Tiny flies and Brown trout

I had a short trip to the Yorkshire Dove yesterday ,  the river was still reasonably fresh following the recent rains and although at a typical low summer level it was carrying a tinge of colour.  There were few signs of fish rising other than the the tiny fish that were in the fast shallow runs.  The best tactic I have found when the river is slow and there are few rising fish to target is to use a small CDC F fly either a 18 or 20 . This general pattern seems always able to winkle out the odd fish when cast to the holding places and in to likely lies.  Either that or a Nymph into the deeper pools.  Today it was the F Fly approach .

Today three hours fishing resulted in 3 trout it was hard going .  Two were about 4oz apeice the third was this beauty that was sipping something tiny from the edge of the reeds on a slow glide.  It gave a very good account of itself with that paddle of a tail. The fly was a size 20 on a 2lb point.

After witnessing a kick sampling session on the river recently and viewing the results the comment was passed that generally we all fish with flies that are way to large, this after seeing the average size of the nymphs and resultant olives that hatched in the sampling tray afterwards .  A size 20 cdc is about as close a match as you can get.  perhaps the trout dont care , but my view is that sometimes they do and sometimes its essential .  I think that strict imitative patterns are ok but generally what really matters is size and presentation.  So often I see anglers on the river with boxes of different patterns but only in size 14 and maybe 16 , perhaps its because that is what the shops sell.  Who knows?  but I probably use less than a dozen patterns for 95% of my fishing but I will have sizes right down to a 20 , I would have 22s as well but my eyes arent up to the job. I am convinced that fishing flies and nymphs down to a size 20 dramatically increases my catches...

The Dove carrying a little extra colour.....

Autumn is on the way the Grayling are here

Surely the Grayling is amongst the most impressive of our fishes. The grace and colours make the description " the lady of the stream"  richly deserved. It is my favourite fish.

The Ure has now reurned to a sensible level and colour after weeks of extremely low water thanks to  the spates of a couple of weeks ago the river is now at a nicely fishable level.  In the pic below A couple of weeks ago the stones were dry out past the overhanging tree now we are showing a river at a healthy level..  The water now has a deep brown colour but not cloudy.Just like a good strong beer.   

The grayling are in the faster runs but fishing with a dry klinkhammer was difficult the water was so turbulent keeping sight of the fly was a problem . I had to resort to a klink with a bright red foam post.  Not a fly I would pick naturally but given the circumstances,,,

There were were many Olives hatching . You would describe it as a heavy hatch. but surprisingly hardly a fish was seen rising.  I fished a klinkhammer into the faster runs the result was four grayling three of which were of the " three to a pound" variety the fourth a better male fish pictured here.  Not a big fish but a good fish none the less on a day when fish were hard to win.  I didnt see a trout rise all day.

The foam post klink. Not a subtle fly but  workman like and now well chewed .  The Grayling at least seem to enjoy it.  Great for fishing the duo but also good for just staying afloat.  However I muct improve my tying as from time to time the fly was stuck on its side in the surface film,  a position when its not going to fool anything...

The wheat fields shows that Autumn is on the way.  Much as I hate the winter the months of Sept and Oct can bring such great fishing ,  a late sea trout run and the Grayling fishing can make a stunning end to another year.

Mixed fortunes Some Trout and a few Grayling

Its been a while since my last post July is a month of mixed feelings and due to my desire to get out fishing as often as possible and a busy time at work and at home my blog has got badly neglected.  July saw plenty of fishing for me.  In fact I think I visited nearly all the rivers I fish. Its been a month of very low waters when the better visits followed straight on the heels of any rain that we had.  Or visits were at the very end of the day when the fish were moving into the faster shallow riffles where oxygen levels were a little higher.  Fly hatches have been very meagre at odds with this time last year.  The stone flies and Olives are the only flies that have put in much of an appearance

There have been plenty of wild browns to be caught this year,  the stocked fish seem to have cleared of into the depths of the deep pools.  Where they have been safe from me as I have fished dries pretty much exclusively apart from a couple of trips where I flirted briefly with spiders.  But the faster deep runs were so short of water the fish had slunk of downstream into the deeper slower runs.  I do fish Nymphs but not often not  because of any dry fly snobbery but I just find something intensely satisying about seeing that rise and take.  Saying that I need to improve my river nymphing skills and especially czech nymphing for the ladies.

I have caught many bonny fish this last  month from all the rivers .  The only thing thats now missing for the year is a sea trout. The local river has been deadly low and any storms seemed to have missed its tiny catchment. We want a few days of rain now. and plenty of it.

One this is certain there is a healthy population of trout at the moment evrything from adults to parr seems to want to be in on the act.

The last month have seen the grayling moving into the faster waters and taking the Klinkhammer with eagerness.  I havent connected with anything decent yet but there are lots of fish there.  I love the grayling I think they are my favourite fish .

I have been experimenting this year fishing the duo after watching it put to effective use one day.  So I have been tying some klinks with a foam post impressive results so far.  The foam post seems to make em damn near unsinkable, and the right colour makes them nice  and visible in the fatser water.

Even the tiniest of Grayling have been taking the dries this month.  I am hoping that the next few months brings me some of their older relatives..

North Country Spiders soft hackled flies

Firstly apologies for the lack of posts of late.  I have been concentrating on fishing and havent had the time to write about it.  As you may know this year has seen me fishing the Ure, a river that has required me to try spider fishing for the first time in earnest.  Although I have fly fished Northern rivers for 40 years the rivers and becks I have fished require dry fly and the upstream nymph.  The tumbling runs that make the soft hackled flies come to life barely exist in the becks and rivers of the vale of York.

I have read and read again Stewarts Practical angler and Edmonds and Lee.  Patterns have been tied and Sunday saw my first excursion to the river.  In addition to the above books I have watched the DVDs by Ollie Edwards and John Tyzack,  My first team of three was top dropper the Partridge and orange dressed with a the tinsel rib then a waterhen bloa and on the point an Endrick spider tied with a bead head as per John Tyzack.  Now I had watched the DVDs and had seen the Escalator and the downstream and down and across methods watched the reach catch and the wet reach , using the upstream mend or not, surely fishing the spider is simple?.

My first approach in to the shallow water as I waded towards the deeper run.  As I drew back the slack line in preparation for the first cast in earnest a take!.  The tiniest of trout it must have been at least two ounces it had taken n water less than 12 inches deep.   In the first run  down the stream.  I had another three browns and 2 grayling all taking the waterhen bloa,  It is a lovely visual method watching the minicon at the end of the fly line.  It is not at all as I had once imagined a dreary cast and retrieve style.  Takes showed clearly in the tea stained water.

I shall now add to my armoury of patterns there seems to be an almost limitless number of patterns. I have supplemented my favourite book of fly dressing " River Trout flies" by John Roberts with a copy of " A guide to North Country flies" by the Rochadale cowboy himself Mike Harding and after a few suitable purchases of bits of snipe , partridge and woodcock I am suitably prepared and will give you updates on how I get on ......

No water in the river but showers a plenty

Its been a week a good week since my last update,  I have had a few great trips but due to circumstances not as many as I would have liked. I had a day on the Ure with Peter ( he of the walks and fishes blog) We both caught fish and the weather was kind to us,  There was even a chance to sample some of Theakstons finest...

Peter left before the evening rise but in that time demonstrated to me that I really must start to fish the Duo .   So when I had the kelly kettle brewing a cuppa and was eating my butties I set up the 4 wt and thought I would give the duo rig a blast... So a tiny size 18 PTN on the point and a size 14 klink on a dropper .  Second cast with the rig and a take.  My goodness this is easy me thinks only to reel in a Tommy Ruffe. It had taken the Nymph. It escaped from my hand before the photo opportunity.... It must be 25 years since I have caught one of those cheeky little blighters,  The river was again very low but still great fishing with plenty of fish rising,

In the evening the breeze dropped and the river was flat , but there are plenty of streamy areas for the fish to rise in,

The evening progressed well though and I ended with some good fish that were rising to the blackest little sedges I have ever seen.. Must make up a better pattern for them.

I have visited my local rivers in the past week and once again been blessed with heavy showers I got rained of the river and driven back to my car by one so I sat it out whilst reading one of my favourite mags which luckily I had bought that day.  As is often the case when the rivers are low afterwards the shower breathed a little welcome life into the stream and magically fish started to rise in the streamy water. Although concentration was needed to identify rises in amongst the raindrops. 

The fish are still being fooled by the mayfly pattern but after the rain I fished with an Erics beetle fished damp. That is floating but in the surface not on it, fished like that it can be deadly,its a fly I find great after a rainstorm as it could represent just about any drowned bug that gets knocked into the river.  I fished one shallow run under the trees and although I was only 6 yds downstream and the water was clear and 12 inches deep I could only see the rises the fish remained invisible , it makes you wonder how often you walk past fish even when you have polaroids on. 

I had a fish straighten the hook out on me as well that night in a corner that I would normally pass by It would seem that there are still some very good fish lurking in the out of the way places,  that place has been noted and will get more attention in future.  Again the river had not been visited that day I think the showers kept people away.  But because of the days rest or because of the rain the fish certainly were more willing to participate.  Certainly another reason to go when the weather aint the best.

I have visited the beck near my house a few times this week whilst exercising my dog.  The drought has really taken its toll. In places it has all but dissapeared You can walk across the river bed now in shoes and the water hardly comes above the soles. Normally its knee deep.  If serious rain doesnt come soon real long term damage will be done,anywaye are over due a good spate now and when one comes this time of year the Sea trout may come with it,  lets hope.

Best fish of the season

Went for a short session on a local river Yesterday .  Nearly didnt go as the weather was very changeable.  In fact I spent half an hour parked at the river bank listening to the cricket test match on radio as the rain beat down on the car.  After it faired up I went of to the bottom of the fishery by now it was blazing sunshine . This was the view of the river .  Such a pretty view just a shame swans are such unfriendly buggers.  Anyway fished for a while and had two fish to a  mayfly . 

They were not huge but nice enough, then worked upstream avoiding the swans and just got into a deep corner pool and the heavens opened again.  Now how you are supposed to fish a dry fly when its pelting down, but I did although I didnt catch anything. Though I just got wet and tried to shelter from the worst of it under a tree...Anyway I nearly went home but as I walked back to the car the sun came out again and the sky cleared, no wonder people say Britain doesnt have a climate it just has weather.  Anyway the rest of the evening turned out to be beautiful and the showers had maybe kept other anglers away as I didnt see another angler all day. 

 I worked upstream past the big pool.  I picked up one more fish that was rising tight under the bank and then wasted the best part of an hour trying to get a rise from a small pod of rising fish that were in the most infuriating of places. It didnt seem to matter how well that fly landed drag set in straight away.  During that time I saw smoke out of the corner of my eye quickly turning around I realised it wasnt smoke it was the steam coming of my back as the hot sun dried me out. What we do for fun eh?

After returning to the car for a coffee break I headed back to the river.  A few fish were rising there were  enough to keep you going but they werent rising with the abandon that can happen when the mayfly are on the water . This year the hatch has been very poor and the fish havent really switched on to them.  I worked my way up a stretch of water casting not to rising fish but to where they should be.  After standing for a while and tying on a new tippet and fresh fly my first cast brought a gentle rise , I tightened and the rod hooped over and a powerful fish dived for cover . 

Trout perfection

A fin thats never seen a hatchery

After a hell of a scrap on the little 7ft6inch 4wt St Croix Avid , which I must say handled the fish superbly . I landed the best wild brownie that I have had for many years.  In this part of the world a 1 lb wildie is a good one . I didnt weigh this but it was over 18 inches and was in superb condition. Anyway after ringing to share my good fortune  with the fishery manager I fished for the last hour and had a few more but my mind was still on my best fish of the season... I am pleased to say that the trout swam away strongly and  hopefully we will meet again one day...

Till the next time......

That was the week that was

I guess a few of you may remember that the post title was also the title of a TV prog many years ago that looked back on the weekand at politics through a humerous perspective .Well this week has made me look at this strange way of life we pursue , Calling it a sport really doesnt do it justice.  Obsession and passion are words which seem to fit the bill better.  

As you will have seen from the posts among others I fish the Ure , a largish rocky bottomed river in the Yorkshire dales , a river that isnt supposed to have much of a mayfly hatch well when I fished it the other day there was thousands of big mayflies and the fish were rising beautifully to them.  That was on an afternoon when I nearly didnt travel to the river because of lack of time and the wind that was blowing pretty well. In the end I had the best few hours fishing I have had for some time.

I also fished on a couple of local rivers with the two gents who bid generously for a days fishing with me on my local rivers. That was in Aid of cancer charities. The prospects were good for that day.  Good forecast, the best date for a chance of the mayfly but in the end it was a a real hard day . Low water and bright sunshine meant that the fish sulked and hardly a rise was seen all day.

One thing became apparant to me that day, and that is that it doesnt matter what age you become infected by this obsession it takes hold just as hard...  I think he will read this and hope he doesnt mind me saying but One of the guys was  past retirement age and a bad back was giving him grief and was new to the sport but oh what enthusiasm . It will remain as one of the season highlights seeing his face when he held the trout for the camera. Anyone who wants to fish that much will become a  good angler because he will go when the weather isnt perfect or the water levels wrong. He was eager to learn too.

The other guy was a good angler and was happy to be pointed in the right direction and left to fish. I hope he didnt mind been abandoned for so much of the day.  A shame the fish werent more cooperative.

So remember just go fishing , sod the weather if you can go just go. Some of my best days have been on occasions when I nearly didnt go. Days like the day on the Ure just reinforce that.