Well I have had one of the most mad weekends ever!!!
It was all set up for a mellow weekend fishing the odd spinner fall on my locals until I saw John Tyzack on my Blackberry ringing....
Jt was around for the weekend with his lad and and wanted a nights kip at my cottage...well from there it turned into three days of ...........
Jt arrived, we cracked a few cans open and I told him of my found carp lake a stones throw away from me, he said that he had landed his first ever carp at the CLA on a fly and he liked it!!
Well I was expecting him to be not interested but his eyes lit up and I then knew my little treasure would be in for some fishing...
We took a stroll across with some dog biscuits and flicked a few out... The light was turning and the fish were not willing so we opted for a few beers at mine which ended up with full on guitar strummin session... JT giving his 'Animals' version of house of the rising son!!!
Well I had to go to work on Friday and woke up to see JT at the vice at 7 in the mornin tying a splayed deer hair pattern matching a pedigree dog biscuit!!!
I went to work telling Jt that these fish do not come on the feed until late afternoon....
I was fitting a light and my phone beeped... 10.30am and my email downloaded a picture of a common carp looking around the 14 pound mark!!
Well I should have known better, JT is a master fly man and this will make him good in all fishing, I then had messages banging through of beautiful double figure carp... all taken on his new patented pedigree chum elk hair dry fly!!!...
Tools were soon downed and I raced back to see Jt with a huge grin on his face....he had matched the hatch!!
Friday morning I had to go to work but was woken up by john to breakfast in bed wearing my daughters blonde wig!! Had to look twice as he did look quite sexy..he should watch out or he will have a sore ring after too many beers!!!
John had been up early and was tying his flys, a joy to watch as he banged out fly after fly to a pace that was untrue, each one bang on the same!
Sat mornin I arrived back from a night on the lash with the lads in Manchester... Stil hungover i arrived to see Jt with a huge smile on his face, he had been on the lake again and landed some more clunking carp, one upper double that took him 40mins to land!! Taken on his chum fly....
I had spoken to Woody who was doing a whisky event at the leek show in his marque..we decided to pay him a visit and taste some of the piss he sells..well jt was in his element, we were tasting ever wine on offer, jt taking a liking to many different wines!Woody was well stressed with how busy they were so we took the piss out of him for a bit and bought two of his best known piss and headed off back to my cottage for some duck eggs on toast..
In the evening I wanted to show Jt my rarely fished stretch of river and we both decided on fishing for Grayling...
I do love Grayling as they seem to have more a wild feel than trout, and I have seen some right lunkers while perched in my sighting tree..
Well we decided to opt for 1 rod between us, something I have began to enjoy doing, I first did it with top lad Chris Prior from Cress and Litton, its a good way of taking in turns to fish while one can focus on the rises ect, you get more a feel as your fishing together..and the craic is even better...
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| Tree boy!! |
Well we walked through a favourite pool of mine with nothing showing in the way of rises... I decided to climb my tree which looks all over the pool..I sat for a while just studying the river, something that has come from my carp and barbel days, you learn so much more from looking rather than just hard fishing..I know this long pool very well now and might seem sad but I know where most of the fish are here, I know where they hold up and also know where each fish feeds, I have not caught them all as they can be very selective and the pool is a medium paced flow so presentation is critical..the Grayling have changed there style in the last 4 weeks, they have stopped shoaling up in pairs and are now in there own chosen food lanes and spread out over the pool..these Grayling are huge and are no mugs, get it wrong and you will go home gutted as I have done many a time.. Firstly we saw bwo fluttering off and a small trout just smuttering under the surface taking emerging duns, out came the faultless JT olive and third cast produced a stunning wild brown, only around half a pound but one of the finest around, the same strain as the one I had in May fly, there are not loads of trout here, but its not stocked and very lightly fished and it does pay off from what I have seen..
I looked over the pool and found a good grayling nymphing its head off, moving around the pool very smoothly taking the ascending nymphs, I was high in the tree and directed Jt to the fish.. A single size 20 nymph was casted upstream of the fish and within 3 or four casts Jt landed a 2lb 2oz Grayling in superb condition...Jt asked me if I wanted next go but it was superb method guiding the England man onto all these fish, I could see everything from the nymph to the fish taking it..
I spotted a bigger fish down stream, this was going to be hard as the cast was a difficult one but if jt could not do it then I could not.. The fish did not look on the feed, I directed jt with the position as he could see nothing from his ground position, his first cast. Plopped 5ft above the fish, my heart pounding in anticipation.. The fish just drifted towards the fly and the fly disappeared, STRiKE! I shouted, JT calmly struck down to the side and the huge fish just rolled and held itself side on in the flow.. As the fish came along side us we new it was a special fish, its dorsal upright and a deep blue tint..
We landed the fish, weighed in my mcleans net and off she swam no worse for wear.. 2lb 6 oz and the scales and a excellent fish for the time of year..
We had done enough to the pool, other fish were there but any more would have spoilt the fun, we moved to another pool where I took another Grayling and a trout that pulled the hook.. We had only been there two hours and we were both on the way back my house buzzin our heads off!! Top draw fishing in a class way of doing it...
Back home it was time for a curry and to test some of woodys wine (piss), the guitar came out again and our new vocals were made to the Artic monkeys tune 'scummy man' please watch out for the upcoming video!!! Jt did not dare put the blonde wig on again as I was gettin horny late on so it was time for bed..
Sunday morn was a good one for me, Jt showed me how to tie some of his best patterns and best of all gave me a few hours casting in the garden, u think u are quite good until you see Jt work the line, his skills are somewhere else and and to watch his technique you can see why he is on top.. Its something i need to get bang on, yes I catch fish but there are times when a magic cast can land me a special fish..its something I will be putting right soon..
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| JT's breakfast |
Well jt made his way off home midday and what a great weekend it was... Carp on the fly, big grayling, Woody marque, curry, wine beer, guitars and most of all JT in his wig!!!
Does it get much better... Not much...'Living the Dream'
Nice one
Glen
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| JT chilin in the cottage of dreams |
