Islay post 4 video special

Got a load of pics and vids together and put them on you tube so here it is if you want a look

Here is the link to youtube as the player not showing it fully on blog

http://youtu.be/jqrfRbgwgHI?hd=1





Nice one
Glen

Islay post 3 'finlaggen'

Finlaggen at last!
After a mad travel and my previous competition on Loch Gorm it was wicked to get the chance to fish our loch right outside our mansion where we are staying..









Our view outside finlaggen house!!!

All the lads had now arrived and that compied of Terry( USA) Mark ( Australia) James (Nottingham uk) Kev (Burnely UK) Herman (South African) Katey (Glasgow uk) Snapey ( Stoke UK)

Left to right
Islay May 2011
Mark...Glen...woody...Terry...James...Kev

There was a good mix of nationality so good crack was to be expected.
We all had breakfast and had a quick chat on our methods and tactics to help on catching our first wild loch troot..
There was varied experience between the lads and Mark and Kev being very new to fishing so I was hoping to see them catch there first ever wild loch trout..

I had fished it 2 years ago so knew enough to catch fish but all my methods tend to be matching the hatch and dry fly but I told the lads this and told them they might get more fish with a tradition wet fly method...
The lads were happy to use mine and woody drys but we would switch to wets if fishing was hard going..
We all walked to the righthand bay of the loch armed with a single ltd sedge with a bright orange egg sack added for a extra trigger.. Something I have taken from Jt's sedge he uses..

The weather was superb, overcast with a slight ripple and I knew we were going to be in for some action...

Mark to my right had never really fished properly and was still at the stage of learning knots so as I looked around to see see his rod smacked over I was buzzing for him, his face was a picture as he went back to the bank side to give the fish a quick knock with the priest to add to tonight's food..
I went over and gave him a high five as I know how he would of been feeing..
Not bad for a Aussie faggot!!!








Mark the Aussie fag, showing what he was going to do to me in the evening rise!!!

The day went superb with all the lads catching fish to the dry, I was using three drys and most of the time my ltd was being hit so I opted for all three in different sizes..
The hits from these trout is so addictive, they either boil under the surface of head and tail your fly.. Striking home quick is the key and any delay will see you miss the take so you need to be right on the ball...
The fight from these wee trout is something else, for there size they hammer you around like no other I know..
All the Lads caught which was a huge success and Woody suggested a curry in town was on the cards..
The lads went off but I could not leave the water as I knew what the evening would bring..
A magic carpet of rising fish in the holy witching hour!!!
I had the whole of Finnlaggen to myself and as the light turned I took 26 fish in action like I have never experienced..
Well it was a long but lovely walk back to the house with a handful of trout in my bag for tea.. I met up with Herman and his mrs there who then cooked me the most amazing fish supper I ever tasted, I was tired and hungry and it was a perfect ending to a great days fishing, all topped down with a wee dram!!
The lads came back from the curry and we all got smashed while I got on the vice to knock ltd sedges out for the lads on the next day..
Winner







Nice one
Glen

Islay post 2 Gp competition

Well after a nights sleep in the van I can say that I was absolutely knackered and today I was invited to fish in the local angling club in there annual competition on the famous loch Gorm!
Woody was working so Kev and myself headed off to the meet up on a farm where we all met up in the shed with all the local jocks..
I broke the ice with these hardy loch lads on entering the shed with ' ey up jocks the English have come over to kick your arses on your own water!!'
Well to be fair they took it very well and I got some right stick off them which was again taken well!!
We had to sign in, there was 28 anglers who were all mad for it,
We were given time to find our fishing position on this huge loch and start fishing at 1 until 5
The weather was shocking, blasting gails and heavy rain, far cry from creeping around my rivers back home but again thus place is wild and the fish even wilder so right up my street..

I started off with a three fly traditional set up, not my style but dry fly was not going to be on the list with big whacking waves across the loch..

2 hrs went by and I did not even have a pull, I was cold and starting to lose concentration, I could not see anyone else catching so just carried on.. It was proper hard going, I changed my flys, depth. Retrieving speed, you name it not a touch...

I found a pocket out of the wind and cast my set up out and straight away got smashed by a small trout! I cast again and another fish Rose to my fly, I managed to land my first fish!!
A big sigh of releif.. I had gone back to what I know... A big ltd sedge with a orange tag like Jt uses on his polish sedge..
I put three ltd's on and started to twitch them across the surface in short blasts... Omg the fish started to hammer my fly and I started to take fish..
Typical gp I had forgotten my landing net!! We were told to kill all fish and take them to the way in at the end, I was also using barbless hooks!!
Well I was slating fish out but could not land them and was trying to grab them and loosing them all at the hand..
One fish was well over a pound which I knew would put me in a winning position but again I dropped it as I grabbed it!! Grrr

The orange egg sack ltd was hammering them so I was buzzing, all the locals use wet fly and I was have dry fly sport in massive chopping waves in the rain.
Five o'clock came and Kev and myself grabbed a lift off a local jock back to the weigh in..
There were 28 anglers there all putting the catches in..
I could not believe it, over 10 anglers had blanked and the most caught was 9 fish to one of the famous Islay lads, I had caught 4 fish and lost 11 fish due to no net and barbless hooks!!! Including a 1lber
The crack in the weigh in was top draw, I was giving them loads and had them all shouting and giving me abuse but was all in good spirits, they loved it mostly when I told them I had met all types of people over the world but ' you jock c**** are the worst' !!!
I came 5th out of 28 and first time ever in a comp on a loch so was well happy, my dry fly had done the business but I was so gutted I had not taken my net and I would of won the match by miles.. But that's me , never organized!!
The locals were sound and gave me loads of drams so we went back to our mansion pissed!!
A cracking day and am glad in a way I did not win as think they would of strung me up in the shed lol..
All the lads are arriving now and there will be ten of us stopping in our mansion over looking the famous finlaggen!!
Internet is slow here so will post some pictures when I log onto a wifi in town..
Fishing finlaggen tomorrow and tying flys tonight with plenty off woodsy piss so all good..
Hope all well back home and the may fly are waiting for when I get back
Thanks for the comments on the first post..
Nice one
Glen
Jtuc





'living the dream'

Islay post 1

After a long journey I am now sitting in our camp site with woody, snapey and Kev.
The crack on the way has been superb and it's been tear rolling stuff all the way up!!
Snapey a good mate of Woodys is psychoanalyst and works in a secure unit, he has diagnosed me with rampant satyriasis Now I don't no what it means so google will be on the way!!
I have streamed hard core porn on my iPhone for 4 hours and it has lifted the lads into good spirits..








The weather has been varied, we have even seen a splendid display of snow driving through the mountains..
The boat journey was amazing with sites I will never forget..








Tonight we shall be going a local jock hole for some ale and then back the tent for some kip as tomorrow we move to our house for the week on finlaggen house..
Tomorrow we will be hitting the loch in hope of some wild brown action.. We are then meeting up with another 6 of the party








I hope to be having a little peak on a small river I have seen by the camp site tonight so will see

I am knackered so will update very soon

Nice one
Glen

Islay here we come

Well on the eve of my yearly trip to the sweet little Scottish island called Islay.
My goal is to go and fish in my style with the dry fly and from last time I went the wild feisty wee troot did not disappoint. Smashing my ltd sedge in amazing surroundings was just top draw.
Well am meeting Woody and a few newcomers at 4am tomorrow morning to make the long journey in the van then a 2 hr ferry crossing to our destination.
I look forward to fish n chips on the boat ( nicest ever) and having some proper banter with the jocks sailers who last time I ended up sitting smoking with them in there own canteen!!

Will been doing constant blog updates on my iPhone of out action throughout the trip..


Bring it on

Nice one
Glen




'living the dream'

LTD Mayfly Spinner

Its not often i do a sbs on a pattern as it takes alot of time to do,  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

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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..

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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.

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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..

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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..

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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..

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

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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..

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

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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...

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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...

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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

GP Midge Spinner takes me a Tean beauty

Well for the last month i have been down to wess and my own Little gem of a river called the Tean, not a famous river, but a clasy little unfished beauty holding lots of grayling and not many trout but  huge ferox trout on every likely pool..
I caught my best fish to date last year a 2lb 2 oz brown that will stay with me for ever, i wrote a blog on the fish last year around the same time... we have a rule between ourselves that we only fish the dry in trout season and bug it for the grayling in winter..
These huge fish do come up and take the dry but getting them to take your fly is just different gravy..
There is a particular trout that we caught last year once on the dry and it weighed 1lb 14 oz, we watched it come back to its pool on April 6th and have never cast a fly at it so we can study is progress..
Like a mad man i have sat for hours just watching how this fish behaves and i have learnt so much this year from this method...
Its lives on a bend under a sunken tree root for most of its time but comes out in the day to feed at the rear of its root in a food lane, it is so spooky that a bird flying over it will bolt to safety..
I can position myself within ten feet of the fish and watch its every movement while on the feed....
I noticed that the fish was feeding most of the time on flys that i could barely see, just a dot in the surface along with other scum i could not believe how it could pick out food from non food at such a tiny size.. there is all sorts that comes down this food lane and seeing it pick out the food was great..no wonder lots of flys get snubbed at as these trout are fully switched on..
The problem was that this fish would totally ignore olives, sedges, stone fly, reed smuts!!! i could not believe it!! Why was this fish taking tiny flys and not bigger more substantial food? I watched in amazement as a short flush of olives never made this fish twitch a fin...
My main priority was to find out what this fish was actually taking so i waited for the trout to come heavily on the feed and then entered the river behind it a netted the flys...
To my amazement this fish was taking dead drifting buzzers, the ones that you see the rezi lads raving on about, i have had many a  angler tell me 'buzzers are just a rezi fly glen and only come off in lakes' I was always unsure of this as buzzers hatch in a bucket of water if left for a month!!
These buzzers the fish was taking were 'spent' and one thing stood out, they had there wings splayed out just like a olive spinner...they were however tiny!!
I sent a email to WTT and ltdffa member Paul Gaskell asking him his thoughts on the buzzer thing..
Surley enough i had a long email stating that there are hundreds of different types of buzzers that come off rivers, some of them huge!!
I also put the question to John Tyzack and Paul G on why the fish would sip these all day long and ignore the bigger olives etc...
Answer...
Both said the same...the fish can get more protein, from sipping thousands of buzzers all day compared to a short flush of olives...so they are looking for this food source and become 'locked on' a tilt of a fin to sip a dead drifting midge or a chase of a fluttering olive ? the buzzer wins!!
I see many a angler saying 'stick a big fly on and u will have it' well this from my experience is totall bollocks, and just the easy way out...yes you might get the odd fish smashing it but the trout i am talking about would not even look at a big fly as my story continues i found this out...

Taking a egg layer

The trout would only take dead drifting midge for 90 percent of the time, other times it would take a egg laying buzzer (midge spinner) as it dropped on the surface for a few seconds, this is the only time it would move slightly quicker as the fish knew it could leave the surface again.. but the dead drifter were its main priority and just a very gentle sip would do the job..

A fish that sipps buzzer downstream of the fish i am after

My next plan was to try and catch this fish!!
My problem was to create a fly so small to match the hatch that i was going to have to use very small line to get drag free presentation... but this fish is a wild power beast and would snap me straight into the roots, i had to hook the fish and hammer it instantly to get it down stream..
I sat at home the previous night designing a midge spinner pattern, i had never seen or heard of anyone using a fly like this , the flys i had collected were tiny buzzers with there wings splayed just like a 'sherry spinner' as previously mentioned..
I ended up with a lovely little pattern tied on a small 22 partridge hook...i just hoped it would do the trick..

I decided to go down and catch the fish (if possible) Wess was away so i had no one to sight the fish for me.
I knew i had to go strong so i opted to see if i could tease the fish with a bigger pattern, the fish was sipping away as normal and i started with a ltd sedge, nothing.. olive nothing, f fly nothing not even a twitch of a fin ...
So i had to go with the fly i had made a few night s before, my midge spinner... i had to go down to 1kg stroft with such a small fly to get it drift right...
surely enough first cast it landed 5ft above the fish and tilted its fin and sipped it straight down as calm as ever, my heart was in my mouth at this point and i waited for it too dropp then set the hook home..... i was in !!! a huge bolt for the root and i hammered my rod into it and ........PING....
Well i should of known really but i did what i wanted...fooled it for a dead midge....winner...
I was a bit gutted  i had left the hook in but knew i would be back again in a few days to land the fish...

Two days later i was back and Wess had been watching the fish, as normal it was sipping away and looked in no mither... this time i went for strong twang again, i tried to tease him up again with bigger flys but Wess kept shouting down to me....'not even looked at it bro'
I was about to try the GP midge spinner again as last resort and choose a  big Griffith knat, one of the most luckest things happened to me in any fishing i have ever done...Wess shouted ' no mate not took it'..... I could not see the fly and was about to retrive, my fly had sunk... my line tightened up and i was in!!! it had taken a sunken Griffith Knat lol
Well i had 1.8kg line and belted the rod right over, i could hear wess shouting 'keep it from the fucking roots'!! it was slashing all over the rear of the root and i hammered even more into it.. i managed to turn the fish and something changed...the fish was playing different to normal.. the hook had released itself from the mouth and stuck in the fishes back...
I played it into the net with a big sigh and wess laughed his head off of how it took the fly...
I then unhooked the fly from its back and found another hook stuck in the same position....i looked again and it was my midge spinner from two nights ago when it broke me!!!
The hook had caught hold of the spinner hook!!! now is that luck or just fate... bet i could not do that again...

Well we weighed the fish and looked at her in full light out the water...i had watched this feed for a month and spent hours looking at it in the water... i felt mad that i was now holding her... we took a few shots and watched her glide off fit and well... winner....
The pattern i have developed is very simple, nothing like i have seen but has all the triggers of a dead drifting midge, i shall put the step by step on my next blog post...

Today Wess gave me a call to say it was back out in the pool but not feeding so was really happy to see she ok, this fish has taught me so much and it wont have a fly cast at it again until next year...


LTD
Nice one
Glen



Pure Tean wild ferox trout on the dry mmmmm