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