Sunday 16 July 2017

Trials & Fish.

Deciding where to go was difficult as all the rivers are low but I decided to head up the Dale in search of deeper water and the guys who know my love of mimulus will know exactly where by one picture....




 I've only found this coloured mimulus on one river in our region, plenty of all yellow on most rivers but never mixed apart from this one river.









I sat & watched Yellow Sally and some Duns hatching but as soon as they were on the surface the wind was blowing them off the water immediately so the fish weren't getting much chance to rise to them so with this in mind I decided to set up on the nymph line.

I bought a new pack this week and this was the first time I had it out on the water. I felt my fishpond vest last week left me soaked in the hot sun and its seen better days now as its quite a few years old now and starting to show wear in a few places.




I looked at replacing it with the fishpond summit sling, most outlets were in the USA but the few I found in the UK were almost £100.













and then I found another from a tenkara supplier based in the UK and although not the summit it would certainly suffice my needs and at a quarter of the price too.



so another couple of outings and I will write a full review on it, but so far all looks good and so far Im quietly impressed.





The first fish to the net was this small Grayling on the fourth cast upstream in the faster water. Relieved it wasnt going to be a dry net day I settled in the fishing and everything now was a bonus.







It didn't take long for the small Grayling to be attracted to the nymphs and they were coming thick & fast, nothing of any size but all great sport.







With over twenty of these little guys coming to the point nymph in just over an hour.








The one that tickled me the most was this small guy. Such a small fish with a big appetite.


The trout weren't showing much which I wasnt too bothered about as the Grayling were keeping me interested and I would sooner catch Grayling all day than trout anyway.






As I walked up the bank a few flowers stood out, but the poppies were the most stunning in the summer sun.







It was inevitable that trout would show up sooner than later and the first one wasnt too bad either, a nice wild fish.

I hooked into another trout in a deeper pool but it took off at a rate of knots and I never got to see it as it kept going and I released it at range, some you win, some you loose.

A couple smaller trout started to make appearances on the dropper nymph.







The Grayling came back on the feed and another few smaller fish before this better one came to the point nymph again.







A quick photograph before being released and it hung around long enough for an underwater picture too.


On the way back downstream towards the car a few wild flowers caught my eye.

















I was back almost back at the car when another trout decided to make an appearance and take the dropper, I had seen it rise just off a lot of overhanging branches in about a foot of water and not wanting to re tackle to dry I decided to decided to chuck the nymphs at it and see if it would be interested. It took a fancy to my small dropper nymph on the first pass.


With that I decided to call it another day over and slowly made my way back to the car in the hot sunshine.

10 comments:

  1. Hey George, great write up and pic's as usual :).
    I think your sorted with your new sling now but just aying... I got an Orvis sling last year because my waistcoat was digging in my neck and causing me discomfort and shoulder bags do the same, the sling on the other hand doesn't and i've found it to be superb in use, so maybe one to look at in future if you even need another.
    cheers
    Ian

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  2. Cheers Ian,
    always nice to get feedback and recommendations on kit from people who have used it, will see how the sling goes in the future, will it stand up to the rigours of my fishing? only time will tell.
    cheers
    George

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  3. Great shots once again, particularly like the flower pics. You can't beat being on the riverbank at this time of year

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    1. Totally agree, I would have got a shot of the harvest being gathered too if there wasnt a few cars behind me so nowhere to stop, it would have made a cracking photo.

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  4. I have an orvis sling I use when I go out with just streamers, works great and is comfortable to wear all day mate.
    Monkey flowers, think I may know where you might have been ;)

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    1. Cheers Martin, Correct in the monkey flowers, and yep you probably do know where I was....ssshhh.....lol

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  5. George, my comments are not showing.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Alan,they do I just have to ok them as I have moderation set, reason being I got a lot of spam so set everything to be moderated before...keep posting mate I always accept your straight away as soon as I see it.

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  6. George, I put the vest away a long time ago. I have a fishpond chest pack that I converted to a sling pack. It's ample for all that I carry and it's very comfortable.

    Great underwater shot of the grayling.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Alan,
      The vest was great I've had it a few years now and its starting to tell, problem over here is fishpond is a USA company and more expensive here so had a look around and found this one, so far its been great so fingers crossed.

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