Friday 18 June 2010

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










4 comments:

  1. Hi Glen,

    Sounds like you've had cracking evenings on the spinners.

    My last chance is this Sunday so keeping my fingers crossed.

    Loving the LTD spinner mate.

    Cheers,

    Roger

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  2. Hi Glen, Similar on the Derwent, some days very little fish action on the duns unless you found somewhere where was under fished. The rusty spinners have started to put in an appearance in the evenings now, have they started on the Wye?
    Will have to get a session together soon after I retrun from hol.
    Regards,
    Colin

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  3. I remember meeting Marc Petitjean on the Wye many years ago, before anyone tied with cdc. He had a red box with one spinner in it. He held it up to the breeze and the downey wings fluttered 'This is for later' he said. Then I tried for a year to split the wings like he could. All too easy to you lot now :)

    W'

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  4. Colin
    We will be out very soon mate, nice one for coming to see me on my fishing ground on Sunday, loved your flys..

    Warren
    Yes Petitjean must have been onto something big then, how cdc is used in so much fly tying and such a great material, my tying is very poor really, but all the online demos has given me loads of help...
    My next dream is for u to get Chris Yates to sign my kelly!! now that would be LTD...he is still my hero...
    Glen

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