Interesting Afternoon.

Quite an interesting afternoon guiding Rae Borras of the Compleat Angler series that was on Discovery a few years ago. It was down to me to guide him on the upper Severn for Fishing TV, always a little daunting when there are two film cameras on you, it usually spells the kiss of death to the catching side of fishing. After nearly a two hour delay with a puncture we had rather a late start to the day which just added to my stress levels!

As we walked up the river there weren’t any fish moving, so I thought that was it! The first run we tried was a little slow, even though it is usually a bit of a banker for catching a few fish, so on to the next one and Rae caught a small brown right under the grass on the river bank. As the run got deeper I saw a fish move to take his nymph but Rae was just lifting off the water, so close but no cigar. Three or four more casts and it was fish on, it was a nice brown, around three quarters to a pound in weight.  The cream on the cake was the film crew was flying a drone over us for  a different angle of shot and bingo, a better fish came up and took the dry and the whole fight was caught on the drones camera.  I think that will be something to watch hopefully when the filming is all edited and put together.

Mixed Weather But Great Results.

Well today was another mixed weather day sunshine wind, rain a good Welsh mix, today I had Chris with me a coarse angler wanting to learn the gentle art of fly fishing, to be fair Chris was a joy to teach picking everything up really quickly, roll cast, off both shoulders, overhead cast, shooting line and false casting it all came very easily to him, we spent a couple of hours at the casting, then a spot of lunch and onto the fishing I showed Chris a basic nymphing tactic and away we went a little bit of practise in a shallow run to get used to what he had to do the Chris moved down into slightly deeper water and the fish started to come first a couple of grayling, then a nice trout around three quarters of a pound, on the next cast a lovely grayling but it came off but luckily Chris got a good look at it, as we slowly moved down  the run it seemed fish after fish several trout around the pound mark so well worth putting up with the odd rain shower.

Couple Of Days With Jack

A couple of days out with Jack from Nottingham, first time fishing in Wales and things worked well despite the poor weather.

Few words from Jack.

“Many thanks for a great day yesterday. Learning upstream and downstream nymphing with tiny nymphs, catching (and missing) beautiful wild browns to about 1 1/4 lb and grayling of the same size in lovely surroundings made for a wonderful day”

 

More to follow when I have 5minutes

The Sun’s Out

I had the Hassel family come for a fish on the river with me, father and his two sons days like this are always special to me as I used to love the days I spent fishing with my farther and brothers, for a change it was quite a nice day a little breezy but warm sunshine and blue skies, one fly in the ointment is the river is supper low and clear but a lot nicer than the gales and freezing cold weather of late, so presentation would be key for success.

The day started of with a little casting practise so they could get back in the swing of things as they hadn’t fished in a while and then onto some fishing, I set them all up in a similar way but all slightly different, all on nymphs one on duo, one on just two nymphs and the last one on a French style of nymphing, to be fair everyone caught fish if some of them were a little small side, the best fish caught was a grayling in some really fast water which weighed around a pound.

Some clients who come and spend a day with me have some really nice toys, I think this was no exception.

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.

That Time Of Year

Popped out for a morning looking for grayling or so I thought, started of bright and still quite a nice day for October, as the river is so low and clear I thought I would go with trio on quite fine tippet of around 3lb and two size 16 nymphs, after around 10 minutes and nice little trout came to hand, not what I was looking for but a fish, as I worked my way up the run the grayling started to come and a few nice fish.

After around an hour the wind started to get up and it was amazing how the leaves were just clinging on to the trees the wind was just enough to dislodge them and down they came on mass, now usually after one hour of my own fishing and this happened I wouldn’t be happy, catching leaf after leaf, tried a dry and half the time it would be sitting on top of a leaf, but after the last couple of weeks visiting my farther in ICU having your fishing spoiled doesn’t seem that important, mind this week he is talking a little so I’m a lot happier and there will plenty of other fishing days.

Stress Relief

Not been the nicest of weeks loads of stress, sitting and thinking, so today I thought I have to spend an hour or two to my self and chill out a bit, the sun was shinning, very little wind and quite warm, so off I went to have a little fish just for myself, to be fair someone was definitely on my side, first cast a lovely trout on a nymph, three cast later and bigger trout, in the next twenty casts another four small grayling and a very small trout so my mind was fixed on my fishing, as I moved down the run fish were starting to move on the top but I carried on with my nymphs and picked up a mix of grayling and trout, time for a change I put on a size 18 olive dry as there are small BWO fluttering about and worked my way back up the same run to see what I could pick off, this time it was all grayling and no out off season trout and to be fair better fish, not big but bigger than the fish I had caught on the nymphs.

Well pleased with my couple of hours and my head a little calmer and clearer so back home and back to the grind.

A Big Thank You To Big Scrim

A very big thank you to Tony for a very special day on the Dee, the forecast was very poor after the last week of lovely sunshine, but to be fair it wasn’t as bad as they said a little rain and strong winds, the first run looked amazing for nymphs but to both our surprises next to nothing, I had two touches and one fish on and almost straight back off, the run was quite fast and the odd fish rising here and there, so  as they say “I went back to the beginning” the odd blue winged olive fluttered in the air but as the water was so fast and broken I thought a small bwo pattern would keep sinking to quickly, so I tried a size 16 sedge pattern and bingo straight away a nice grayling, couple of cast and another and another if you spotted a rise in the fast water and placed the sedge three or four foot above it you were into a fish, quite amazing how you could run three nymphs through the run and next to nothing the fish only had eyes for the surface.

Things seemed a little quieter so time for a move, this time a long quite shallow glide with the odd fish moving, I still had the sedge on so why not try it again and the same result but still all grayling and no trout, it still kept going through my head that there should be some big fish sitting deeper in  the pools, so back to nymphs and see what I could do and to be honest not a lot three trout and nothing of size, try as I might the only way today was on the top, not a bad way to spend a day mainly fishing dries in October.

More Firsts

Another day of first, I took Andrew out for his first ever days fly fishing, yet again the weather was a little mixed wind, rain, and rather cool as it was a southerly, I went through the usual the law in fishing, safety, rods, reels, lines, leaders, tippet, knots, then on to the basic casts, roll and over head, Andrew picked up the roll cast instantly and off both shoulders which was brilliant and making my day very simple, so on to the overhead  this took a little longer to get going but every thing fell into place.

After a break for lunch it was time for the fishing, the river had dropped dramatically from Sundays torrential rains it still had a slight tinge of colour but looking good, nothing was rising so on with a couple of nymphs quick demo and Andrew was off and running, within a handful of casts Andrew was into a fantastic grayling, unfortunately as he had never fly fished before he lowered the rod and pointed it straight at the fish and it was gone, never mind it was a good start to the day, Andrew missed a few more fish and then he had another good fish on, trying to explain how and what to do as calmly as I could ( when rather excited ) all went to plan and Andrew landed his first ever fly caught fish, a fantastic brown trout ( as you can tell from Andrew’s picture he was rather pleased ) As we carried on Andrew landed another two grayling and missed and lost several more fish but a great start to his fly fishing future.

Three Generations

Today was one of those days I really enjoy, when you have three generations of a family out together on the river, it must be fantastic over time for them to look back at the day they had together, dad, son and grandson all out enjoying them selves and all having firsts Dad caught his first ever grayling and a nice fish of around a pound and half, son and grandson both catching there first ever fly caught fish.

One down side from me was I forgot to take any pictures !

What the Howe’s thought of there day out.

It was great, they both enjoyed it and so did I, but it came as a shock to find how unfit I am! Fishermen can lie with the best but I was knackered.

Beautiful countryside, superb river and an excellent teacher.

Many thanks

Keith Howe