Sunday 31 May 2009

Lords Bridge 'Cant match the Hatch'


Went to Lords bridge tonight late on, got there around eight, tackled up on the bridge and looked for rises, nothing really happening apart from the strech above..
Walked further down to the middle strech and saw Roger Bryant off the forum, had a quick chat and we decided the wade through together to see the rest of the nights fishing in,
He had been fishing for most of the day and said it had been hard going,and taken around 5/6 fish and been snapped by a good fish, i have noticed that most of our rivers are going through the motions at the min, i put it down to the Mayfly really, dont think the fish know whats going on yet, We must be in for some real good action soon.
We both fished the middle strech and found rises but we could not find a fly that consistantly worked, it drives me mad when i cant find the hatch, but thats what fly fishing is all about, when you find it you feel great..
We found that we were getting more success with smaller drys (20) but only seemed to pick fish up who were just having a smash at a different fly than the hatch?
We both took around 5 fish up the strech and i caught a decent sized beautiful churnet wildy, these fish are the the best looking trout i have seen and knock spots off the Dove browns(sorry for pun)
Had a good laugh with Roger and he shows the same enthusiasm for the game as me, we both swapped good advice, He is joining the Drac soon so will be enjoying some of there cracking rivers.
At the top of the strech we fished between the two cut stumps until dark, Roger says he never stays that late but he will now after he saw the magic 20 min rises before dark, Roger took a nice brown and lost a few, we could only hit a certain run with a downstream drift so it was hard to get a good presentation, We had a very good sized fish rising inbetween a snag, sendind a big ripple when its rose, Roger managed to get it go for his Iron Blue Dun 4 times but i think it was just touching it,
These big fish do really come out late on to feed, but they are still hard to catch..

A really enjoyable night spent with Roger, and will be going out again soon, Roger is posting me a picture he had taken so will will post it on my blog, I had a new hat on tonight that makes me look more of a twat than Alex's Hat on Kevs blog..(sorry Alex)


Thanks

Glen

Thursday 28 May 2009

Milldale/Dovedale

May Fly Fisherman

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Been upto Milldale/dovedale tonight, water was slightly raised but not colured, plenty of Mayfly about but they are still very wary in taking them surface, Most of the night i watched them taking the mayfly on their way to the surface..
Met around 9 fly fishermen tonight, two of them come from Bedford down south and only come to fly fish it for two days a year in mayfly
They said they love coming here and its worth the money they pay ever year..
I managed 6 trout, most to elk caddis, but got a couple on a JT mayfly, which i bought from the Peacock on the Wye,
The fish only started to rise for around half a hour to the may later on, I lost lots of fish due to them taking very cautiously,
At last light i went down Dovedale and fished the part below the stones, I love this section later on, i have spotted a right clunker on various outings and he always laughs at my fly or spits it out! Tonight i hooked him and guess what.. its peeled off 20 yards upstream and the hook pulled

Well i will get him soon
Forgot my camera so no pics tonight..

Thanks

Glen

Tuesday 26 May 2009

River Churnet ( Lords Bridge)


Went to Lords Bridge tonight, in stoke the weather was really windy with a bit of a chill, when i arrived at 7.00 the sun came out and the wind dropped, i think Lords bridge is a cracking stretch if there is a good wind as the valley its in seems to cover most wind,
I was wondering if i would enjoy it after my session on the Wye but as soon as i saw the river and got in i had more a buzz than ever, this part of the churnet is a pleasure to fish, the smells of wild garlic and the overgrown trees make it great..the river churnet has a strong place in my memories, i fished it in froghall bait fishing from 7 years old right up until i started fly fishing.
I think fishing rivers for years has helped me in fly fishing rivers as i can see a good run that will hold fish, something you only get from fishing

I usually prefer the lower end of the Fenton/new leek part, but decided with limited time to have a good crack at the top end, the river was in fine form, i got in just up from the weir and worked my way up, surprisingly there were no fish rising and not much fly life, i think the weather going cooler today had knocked it off, i suppose it would be better nymph fishing but i stuck to my guns and put on a balloon caddis to try and bring them up, this did nothing.. I reached to mid point where the pipes come into the river and spotted rises, i found a small hatch of olives coming off so put on a Adams and took my first fish, a cracking little brownie with top class markings, I then saw Tim Walton who i always seem to bump into around the rivers, he had been fishing the duo down the bottom end and had taken quite alot of fish to the nymph, We decided to fish together through the last part of the river, rises were still slow, Tim switched to the dry only and showed me some of his spots where he has taken fish from, we caught a few fish on the way up and i took a decent brown to wards the top end..
All in all a great night to be out fishing and a pleasure to fish with Tim, thanks mate

Glen

Saturday 23 May 2009

River Wye, Bakewell 'Living the Dream'









I had been pissed off with my rivers being up all week so had read reports on the conditions at the wye, I decided it was time to get my first trip to the Wye.. I rang the peacock hotel and booked in for £70.00 ( mayfly fee ).
I arrived at the hotel around 11.30 and was greeted by freindly female staff who were good on the eye, the hotel is like nothing i have seen, they have kept it old style and with a modern touch here and there, I knew it was class when i opened the glass doors that held the on sale flys and the whole thing lit up with door switches.I bought some Mayfly and headed off for the fishermans carpark.
I have never seen the Wye before (only bridge at bakewell) so was eager to see what it was like. I had bought a hardy demon 7ft 3# in the week and was looking forward to trying it out properly.
The river looked in fantastic condition and was wider and deeper than i imagined, it had so many looking 'fishy spots' it was untrue, I had not seen any river keepers so had no advice of where to fish so just walked around and got a feel, I could see that i had arrived at the end of a hatch of Mayfly, there were odd ones coming off and rises no rises were apparent, I decided to start with a large caddis fly to try and bring these fish up, I was rather nervous, dont know why but its like that when you arrive on a new river..
I started to fish a fast tail of a fast pool, on my second cast a rainbow come clean out of the water and dive bombed my fly, the line went slack and i had missed my first take, I started to have hits from the violent raibows but not connecting until i started to skate my fly across the surface, this produced at take like i have never seen, the trout came up a hit my fly but i skated it 2ft away and it chased it all the way and properly hooking it, i had hooked my first wild rainbow and this fish went nuts, the speed of the first run was great yanking my rod to the floor, after a 2 min fight i landed a lovely rainbow, this was a great feeling, i had been worried about a blank and this settled my nerves and got me fishing with a straight head, There were still no rises so i continued with skating the caddis which bought me another rainbow around a pound, the colours on these fish were great, bright red and not a mark on them..
I moved up the strech and found fish rising on a big bend by a bridge, tried the caddis which were totally ignored, this was where all the lessons i have had come in, i started to look what they were on.. they were taking the olives, i matched the size with a jt olive and started to take fish after fish, these were small beautful browns that fought there heads off, i then hooked a massive out of season grayling that was taking me all over the place, i unhooked the fish in the water and off it went,
I could of stayed there for a while but i have learnt to move on, the fishing was that productive i would .have fun all up the river, I was fishing very hard and heading for bakewell where i knew i could have a rest..Walking further up i saw a chap being guided opposite me, i spoke briefly and was advised to move over the river and up on the cutt grass bank, As i walked over a a keeper came over and introdued himself as Jan, he was nothing like i expected, i thought he would be a bit posh, he said 'your Glen Pointon, i have been been told by Warren to watch for t him nymphing' then pissed up laughing, i then said its the bread fly i have tied what you need to worry about... He was very friendly and helpful and gave me some great advise, he said bank holidays were a nightmare with poachers everwhere and he would be up late looking for them..
As i moved up the river i saw a couple who were fly fishing and having a full english picknic, they had been guided by Jan and were having a break, the lady had never fly fished and managed to catch two fish, the man had caught a few and Jan was sorting out his casting, they looked like they were chilled out sitting next to this lovely river.. not for me, i had come to hit the fishing hard with it being my first go, I walked up to every pool with eagerness not knowing what would be there, i love this when you are on a new venue,
Walking further up i spotted a huge brown rising under a tree taking olives every few mins, i watched it for ten minuites seeing how it worked, it would drift out of its hide and take a olive then shoot back for cover, i knew if i missed placed the cast i would put this clunker down, first cast i hit the tree and it unraveled itself and dropped onto the run sweet as a nut, the fish slowly came out and sucked the olive down, my heart was in my mouth because thats what i love most about fly fishing ( seeing the take) the fish just bolted down stream 30 yards and just snapped me clean, i had no chance, it never stopped going, i estimated it to be around 5/6lb..
Around 2oclock slowly taking emergers, i could do nothing about this, they were letting my fly drift over their heads..
I had fished for 3hrs and taken 11 rainbows and 6 browns, I thought i would walk into bakewell and have a pint and wait until the Mayfly hatch, i had been smacking fish out in every pool and the Mayfly had not hatched yet!!!
I arrived in Bakewell to see the fat trout being fed by the public, I used to think i would like to hook one but this was not what i wanted, i have learnt so much in my fly fishing and i thought i would rather have the wild rainbows and browns i had hooked earlier..
I sat down and had a pint with some sandwichs and reflected on what had just happened, i was in the zone and wanted more fishing. All the trout i had taken were feisty rainbows around a pound and small half a pound browns that pounded the rod.
I moved further up from the town and walked for a mile and started to work back down stream, it was 3.30 and the magical mayfly started to come off, the trout started to switch onto them big time, it was a joy to watch.
This is when the big browns came out and i was taking these fish all back down to the bridge, the run where it goes close to the road was electric, i was skating the may all over the place which was making them hit it hard, if i left it to drift i would not always get a take.. Proberly i was hooking that many i was getting greedy and should of layed off but i never stayed in one pool after a fish, i could not help myself, i was like a kid in a sweet shop..
I walked back through the town brigde and the mayfly had calmed down, I started to fish behind the cricket club, fish were rising but not looking at the mayfly, i soon found the working fly to be a BWO, this produced more cracking browns..
I was so tired, i had walked for 7 miles and caught lots of cracking wild fish, I stayed till around 8 and there were still mayflys coming off and a massive spinner fall.
I had parked on the wrong car park and had been locked in but Jan new and rang me and give me a lift back to my van, he was a pleasure to talk to and was interested in how my day had gone, he said i had done well to catch more browns than rainbow, he put it down to me fishing the sections that anglers do not fish..
I really enjoyed myself and would like to fish it outside mayfly season, the keepers have made a great job of the river, i was sometimes casting and would look around thinking i will hit a tree but i realised they have cut certain branches ect so you could reach the head of a pool..
It would be embarasing to say how many i caught but i put it in the book at the Peacock hotel.
At the end of the day i was overwhelmed with the fishing.
The only negative side i did not like was when i caught a fish i realy needed a long landing net and found it hard to slip the fish back in safely, i think they should let you drop in the river to land fish and to release them, I caught a 2 lb brown and put it back only to see it go belly up so i entered the water to revive it for two mins and it went off ok, i felt i was doing wrong by this..

Well there it is my story of the river Wye, i will be back soon.
Was it better than the Dove? well the Wye is Warrens but the Dove is mine!!

Will post pictures on my blog

Thanks

Glen
I

Friday 22 May 2009

The Wye

Fishing the Wye tommorrow, booked in at the Peacock hotel so looking forward to my first ever session on this holy water.....

Thursday 21 May 2009

Bentley Brook, persistence pays off



Went to have a look at milldale tonight but looked up and slightly coloured, another day should see it ok,
Headed off for a go on Bentley Brook for my first time, the river was slightly up with only slight colour but well fishable,
This is pure wild trout fishing in a small brook but has lots of fishy runs all the way through, I knew fishing would be hard and stealth is a must here.
Arriving i walked the river to look for rises rather than fishing blind, i saw only three rises in different places so opted to have a go where i had seen fish..
I saw a hatch of the first Mayfly of the season and this was a joy to watch, hiding in the bushes i watched this huge fly drift drift down a lane to see a small wild trout nail it in one swoop, i placed a adams on and drifted it down the same run only to see this fish ignore it, I then found a huge mayfly pattern in my box and drifted it in the same run, the same fish came up and took the fly and i hooked one of these wild fish, i was into the fish for 10 seconds and the hook pulled, these fish fight as hard as i have come across.
I found that the fish were only rising once then would not show again for at least five minutes.
I Persisted with the dry fly and as the light faded i hooked a nice fish on my trusty DHE with a violent take, after a good scrap i landed my first BB trout and what a gorgeous trout it was, around half a pound and the nicest trout i have ever caught, fin perfect and a lovely array of red spots,
These fish are truly wild and are hard to catch but its a great feeling to hook one knowing you have to get it right to get a take on a dry fly, i noticed that if they had a slash at my fly and i missed it, the trout would never rise again and would go down.
Will be back there again when the river comes back to normal..
I only took one fish tonight but it was worth 10 of most fish i catch at other venues..
Will post pictures tommorrow..

Thanks Glen

Friday 15 May 2009

River Dove Ellastone Canis nightmare!!



Got in from work tonight and felt like a couple of hours on my favorite strech Ellastone,
Weather was all over the place, rain, thunder, sun I knew before i got there there would be some big hatches going on.
I was not wrong, in fact i have never seen a hatch quite like it, there were all sorts of flys hatching in huge ammounts, olives, sedges, hawthorns and the nightmare canis i thinkAt one point i looked above me to see thousands of spinners hovering above my head..
Well the trout were enjoying the big hatches, they were rising all up the fast rifle up the top end, more rising i have ever seen here,
There was a big problem, i could not tell what they were taking, i went right through my fly box, olives, klinks, ballon caddis, black gnat, grey duster, f flys and my non fail adams!! even changing sizes..
I ended up catching 5 trout and one out season grayling, you might think that is ok but the fish were rising all over the place, some very good size browns, you would of expected to catch every cast by the amount of fish rises...
I was covering most fish with all my flys and they were totally ignoring everthing i put on them, I tried all the methods to get take but still nothing, i then got my head down close to the water and saw thousands of very small white flys hatching which i could only put down as canis,
I think the trout were totally obsessed with these, i have never seen this happen but it was so frustrating, I had nothing in my box to match these flys because they are so small and there were thousands of them, it was like being in a brothel with lots of big titted women and having no money

I dont really know if canis hatch in rivers but i am sure thats what they were, i have posted a pic of the flys that i caught including the Canis ( i think) Can anyone tell me what all these flys are? ( the green nymph one had two wings and legs but fell off in my box). The dry fly is a size 16 adams

Well still enjoyed being out, just a bit frustrated...

Thanks Glen
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Sunday 10 May 2009

River Dove ( dovedale) First time fished!





Went to have a go on the impressive Dovedale tonight, i always dreamed of fishing here as a young lad when i used to come with my parents, I remember watching a fly man 100 yards up from the stones and dreaming of fishing there one day, well tonight my dreams came true and i fished in the same spot i saw 25 years ago...
On arriving i made my way from the bridge and worked my way upstream, there was a strong wind pushing down from the stones and i was struggling to cast so made my way up above the stones away from the breeze, I walked past the nursery pool and fished my way upstream from there taking my first trout, a small wildy that came to my dhe, Rises were rare but kept with my dry fly.
On my way up i noticed two fly men approaching, they looked more dodgy than the greeks i had seen on the churnet on friday, i then realised it was the derbyshire brothers Mick and John!!
Was nice to see them so i could get some advice and i was soon in there fly boxes taking there top flys!!
I even got the elusive Larrys Pride!
The lads asked me to have a fish with them as they had been most of the day and took lots of fish to the dry, They took me back down the river showing me the places to find fish, I started to fish the nursery strech with Mick and John sitting on the rock guiding where to place the fly, they seemed to duck on every back cast i made!!
I caught a nice wild fish to a claret klinhammer (Micks)

John decided to fish further down stream so left Mick guiding me, I had the chance to have a go of Micks new split cane rod, this was hard to cast at first then i got used to it and was casting it better than my own, I could feel the end in the butt section which seemed to make the fly land very softly indeed..
Fish were rising now but were very hard to get take a fly, we went through quite a few until i got out the Larrys Pride, Well my night changed instantly and started to take fish after fish, wild and stockies, the trout were hammering this fly and taking it violently hooking themselves,
I had a go at the stones and hooked a top class wild brown nearing a pound, Mick said it was one of the best wilds he had seens in here, we were taking a photo and it jumped clean out of my hands and away.
I worked down from the stones missing loads of fish from me not looking at my fly, Also Mick said i was striking too quick, I have recently snapped my Greys streamflex and currently using a Cortland 4# which is heavy to me and i kept bumping the fish and snapping my tippet sriking..

Mick got off around half eight, we shook hands and i thanked him for a great night, he stayed with me all the way and never bothered to fish himself, give me loads of advice and gave me three of the Larrys Pride!! No fly was doing much until i used his fly, If you see Mick around you will have to hound him for one, a hot fly!
I am after some bigger fish this year so decided to stay until dark, i am told that this is when they come out,
As the light faded the big browns did come out! They were just sipping off the top, The rises were tiny but i could see how big some were, I had a huge fish come to my fly, suck in and blow out very quickly, If i could not see these fish i would think they were tiny as the rises were very small..
At nearly dark i sent my DHE downstream and saw a tiny rise, i waited then hit into a nice fish, it went beserk giving me a right merry dance, i then landed a brown pushing the 2 lb mark.. my biggest rown so far.
I had 9 fish in all and realy enjoyed myself, i would like to thank Mick (Trugg) and John for there help,
I will be back very soon

Thanks

Glen

Friday 8 May 2009

Lords Bridge River Churnet

Fishing was great, started at the laddfa strech and only took one brown, fish rising were far and few until i moved down to the Fenton Strech, there was a massive hatch of yellow mays and dark olives i think From 8 oclock until half nine i took 17 trout
The trout were diving all over the place and some were taking flys in the air which i have never seen
I have noticed that the fish have grown from last year, some of them glowing red spot fish were getting around half a pound, and they were fighting harder than i ever got last year... I find i get more fish from the Fenton run, dont know whether its because its unfished or i know it better.
All trout were taken on a size 16 standard adams..
Went for a go today for a couple of hours, met a sound lad from the forum (adamroybooth from brum) he had found it hard going on the laddfa but moved down and took 5 on the dry,
I just walked through the laddfa and caught 5 out of season grayling, the trout seemed to be down so got off early...