The Dove rewards me with a 2lb1oz male dogger...

Had a spare hour today after doing a job for fellow angler Guy, i decided to have a nip down to dovedale to see what conditions were like, the car park was empty and i felt i had the place to myself which is very rare, i took a quick look at the river which was pushing through very hard but clearing up nicely..

I thought i would wet a line just to help with my fishing addiction, its strange how a hours fishing can sort me out and stop me 'ratlin' as the heroin addicts say!!

I went with a three fly set up and walked my way up the stretch fishing runs that looked to hold fish, the water was really pushing through and i had to put a real heavy tungsten hairs ear on to get it to the bottom, i have seen JT put some nymphs on that hit the water like a gun shot, i remember thinking someone was shooting at us until i realized it was him casting!!!

I walked to the top and fished my way back down, catching three out of season browns, its strange as i get a sunken feeling when hooked out of season fish, at one time i would be grateful of any fish but i suppose i have learnt much over the last few seasons and i get no satisfaction of taking a trout when i am after the Grayling..

I was literally on my last few casts of the day and i was trundling my tungsten down the pebbles feeling every vibration down the rod when the line stopped, i had been striking at these all day to only feel a stone, but i felt that special 'bump' of a fish that only anglers know the feeling, the fish headed right down the fast rifle thumping the rod tip, i have been taught how to play these fish by JT and it has landed me loads more fish, i was doing fine until i saw a huge silver flash and the good length of this fish, i knew i was into a slab and i started to do all the wrong things for a second until i kicked my self back into landing mode, the fish was heading down stream for the bottom of the pool and down into the next pool so i was sure to loose this fish, i grit my teeth and give it full side strain waiting for that ping of the line but the fish started to swim upstream hugging deep to the bottom, the fish now came just under the surface swimming up the current nice and smooth with me giving it enough pressure to stop the hook pull, then something i have heard about, a huge red dorsal of the fish came sailing through the surface, i then new it was a proper clunker!! the net came out, i swung it across and straight into the net then a big sigh of relief...

I thought it had taken my point fly but on unhooking, it had taken my JT pink shrimp on the dropper...i weighed it in my mcleans net and it just creeped 1oz over 2lb...

I had not taken my camera so had to make do with a few pics from my phone, the fish was a old male dog that had scars from battling over the years and a torn mouth from some nob using big barbed hooks and torn out, luckily the mouth had healed and did not effect the fish....

I returned the fish and held it upstream for a few mins and it slowly drifted off back to its hold...

At this time a year its great to have any Grayling but a clunk from a very hard river is buzzin..

I will put this down as a pb but i did have a huge fish on the dry last year while guesting the Dove that was much bigger than this, i have a photo on a previous blog post...

Since my recent blank on the Tweed this was a reward for my hard efforts there, a blank is good for the soul, but the good thing about fishing is you always get another chance, and today i did..

My next outing will be with Woody on the centre pins stick fishing for Grayling and chub with the maggots, a method i have done on the rivers for years that i will enjoy a dabble at....

Nice one

Glen

Slabbing on the Tweed with JT,Andy,Rich and Woody in Brokeback mountain

Woody, Rich, Andy, Glen

Lashed up with Richy, talking about trombones!!

JT and Andy, pair of fishing masters and also pair of pissed C"nts

Hes sitting in the right chair!!!

Woody being guided by JT

Superb fish... JT s 2lber, look at the head

Woody with a fish we dream of, well done bro!

Looks like a Barbel!!

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Here is was the trip to Scotland fishing the famous Tweed and it trib the Teviot..

I love to fish new rivers and a trip with the lads is a added bonus, the Tweed is a legendary river where dreams have been made or shattered...

I picked Woody up early hours and we headed off up the m6, Woody still half pissed from the night before! We were meeting up with JT, Andy and Richy..

We stopped for a full Scottish breakfast and then met up with JT near Hawick which is pronounced like 'ohk'

We quickly got our permits for the day and went down to look at the river.. i was surprised to see how small the Teviot was but how wrong i was when entering the river...

We all had streamflex 10ft ers with a three bug set up and heavish points to get down..

Looking over the bridge i spotted a pair of Salmon, one going well over the 2olb mark if not pushing 30!!! they were flirting about and the huge flashes were amazing to watch, it was the first time i had seen a proper Salmon river and i could see why there is a huge buzz for this type of fishing...seeing them fish got my heart racing and this is something i will have ago one day but i have so much more sport to go at on the trout and Grayling....

Richy and Andy set off one way and JT took me and Woody upstream to known spots..

JT started to show Woody the crack while i could not wait and got in..

I soon realised this was no normal river, the power of the flow was proper strong, even the shallow edges were pushing through, the river was not high, it was perfect, the bottom was pebbles and boulders with no silt anywhere...you could see why this is a Salmon river..

For a hour none of us had a touch until JT took a small fish which gave us confidence, Woody lost one but it soon went very quite again, i wandered off to leave Woody with JT so i could go searching around... some of the runs were amazing and looked to hold fish but i was struggling to get any action until i was standing in a deepish fast run lobbing a heavy bug set up by a huge boulder, i tightened up to feel bottom only to feel my rod get yanked downwards with pure power, the line shot out 10ft upstream in a instance and all went slack!! i had that feeling that this was no Grayling and i was short of breath knowing what i had probably hooked!!!

I started to fish hard on search of these monster Grayling, it was proper hard as you woulld see a pool and think 'fuck me if i dont catch here' only to get nothing for your efforts... this fishing does not bother me as when stalking huge fish you know its going to be hard just like my past barbel days....we could easerly gone somewhere to catch 30+ fish but we were after a clunker!!

Woody and JT joined me upstream, they had also found it hard so JT kicked in and started to fish hard..

Before long we had the shout and Jt landed a superb fish weighing in at 1lb 15 oz, as soon as i saw this fish i realized why he comes here, they are thick set with huge heads and pure mussle to cope with the strong currents...i was buzzing now as jt had hopefully found the fish....

JT was superb in walking back from the run and telling Woody to get in the run to catch a fish, how may blokes would of carried on fishing and had them to thereselves?

I stood with JT and it was only time before Woody hooked into a great fish, JT guiding him all the way so not to lose this wacker, Woody handled the fish superbly and jt slid the net under a huge male fish of 2lb 2oz, get in there!! we admired the fish and slid here back away....

Woodys face was a picture, he was on it and buzzin...

I had a go with in the run with JT but nothing for my efforts, JT said they were prob the only fish in that run and it was all about finding them...

We met back up with Andy and Richy, they had also found fishing hard with Andy taking some small fish out of a couple of pools, searching was the key....

We jumped in the cars and headed off down the lower end of the river to try a get some more action....

Update later, i am still fucked from the session on the ale and had to bash my Mrs for three hours when i got home as a present for letting me go!!!

Woody and Glen preparing to hit the Tweed with John Tyzack and his boys

Woody and me are going to the famous river Tweed to search for the huge Grayling, we are setting off early Friday morning and fishing through the weekend, we will be meeting JT and his mates on route so we can get some fishing in on the Friday...this is a trip i am looking forward to very much and we will be having a right good crack and hopefully catch a fish or two..

I have been preparing tonight by tying some shrimp patterns that will hopefully do the trick....

Here are some pictures

Wonder Woody saves the day with a Clunk

2hr Bash at Ellastone pays off....