Whats in a Greenwells Glory and few thoughts on flies.

Ask a none fly angler to name a fly pattern and the chances are the name Greenwells Glory will be the one mentioned, it is certainly one of the oldest recognised patterns and yet its one that very few anglers I come across seem to carry.  Anglers now seem to want the newest trendy patterns and the older patterns seem to find little favour.  Personally along with the red tag family that I have previously mentioned the Greenwells is one of the ever present patterns that I carry,  along with the Kites imperial both tied in various sizes from a 12 to a 20 and with various shades of hackles will cover all the Olive family of flies. and a few others as well.
I am constantly mystified why anglers I meet have fly boxes stuffed with dozens of patterns and yet they only cover a couple of sizes which are nearly always 14s and 16s .  Personally I beleive that fly size and correct presentation is almost more important than the pattern. 

 I have given up wondering what the exact dressing Cannon Greenwell beleived was correct as every text you read seems to give a slightly different pattern.  However I tie a well waxed yellow thread body with a light gold rib and a few hackle fibres as a tail.  Hackles vary I will occasional go very light using a golden badger hackle but mainly though the colours I use are below...There is an Indian cape and a genetic neck and saddle cape

The Greenwell is one of the easiest of ties which suits me I like quick simple flies that I am happy cast into tight places and risk losing. Also I dont like using winged patterns.  I find winged flies lead to leader twist and offer no appreciable advantage over hackle only patterns. 

The fact is both the Greenwells and the Kites Imperial  in a range of sizes and hues and  tied on varied hook patterns tied sparse and full will I beleive provide more fish in the net than a load of patterns in a ltd range of sizes, They work very will tied parachute style as an emerger pattern as well.  I think It was said that Oliver Kite used his imperial pattern to the exclusion of all other dry patterns and he certainly knew a thing or two.  Give them both a go you wont regret it.....

First trip of the year blew away the cobwebs.

The cabin fever finally got to me today I found myself with the chance to go fishing for a couple of hours and even though the weather was ropey I was determined to get out there.The forecast was for more wet and stormy weather on the way.  So I decided to go,  I grabbed a 9ft 5wt,  my jacket,pulled on the waders grabbed my box with grayling flies and was  on the bank in less than 10 minutes.  Now the first thing that became apparent was that the wind seemed a hell of a lot stronger now I was down by the beck than it did in the garden.  In fact I was only fishing for a few minutes when there was a big crash as a rotten tree crashed to the floor taking several smaller ones with it. 

This stretch of beck runs west to east and the wind was funneling downstream and seemed to be getting stronger by the second...The swim I was fishing was getting bombarded by twigs and branches  and at times waves were lapping against me like on the beach a mile away.

The wind drove me downstream it was now getting difficult to cast and getting the leader to turnover even with a heavy nymph was impossible.  This stretch of beck holds quite a few grayling and a few chub which provide a welcome winter distraction when the trout are out of season.

So I went downstream to a stretch that should have been a litte more sheltered.  The extent of damage to the banks in this section is a worry The bank below used to have a 4ft wide path level with the base of the bushes now there was a virtually nothing left. All that has been caused by this winters spates.

These little fellows made me smile, first ones I have seen this year and where making the most of a sheltered sunny spot. Even though it was blowing a gale I couldnt help but come away with a smile knowing spring is coming.

About 50yds downstream you can see a nice pool opposite the trees on the left bank.  I fished pretty much every square yard of it with the nymphs but nothing at all stirred.  If I was fishing a strange water I would swear the river was empty but on the beck I know the fish are there there just holding fast and watching me struggle. So first trip of the year ended with not a sniff of a fish. But there will be more trips and in a couple of months we will have the new trout season and warmer weather , bring it on....

Signs that the season gets nearer

I was down by the beck again yesterday , The signs of spring are there for all to see.  Hazel catkins are flowering and here and there in the sheltered sunny spots the trees and bushes show sign of buds starting to swell.  I love to see the hazel catkins.  It is the first of natures signs that things are changing and the fact that my early morning commute from 7am till 8am across the vale of York now starts in the dark but now ends in the light. I count the days to it starting in the light.

   
The other sign that things are moving ahead is the arrival in the post of the request for subscriptions and the notifications of the annual general meetings of the various fishing clubs and syndicates I am in.  The first one is in a weeks time for my local beck. It is for me the most enjoyable of all the meetings I attend, whoever it was in the club who decided to combine the AGM with a fundraising raffle and a three course duck dinner was a person of rare vision.  It is always a belting night full of fishermans tales, food and the odd drink....

My fly tying is getting going now, My tying isnt great , My brain knows how to tie beautiful flies but the image in my brain never seems to match the fly in the vice, I think when God was dishing out hands he got me mixed up. I got the hands of a navvy, somewhere there is a navvy with the hands of a fly tyer . I hope one day he finds out. Last season I started to use CDC regularly. The F fly was truly designed for a man with navvies hands. Now I can even manage tying down to a 22 even a 24 however tying them on the tippet is altogether an other matter.   As the season gets nearer I feel more motivated to refill the fly boxes. After all there are now only fifty one and a half days to go.

Whats in a name

This blog has been going now for about 6 months, it started as an online diary without any prior planning. It was born out of a need to record my fishing, my thoughts and observations. I gave very little thought to the title and although my fishing is done mostly within North Yorkshire the Old title of " Fly fishing North Yorkshire" didnt really describe what the blog is about.  So after some more consideration I have decided to rename my blog "Becks and Brown trout"  After the North Yorkshire becks that I fish the most and the fish which is my favoured quarry .....I would have named it Becks, Brown trout and Grayling but I thought that was a little cumbersome.

Traditional Flies

Being a bit of a traditionalist, and when I say that I dont mean bound by tradition, I mean that I enjoy using tradtional flies because they work. I tend to use a farly ltd range of patterns but use them in a wide range of sizes.  The few fly patterns that I use are not to the exclusion of all others but certainly they are the ones I return to time and again....

First and foremost is the red tag and its varients the Sturdys fancy, Treacle parkin and Erics beetle  I have always used these flies, firstly as a teenager and remember thinking that the little coloured tag gave me a bit of confidence. Also because  this family of flies has very strong local associations on the rivers I fish  The Sturdys fancy is attributed to Tom Sturdy who was river keeper on the Ure,  The Erics beetle was created by Eric Horsfall Turner who fished the rivers and becks around Scarborough where he lived,  Includng my little beck you see so often on the blog.  Another fly similer to these is the the John Storey. Which unusually has an advance wing style but has the peacock herl body and was developed by a former river keeper on the Rye which I also fish.  The scruffy looking bunch are taken from my fly box and have all seen duty over the last season . 

I find  all these to be particularly effective early season for wild brownies and late season for grayling.  I use them in a range of sizes from 14 right down to a size 20.  I also find when tied with a palmered hackle they make great pocket water fly , particularly the John Storey the advance wing gives wonderful visibility...

Winter I really have had enough of it now...

Was out down the beck yesterday and visited the bottom end , thats the last 3/4 mile beck before it discharges into the sea.  .  At this time of year I am even more of a grumpy old git than I am normally. At the end of the trout season I am optimistic about the grayling season and that usually keeps me nearly happy till christmas. However the fishing is poor the water levels are up and the recent icy temperatures  have put the fish down so I am not a happy man.  Its still nearly three months to the start of the season.  I have spent any spare cash on some new gear and the weathers crap.

Its the first time I have been down to this section of beck since the the freeze set in during November.  Thats for a couple of reasons , this section doesnt hold any Grayling and in the icy weather the very steep wooded sides are downright dangerous to walk on.   I went for a change of scenery to cheer me up. But sadly the day started on a black note Ruby sniffed out the remains of an Otter in the hedge bottom at the side of the road , obviously a road kill victim . Such a shame and I can only hope its place is soon taken by a new resident.  I know the otter takes a fair few trout but cant help feeling that the loss of a few fish is a fair price for the presence of such a lovely creature.

This is  the prettiest and most interesting section of the beck it drops dozens of  feet in less than a mile, this means several weirs and a few hundred yards of rapids and smaller falls. It makes for fascinating fishing and is quite different to any other stream for many many miles.  Whilst I am on I make no apology for the use of imperial measurements .  Trout streams should be measured in miles yards and feet not bloody meters  , much as beer should always be measured in pints and tobacco in ounces . There is and always should be a natural order to such things .  The day a 9ft 5wt becomes a 2.744 m 5wt  will be a bad day for us all.  I am imperial I think in imperial and will stay in imperial and intend to be buried 6ft deep in an imperial coffin.

Well as its a fishing blog I guess I should stop belly aching and show you some nice photos

The pictures above and below show a length that is a delightful stretch to fish in the spring , the tail of the rapids is a lovely long glide that always holds a few trout. This is a lovely stretch to fish on very early on a summers morning .

In the spring the banks above are thick with wild Garlic when the air is still the valley is full of the smell . It can be almost overpowering .  This little valley is right on the edge of town but has badgers ,foxes and loads of deer.

One of us seemed to be enjoying the river.  What is about water and labradors that makes them inseperable.

The picture above is the largest weir on the river its proobably about a 15 to 20 ft drop.  Today it was really bowling through. In the summer in can be the merest trickle.  This weir pool holds good trout and even a few perch.  For a last pic heres Ruby chewing on, for her a very small stick.

Sorry for such a down beat post. I really dislike the winter its to dark to cold and I cant fish. So I am going to go now and try to think of something cheerful to post next time.

A Winters day reflection

My local beck is a very short walk from my house. In fact I visit it several times every week. I have been a visitor to its banks for 45 years, first as a child playing and now as an angler and more often a walker. At this time of year its fascinating to watch the changes on the river, to see the new swims and pools been created by the winter spates. The winter spates mean the rivers are cleaned and left refreshed for the spring. New features are created and the detritus of a long hot summer is washed away.


I was out walking by the beck a couple of days ago.. The recent spate has washed out a couple of bankside root stumps into the deeper pools. Although this doesnt help us anglers the sunken tangle will provide much needed cover to protect the fish from the marauding cormorants and the like. I despair on some work parties on the various clubs I am in. There seems to be a misguided obsession in removing every bit of bank side herbage and every sunken branch. Personally I love to see a nice scruffy river with some nice tangled corners and sunken snags. After all the invertebrates and fry need somewhere to live

Strange even when your not fishing being on the bank can make you reflect on things . So much has changed in the last few decades the river banks now are covered with Himalayan Balsam and that hideous giant hogweed. Both plants that were unknown a few years ago. We now have Roe deer, mink and squirrels a plenty, Otters have recolonised and are seen from time to time. Other things have gone, the massive runs of elvers that turned the beck black have gone I haven’t seen one for years. The water voles have gone the mink have wiped those out. Sadly few of the changes brought about by man have been positive.

The winter months mean I spend more times just watching the water than fishing and its at these times I seem to learn even more about the beck. Perhaps its because I am more aware of the surroundings and not concentrating on that tiny dry or the disappearing tippet. It is fascinating to see the trout and sea trout cutting redds and note with satisfaction the Grayling population are surviving even though they are less frequent than ever.

When the summer does come around again I shall once again be fishing more frequently My angling trips there are often short in duration a couple of early morning hours , perhaps a night time sea trout sortie. Often a late last hour of daylight, the fish are not large and the fishing at times is hard and you need to avoid the kids and holidaymakers but when the trips occur I am  visiting a constant companion and maintaining a lifelong friendship not just fishing in a small northern beck.