Wye 'Trugg is the bollocks as he lands a massive wild brown'

This was a much anticipated trip, i have been looking forward to going all week, i last fished here in mayfly time and had 35 fish which even got in the trout and salmon magazine which was nice, so was very exited about my return but knowing it would not fish the same..
I picked my mucker Dave up from Leek around half nine in the morning and we set off buzzing all the way there just hoping that the river would be i fine condition..
We met up with Mick (trugg) and Johnny Colemans on the grouse and made our way to the fisherman's car park, we all jumped in the trugg machine and parked in Bakwell and had a slap up breakfast with a stoke oatcake which was not upto the real stoke standard but did a job.
We were all in our element and had good tactic swaps about how our approach would be. Johnny has been quite a few times and give us valuable knowledge of runs ect...
These times do not happen often where good lads meet up for a fishing day on a dream river.






We then made our way back to the car park and tackled up and made our way to the river, Mick had a operation (the snip) on Friday and was in a bit of a state, which made him walk like he had sh*t himself....

The river was in great condition and was running quite clear and slightly raised, weather was overcast and the rain was holding out, i was first to wet a line and spotted a rise instantly which got my heart pumping.. I had a go and got nothing until i tied on a a jt olive which gave a rise to a nice brown which slowly came up and sipped my fly only for me to strike too early and not set the hook... you only get one chance with these wild fish so i moved on..
The wind was strong and i went over to Mick as he was trying to hit some rises on the neck of a rifle, he took a couple of small rainbows and lost a pounder.

Woody and Colemans arrived back from further downstream and Johnny had taken a small grayling in a shallow run..
We had the first Kelly brew of the day and a sip of Woodys class whisky which evaporated in my mouth before i could swallow it!!!
We then made our way upstream, all of us drifting into our own little runs to fish, i picked up my first small brown in a fast run on the olive pattern which got me wanting more, fishing was not easy and rises were few but there was enough to cause a interest..

I saw a nice fish of around 3lb rising steady to bwo duns in a slow section on a bend, this is the type of fishing i enjoy at the moment, i have done the fast rifles but love a challenge of a slow section where fish can inspect your fly, i put on a jt olive only for it to ignore it until i got my pres right, the fish came up sucked my fly in and i missed it again!!!

I changed to a paradun and the same happened again, missed it, then another fly...missed.. these fish are so wise, if i got a take on a fly and missed it, the fish would totally ignore it until i changed my fly.. they were spitting the fly out before you could make any contact.. clever!

I then fished a long shallow rifle and took 3 small wild rainbows which fight there heads off and give my 7ft 3# some fun..

Johnny give a guiding lesson to Dave and he then hooked a lovely grayling, his face lit up and now he started to catch fish, confidence is everything..

Mick was catching on a small fly of his own and johnny was taking fish on my ltd pattern he had tied with a yellow coloured cdc wing under the deer hair-very nice..

Johnny is one of the coolest fly men i have met, he is very laid back and a joy to fish with, his approach to every fish with stealth, a very good tip for anyone..
We fished together in a pool known to him as heartbreak corner where you can good size fish rising but not showing much interest in your fly..
There was a pod of nice fish rising to blue wing olive duns, these were being sipped down regularly, the run is smooth with a faster feeding lane in the middle which makes presentation hard, we put every fly going on top of these fish but only got fish coming right to the fly and turning away, this drove me and johnny mad and we stuck with these fish for a good hour but never got a full take, i put it down too micro drag on the fly but thats just fly fishing, you never really know when this happens...
Johnny and myself had a crafty kelly brew while Mick and woody were further upstream, we needed this after the fish had taken the pi*s out of us..
We made our way over the first road bridge around 4 o'clock and the rain started to fall, it was really thrashing down so we found a marque which we took cover, hear i filled the kelly up with the water coming off the roof!! Well the lads were a bit shocked but this nice hot drink did the job for me but johnny and Woody were a bit cautious when drinking, JC said it was 'special' i could see the lads heads going down with the rain so assured them it would stop and we would get a huge sedge hatch!! they all laughed at me but this river is a bit special and i new non of this rain would take the river up or colour it while we were there, we had some good crack for a hour then headed off to the cricket stretch.
This is a very good spot and Mick and JC were fighting to get in there, we all spread out along this stretch and started to take fish from most runs, the rain was consistent but so were rises and my ltd sedge was doing wonders for me, there were small black sedge swarms under the trees and fish were rising to these, i drifted my fly on a medium flowing run and a small rise produced a huge run from a mad rainbow, this fish was fighting its head off and give me the run around, Woody and JC came to help me land the fish and it was a nice fit rainbow of around 4lb, my new pb!! i was on top of the world now and the rain did not put us off at all, if you were on your own you would have gone home but all of us were having a great time and having a right laugh..For some reason when i fish the wye and see a rise my heart starts to pump faster, i get a real buzz as i know that i could be hooking into a fish of a lifetime, i am sure that most fly men get the same feeling when fishing somewhere a bit special..
We all decided to go to the a Chinese in the town and had a full take away which really did the trick, we sat on the bench near the bridge and tucked into our snappin, these are great times and only fisherman would sit in the pissin down rain eating a chinky, i love my fishing but i also love the crack between fly men of the same passion..Woody is a very good mate of mine and we get on very well, he just laughs at me all the time and he sometimes looks at me as though i am mad, he is very true.. JC is a cool chap who is just a down to earth lad with a degree!! who you could just fish with all day long, as for Mick he is very much like me, loud and never stops talking, and laughs his head off all day long, a top bloke who goes out of his way to help you..
We then made our way over to Scotts Garden....
To be cont.....