Wye!! A live blog post

Well here it is the first day of the season on the Wye!!
I am booked on with Jt...
Meeting for breakfast then strolling about in search of the Ldo
Will be doing a live update today with pics on my iPhone
Keeping it real
Ltd



'living the dream'

My Birthday treat conitinued and a bit more

better than kissing a woman

Dave Percys Face after i told him i had poached his river for ten years!!

After putting all the pictures on of my previous outing i thought i shall do the write up on such a top day..
JT had invited me to join a few of the lads on my birthday on the holy river Wye on the cressbrook and litton stretch lower section..
I met JT in Rowsley and had a breakfast around 10 and we both chatted about getting onto the Wye for the grayling on the last day of the season..we both hoped for a hatch and one on the dry too..
I have not fished the Wye for Grayling over the winter and looked forward to some action here, my membership saw me on the Peacock at Rowsley in the trout season but a divorce sent my head wayward for the winter months and i started Grayling fish too late for the Wye..well women and fishing dont mix as most know!!
Divorce sent me on my arse and i fought to get my money together for the Peacock again for the forthcoming season but in the end i could not scrape the money together so missed out on the deadline, was hard to take as i met some sound lads on there including Jan Hobat (river keeper) who has become a good friend, my Sundays saw loads of locals coming out to see me, i learnt so much there and improved my dry fly no end.. i hope to join again in the future but for now a day ticket here and there will sort me out.. like my famous qoute on my fly forum page ' the true riches are found in a anglers soul and not his wallet!! ' could not be more true as i am chomping at the bit to get out back on the dry....

We pulled onto the car park and met up with John Pearson, Dave Percival and Chris Prior, been a while since i had met up with Chris and Dave and there was some rate good piss take thrown in as normal, Dave checking me over to see if i was clean shaven enough and wearing the right gear lol!!! Well the usual 'Fuck offs were made and we all set on our way to get on the Grayling... I stood and watched John Pearson for a while and its obvious the lad is right on his game, he is always thinking of ways to improve and he kindly gave me a few bits of kit that were very impressive which i will review in a future post...
JT and JP were hitting the grayling and catching in good numbers, i was happy to just be there and had the crack with Percy..i just wondered about looking for that hatch...well nothing happened so i had a few chucks in a pool with the bugs and was rewarded with 4 lovely Wye Grayling...the Wye Grayling are plentiful but i have never seen something in there to really get my heart pounding,  its full of them but compared to the Dove i see no comparison to size..maybe its the ammount of fish in there that stops them growing so big, i am unsure but the Dove does produce the biggies..
Towards the back end of the day i saw a rise at the back of a pool....was it a trout or Grayling? it looked Grayling..i starred at Grayling rises for a solid week in Poland and i can now see a big difference..
I selected a jt stripped quil emerger as there were trickles of ldo coming off.. first cast into the flow saw the cdc tuft just sticking out the surface.. i had the old heart pound that i have not felt for a few months due to no dry fly action!!! if you love your dry fly you will know the feeling i am talking about...if you dont its just like you stripped a bird down to her knickers and you know what coming next!!! lol
Wallop that grayling swirl where you never see the fish... i struck late out of time but hooked up to the fish i knew straight away it was a grayling and JT and Prior were cheering for me...God i landed it and had the biggest smile on my face ever....That was it for me, how could it get any better.. i packed my rod up and just went taking pictures..the last day of the graling season and i take one on the dry...winner..
So we all went back to Dave Percy's local for a pint and some snappin, full of shit kickers and inbreds but great food and great company..
Thanks for the pressie JT and thanks to the cress n litt boys

LTD

Nice one
Glen

JT provides me with a perfect birthday treat on the last day of the grayling season!!

JT lands a pounder on the dropper

Post to follow!! whoop

One word 'was like a babies arm youth'

Had a meet up today with syndicate member phil (tyhmilis) at Dovedale
Phil had been on the car park since 8 in the morning and was buzzing to get going, due to commitments i strolled up at 11.30 and made my way up to see the manc lad 2..
Phil looked shattered and had said he had been through many a pool with nothing doing..We took a stroll and with him being new to this river i told him to chill out and wait for it to warm up as it had being fishing poor in the day..we went back out of the valley into the sunshine and decided to fish together with a single rod between us, this is something i do quite often now with JT and i find it a great crack as watching someone can be very rewarding, picking up tips and having a good crack.



Well Phil being another manc lad like Jt there is always going to be some piss take along the way and Phil is right 'mad far it' lol

 showed Phil another pool that is rarely fished and new we might find a fish or two..i worked down the pool with the typical 2 bug set up and had nothing for my efforts..Phil picked the rod up first cast and bumped into a small war battered grayling..he was happy as mustard and i got a right buzz from seeing his spirits lifted..

The sun was out and the Large Dark Olives started to come off more than i have ever seen for the time of year.. nothing was rising but a great site to see, these ldo's seem to be huge this year and very dark brown almost black, i would say a size 17 tiemco!!
We walked around pools together and started to take the odd Grayling out here and there but never more than one fish per pool..
Fishing with one rod can take the pressure off the river too and this is something Jt and myself are working on to keep our own beat in good condition..
Phil hooked a absolute superb Grayling around a pound and half in a pool i have never seen a fish come from, nice to see someone who does not know the river and will pick a pool i never fish, this is a lesson for me as we are all victims of fishing the pools we know produce fish..

Towards the end of the day i led my nymphs through a pool and the line stopped dead, i lifted to feel the horrible feeling of being stuck on the bottom...I started to lift and the snag moved up slowly.. i was waiting to see a huge Branch being dragged up when the line started to move upstream at the slowest pace i have ever seen..i realised i was into a fish and \phil could not believe his eyes when it started to take line of upstream...this was no trout, more like a big carp at the end of its fight...it turned into the current and took me down stream right past Phils feet and we could not get a sight of the fish, it was bottom hugging and i could not lift its head..at one point i saw my top fly come out of the water so i knew it had taken the jt flasback..
Phils kept saying 'your in something a bit special here arr kid' this is when my heart started to pound...the fish come right into the back eddie and all i saw was the biggest dorsall fin i have ever seen, it was dark black with no red which i found strange, i did think for a instance that i was into a land locked Salmon but the big dorsal fin was a huge giveaway...i know knew i was into a fish of a liftime and got my head on....the fish was starting to come off the bottom and i was winning the battle until the most strangest thing in fishing happened to me...
The fish was wallowing around on the other bank and then the rod lifted up in the air but with a fish on still....a thrashy trout appeared on the surface and i found myself retrieving a small trout of around half a pound!!!! oh my god, the trout had taken the other dropper and this in turn made the point fly unhook itself from the Grayling??? We could not believe it, i was absolutely gutted and Phil looked the same...the worst part was it being a old tatty thick stockie!! thank god the two clubs do not stock with these poor fish anymore because i dont think a wild fish would of done that !!

Well shaking and gutted Phil and myself had one of my Kelly Kettles brew and we sat going over what had just happened...i had just hooked a fish that i would not even dare say the weight or lenght but thats fishing and hopefully i will get it again one day..

I rang JT later telling him the crack and he just said ' only huge fish do what i had explained to him '
Well 'was like a babies arm youth'
LTD
(i dont know)
Nice one
Glen

perfect