fish was an out of season brown trout around a pound and quarter.

Even managed to get home and get the decorating done before the wife got home from work.

Before The Wind & Rain

Well the wind and rain are on the way so I went and fished a few stretches of the river that I usually don’t go to, the run in the picture is very shallow and I have fished it many times with little success but I never say never, as I worked my way down the run it was dead, I have had small fish here but nothing very big, but then not a monster but a bigger than usual which was very pleasing, then another and another, for a change I caught around six nice fish just goes to show you should never ignore any water.