Wye... Woody, Brian and Squire

My story of the Wye trip!!
Brian, Woody,Squire and myself got to the Peacock around half eight, we had a great breakfast while selecting the odd few local flys on sale in the hotel, Brian was sweating saying he had not bought a fly for twenty years!! Woody was eating his sausage and egg toastie with his knife and fork knowing he was in a posh hotel while me and Brian got stuck in with our hands as we know no other wayThis Hotel is top draw and i will be taking my family there on a special occasion, yes its very expensive but i believe in 'you get what you pay for' as with the fishing...I knew from recent visits to the Wye that we needed to chill out early on as when the fish started to switch on later we would alert and ready for them, i have been when i have flogged it all day only to be too tired when the fish are on and miss lots of fish due to fatigue..We decided to start at the fisherman car park, we tackled up and made our way down to the first downstream bend below the bridge, all of us very exited, Woody fretting on his rod choice, he is one of those anglers who is very tidy and likes to have everything perfect then he is relaxed, if something out of place his head goes and he starts getting pis"ed off, me i am the most messy person ever, rips in my waders and my fly box is a disgrace with the flys all falling out! i wish i could be as organized as Woody...Squire was the first to catch, a grayling on the first bend to the sedge, rises were few and i warned the lads to take it easy, as we would be at em later! Brian and Squire were first timers on the river and you could see the excitement on there faces, they wondered down the stretch while me and Woody just chilled out looking for rises and trying to work out ways of approaching these fish without the dreaded drag! if you could wade hear you would catch more fish through better pres but i think the no wading is good as it gives the fish less pressure and makes you work for your fish, only making you a better angler..most runs are near impossible to present and the good trout know where these places are, this can be the most frustrating but when you get it right the rewards are great..Around 10.00 am Jan the river keeper came to see us, was great to see him as last time i saw him i was on top of the world in Mayfly time with 36 fish...soon as he saw me he gave a big grin and said 'not you again!!' Jan is a great river keeper, he is so friendly and always gives you help and advice where needed, and always up for a good laugh.. I handed my rod to Jan who showed me his casting skill which were top draw, he was turning my size 20 olive over superbly and even managed to do a 20yard roll cast with my 3# 7ft hardy! He said that Warren Slaney has taught him!!I was fishing on the bend just below the first bridge and noticed a trout rising steadily to bwo duns in the foam lane under a tree, i took me ten minutes working out how to cast to this fish without drag! I had to cast 10 yards u p from the fish, 2ft from the bank and dump a load of slack line in to prevent an drag, after lots of attempts i got it right and my size 20 drifted right onto the fish at foam speed, the trout slashed confidently at the olive and i hooked a nice brown pounder! after a short thrashy fight i had the fish close and the hook pulled! i was not bothered, i had done what i had wanted to do Jan even commented that he had never seen a fish get taken from there as it was so hard, this made my hook up even better, a bit of luck but a great feeling...Brian and Squire came back with Brian taking a Grayling, we decided to all walk up together fishing nice looking runs, the weather was very breezy which made it very hard going, we were all getting in lots of tangles but knowing the chance of these clunking fish drove us on. Brian was fishing very well and caught his first ever wrt, he was over the moon and after 25 years of fly fishing he was buzzing, i hope i have the same enthusiasm after that long.. Squire was fishing hard, he was doing well for the conditions and took some grayling and wrt.I fished the section between 6 and 7 where the river flows through the woods, there is a smooth flowing section where i fished last time with Johnny Colemans, we spent 2hrs tiring to catch these huge fish but never had a sniff.. I went for the sas approach this time and watched these monsters sipping olives down confidently, as usual they were not even looking at my fly until i selected the size 22 BWo from the Peacock, a rainbow of 4lb+ came upto my fly and sipped it straight down, i struck hard and the fish went berserk smashing into branches on the other bank, after 30 seconds the hook pulled again, i threw my rod down with frustration..we all know that feeling The lads who fish this part will know the section i am talking about, if you have landed one there let me know?The fishing was quite hard but we all were catching fish in the bottom section but i knew that the fun would come towards the afternoon and last light..We kelly Kettled up on the mid section and then made our way upto the town, It was very busy, Brian,Woody and Suire went to Scotts Garden and i went around to behind the cricket club, i had a crowd following me up and down so i packed up and headed off to scotts garden to the lads, I love the fishing around here and we all started to catch fish to the Bwo, Woody taking some nice fish just above the bridge, and Brian took two lovely browns which he has spotted rising tight to the bank that backs onto the houses. I spotted a nice fish rising under a over hanging tree where the trees have been cut down in Scott's garden, it took me 15 Min's to get a good pres and i hit a 2lb rainbow that took me all over the place, it even jumped down over the small weir and i landed it further down..We went for a meal in the local café and it started to rain heavy but this does not put these fish down.. I saw Baslowfisher (Colin) walking around town with his Mrs, he introduced himself after recognizing my scruffy orvis wading jacket, he looked gutted as not to be fishing with us...All the crowds had gone home and i wanted a go on the town clunkers, i peered over the bridge and could not believe these huge fish had been fed on bread all day but had switched to the naturals, sedges and spinnersThis was enough for me and i started to fish my LTD sedge twitching it over rising fish, i started to take fish and had two around the 5lb mark, I had one around 3lb that fought so much it was untrue, it must be the wild in them...Woody and Brian hooked fish but had bad luck in hook pulls, Woody nearly caught the fish of a life time, i was looking through the bushes as he had a sedge drifting over the fish and a trout of around 14lb came up and the sipped the fly right into its huge mouth, i shouted to strike and the fish never turned its head and the sedge came shooting out of its mouth God knows what would of happened if he had hooked it!!!We fished into the dusk and Woody took his biggest wrt of around 3lb that smashed his sedge in the dark and fought its head off giving Woody a huge grin to go home withWe sat on the wall in Bakewell and lit the Kelly for the last time and sat there buzzing over our days fishing, this place is where dreams are made and if you have never fished it, give it a go cause it proper buzzin!!Thanks to Jan for your help mate, nice one...Will post all pictures on my blog...I am still living the dream!!!Glen

My Kelly Kettle Picture is famous!!

The picture i had taken on my blog header has been put onto the Kelly Kettle web site! i am hoping for free Kellys for a lifetime!! some very good ones on there but i think mine top them all cause it being used at fishing!
My mucker Woody has had the large one 2.5litres and i have not seen it yet, i think he does not want to get it dirty...
The Kelly Kettle has been one of the best purchases for me this year, i have taken it on every trip and there is nothing quite like a brew in one, its become part of my fishing kit...
The link to there site is below, please click on to view

https://kellykettle.com/kelly-kettle-product-photos

Thanks Glen

Can Picafort, Mallorca, (Holiday with some fly fishing thrown in!!)

Just got back from my holiday today, went to Can Picafort in Mallorca for seven very hot days...
Had some spare time in the mornings to get the fly rod out around the main beach area.
I had swam out with my snorkel to get a look at the local fish that surrounded the beach area, around a hundred yard out there was a rocky area that looked to hold fish, swiming out i threw bread in this area only to see huge Mullet and Sea Bream sipping the bread down.. that was enough for me so the next day i got tackled up with the 8ft 4# streamflex and my LTD sedge with Bread!!
The first day was hard going and i only managed a few pulls off small bream, i found that as soon as i got near the large fish they would show no interest and disappear..
The next day i took the kids dingy with my daughter poppy and and swam out to the area where i had seen fish, i put on the ltd with a big clump of bread!!, the sea was upto my shoulders and casting was very hard as i needed to get a good line out as not to spook any fish, I managed to get a good cast out and let it drift mid water...Wallop! just like the reservoir rainbows hitting your nymph, my line shot out and spun the drag straight out to well past the backing! I new i was into a good fish, i was on 4lb tippet so had to be very careful.. I was right upto my neck in water trying to play this fish, Poppy my daughter was screaming her head off with joy, i must of looked a right tw"t with my head bobbing out the water with my rod looped right over, after 10 minutes i managed to get the fly line back on the spool... I looked around me to see 50+ people watching me from there boats and lylo's!!!
I started to get the better of the fish and started to wonder what it was and how i would land it? a diver went down to have a look and came back up holding his hands up showing the size! his arms showing a 2ft fish!! the crowd then started to cheer when they new it was big..
The fish was lunking around right in front of me so i put a show on for the crowd and give it full stick to get the fish upto the surface, this worked a treat and a 4lb sea bass came crashing out the surface, i felt like a film star as the crowd then started to clap with Germans shouting 'YAH YAH'
I managed to get the fish to hand, a beautiful sea bass caught on the fly rod!! did i eat it? Just as i was going to smack it on the head it jumped out my hand and bust the line and was off!! a full cheer from the crowd and it was all over!!
I caught the bass on my LTD pattern pasted in bread!! going to try this method on my local rivers, should work a treat!!
I had quite a few fish while i was there and they were all sea bream of around 6oz which fought like mad, it was nice to be waded out in the sea in 34 degrees casting a fly rod and its something i will do when i go on hol every year.
On the last day i was standing in the sea with my rod up to my neck in water and i felt a needle shoot straight into my foot, it felt like a hot needle had gone through my foot and was being twisted, the pain was unbearable, i got into slight trouble as i could not handle the pain, i managed to get to shallow water and crawl back to my Mrs on the beach, for 15 mins i was in so much pain it was untrue, i have broken my leg, arms ect and never had pain like that, i would love to know what stung me, it did calm down and my foot went numb.. a lesson for me to where shoes when in deeper water next time!!!
Not a big sea fisher but loved catching on the fly rod...
Glenio Pointonio will be back next year!!
Thanks
Glen

Elastone 'feels like coming back home'

Been to my favorite stretch tonight, i have not been for a while due to river conditions and pulling up was like coming back home from a **** holiday if you know what i mean...In my view this short stretch has the best surroundings and a top class river packed full of fish.. John Tyzack fished it with me this year and he loved it, he did ask how i went on in Mayfly here? to my embarrassment i had fished dovedale and he could not believe i had not chosen this venue..I will not make this mistake again..Pulling up the river looked slightly up and was quite colored, this does not put these fish off and the hatches are that big these fish are rising for most the day..I got my gear on and walked down to the river by the bridge, stood for five mins watching 4oz wild trout slashing around chasing emerging sedge, some were missing and coming clean out the water..I took a deep breath and said to myself 'its good to be back!' Some places have special memories to you, we all have a certain spots while fishing that you never forget, this is one place that i will never forget, catching loads of trout and grayling here last year, properly too many at times, i have mellowed slightly and give the fish a rest when fishing is that good, 'but only a bit', and one big fish that you would only usually get traveling to Scotland ever year!!I met another angler there (Andrew) who was fishing for his first time here, one of Squire's mates from work, it was so uncanny how much he sounded like Dave, i could have swore it was him but this lad was not6 ft 7 inch tallHe was fishing the middle section so i jumped in slightly further up and waded the whole section to the top, huge hatches of emerging sedge were coming off the water but only selective trout were hitting them, i saw lots of flashes from the fish chasing the emerging nymph so the nymph would have done very well but this type of fishing does nothing for me so stuck with my dry.. I took 7 fish in total including a silver one, all on my ltd sedge, getting most by twitching the fly JT style..All were small and wild with one getting on for a poundA really good night, fishing not on fire, but who cares, i was living the dream!!Thanks Glen

River Derwent, Willersley Castle, guesting with Trugg, 'Clunker bashing'

Had a nice invite off the most productive big fish puller Trugg! It did not take me long jump at the chance to fish one of the great Derby County stretches, with a top angler like Mick..

I get on very well with Mick as he is a down to earth bloke who trys not to be one of the elitist pri"ks i so often come across..He is a 'proper' fisherman who catches lots of fish and would rather see me catch fish than himself!!

I arrived around six oclock to meet Mick who had been fishing for a few hours who had taken a few nice fish on the daddies, this place was something like had never fished, your own car park and a green box that was like a small tardis with lots of info inside, reports of fish caught, who had been on, flys that have caught, the list was endless, mick had his own key which was hung up in the box to show we were fishing and signed me in.

The place looked very special, great surroundings and a magnificent castle on your backcast, far from back in stoke with pot banks!

The river is very wide and it has that look about it that sends your heart thumping, 'i bet there's some right Fu"king clunkers in here Mick?' Mick told me to keep the language down as we were on a private estate, he was right, i needed to behave at the top venue, i was just exited!!

We got in the river by a huge bridge, Mick told me the wading was quite dodgy but i went thundering in only for me have to grab hold of mick to stop me going in!! Now i know why Mick is so big! its to keep him down in these big flows!!

Mick stud with me and just stayed on my shoulder pointing out the hot spots, a big wide ripple with lots of overhanging trees, it looked right buzzing...

3rd cast under a over hanging tree and a huge brown came out from the tea coloured river and smashed my fly, these fish go mental when you hit them!! i landed a top draw 2lb brownie,

Mick had told me to bring a heavier rod than my 3# 7ft, i wish i had because i was not getting the line control i needed and the fish were putting my rod past its playing loop, still great fun but i started to use micks sage which took me another two fish pushing the 2lb mark, this was great and what i have been after..

Every time the fishing went quite Mick would pick the rod up and take a fish within 5 mins, some blokes just have it and i watch him like a hawk get tips from him as these are the fly men you learn from.

We had a hour where the fishing went quite and we just carried on fishing having a good laugh as we always do, i am quite a good wader now and just get in there now but the big boulders in the river can cause you to fall over, i had mick stopping me floating down quite a few times!

The light turned and there was a huge emerge of sedge, i have never seen so many sedge coming up to the surface and taking off, the fish new it was supper and started to hit them big time, a hatch like i have never seen on my rivers, i could imagine this stretch producing a huge spinner fall due to the nature of the flow..

I got on this hatch and took a nice grayling, only my second of the season!

We fished well into dusk and wading back i we were holding hands to get back to the bank in safety, well we must of looked a right pair but a wise thing to do, I must admit if anyone was to see us they would have thought Mick was the 'taker' !!!!!

We got back to the green box with lights inside!! signed out and shook hands and i thanked mick for a great night and made our way home..

On the way home i decided that i will join this club next year, the river hear is only 25 mins from my house, the other rivers also near me, Mayfield being the closest..The club looks to be very well run and Mick says its the best run in the country..

Thanks for a top night mate and you got me a clunker, can you get me one like you had on the wye?

Thanks

Glen

Dovedale (on my lonesome)

Been to Dovedale tonight, got there around 6.45 and fished through the Pointon's Glen and all the way up to the mid section..I knew i was in for a session when i hooked a fish on my first cast!! i did not want to hang around there too long as i have canned it too much this season but still caught 5 fish walking up to the twitching ltd..they were on it youth!( i said out loud thinking Woody was with me) the picture of the bottom fish is one i have caught twice before and is always in the same spot, a nice pounder who is a right scrapper.. I walked through the nursery even though they were rising all over i moved on and fished the pool above there.. and a steady olive hatch was going off which made me change to a size 20 paradun which took me 8 small 4 oz wildies, these are very small fish but very good sport, reminded me of the fish at lords bridge..I have made a small net for catching the flys in the surface, a method shown to me by JTyzack...when i can see fish rising all down a run i will get in lower down as not to spook the fish and take a few samples, i am not the sort that is obsessed with which type of olive ect but i look for size and match this to my jt olive,or a olive paradun recommended by the 'quality fishcake' ( how can this bloke be out of a job when he is such a good fly fisher)I have fished a olive pattern and not had one take until i come down two sizes from 'matching' and this gives you a right buzz when you start taking them..I recommend you give this method a go as you will increase your catch rate, but you do look a tw#t when you get seen by walkers holding a net into the river peering inI moved further up and came across a slower run where i took some nice 10oz ers on the ltd, fishing them tight into the banks...I ended the night with 16 fish all to the dry.A cold snap came as the light turned and the olives stopped coming and the trout went down, i walked back to my favorite spot half way down the Glen, lit my kelly, had a brew and a fag in the dark at the most beautiful place in the world! ( i did miss Woody though)Nice one GlenPs I will knock a net up for any of the Ladffa lads, just pm me and i will send you one, very simple to make...
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The Wood is on fire!!! (mid section Dovedale)

post later

Milldale/Dovedale with Colemans and Wood

Met Johnny and Woody and we fished from Milldale to Dovedale today, River was not in great condtion but was well fishable considering the rain we had in the previous day, there was a slight tinge in colour but the river was running quite high and this caused the usual runs to have a very different flow so finding the fish was the key..

Picture of me into a nice pounder on the mid section, caught on my ltd sedge pattern in mid river flow, (pic by Woody)

This pic is what its all about, most will look at this and want to go fishing!!!

JC & Woody enjoying the spring water Kelly brew, top class!

Woody casting to rising fish under the far bank, woodys fishing is well improving and he is starting to find his feet..

Jt overlooking Doveholes, where could you fish a better river with views like this.. Woody shows off his new Orvis pro waders in true Catalogue pose!