Sunday 9 April 2017

Proof is in the Pudding

This week I have been back at the vice tying a few extra flies for a trip Im going on soon so a few dries, wets & nymphs to cover every eventuality.


a few #18 cdc olives for when the fish are looking up.














a few more of the #16 spider patterns which did so well last week on my first trip out.





And when the fish arent looking up then a few # 16 for  the bottom, then I happened to receive a parcel which I had been waiting on.







so a few more imitations were tied, this time though they are all new to me and come highly recommended, so after a few ties this is what the final flies look like.


They say the proof is in the pudding so I took the bottom 2 flies of the 4 tied for a swim today seeing as they were new to me and I wanted to see what they performed like before tying up more.

I arrived on the river just before 9am and the sun was already high in the sky but the wind was blowing right  up the river and not much was hatching apart from where the trees were deflecting the wind off the water so I tied up with a clinger on the point and a spider pattern as a dropper and started fishing the fast stream. It only took a few casts until I was into my first fish of the day, unfortunately an out of season grayling and it took the clinger so although out of season I was happy the fly worked.

I made my way upstream and another 4 grayling took the clinger before I climbed out at the end of the wood to be met with a carpet of wild Garlic, with some in flower.


As I made my way upstream I noticed how busy the river was becoming with another 3 anglers dotted upstream at various points so a bit of a walk was needed to find some peace and quiet. As I sat to see if I could see any fish rising I happened to look behind me and there growing amongst the grass was a weird looking mushroom. 






Since returning home and after a bit of research I found out its a morels mushroom, which are sought after and collected for their flavour in cooking. Certainly the first one I've came across.






Being out the wind the hatch started to appear so the clinger was taken off but I was very pleased that in just over an hour it had accounted for 5 fish.


Setting up with a small olive I started covering the rising fish and soon found them to be grayling again after taking a further 4 in a row, so decided to move away as I didn't want to be continuously catching out of season fish.

I dropped down to have a look at the nest I discovered last week and this time the Goose was still on the nest as I passed at distance so an not to disturb her.

Covering another rising fish I hooked into yet another grayling, it seemed that the trout were not playing today at all as everything I had taken was grayling so far.  As I sat having a drink an almighty commotion erupted behind me in the scrub, something was upsetting the goose so I stood up from my sitting position to see a large otter being chased by the goose with her wings spread wide as if making herself a lot bigger and more fierce than the otter as it slipped back into the river and out of sight, the goose following the otter right into the water still making a racket as it went.


 I went across and had a quick look in the nest to see if  the eggs were OK. I know otters are opportunists but I think this one tangled with the wrong mother this time.











The river was getting busy as I had noticed another couple of anglers, seems the hot weather has brought everyone out, so I opted to make my way back towards the car and head to another river where I know there would be less anglers, so in passing I had a chat to see if they had caught anything and they were struggling and hadn't caught anything so I was quite pleased at what I had.

Just over half an hour later seen me park the car and a few moments later I was sat in another Dale watching another river for rising fish. The river was gin clear and very low, unlike the river I had just come from which was still carrying a good amount of water. 
I seen a rising fish tight into a bush on the far bank which was rising frequently  so I waded across and had a few casts at it and then it came up and took my artificial....another grayling!


a quick picture as I slipped her back into the crystal clear water and she was gone. I made my way downstream as the wind started to pick up again, as I looked for some shelter from the wind I came across a couple of rising fish just off some willows tucked out the wind, so a couple of casts seen me finally get the fly where I wanted it, the fish rose and yep another grayling hooked.
I decided to fish back to the car as the wind was only getting stronger and I didn't want to change my tactics only to continually catch feeding grayling, on the way back I managed to capture two small brown trout par as a consolation. 2 river and 5 hours fishing not a bad second trip out even though it was all grayling that were the mainstay but the wildlife and surrounding certainly oozed the weeks stresses away.

2 comments:

  1. George I love those little olives, and the spiders of course.
    Nicely done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Alan, the olives are so easy, they need to be at that size as I have fat fingers...lol

      Delete

Your comments will be added after verification by the moderator.