Dry Fly!!! How many do you need!!!

I see many a post and blog that hammer on about different flys colours shapes size, you name it there are thousands of different patterns that come up every year claiming to have the new killer fly...
Well i am far from any 'expert' in these lines but all i can say is what i have learnt and what i have seen in my fishing situations on the river..

There are two split differences in fishing the dry... you get the lads who just stick on a attractor pattern eg a big sedge and fish everywhere hoping for a trout to smash it through its instinct..

Then there is the lads who will wait for a rise, select the right fly ( match the hatch) and then then catch the trout by its feeding match..

I have found that the lad using the attractor pattern will catch a very good fish from time to time, due to the size of the fly used..
But on the other hand the lad who 'matches the hatch' will catch many more fish over the season
What is the best i dont know but i have done both and use them at different times throughout the season..
I do prefer to match the hatch as you feel as you worked for your goal when it comes off...but this is where i see millions of flys being tied for each and every dry fly, and in my view this is where most fail...

For me i only use 5 flys for all of my season, if someone is in any hatch i find i have it all in these 5!
Every one of my flys i use will match any most hatches but most of all the SIZE matters.. every one of my patterns will have at least 5 different sizes...

I shall be blogging all my flys but for now my no 1 LTD SEDGE....
This is a fly i tied a few years back and its nothing really flash but has worked no end for me and others who have used it on the Derbyshire Wye..
You could say it can be a attractor pattern and yes its superb for that but when the sedge are out i have used no better..Woody has used it and loves it, infact i tied him the emerger and standard pattern and he had unbelievable results on both..some days emerger and others standard...
We used this in Islay on the wild lochs and a very small size 19 was just the job, any bigger and we would not even get a rise to it!
This is where i come back to the size thing....i fished the Wye in Derbyshire and the famous black sedge were coming off in huge hatches, the tricky Grayling were Cooley sipping them down, i could not get the ltd sedge to work on a size 17 until i went down to a 19!! now you might think this is bullshit but the river keeper Jan Hobat saw it happen..Grayling will not hit anything unless it looks like the real thing and you know you are fishing well if you hook Grayling in a hatch..
When tieing this pattern i make sure i build them to the size of the hook, i see many fly tiers do them on a size 19 when really they have tied the build on them like a size 15!! so when they choose a smaller hook they are still fishing the same size!!! Big mistake
Click on the link below for the step by step
Nice one
Glen

http://glenpointon.blogspot.com/2009/07/ltd-sedge-pattern.html

A "reel" turn up for the books

I recently got a mention from online fishing tackle people Fishtec.  They reviewed a load of fishing blogs they liked and mine was in amongst them. - it's always good to be appreciated, i do write as i feel and have met some fantastic people in the sport, and have had some oportunities to fish some exellent water due to my blog..

They've been in touch with me and this year, I'll occasionally be doing some honest reviews of kit for them and they've even invited me to do a guest post on their blog.  Here's the link to it -

http://www.fishtec.co.uk/blog/

As you can see I'll be along side some pretty good fishing writers.
What can I say?  I'd better get some fishing in and some good crack to get the boys buzzin..

Nice one Fishtec
Glen
  

Dry fly verses nymphing in Severn heaven

Well its been a while since ihave done a blog post but beleive me i have still been weting a line, i have had many a call asking me what i have been doing which is nice to know so many people read my blog..

2lb 6oz wezzers fish really

Work has gone through the roof and i have been hitting it hard, there is also another very good reason but i think Woody and JT will fill u in if you ask them!!
Well Grayling fishing on the San was a dream come true for me, and without sounding a cocky twat my dry flying has been risen to another level, to say it was hard to get a grayling on a dry was a understatement, i had to use hours of drag free, right fly, stealth, position, casting...you name it, it was done...Paul Procter went the week after us and the rain came down and brought on bwo hatches galore, overcast weather the lot... i felt a bit of a kick in the teeth but when i think back i reazllise it was the best for me personally as easy conditions like they had are not my thing.. i come back a dry fly expert!!

Wess, oasis pose!!

I arrived a Dovedale a few days after on my Issak Walton ticket and looked at a fish rising in a back eddie.... mmmm how the fish has done me over the months...i just selected a JT stripped quil emerger olive (dont know if he has put them in his range yet but get on the phone to him!!)
first cast walop!! a trout was hooked and flicked off...well i had spent 1 week hardcore fishing and at that moment i reaised i had got my casting spot on...
I fished around the river and took fish to the dry that i would always seem to mess up on....the San had taught me well...

Grayling fishing kicked in a there was a period where i went onto the holy Wye with Woody... dry fishing was superb, with Grayling coming to the stripped quill emerger...i was slightly gutted that lots of trout were still feeding heavy and i knew it was time for me to give my Wye a rest...my plan is to go back when it really gets cold and the fish pack in tight... putting a bug in there on early Grayling season is like fishing with maggots to those Rainbow trout...not for me....
The mad day came when top nympher Wess and myself went on the Dove full bugging style, we were spoit to the max when i took 3 Grayling over the 2lb mark and Wess taking a 2lb 6oz Gralying of superb quality!! At 46cm it was the fatest grayling i have seen... i hooked the same fish 1 min after it was realeased full on in the mouth!! this is mad and has happened to me before but all credit must go to Wess for finding the fish....
Well the day came of dreams for me when wess and myself went to the upper Severn, we met up early doors and had a 2hr drive over talking of all Grayling fishing we would be doing for the season...Wess is mad on the nymhing techinque and shows very well in his fishing, we both work on site together with Wess being a plumber and me a spark, most days are spent shouting abuse at each other or talking fishing!!!
We started fishing with a three bug setup on Wessers knew indicator setup which is a dream to fish, something i will blog if he lets me, we knew by low water levels it was going to be hard but fishing got underway as we started to take these famous Grayling, nothing big and not huge numbers but we were catching...the buzzing part of fishing this river is you just know there is a chance of a record breaking fish which gets the heart pumping...

Grayling on the dry!!! Does it get any better this time of year..no!!



A pounder hits the net on a jt stripped quil emerger!!

 In the afternoon we walked to the the top of the beat and a good hatch of LDO came off!! and my heart skipped a beat when i saw the typical Grayling rise that i know only too well, this to me is fly fishing heaven and at this time of year was a beautfiul site..bright cold day, leaves falling and fish rising!! sweeeeet
I ripped off the bug setup and selected a olive, totally ignored!!..i netted a natural and noticed my size was all wrong...going down to a size 20 and this did the trick..my san skills put me on top and i slautered the rising Grayling...one fish that was rising totally did my head in...a very good sized fish, it would rise every five mins but if i got within 20 yards away it would go down.. i waited and waited but it had me done...
Wess stayed with the bugs and did very well and we both had the banter of bug versus dry and both ended up with the same ammount of fish and were buzzin..the biggest fish that came to the dry was a 1lb 4oz and i was chuffed to bits!! was this my last dry of the season? i dont know but last year i saw a ldo hatch in late december on the Wye where the ladies went mad.. we will see..
We drove home buzzin.. a great day to remember..nice one Wess..

Sweet San is just soooooo sweet, the conclusion



gettin off the plane and into the fishing mobile

 Well i never got a good chace to continue the blog days as the drinking at night got too much in the end!!
I have had many emails asking me o continue the Dream session so here goes......

The last post shows top angler Richie holding the fish of the week and it was well deserved indeed.
We arrived at the power lines pool which comprised of a long slow glide for over 300 meters...as our goal was to catch these huge grayling on the dry this looked perfect...it was obvious these fish were going to be very hard and me and Richie decided to pair up and go and stalk out rising fish together...i cannot tell you how hard the Grayling can be to catch on a dry, back in the UK they can be teased up by a fancy pattern like the sturdys fancy or a grifth knat, these fish are a nightmare, they will only take a perfect match of a hatch, the size, colour and drag free are all absolute critical, the trout are much easier to catch but still can be hard but like i say the Grayling can send you mental!!!!
Ritchie and myself waded into the river and stood still for a good hour, any movements would send the fish down, this was the technique for the week, get in your spot and wait for them to come on the feed, all around you!!!
We were taking it in turns to cast at rising fish, the difference from the Grayling rise and the trout rise was obvious, something i have learnt to a T on this trip...We saw a nice fishing sipping every five mins and we both covered it with no success...after grinding us down for over a hour Richie just flicked a dun to it and it just walloped it!!!!
Wicked!! the fish played him mellow until it found the deep water.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz this fish went mental taking line off...these fish are different strain to ours and are nasty in the fight, after a few mins the fish tailwalked right infront of us to give Richie a heart stopping moment...soon we landed a 46cm 2.8 oz San wacker on a size 20 dun pattern!!!
Top angling by Richie as you just dont catch on this river by luck, hard work paid off and a high five was given to him after we released it.....
Later in the evening was something else for me that night, i was at the bottom of the pool waiting for some rises......i saw a huge hatch of pale wateries  emerge off the pool, now i learnt more tonight in all my fishing on fly rivers...the trout and grayling would only take the emerger at this stage as they were coming out of the shuck, any full duns would be left alone... i selected a emerging dun with no luck...why?? i could see the fish sipping them no more than 5ft from me!!! I had no drag, the size was perfect.... i then thought of colour? something i dont really believe in....i selected a pale green shade emerger like the real dun and then bang!!! 3 Gralying coming straight to the net!!! great feeling that but then i could not get a take........they had switched to the full dun at the end of the hatch and selecting a full dun in green batterned them again.....i was standing in the river and realised how switched on u needed to be to get into these fish...yes you might get lucky with the odd fish but to take them u needed to be on your game...a lesson learnt....how many times do you see a angler walk past and say 'they are on the emerger today'! well now i would always think that could have changed in ten minutes!!!
In the evening the spinner fall was mental.......a sherry spinner took the odd trout but i was getting so many refusals it was not right...they were taking the real spinner but not mine...i went home happy but gutted i was doing something wrong... i soon would find out...

On the Thursday we went to a pool i cant remember the name but one that i wont ever forget...
The sun was out, bright clear and a flat calm pool that looked like a lake....i was not going to flog my heart out when the lads all ventured off to get in the river... i decided to stay back with JT and we sunk cans of lager for most of the day in the most scenic place i have ever been...just being with JT at the side of the river we just chilled out and talked of past sessions in our fishing days....Richardo came to the river at dinner time on most days and cooked us full barby meals next to the river...sausages, pork the full job, we were right looked after....
That evening i made my way upto the top end of the beat as Jt had advised me of some deep runs that hold big ladies...
I walked up and got into my position and waited.....waited....a hour gone with no rises and i saw a huge fin come out of the water with a typical grayling boil....my heart started to pound.....i put my line though and waited for it to rise again....nothing..... i thought of moving but this fish was huge... i then waited bollock deep in the river for another hour!! the lads were catching fish and i was staring at a blank for the day but this fish was a proper ltd fish!!! i had noticed from the week that a big fish will hold its pool so i just stayed and waited..a sudden flush of P waterys came off and the fish came up again... then one minuite later again....this was my chance... i selected a full dun in pale green, size 20.....i knew it was my chance....the cast had to be down stream, no other would do, drag would kill it off back to the depths...i mudded my 9 x tippet and just hoped it would hold the fish if i hooked it...any bigger tippet lower than 8X would send me home with nothing on this river...
A few false casts and i dropped the fly perfect in the scum lane of drifting olives.....the fish came up and nailed a real dun 3 inches from mine!!! i was now starting to get that sinking feeling...i then put in the second cast and fucked it up with swinging drag...i then though that was all over....i then put a third cast in thinking i had put it down.....i saw the huge fin come out roll over my fly, the sheers size of this fish was mental, as soon as i saw the huge crimson colour down the side my heart just skipped a beat as only anglers will know this feeling...like slow motion i struck down to my left and the lovely feeling of the line tightening as the hook set home.....i was in!!!! the fish came back upto the surface and my heart was beating out my chest when i saw the real size of this fish...it was bigger than anything i haad ever seen...over 50cm no probs and over 3lb for sure...
The fish snapped it head and the fly came pinging back to me hitting me in my chest!!! FUCKIN HELL!! i screamed across the river!!! i had just pulled out of the fish of a lifetime on the dry....i had waited all day for that and stood over the fish for nearly three hours!!!
I was so angry i had the the thought of snapping my rod in two to ease the pain....
I caught fish in the spinner fall that night but the thought of losing this fish hurt me deep...Richie stood 20 yards up the river from me and saw what this fish did to me, he looked as gutted for me as i was...

Back at the fishing lodge at night we had some right good crack, sinking beer and just full piss take all around...all the lads on the trip were sound, i got to know all of them very well,
Roger my room mate is so cool, takes everything in his stride, and had massive balls...
Steve, a calm mellow lad, who just sits there and laughs all day long...always catches fish
John/Richie two geordie cunts who are hard to separate, always smiling and talking and both very good fisherman, a joy to pair up with and fish..
Clive a sound lad who loves his fishing and a right nob after drinking!!!
JT A bloke who is hardcore, can fish hard, drink hard, nothing bothers him, shares all his knowledge and a right good laugh...
On the last day before we come home i stumbled across c=some Polish fly men and got chatting to them which turned out to be a right good laugh, non of us could speak each others language but we swapped flys and they give me Vodka shots next to the river!!! real LTD with the Poles!!!


The trip was one to remember and i will be back there again next year, i learnt so much and never thought fish could get that hard, its made me a better angler for sure, the fishing was hard going at times but this was not normal for the time of year but hey thats fishing, i still sit here now writing this and that fish i lost is still in my head, i could go back to the very spot tomoz and know where the lunker is... i will cover that pool next year and hopefully have more luck....
Nice one
LTD
Glen

2nd cast of the day!! Johnny

My room mate Roger

Geordie twat

Clive in the spinner

wankers..all of em!!

Steve

time to go

JT shows us the snake roll pissed up

the dream liver

Richie into the fish of the week...top angling shag

crimson wacker

the downstream cast

wojek

The Polish lads on the Vodka!!

Day 4 - Richie bags 46cm (2.5lb) clunker in a San 'living the dream' session



San slab

 More to follow........................