Valsaline in the Lost Valley with Chris Prior on the Cress Wye

The Straggle!

CP the Canny angler working a pool sweet

I got  invited by Sheffield's 'Canny' Chris Prior again to fish more water that we did not get time in the last outing, the numbers we took last time to the dry were untrue and i was hoping for some same action but with a clunk thrown in if possible.....

Chris had spoken to me on the phone and told me about a lad he had fished with that used vasaline instead of gink and said to bring some along to see what i thought! Well last time i had a sore ring from his spicy chicken so the vasaline purchase would be handy anyway!!

Off to the local chemist and i started to look for a small tub of vasaline, i did feel quite strange as i dont think i have ever bought a tub of vasaline ever as i don't really want to be known as a fudge packer!!

Anyway i purchased a small pot and walked out the chemist with all the Lady's thinking i was going to 'push some stools in'......

I met Chris at 11.30 and we were to meet up with Dave Percival and Chris Dore (river keeper) and have some snappin in duffers hut...

We all sat down to some right good food with Chris P serving a chili con with garlic bread, as usual Percival was taking the piss out of my trainers as this is not the usual dress in the hut, i did tell them to **** off as i am a Stokey Chav and not a Derbyshire 'shit kicker,' he set me up by telling me to put loads of a sause on my chilli, well i took a mouth full and my mouth was on fire with all the lads pissing them selves!! I spoke to Chris Dore the river keeper who has got a big job on his hands looking after this huge stretch of river they have, catching poachers all day must drive u mad, a sound lad who is again like my mucker Jan from the Peacock, is only to keen to help you out... he eventually took us off road in his 4x4 and took us through the scariest tunnel i have seen, a lock and key at each end and in pitch blackness we drove through to the other end...

Chris Dore dropped us off and we shook hands and he wished us luck and we were on our way to the 'lost valley'...

The lost valley as known to the lads in Cress, and the scenery is just breathtaking, i think dovedale is amazing but this is well on par, and better with there only being a few walkers due to the harsh tarain...I read a article in T&S last week  and a angler said that you sometimes get ur blinkers on while fishing and don't appreciate where you are, this is very true and its nice to just chill out and take it in (once u have caught!)

Anyway the fishing....

This is probably the nicest brown i have ever caught

The river was on its arse and in need of a just wash out, the fly life was very sparse and it was obvious it was going to be tough on the dry, we opted to go for the nymph to see if we might get one of those clunkers in there...

We started to fish with a single bug and work the section fishing the likely holes ect, as usual Prior was banging his jokes out having me in stitches!

The fishing was superb as normal and we were catching lots of small browns and rainbows, today was not going to be a dry fly day so we kept on bugging, around the afternoon i spotted a very nice rainbow at the back end of a run, we stood watching its movements and decided to drop a nymph in front of it, at first it seemed to be spooked but on the second cast the fish just came and hit the indicator and then hit the nymph! tightening into this fish drove it mad and i scrapped away with this clunk for a few mins, we dropped it in the net to weigh a cracking 2lbs of wild Wye rainbow, a smashing fish in fine condition, we had done just what i had wanted to do, a wild clunk from the C/L, i have seen well bigger but they would surely have to be stalked out at feeding time...

2lb wild rainbow in superb condition

All at the Ready, Chris was not smiling 10 mins after!!!

Chris Dore (River keeper) and Chris Prior

Bad Angling Pointon Continued...................

Well I did a post recently on the Wess,s Tean stretch and the Buttercup brown has been driving me mad!!

Well here goes the update...

It might be me but I do get rather obsessed when I can't beat something, it stays on my mind most of the time, I have been in bed at night thinking of ways to get this brown, I am not talking a fish that is easy to catch here, this fish is totally unapproachable from the front, you need to get around the back of it, it will only feed around mid day to olives which usually last for around a hour then it will go back under roots in 4ft of water, you can't make any sound under foot, you cannot put much fly line on the water and certainly put mono over it head!And drag!! How do I know all this? Well I have tried to catch this fish on four outings and each time made a certain mistake which I have then gone away and thought of my next approach.. As many of my blog followers will know I have always been a specimen hunter, in barbel, chub or carp, Game fishing is something that has really made my angling complete, the use of a fly rod has something very special that only we fly men know how it, I am a sucker for a 'specimen' fish and I still love catching small free rising trout but the rewards of a 'clunk' are buzzin.... ..catching that bigger, wilder trout is very hard indeed, and to the dry is even harder, fish like these are not that big by being foolish..

As I have said before I could put some heavy nymph through the run and stand a much better chance, but if your like me I do love the dry and that's what fly fishing is all about (my view)...

So back to the fishing, I turned up on my fifth session, walked straight to my know hold like a man possessed! This was getting to the point where I would wait for a good flow as I was failing..

I turned upto my view point behind a tree in bunches of nettles, this position has become very familiar to me! The nettles trodden down, I know every shadow that lies on the river, every boulder and stone on the river bed! I think most anglers know that feeling from being in one of your favourite positions on the river...

The fish was there as normal, holding right in the slow off on a rifle, about 2inches from the surface, I knew there must be a good hatch going off as this fish would stay high up in the river spending no energy sipping olives, at the back end of a hatch the fish would go to 4 or 5 inches below the surface and rise on the last dregs of the hatch..

There were Grayling rising further back and they were taking what looked like to be emergers as the trout was taking the full dun...the Grayling would shoot from the bed of the river and hit the fly and return back to the river bed..

Today the buttercup was acting different, it was totally walloping duns and looked to be totally preoccupied with them, I knew this was my big chance...

I set my camera up on video and left it on the farmers fence pointing to the spot, pressed record and walked downstream, got over the fence and crawled upto my casting position, behind a tree in a hole, from this point I could not see the fish but could see the rise.. My heart pounding as normal I was waiting for the right moment, wait for it to rise then drop it on as not to spook it, I then went for it putting some false cast in then finally dropping it in, the fly landed a into the food lane, as it dropped on the surface I saw the fish take a olive to the right of my fly and then head for my fly!! Mouth out the water, swirl, then tighten up....yes the hook set home... Buzzin my head off, I was just holding the line tight as I got in the water and the fish was just holding and violently shaking it head, I knew this fish had never seen a hook so it was acting strangely until it saw me with the net, It shot down stream without my knowing at a instant turn of pace, this catching me out big time and my fly line got stuck around my reel, the rod looped right over and I was waiting for a snap but managed to release the line and it took line off it needed, I knew then I was in for a good scap, I was on stroft 1.40 kg so was limited in the stick I could give it.. I managed to get the fish upstream of me and it then started to hit roots and roll, ever time it saw the net it would bolt off, I got to the point where I thought I was going to lose the battle, I could see I had only hooked it in the lip and started to think it was going to pull, I made a last pull to the net and she came in!!! Wicked, I had a great feeling of relief, I had just done what had been driving me mad for a weeks, I had done it, a wild clunk to the dry...I picked her up to weigh in my mcleans net and she tipped at 2lb 2oz... Shaking I held her in stream to get her wind back and got my camera at the ready.. Picking the fish up was untrue, a true 2lber in fin perfect condition, wild as they come and hard a fook to catch, the underside was the lovely buttercup yellow I have seen..

Made up I took a few pics and held her in stream and she kicked off as sharp as ever..

I slumped down next to the river and sparked up a bensons,took in what I had just had, a great feeling...I looked up the river and saw another huge fish sipping olives, should I get the rod out again or was I really bothered now, then reaching over the fence our farmer shouted across 'ows they goin on Glen' the fish bolted! 'Sound youth' I replied..He had spooked the fish, i was not bothered,  I had 'lived the dream'!!



You can see the video of catching the fish if you click on the link below...



 Woody tells me my language is terrible and now I know...you can see the brown rising amongst the shadows of the three trees in the river, you can see the fish also rise as my fly hits the water just to the right of my fly...the rises in the middle downstream of the trees are Grayling, notice they are of no interest to me!!!

Cressbrook & Litton Wye Guesting with member sec Chris Pryor

I recently had contact with Chris Pryor the secretary of the famous club Cressbrook and Litton on the Derbyshire Wye, we had a long chat and he kindly invited me to share a rod with him on this exclusive river..

Well you could imagine my excitement getting the chance to go and fish this river with a very experienced angler like Chris..

As i am a member of the Peacock fly fishers on the Wye it was going to be great to see what the river was like further upstream..Well this is the story....

I met Chris at 10.30am and had a quick chat where we decided to head higher up the river as this would be a different challenge to my normal fishing on the Wye, i followed Chris through the windy lanes and eventually came to the river which we drove along for a good few miles, i nearly ended up in a ditch as i was totally fixed on the river driving down and my heart picked up a beat as i started to see how good this river looked!

We pulled up and Chris give me the low down on methods used to keep in the club rules, 1 nymph could be used or 1 dry fly and wading allowed...

We tackled up and Chris asked me to try my 9ft 3# streamflex for the day whichi was glad as i have started to use this in most of my fishing...the weather was very cold with a blustery wind and felt more like a mornings fishing in January...

We opted to fish with a single nymph as it was still early with no hatches apparent..

perfect brown

On entering this river you can see why its so good, the river bed is scoured clean with no silt, the water gin clear and a good flow rate, it felt strange to be wading as the Peacock have a no wading rule..

Chris working the single nymph

We fished the first few likely pools with Chris pointing out likely holding lyes, we had no action for half hour and i managed to bump of a small rainbow, we were moving further upstream and Chris spotted a rainbow of around a pound then both of us opened our eyes to see a huge wild brown in the 3lb mark, then a rainbow looking on the better side of 4lb!! this river always seems to shock me of the quality it holds, this far up i was expecting a 1lb fish to be good but there are huge fish all over the place...

Catching these big fish is a different game though, we tried put nymphs and drys past them but showed no interest at all, if i had more time on the river i would sit and wait out for these big guns to come on the feed as hooking one of these in this small stream would give you a right buzz...

Chris guided me upto the old mill which he told me was to hold a good head of fish, we soon started to take fish to the nymph which was nice as it was looking to be one of those days where the fish were just not on it..
A few small rainbows and brown came to hand and it was time to head off downstream for some dinner..

We drove further downstream, opened a few gates with lock and key and pulled onto the famous fishing hut at duffers pool! Chris opened up the hut while i looked onto the river and noticed a nice rise from what looked a good fish, well a rising fish to me is like seeing a woman bend over, i just cant wait to get on it!! Chris could tell i was buzzing and shouted over for me to have a crack at it, on came a old school Adams dun and first cast up came a 2lb brown and slowly sipped the fly in, this sort of rise really does it for me, when fishing a back end of a pool where it really slows offyou have to get the your presentation smack on, or expect nothing, when the fish just slowly gets in the lane of your fly and puts it mouth out of the water this can be heartstopping.. well i hit the hook hard home and the brown went nuts driving me all over the pool, Chris came over with his net buzzing for me and off pinged the hook!! gutted...

Well i have never been in the environment of a fishing hut and its never really been my thing but on entering this famous hut i soon realised that it was no usual shit hole, it had food, wine, bread, full cooking, heating, you name it, it had it all!.. Chris had put on a spread for me and he had really gone to town, chilli chicken, salad, olives, wine! fuck me i felt like a star for the day, i was not expecting this treatment, me and woody usually have a dodgy spar pork pie next to a coloured river, and i might get the ferro rocha out if the co op are doing 2 for 1!! The hut has a good feel to it, and there must be some good crack that goes on in there between the lads and you can see that lots of work goes into this club to make it special for all the members and guests..If you do ever fish with chris beware that the food he prepares is hotter than a vindaloo! even now i am still putting the bog roll in the fridge for the mornings ring sting!!

I was introduced to a few of other members who came into the hut who were very polite and i even had to tone my swearing slightly although i do find this hard..
Chris told me to get ready as we were going to some rarely fished water as he knows thats what i love, the weather had warmed up slightly and i was hoping for some dry fly action, i could have stayed in the hut longer and got on the wine, something i fear if Woody ever joins, as i can just picture him crawling out of the hut leathered lol....
We made our treak for a few miles upstream and this was something else, the views were amazing with rock faces either side in stunning scenery, i did not know these places existed but to fish hear also gave it the extra edge..We soon spotted a rise and Chris kindly said 'its your fish mate, its your day' What a sound bloke, Chris was letting me fish loads more than himself and just kept telling me to keep fishing..top bloke....
I covered the fish with a JT olive and whack i landed my first cress wild rainbow to the dry, a small fish but lovely..
Well from then on the large dark olives came off big time and the whole river erupted with rising fish, we were fishing in the middle of a stunning valley with fish walloping olives, i was fishing quite hard as not expecting the hatch to last long, but it went on for over three hours!!
We were catching fish after fish, we had chance to see which fly worked best and the JT olive came on top every time, the Adams did ok but JT's Olive took the piss slightly when a natural dun came drifting down with the JT and the JT was taken over the natural!!! Chris and myself saw this happen twice....

The Fishing hut!!

Well none of the fish we had were over a pound but we did not care, the sport was amazing, like nothing i have ever had on the dry, i would say a 50/50 split between Rainbows and Browns..

In total we shared one rod and had 46 fish to the dry!! we did not hammer pools too, we would take a few and move on..it was dry fly heaven..

We strolled back towards the fishing hut having a good crack between us, and we met up with river keeper (retired i think) Dave Persevel, well i had seen him on he Jt Mayfly dvd and new his face, he approached us and said, 'yes i have reported the dodgy van on the hut car park to the police with a poaching Glen Pointon!!' I gave him a bit of stick back and we had a good laugh on the walk back..

Chris found a fly stuck to his neck which we all said that we had never seen one, it was a huge olive, studying it we come up with  March brown pictured below, something i have never seen and the river keeper had never seen, a beautiful fly nearly the size of a Mayfly..

While chatting with Chris and Dave i did notice that these lads are proper sound, i expected them to lord it slightly but this was the total opposite, they were very keen to see how i had gone on and wanted to know what i thought of the river, Dave P did say that this club is run for 'the anglers' and this shows through very well in there set up on the way they run this fine club, i did expect it to be a 'exclusive' which it is but in a true anglers style...

Fishing with Chris was a proper buzz, he is a grounded lad from Sheffield, and was telling me jokes all day and had me laughing my head off, he has been fishing for years and it shows in his approach, i picked up lots of tips from him and watched his methods like a halk as i do with any good angler..I would like to thank him for giving me the chance to fish this class river, i will return the favour on one of my waters but he might have to rough it slightly!!

I must say that anyone can fish this river Wye as the cressbrook and litton club do a day ticket which is around £40.00, the stretch they use for day ticket is top draw and will give you better fishing than any other river in the country, the fish are plenty, not from stocking but from the river being a gem, you have to see it to believe it, there are huge fish to be caught also, i heard of a 6lb wild rainbow being caught!!

Living the dream with Chris

inside the holly hut

My advice to anyone fishing is to be patient and wait for the olives to hatch and some frantic sport will be had, this river is for the experienced or the newcomer, i would of been put off by fishing here years ago thinking i was not good enough but the keepers and members are very willing to help you out.. its also well worth going to see the fishing hut...

Anyone wanting to Fish Cressbrook & Litton Dayticket water should phone head keeper Stephen Moores on 01298971676 or there website is http://www.cressbrookandlittonflyfishers.co.uk/

Ltd

Nice one Glen

March Brown?