Rolling back twenty years, Carp on the dry is just heart pounding stuff...

Went on a local lake this evening and invited Wess down for a evening ... the rivers are fooked and the only one worth fishing is my Wye on Sundays...

Well i have moved in my little cottage in the sticks and its taken me a while to get used to after living in the bustle of Stoke, i am now a bit of a country bum with a loud Stoke accent!

I decided to move this way as to be closer to the river Dove and Wye, and its just been perfect, i can be make the Wye in 35 mins and the Dove at Elly in 10...so yeah fishing has put me here and i am loving it...

I wandered out of my house a few weeks back and stumbled across a good sized lake that looked totally overgrown and out of sorts, well lake fishing has been something that takes me back twenty plus years, and yes Carp fishing was my life as flyfishing is now.....were there any in hear were my first thoughts and would i still get the same feeling that left me years ago when i moved onto the barbel...
I was with my two little girls and had no time to study the lake so it was just left at the back of mymind..

Last week i asked my two little girls if they wanted to go fishing with Daddy? well they are 5 and 2 years old and there faces lit up! yes Daddy take me fishing! i want a fish!!

Well i have taken them twice before on the Wye and on the Dove hoping for them to see me catch a fish, and both times i have failed due to stones being thrown at my fly!!

I planned to take them to my found gem and take a picnic to keep them calm, well this again lasted 30 mins, we ate the picnic and i picked up the rod to get in the water and  Poppy was crying she wanted to hold the rod and Annie wanted a poo!! Well that was it get the stuff and go home....i had lofted some bread across the pool to see for any signs of action, i looked as i walked away to see huge open lips calmly sipping the bread down... a sight a Carp man thrives on and a sight that made my old feeling come sailing back...get on the dry!!!
Well i had spoken to some of my old carp mates and told them of my find, yes i was going to target these but with my fly rod, yes a bit mad but i hear its something getting quite big..
I got home one night and had that urge, get out of my game fishing head and go and catch these carp Chris Yates style, nothing fancy, just fly line, mono and a loaf of bread....far from my days of delkims and rod pods....
Wess was late so i opted to stroll across to the lake and get a early look in...

On arriving there was a slight ripple across the lake, i wandered across to the back end and stubbled across a shoal of 5 carp all sitting in inches of water, there shear size was untrue, some over twenty pounds and some upper teans, creeping near them like stalking a sipping brown i tossed a handful of bread crust in the area around them, they totally ignored them at first and after 5 mins they started to swirl at them but not taking, then the lips of a huge common carp came out and slurped down a piece of bread, my heart was in my mouth, this carp was a very big fish and totally out sized all the others, they all had started to switch on to the bread and i just sat and thought out my move, i was going to target the big gun..
The common would circle around hit a piece of bread then sink to the depths, again it would just appear from nowhere and take the bread...i selected a size 10 grub hook and a looped a big crust on, a roll cast did the job and i sat and waited.... nothing for a few mins, had the rod spooked them... the huge common came straight up and supped the bread, my heart in my mouth i waited and it sunk its head down and i watched it twitch its head as it felt the line.....wack!! i hit it so hard to set the hook, the fish bolted and made a run straight into my backing!! i was hammered right over with the rod and holding this fish but it was not stopping, i soon realized i had stupidly choose my 9ft 4# fly rod, i had forgot the power of these fish and had no control, i held hard as i could and the fish headed straight for the island and i give it full power.... snap! the line bust at the hook link.... fuck me, i had just hooked a twenty pound common and made a right fook up, i needed a big powerful fly rod and felt a let down to such a quality fish, the hook was left in the fish but wisely i had crimped the barb and that made me feel better...
i sat there with my heart pounding at what had just happened....

Wess came along and i told him the story and he was also mad for some action... the fish went spooky for a good hour and came back to show interest...
I hooked a fish 3ft from the bank and this time i made sure i had beefed up and got into a twenty minuite scrap with a double figure mirror...
this was very good fun on the fly rod and wess slipped the net under a fish of top draw onditon, a fully scaled linear in superb condition...i sent memories back to my old carp days of which i loved with a shear passion..

Wess hooked another fish that give him the right run around and soon we slipped the net again under a superb double linear...

Well the night was drawing in and i sat with Wess in a superb location and we just chatted into last light, it was a joy to be out wit a mate bashing carp on the fly rod, many years ago i made huge amounts of friends in this carp game, yes i loved it but i have moved on and will have the odd go but game fishing is in my blood and always will be, it did made me realise that i am not a fly man purist and i might have slipped into a fly fishing cliche, but i see myself as a angler who has been into most types of fishing and boy have i lived the dream over the years and will never ditch a course fisherman as they are much better anglers than most fly men i see prancing around the river.....
Another bonus on the pool i noticed a sedge hatch and a buzzer hatch, small fish were rising the take these, and some looked a quite a decent size(9oz) i tried to hook them on a size 22 midge pattern, i was getting rises but could not connect, i think they could be rudd but not sure, my question is to ask if anyone knows how to connect with these fish and what they might be? i would love to catch a rudd on a dry fly..please leave a comment if u could help as it will drive me mad until i catch one...
Well was nice to be drifting back to memories of carp fishing but my heart is with my sipping Wye brown and i am loving it at the min...
Nice one
Ltd
Glen

LTD Mayfly Spinner Pattern

Its not often i do a sbs on a pattern as it takes alot of time to do, its a bit late to do this May fly pattern but its been a real cracker for me and has all the triggers to do the buisness, i used many of the well know patterns and i did find that after a fish they were a nightmare to remove the water and return it to fish well without sinking.

I studied the natural and looked for the main triggers, i noticed the white body was important in the clear water we had, the tails were huge, and at least 2/3inches long, the wings of a Mayfly spinner would be very much the same as the dun holding in the near upright position, it would dip its tail in for a second and return to the air, this would create a frenzy action of trout hitting them hard, i did see action where the spinner would stay on the surface after all the eggs were dropped and float down stream flicking its wings for at least 30 yards..these were taken well but nowwhere near as much as the dipping spinner...

I have two patterns that i have named in my LTD range, The Ltd sedge has been a terrific fly for me and others who have used it, Wezzer landed a truley will brown of 2lb 8oz two weeks ago and loves it, Woody loves it in the emerger too, he fished it on Islay and took some very nice fish which is very nice to hear... its nice to see the emails i get thanking me for putting the sbs on my blog, and stories of it fishing very well....

Well the LTD Mayfly spinner is one  could not resist to put out on the blog, i would not give it the name unless i thought i had made a beauty..it really fished top draw, and to prove its effect i was taking fish on it in very slow moving water, gin clear and 1ft deep!! well if they catch in them conditions you know you are doing well...

Well here is the sbs, the pics are not perfect but if u have any questions do ask me and i will be gratefully answer them..

Material

• Coypu (tails & rib)
• Partridge sure wing size 12 or 10
• Frankie Philips Coloured cdc dubbing (white)
• Wild Duck cdc
• Daneville's spiderweb (thread)
• Red fox squirell (Thorax + legs) Celtic flytec

Run thread from eye and do touching turns to rear of hook, i used a size 12 Partridge but a size 10 would be better for the spinners i saw..

Take three tails of coypu and tie in with between 2inch and
three inch overhang at the rear of the hook.
Take the thread inbetween each tail to seperate them so they
do not touch together.

3....Take some light brown cdc and dub in at the base of the hook, from studying the natural it has a clear dark brown patch at the rear, this is optional as i caught the same without this but still could be the difference on a hard day..make sure exess coypu is still at the rear as this will be wound up later..

4....Take a good pinch of white cdc dubbing and
work into the thread, it looks scruffy here

but cdc is very light and can be worked into shape.

Dub upto just behind the eye..

5...Once dubbed grab the excess tails of coypu and
wind up to form a rib like in the natural, this also gives the fly very good strength and pulls any excess cdc into shape.
Tie off the coypu with your thread..

6....This is how the fly should look at this stage...

7....Now tie in two cdc plumes lined up together and tie in on one side of the hook as shown, do figure of eight turns and give it some stick to hold well in place..make the wings large just lik the natural..

8...Now trim off the waste cdc at the other end to form the first wing...sweet..

9....Now take two more cdc plumes and repeat the same process as tying the other wing, make sure to tighten in well so the wing will not fall out while fishing...

10....This is how the wings should look when tied in and trimmed...notuce the wings tied flat, these will be worked upto the natural postition on the next stage...

11...Now take the red squirrel and dub around the thorax to give a buzz look and signs of legs..
Importantly work the wings to point at 45 degrees angle to the hook, the picture shows the underneath veiw of the fly....now tie off and go catch some fish (next year!!)


The spinner can be easily converted to a Dun by changing the dubbing yellow/cream and shortening the tails, this i did not try as i only really fished the spinner falls and boy did this fly do the job...
Will be at the ready for next year...
Happy tying
Nice one
Glen
LTD

 

The last dregs of the Mayfly spinner fall do me proud

Its been a funny old Mayfly time for 2010, last year saw a 4 days where it was complete madness with rivers overflowing with rising fish, i remember seeing Dovedale alive with fish and its was a bit surreal to see how many fish were at it...
This year has been more mellow but still very nice to fish, for me the Dun action was more of a steady flow, i found this to be the same for both the Wye and the Dove..I fish quite often so i got chance to catch things at the right time, i had a session on the upper Dove where dun action was superb but only lasted for around 3 hours, i also had the same sort of action on the Wye...
I knew from reports that people were talking of fish not locking onto the Dun, rivers were on there arse and gin clear, heavily fished rivers made the fish very spooky and they were not obliged to take the dun, i made a decision to go and fish sections that rarely get fished and this paid me well, i would walk well know sections that would have the Drake coming off well with no fish rising, i would walk to unfished spots and they would be getting hammered!! Fishing pressure? i am unsure?
I also knew that the guards would be dropped at the witching hour so most of my fishing would be directed at these times and the spinner fall action i had was pure class, i don't remember anything like this last year and the fish were absolutely smacking egg laying spinners...
From lying in bushes and climbing trees i learnt alot of the May spinner, from mid afternoon the big white duns would start to dipp there eggs in the river and fly back up and return to place all over the runs, this would drive the fish mad and trout jumping clean out the water was seen many times, almost like dun action in the day..
A hour before the witching hour was producing swarms of Mayfly spinners and boy did the fish go mad! I rarely saw the dead Mayfly spinner with it wings flat out dead drifting, i assumed that this would happen in the full darkness hours...
It might seem odd but i found that a very slight twitch to my spinner pattern would get me take, this is not the common technique to fish a spinner but my hours of watching them showed lots of movement in the water from the real spinner...
I have caught brown trout that i don't think i will ever beat for pure looks, full on wild browns that fight to there max, i am sure these fish will go missing after the Mayfly but that's something i hope to see...
A big downfall for me was not being able to catch a fish i was after on the Wye, a brown that looked to be around four pound, not a town fish, a pure wild fish that i have only seen twice that got my heart pounding, i never saw the fish feed but i know where it lives and it will come to my net before the season ends (i hope)...
I hooked a fish on the Dove in the same condition as the ones i have pictured below and it looked to be on the 3lb mark, my mayfly spinner hook pulled as it ripped my across the river, i have seen it since but i fear i have made it extra wary so this is another one for me to have ago in the future...
Well my Mayfly has been cracking, not huge numbers of fish but some pure quality and all caught on my own LTD mayfly spinner which is a extra bonus....
Bring on the Grayling, my next target is a clunking Grayling on the dry!!
Below are some pictures of my Mayfly fish ect....
Nice one

Glen

Peacock Wye and RW shows his true sherry spinner class

I went for my usual session on Sunday on the Wye and  contacted  Haddon river keeper Jan H early doors to ask him about the river conditions, he gave me the full low down on what was going down on the river, heavy rain!! much needed, well what other club can you join that look after you like that! Jan will always give members full info and is always on hand to help you where needed, i regularly ring him and he always shows willing to give info..top bloke

Well the heavy rain made my eyes light up, i knew this would spark the river into a feeding heaven so i made my way up there and arrived at 10.30...I parked in my usual spot and got warmed up on a stretch i always fish to see what they might be taking, it can be one of many bugs and hopefully not too small...
I took the gamble of a new stretch that i am green too, i have 7 miles of fishing which will take me years to get to know properly..
Early doors was quite, there were no Mayfly around, but there was they were rising to the small stuff which can be very testing indeed but i started to take fish where possible, the river was slightly coloured from the rain so it was hard to get my usual approach of stalking out bigger fish, i had to go for my old method of just fishing the rises, before long i went onto my new Ltd Mayfly pattern, the same as my spinner on the previous post but with a green/yellow colour, i have noticed that the wings of a dun and a spinner Drake are very much the same due to watching this last week, they do not flatten out on the water like a BWO spinner...(i could be wrong here as they might eventually flatten) but this is what i have seen...
They were not taking the Mayfly as there was only the odd ones coming off due to weather conditions, them Mayfly are not stupid!! But i knew that the trout had seen them coming off for weeks now and were happy to take them...

A wild brown 2lb 2oz, 1 hour it took me to hook this!

This did just change the slow start, i was catching hook virgin trout at a unbelievable rate, on one section i had all brown trout, every fish over the pound mark and the biggest just over the2pound mark, they were in top draw condition, the best one came with me leaning through a overhanging tree and winding my line to 12 inches from the rod tip and dapping it onto a pounder brown that was feeding head and tailing to the aphids...this brown must have never seen a fly as it went berserk when i hooked it, probably the angriest brown i have caught, i even kept my finger away while unhooking it!!
The action i was getting was just untrue, there was no big hatch going off but they were well hungry and in the mood, i had to calm down, i opted for a kelly brew and had a nap to soak in this wonderful spot..
Later on i had a visit off Jan and the fishing had slowed, at one time i would be flogging the river but now i just chill out and pack the rod away for a bit, why flogg the river if they are not on it..
I went down the Peacock where i had a brew with Jan and we knocked up a few patterns, my box is getting so low on flys i take my tying kit with me now and knock some up for the day, i need to sit down and do a load because i am still bad for hitting all trees around me!! Basically i use 5 patterns in different sizes for all my fishing, nothing else....

My LTD Mayfly spinner is doin the buis for me

Today was one of those days when it was all happening for me, you probably get one or two a year, but everything was sweet and i sat in the Peacock knowing what would come on later....'The Mayfly Spinner fall' now this i was looking forward to....






I decided to fish the middle section, it was now around 6.30pm and i decided to work my LTD spinner through the likely pools, most fish were willing to sip the fly down but a dead drift was the key to a rise..
I hooked into a fish that give me a fight that opened my eyes, a slight dimple as the LTD Mayfly was sipped down, you hear people saying the run peeled the line off but this fish took me down to my backing with the braid just coming through my rod tip!!! I have never had a fish with so much power, it was jumping out the river and hitting branches a foot above the water, landing the fish weighed 2lb 2oz rainbow, these fish are  complete joy to hook and i have never seen power quite like it, the big guns in the town can be fun but a wild 2/3lb fish tests ur skills to the max..

top class wild rainbow

The evening started to come in and i moved upstream and met up with Derbyshires most famous angler, Richard W, i have seen him posting on the forum for years and its always nice to see a angler who is known for his skills, i am the type who learns off other anglers, i have fished with some real top anglers who all have there different approach, when i fish with other anglers they don't probably realize but i watch every single move they make, sounds a bit mad, but if i put all these together its can only help me to become better, J Tyzack has been my mentor and watching him is untrue,i have studied him very well and his skills are maxed out but his concentration is something else...

I walked over to see Richard, sitting there with a sweet old fishing hat full of flys and a battered old hardy bag, holding a cane rod.

We chatted for a while and i was interested in the methods he uses fishing the rusty spinner(bwo spinner), its something i have heard him talk about and others, he once caught a 13lb fish using his method, now to me this sounds some feat but when i saw him fishing it i could see why, these fish lock onto the naturals in the evening when all the bread feeders have gone home, but they are no mugs and you will not catch fish unless you are fishing right, looking across the river you could see huge browns and rainbows head and tailing, a sure sign of taking dead drifters..Bakewell town was something else tonight, the crowds had not come and we had the beat to ourselves, the light was fading and the river as alive with slow sipps from the hungry trout...
Richard was very willing to give me all his advice and his cool methods and i stood and watched this veteran at the top of his game dead drifting the spinner....Top draw stuff...
I moved slightly upstream now and changed my pattern to a sherry spinner, i was going to try and hit these clunks on at size 18 sherry!!

Jan was out with his dogs keeping his eye on the river, we stood there chatting with a local chap who lives on the town, the first five mins saw me with no action, i soon got my head on and improved my dead drift, Jan shouted me and i looked around at him and he returned with, 'its just been taken' i looked around to a boil and i was in!! a good scrap produced a wicked 2lb 15oz rainbow on a sherry..i was buzzin...

I soon started to take fish on this method and it was a complete joy to use, the fish steadily rise and sip down as cool as anything, a complete change to the slashy rise most are used to, i did often look around to see the RW with rod bent action as he was taking them too..the method was not easy, a drag free drift was the key, anything else and the fish would not even look..
I stood with Jan and we watched Richard fishing away, Gaffer Warren turned up in his usual buzzin style, we all stood there havin the crack, it was a great time to be out on a warm evening fishing the spinner, i even managed to get Warren land a fish for me!
Richard has a style about him that most try and pull off, the hardy bag and the cane rod ect, its not my style, i see myself more of the modern fly man but this bloke is the real deal, he is the old school fly man and you can see that the hardy bag is battered from years of being on the river, a true flyman without any attitude, there are not many of his style around now, just the wannabes that just dont cut it...
Richard kindly gave me one of his famous sherry spinners, this will go along with my collection with a Oliver Edwards dun i managed to get from him..
A days fishing to remember and the evening was just that bit special, i had been fishing the sherry with the RW!!
This picture shows Richard Ward at last light, its one of my favorites and just shows Wardy 'Living the Dream' on a spinner fall, but i fear he has lived the dream far more times than myself....
LTD

Richard Ward fishing the sherry......

Nice one
Glen

Top class sport on Mayfly spinners

Finished work around 4 and had one thing on my mind, get the rods out for the last few magic hours of the day...
I do lots of my fishing in the evenings and its something that i a very used to now and when most anglers go home for there tea i am arriving knowing what goes on at this magical time of day...
There is usually a lull 2hrs before the light goes and i suppose that's why many choose to go home, i sit around smoking and gazing over the water preparing myself for usually a hours metal action..
All my specimen fishing has learnt me this, when i fished the dove for barbel i would bait the swim all day with hemp ect and watch the huge monsters drift in and out of the weed with no interest whatsoever but when the magic witching hour came the barbel would drop there guard and you could see them absolutely walloping the bait down, at times you could pick the fish out you wanted with ease..

Well this goes for Trout fishing, they too drop there guard and its surprising how close you can get to these fish, i fished with Crewe lad Phil Smith the other week at Dovedale and we saw fish feeding in only inches of water!

Well tonight gave me them same action but different to normal is that we are right in the middle of 'duffers fortnight', the Green Drake is away and its a time when anglers come out from everywhere to get some action, i hear anglers moaning that they only see trout men in mayfly, well to me thats fair enough, some are not as addicted as us and why not go and and catch a few fish when its easy...well this is not my bag, it quite the reverse, i have found Mayfly can be non challenging, i went out the other day and had three fish in three casts! bad casting, drag, they will still hammer your fly...

How i have changed (learned) at one time i would hammer the river and come away saying 'i have had 20/30+ fish in a few hours!! well now i would be quite embarrassed to say this, i love it hard (not that way Prior!) something that really gets me thinking, John Tyzack will tell you that i am always asking him Why? What? ect, i like to know what happening and fly fishing though at times can be very easy, it can bite you on the arse and send you home puzzled..

Tonight i fished the upper Dove, on arriving it was obvious that the mayfly were coming off well, every likely pool would have a fish 'searching' for the Drake.. I started to fish and taking fish, i soon had a break when i caught a very small fish to a huge mayfly pattern, this fish will sulk for 4/5 days and will miss out on some good mayfly that it will obviously need..catching these fish must do them no good so its another good reason for me to go siting bigger fish..

I watched in amazement in a deep back eddie, mayfly nymphs swimming to the surface and braking out of there shucks, i could see the whole thing, on entering the surface of the film they would be out of there shucks in around 3 seconds, obviously they are very prone here to feeding trout, one thing that did strike me was the colour of the dun as it just left the water very deep yellow colour, within 30 seconds the dun would change to the colour we all most know, this is something to keep in mind when matching colours...

I also noticed that most of the trout would take the emerging fly preferably to the dun, due to less effort for the fish, there was no splash, just a powerful swirl under the surface, the erratic jump would come when the fish hit the nymph too late and would dive out the water to take mid air!! also i did notice the trout would dive bomb the dun to sink the fly then take it, now i know why i miss lots of takes on certain days...

I had calmed down and wandered the river watching Duns getting nailed all over river, i was in the middle of the best hatch yet and just sat and enjoyed watching them, i have learnt so much by watching trout feeding than actual fishing, i can watch a trout now and know exactly where to place it with different fly patterns, believe me this does make a huge difference..more on this when i get more time...

I decided to take a few 1lbers and moved down to the bottom of the beat, lit a fag and had 30 mins kip on the bank side...
I soon come around to see that wonderful orange/red glow of a sun set that photographers dream of, a time where you can take a pic of a lifetime, there were huge mayflys dancing all over the river, yes it was the wonderful mayfly spinner time!!
The fish were onto them big time, the rises had gone from huge slashing dun takes to the boil of a easy prey spinner...
Easy for the fish but a spinner fall is never easy on the angler, drag is a pure no go, patterns need to be very alike as spinners tend to be taken in very slow flat flow so the fish has plenty of time to inspect your fly, this is my kind of fishing, hard....
I selected a new tyed pattern by myself called the LTD Mayfly spinner, its always buzzing to have a new pattern to see how it fishes, my LTD sedge has done wonders for me and i continue to get messages thanking me for doing a step by step on my blog..and some very good comments about this fly which is very nice, Wezzer had some given to him by the quality Crewe angler Tony Slade which was nice to see...
I watched big wild browns taking spinners in a flat calm above a rifle, to present the spinner i was going to have to get in the fast flow behind the fish and get a slack cast in to give me some time before the drag kicked in...my first cast brought me a nice brown of around half a pound, not the fish i wanted which was slightly above...
The orange glow across the river was amazing, spinners were all over the place, not just mayfly but the Sherrys in perfect form...
My heart started to pound as i moved in position for the bigger fish, i could not see it but the bow waves coming while feeding showed a decent fish, the light had nearly gone, it was deadly silent and it was just me against this fish...i blew the water out the cdc wings, ginked up my coypu tails and made a cast well upstream of the fish and waited, will it wont it, i just saw a head pop out as calm as anything and disappear, i waited then bollocked the hook home with a side strike, well the water just erupted, flat calm changed to a bow wave, the fish tore 20 yards of line off, the water was only inches deep and i could see i heading for its home... i thought i am into a fish of a lifetime here with a 2lb tippet...the fish was played back towards me and went straight down the fast rifle pool, i have learnt to lay off the pressure when this happens as you will most certainly lose it if you bully it, laying off the pressure and the fish will find a place beside a stone out of the flow, this happened  and i got behind it a swung it into the net...
I was expecting a huge fish from the scrap it gave, but holding the net up the fish weighed a very respectful 1lb 10oz and as wild as they come, a fish almost certainly a hook virgin...the fish was photographed and carefully returned and went down as one of my best fighting fish ever...and to a Mayfly spinner made it all the better...Sweet!!
The LTD Mayfly spinner has done me proud, it will be tested on the Wye tomorrow so will give a update tomoz..i will do a step by step if anyone want to try one, i dont put them on my blog unless i know they are worth it....

PS A note to the my blog followers..
I would like to thank all the lads for the support i get from my blog and the comments many of you leave, i have met so many sounds lads through this and its opened up lots of fishing opportunities for me,  its something i do for all to see and i enjoy writing them, all my posts are from my heart and get me in slight bother sometimes but i just cant change the way i am, i will always tell it like it is and honest it what i am about...


Nice one
LTD
Glen