A Spot of Grayling fishing on the Dove is just too good...

Spoke to Woody in the day and he mentioned that the rivers were running slightly up with some colour pushing through, i decided that i would give Dovedale a go as i knew what would be happening.....fish going mental!!!
Before i arrived i decided that i shall go for the Grayling and bug with pink hoping to pick out any Ladies as not trout, i only enjoy fishing for trout on the dry and have found that trout tend to stay away from pink so this was my challange for the evening...
On arriving i saw top lad Adam Booth and he had been out on the dry all day and had bags of fish, i soon thought about going on the dry but it was gettin on and there were not many rises going off...
I went with a two bug set up and fish with a heavy point to clunk the bottom, i fished all my known holes from the winter and even explored a new sections of the river...

1lb 14oz of Dove beauty

My first half hour produced nothing and it took me a while to get in the flow of my bugging style, its been a while since i fished with the bugs and it soon started to come back to me...JT taught me this method and i feel it is the best method to fish if you want to catch fish....it took me months of hard work before i got 'the feel'....something that anglers who use this method will know what i mean...it all looks very easy but this is far from the truth, when learning i would stand along JT and fish the same method as him and he would be banging them out and i would have the odd fish! i now have this method sorted and it can be devastating Grayling...
Well the first half hour was poor due to myself being slightly rusty and then it all went mad...in 2 hours i caught 7 Gralyling all over a pound and two clunkers that both went 1lb15oz on my scales..two absolute cracking fish taken on a JT flashback tyed by myself...
The fish were 'at it' too, fighting harder than i knew Grayling could, one giving me a tail walk which was heartstopping as it was one of the 1lb 15oz ers!!
I did think that i should be still fishing the dry for the trout but i just could not weight to get on the Grayling and boy did i enjoy it...

Nice one
Glen

Poppy Pointon n Annie Rose on the fly and LTD

Annie on the net waiting for action

Well i have had my little chickens over the last few days and since they were born i have dreamed of them fishing with me at some point.....
I have taken them the Wye once and once the stones were being thrown in i had to call it a day after 2 mins!!

Well Popps is 5 and Annie nearly 3, yes too young to take them fishing yet but everytime i ask them to go there little face light up and i just cant help myself to give it a go...they have never seen me catch a fish and this is a goal for me but on two occasions i have failed as they get bored after 5 mins..Wednesday i took them down to see Woody fish the Dove near Rocester, well this was a chance to get them to see a real fish for the first time, we arrived to the shouts across the river of WWWooooddddyyyy!!, my girls love Woody and always laugh when i mention him so they were keen to get there...

The river was shocking for rising fish, infact i think the Dove has been very poor this year but thats another story...

Poppy n Annie living the dream

It looked like we were on for a blank when Woody got the bugs out as this was going to be the only way to get a fish...watching Woody fish was a pleasure, he has come on to be a very good angler and fishes very well, far from when i met him a few years ago on the bridge at Elly, he catches fish whenever he goes and his whole fly selection and presentation is as good as any these days...Woody is also a very good friend and has done things for me that only a proper mate would do, through my ban on Leek and district he stuck by me through this tuff time and stuck his neck on the block without batting a eye lid..a 'proper sound youth' where i come from...

Well before long woodys line stopped and he tightened up into a beautiful Grayling and brought it over to my girls...there faces lit up with anticipation, they touched the fish and were loving it, i told them that this fish was the lady of the stream and they looked at it like magic as i do everytime i land one! 
A real special moment for me and one i wont forget and i dont think they will...
We left Woody after a few more fish shouting WWWooodddyyy all the way home...

Tonight i got the chance to take them down to the stepping stones at dovedale, my plan to get daddy to catch a fish for them so i could be there hero for the night!
I knew i would struggle and opted to play around the stones pool until i saw a fish rise, this never happened and it was time to give Poppy her first proper casting lesson, shes a left hander and boy did she pick it up, pausing and the back cast and putting a line out!!! wicked!!
The river is in the saddest state i have seen, it so low it looks nothing like the river i knew last year, time will tell but i feel if the rain comes the Dove will fish its head off for trout in late September...
I tried to fish but had no chance, there were no rises and i just was happy to watch Poopy casting a fly while Annie Rose thrashed the water with my net!!
At the end of the session i still could not catch one for my girls but this day will come soon i hope..
On the way home Poppy asked why i had not caught? i said its very hard to catch a fish and she said 'but Woody caught them last night'!! what more could i say...

Was i living the dream? oh yes, we all were!!!

Nice one

Pure Magic

20lb Carp 'on the fly'

Had a few hour session on my local carp lake tonight and landed this wacker on my 9ft 4# streamflex!! Taken on the JT elk hair chum mixer fly..
Earlier on I had foolishly pulled the fly out of a carps mouth by being too sharp..
Later on I was patent and let the fish turn its head and then set the hook home to a huge eruption.. the fish was given full power and landed after a mental fight to produce my biggest fish on this lake yet, I have seen a big common that will be my next target..
Not every fly mans dream to fish like this but can be some right fun if the rivers are not fishing well..
Nice one
Glen
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Who the **** is Terry Hearn

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...

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..

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

JT chilin in the cottage of dreams

'Dry Fly Expert'

Regular rod
A famous angler who lives on the banks of the river Wye, a man full of tradition and who is known by many a angler...
I have had the chance to meet the man in question who has taught me some of techniques, he often wonders out of his house to greet me with a huge smile and talks of the wonders of the river..my Sunday evenings are just that bit more special when he has his tackle with him...
Well he has started a blog and its a cracking read, full of information from a man who has seen it all...reading it i do get the feel i am getting top draw info for free...which is very rare in the fly fishing world...
Take a look on the link below...
http://www.dryflyexpert.blogspot.com/

Nice one
Glen