Interesting Day

Had a call from Paul who said he had been fishing for 2 years and only caught 4 fish, well I thought to myself that I should be able to sort that out no problem at all, so we meet up had a good talk about his fishing and he said he really struggled with nymphing so we started with that, the main key things to think of are presentation and bite detection, I set him up with 3 nymphs and away we went with in around ten casts he had caught a fish and lost one and this was just the practise area and not the part of the water I thought would hold more fish.

It seemed a little strange as the better looking water was a lot quitter than the practise area, I thought something was not quite right, so I thought I would increase the weight of the point fly and bingo the fish started coming thick and fast both trout and grayling coming mainly to the point fly and the middle dropper.

We stopped for a short while for some lunch, while we sat there I could see a few fish moving on the top so I asked Paul if he fancied learning about down stream dry fly fishing, he hadn’t ever heard of fishing a dry down stream he thought you can only fish a dry up stream on a tight line, I explained that the advantage with a down stream dry is the first thing the fish sees is the fly.

We spent the last hour of the day fishing a dry and Paul caught another 3-4 fish so all in all he had caught in one session  one hell of a lot more fish than he had caught in the last 2 years, he had also caught on a rod that he had never caught a fish on before, so lots of fish caught and also lots of fishing techniques learned.

Another lovely Day

Bill gave me a call asking if I could teach him nymphing techniques, Bill hadn’t fished with more that two flies before so we had to alter that, over the years I have developed a nymphing method that is super simple to pick up and usually always catches fish, so leader made three nymphs tied on and away we went with in ten minutes Bill had a small grayling, then another two grayling, things were looking as it might be a good day, as we moved down the run bill tossed the flies behind a over hanging bush and bang a cracker of a grayling but it came un buttoned, but as a consolation prize around ten casts latter a lovely out of season trout was leaping out of the water, Bill kept working his way down the run picking up fish and then the wind got up a little and the sun disappeared behind the clouds the temp dropped like a stone and the fish seemed to vanish so we decided to have some lunch and have a re think.

After lunch I took Bill further up stream to a shallower/faster run and a amazing run it was five large grayling hooked, few smaller ones and another cracking trout, the wind had dropped and the sun was back out the fish only seemed to switch on with the sunshine as soon as it clouded over then stopped feeding, so we tried one more run Bill caught a couple of quite small grayling and all went quiet so we called it a day, I asked Bill well how many fish have you caught today and in a good way he hadn’t got a clue as he had lost count.

Seeing Double

Oli came for a days fishing on the rivers of Wales, it was a bit of a deja vu moment as the week before I had Toby Oli’s identical twin fishing with me, also with Oli was his wife Joanie who had never picked up a fly rod, so the day started off going through the basics of casting while Oli fished on his own, which for the first part of the day wasn’t going to well, once Joanie started fishing I could give Oli some attention there was next to nothing moving on the surface so I thought my choice of nymph fishing was the way to go but watching Oli fish there wasn’t anything I could see he was really doing wrong, so I thought it was time for a change so we tried a dry caddis I wasn’t really 100% sure if it would work but they certainly didn’t want a nymph, three cast later a fish came up and smashed the caddis, then another and the grayling wanted to play as well, nothing really rising but the good old caddis never seems to fail.

Toby Oli’s Twin

 

Day Two

Day two with Toby and Gabe went well, a lot more fish caught and the fish caught were bigger to, again fish taking dries were few and far between but they really were getting there fill on nymphs.

Toby caught this lean browny but with a spade of a tail, he caught this fish in a lovely spot right underneath an over hanging tree, drifted the nymph in and bang straight away the fiish took the nymph as always it’s all about presentation.

The grayling were also loving the nymphs as well, I’m not sure how many fish came to the net as I lost count but another good day was had by all.

 

No Golden Gates !!

Toby and Gabe from San Francisco out on the river today, not quite the weather they are used to but not bad for Wales ( only a tiny bit of rain today )but the fishing was better than the weather with fish coming to both of them Toby was top rod with double figures to the net a quite a lot more long distance catch and release !

They are both back out tomorrow for another go so more to come.

 

Hard Day At The Office !!

Yet again the rain comes down to make my life harder and for the clients not such a nice time, Michael turned up and it was pouring down and by the look of the river gauge it had been raining most of the night, the river was dropping but the way the rain was coming down I didn’t think it was going to be dropping for very long, so we had a chat about what we were going to do and Michael said let’s go for it.

So I took him way up stream looking for clear water but we didn’t find any so deep and heavy sort of day it was going to be, it was very slow fishing to say the least but perseverance was the key and we kept plugging away and finally all the effort payed with a nice brown thrashing away in a fast flowing river, sadly all my fears were confirmed the river was on its way back up, we had a some lunch and moved on down stream to what usually is a slow moving run, but today it certainly wasn’t Michael fished the edge of the fast water and another three browns were hooked two small ones and another half decent one.

The fly of the day was something that I thought I would never use, it was given to me last year or even the year before and been sat in my box, so thank you KJ for the squirmy worm, I think in conditions like this it might be close to matching the hatch in a fast flowing very coloured river.

 

Were Never Happy !

Another day on the rivers of Wales the high water has gone and now we have next to no water, as has been said before were never happy are we the main thing is lovely sunshine hatching insects and loads of fish, the river is 1cm from being the lowest it’s been on the EA’s web site gauge, so the river is really low and super clear so presentation is key, fishing at a little more range super fine tippet and of course good casting, the set up is going to be trio  dwo/ldo klink and two size 18 nymphs and 3lb tippet which worked exceptionally well for Drew with a mix of 15 trout and grayling coming to the net a few low impact catch and releases ( came off ) as well.

More Guiding More Bad Weather

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Day out with Bob fishing was good weather was poor, at the start of the day  thought it was going to be a very poor day as the river was coming up loads of debris coming down and very little fly life, it was a slow start till lunch time then things picked up fish on both dries and nymphs to be fair neither Bob or my self had any idea on how many fish he caught but grayling to just over a pound and trout to a pound and a half, with one trout a bit of a lump that unfortunately snapped Bobs leader.

A Little Bit Chilly Today

Well to day started off a little on the chilly side, minus one with a bit of breeze blowing so what the actual temp was I have no idea, but it was safe to say it was cold.

Today I was showing Tony winter nymphing techniques, Tony told me how he was struggling with longer rods and when fishing weighted nymphs how they keep snaging the bottom all the time, as the river had now dropped to a summer level I thought we would use a French setup with a sliding braid indicator and three nymphs, showing Tony how to fish this technique by tossing the nymphs approx. forty five degrees up stream and keeping the nymphs moving at the pace of the water to give them good presentation and if the nymphs snagged the bottom how to help them through there drift by slightly leading them, which helps to stop the snagging every cast, so after a quick demo it was over to Tony ( I have taken Tony out fishing many times and he is a good fisherman and quick learner )his casting was spot on and the drift through was working well and with the slight leading of the flies Tony notices straight away the lack of snags/false bites from the bottom but after around ten minutes he did have a bite and not of a snag a lovely looking grayling which stayed on for around ten seconds and then it came off, but shortly afterward Tony was into another fish this time it stayed on and a nice fish around 2 lbs, then another this time a out of season brown trout and with in ten casts another trout, for a rather cold windy day Tony was having quite a good day I think six fish landed and two fish lost.

What Tony Thought Of His Lesson.

Had a great coaching session today on nymphing with a long French leader. Whilst I’ve fly fished for many years, Andrew has always been able to help me to both brush up my fishing techniques and learn new ones with his patience and good humour. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Andrew’s services to a newcomer to fly fishing or the more experienced angler who would like to improve their skills. Tony

Do Unto Others What You Would Have Done To You !!

While out guiding or giving casting lessons people always ask about the etiquette of fly fishing, reading the summary below that was posted on a Orvis web site seems to sum it up quite well to me.

The rules of streamside behavior are few and easily observed. Mostly they revolve around common sense, courtesy, and consideration of others sharing the stream.

• A section of water belongs to the first fisherman fishing it. It is inconsiderate to crowd him and just how close an approach is permissible is an obvious variable.
• A slow-moving or stationary fisherman has every right to remain just where he is. If you are moving, leave the water and walk around him, being certain not to disturb his fishing or the water he might be working. In a similar vein, a fisherman may be resting a pool or planning his next move. It is still his water, and you should not jump in without his permission.
• A fisherman working in an upstream direction has the right of way over someone coming downstream. Wading upstream against the current forces you to move slowly, cover less water, and you are approaching the fish from behind. The fisherman working in a downstream direction covers more water, more quickly, and has the potential to disturb more water. For instance, careless wading could send silt or debris washing downstream to alarm fish that someone else is working over.
• Many streams flow through private property. Recognize that access is a privilege, not a right. Respect private property. If unsure about access, ask the landowner politely. On farm properties: don’t trample crops, disturb livestock, or leave gates open.
• Leave no litter at streamside. In fact, get in the habit of picking up discarded monofilament, cans and other trash, carrying them out to be discarded properly.
• Recognize that skilled anglers and/or heavy fishing pressure with excessively liberal limits can greatly reduce the available fish populations in any stream section unless voluntary restraint is practiced. A legal limit is not a quota. Let your fishing motto be: “Limit your kill; don’t kill your limit.” Orvis encourages the catch-and-release philosophy of angling, allowing fish to mature, reproduce, and live to challenge other anglers in the future.
• Multiple recreational use of streams is common. We may share the resource with tubes and canoes. It is the responsibility of the canoer to recognize that the angler has established a position before the canoe floated into view. The canoer should try to pass behind the angler. If space doesn’t permit this, the canoer should float by quietly and with minimum disturbance.

In summary, behave on stream towards other anglers as you would like them to behave towards you. . .and welcome to the world of fly fishing.