A Bit Of A Suprise

Went out for an hour at dinner time, there was supposed to be a lot of rain over Wales today but it had just been drizzling, so I thought I would have a go and see if I could find a big grayling, as I arrived at the river it was still slightly coloured not perfect but worth a go, in the first run I caught 4 grayling and 3 trout and by the look of it the river was getting more coloured, moving down to the next run it had a nice fast flow into a deeper glide, at the top of the run there were quite a few grayling, but as the water got deeper the takes seemed to dry up, watching the indicator on the French nymphing leader it very slowly stopped/stuttered, I lifted to the rod tip up and you could feel a dogged  throbbing, this felt like a really good grayling and staying deep for quite some time I would have sworn it was a grayling then all hell broke loose, it took quite sometime before I even saw what I had on the end of my line, it had taken the black jig on the point and 3.5 lb tippet so I was suprised it was still on, as I got the fish to me I thought I could just slip the hook out and let him go, then he rolled several times and tangled the droppers around his head, a couple of more runs and I manged to get him in my net and un tangle the mess from around his head, quick pic and back in the river, he swam off really quickly and strongly, I don’t think I was playing the fish very long but the river had coloured quite badly, I did carry on for about twenty minutes but the river had died and I didn’t have another touch.

Well The Summer Is Over, Before It Even Started

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The summer holidays are all over for my little boy, back to school tomorrow, so I asked him what he would like to do on his last day, for me the reply was music to my ears ” fishing ” he said, well the sun was shinning, it was lovely and warm and very rare for this summer as it has been rain and more rain , so off we went down the river for a few hours, he started of on dries with no real joy, so we moved to a faster run and I tackled him up with two nymphs, as he flicked them upstream and let them swing past him and down stream he shouted a fish just touched his fly, on the next cast he said another fish has had a go, he will tell me anything so I thought he might be just winding me up, but the very next cast he was into a nice grayling, he played it really well and I netted it for him, quick picture and it was on its way, handful of casts latter and another grayling came to the net, in around two hours he caught three grayling and a small trout, I was really pleased to see him getting a lot better at his fishing he is starting to sort his own tangles out and also unhook some of his own fish.

Well his rod will be away untill the weekend and time to get his head into his school books, that’s not going to go down well as he is a real outdoors boy.

10′ Guideline Fario 3#

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I have for many years read and spoke to people about different actions of fly rods and their characteristics while fishing and casting, I have always like tip action rods and you hear a lot about loosing fish with a tip action rod, I loose fish the same as any one else, but is it down to the rod, one client I took out regularly was obsessed by it all, swapping and changing rods, messing around with different hooks and ideas etc.
As I always fished with tip action rods I thought I would give a softer actioned rod a go, Guideline Sweden offered me a Fario 10′ 3# to test for them, when it turned up first impressions were very good, nice alloy rod tube and rod sock, the rod it’s self is very impressive, lovely cork handle a lot better than some rods twice the price, with a birds eye maple reel seat ( well I think, not all that clued up on my wood ! ) The olive colour of the rod blank is very nice, I’m not a fan of some of these stranger coloured rod blanks, silvers and golds etc, all in all the rod looked very good, testing the action of the Fario next to my Helios it certainly does have more of a progressive action, a real progressive bend, threading a line through it and a bit of practise casting, it performed really well roll cast and over head no problems, so onto some fishing you could feel it wasn’t to happy if you used nymphs with to much weight in them, but as long as you fished on the lighter side duo French nymphing and dry fly it was spot on. The first fish I caught was a grayling around 1 1/4 lbs, it did take me by surprise a little as the rod bent double, well it looked it compared to my tip actioned rods I caught quite a few fish in a short period, and on this occasion not one dropped of the hook, perhaps there is something in these softer rods, several outings latter and a lot of fish caught and a few lost. I wasn’t so sure, the best fish I have caught on this rod is a 50cm grayling on the river Dee, the rod handled the fish well, Tony who was fishing with me made two comments ” he had never seen a rod bend that much before but he had never seen a grayling that big before as well “.
I do think it is more of a case of how the fish takes the fly, to how good the hook hold is, but at the end of the day everything that works to your advantage is for the better, quality hooks, strong thin diameter tippet and some lady luck.

What Guideline say about the Fario rods.

CLASSIC ELEGANCE FOR THE TROUT FISHERMAN!
Are you aware that “fario” means trout? Fario is the Latin word for trout that live in rivers and streams, Salmo trutta fario, if we are to be precise. Our new Fario Trout Series are produced with deep, stable and strong actions, aimed at the serious trout angler. These are rods that will handle big fish without sacrificing feeling and delicacy. So important when fishing with thin tippets for selective trophy trout. The deep, yet very precise action in these rods will appeal to both intermediate and expert fly casters and anglers. They will handle long lifts, Spey casts, delicate presentations or distance casts with equal ease. We believe they will become many an angler’s “best friend” in the next years. Fario expresses classic elegance and style with tasteful, subtle coloring and finish, with attention to the small details to lift it just that little bit above the rest.

The Fario Experience
A nice deep Medium Fast action, supported by a strong, precise tip.
Enough power for long casts, yet sensitive and subtle for “in-close” fishing.

Actions absorb those first hard to control moves and sudden explosions of big fish hooked at a short to medium distance.

Short to mid range fishing is supported by the deeper, immediate reaction of the whole rod during casting.

These rods will generate a high line speed and with the stronger upper section, tailing loop problems are reduced.

The deep load into the butt section makes for easy Spey and roll casts even in the lighter line weights and shorter lengths.

FARIO DETAILS
High gloss olive colored blanks.
Burgundy wrappings with metallic copper trim.
Reel seats with burled wood insert and laser engraved Mayfly on the butt cap.
Beautiful, high quality reversed half wells cork grips with dark cork ring inserts.
Classic hard chrome light weight snake guides.
Exclusive powder coated Fario aluminum rod tube with logo and engraved mayfly. Each rod is packed in tasteful canvas rod bag.
Alignment dots and rod ID markings on each rod section.

Fly Fishing Wales With Andrew Cartwright

Situated in the upper river Severn valley at Caersws. I have been fly fishing for about 40 years. I am passionate about trout and grayling fishing in the rivers of Wales, also the conservation and well-being of the rivers and lakes of Wales.

I would like to share my passion for angling by teaching both children and adults in all forms of fly casting, tying, game angling, spinning and bait casting. Fly fishing for over 30 years I have met some fascination people and learnt a lot from other anglers, my aim is to pass on as much of the information I have learnt to help get you catching or casting further.

I am….

• A licensed and qualified fly casting instructor.
• First Aider.
• Certified in child protection.
• A member of the Game Angling Instructors Association ( GAIA)
• A member of the Salmon & Trout Association.
• A member of the Grayling Society.
• A fly casting instructor and guide for the Wye & Usk Foundation.
• Guided for the Wild Trout Trust.
• You can find me listed in the directory of instructors at Fishtec the online fly fishing retailer.

Scroll down to view new blog posts