It was the 42nd Symposium & Annual General Meeting of the Grayling Society which I've been a member of for many years and this time it was taking place a mere 25 minutes drive up the A1 from me at the very nice Redworth Hall Hotel near Darlington.
It was great to meet up & reunite with old friends from all over the UK & Abroad and make some news friends in the process, the line up that was on the cards during the day presentations had me drooling at the mouth.
After arriving & having coffee, catching up with friends and looking at how much my wallet was going to take a hammering with the trade stands, we took our seats for the first presentation of the day.
I was thrilled to be sat at the same table to two people who I was looking forward to hearing & seeing their presentations, Jack Perks the Wildlife Photographer & Film Maker & Robert Smith the author.
After the obligatory opening ceremony by the Chairman we got down to the presentations and the first one up was Author Robert Smith. A man who's knowledge of of North Country Spiders oozes from the book he wrote which I added to my library when it was first published back in 2015.
The thing I loved the most about Rob's presentation was I could totally relate to it as it was all about places and people who lived and worked in the Yorkshire Dales where as many know I now live and a lot of the patterns that they tied, I've fished the modern versions on the exact same rivers as these pioneering anglers who when I was growing up on the banks of the Clyde were all the talk of the spider & clyde style scene when I was learning to tie flies.
A very fascinating and informative presentation & I have to say that Rob is only the 2nd Yorkshireman I now class as a personal friend as the craic we had for the remainder of the day & night during the Gala Dinner was first class.
I've deliberately not shown pictures of Robs or any other presentation incase these are used again by these guys somewhere else & personally I think if you dont turn up to support events like these then why should you be shown it by someone else.
After a coffee it was the highlight of the show for me personally which was to see & hear the presentation by Jack Perks the Wildlife Photographer & Film Maker.
www.jackperksphotography.com
The stuff that this man does above & below water is phenomenal & the presentation & footage of the Grayling he has taken is really first class, if you ever get the chance to see his presentation you won't be disappointed if you love all things nature.
This is a link to just one of Jacks You Tube videos, stunning
It was my pleasure to sit and chat with both these guys throughout the day at our table and I certainly have come away a better person for it. To you both Thank You.
It was now the turn of the Grayling Research Trust and listening to these guys only deepens my passion for the lady of the Stream, the work that they do finding out & researching all things Grayling. We were treated to a very informative book hot off the press only on Thursday which is another welcome addition to my library. On flicking through the pages the word Clyde popped out at me and it details the move of the very first Grayling to have been stocked there, and much much more.
To my Scottish Grayling Friends who didn't make the Symposium...unlucky! but I do have a spare copy available to the first one who drops me a message.
Lunchtime and I now understand why my area secretary Stuart Wardle was taking cookery lessons & posting the pictures on Social media during the week Im sure he had something to do with the Lunch! I personally tucked into a very nice chicken curry (Stuart must have ran out of Lamb!) followed by a lovely scone & cream (Stuart you sure it wasnt you who had a hand in both!)
After lunch we had the pleasure of listening to the legendary Peter Cockwill, Author/Fly Fisherman.
Peter was someone I looked up to when I was a young angler as most of his books I have in my library so seeing him in the flesh and listening to his presentation was another tick in the box for me.
His presentation on Arctic Grayling and his passion to target a record fish, was again Brilliant, which thankfully I can report he achieved with this record fish below.
A replica of the fish he caught & released in Alaska was brought by him to the Presentation. A thing of sheer beauty Im sure you will agree.
The AGM followed Peter's presentation then it was off to the bar to kill some time before the Gala Dinner, where both myself & David Southall had the pleasure of chatting with Jack Perks over a few beers in their cases, a coke in my case! with the hotel only being a 25 minutes drive from the house I took the option just to commute instead of stay over so it was a soft drinks only for me and as time marched on I had to cut away & go get kilted & brogued up ready for dinner.
The first Yorkshireman I ever called a close personal friend many many years ago, Brian Clarke didn't think that I would turn up in Kilt, which I proved him wrong, so when both him & Rob Smith turned up in what I categorically can say is definitely not Yorkshire Tweed Jackets I had to laugh!
The craic at out table during the meal & charity auction was brilliant & I was only too sad to leave them to drive back home as I know the craic would definitely continued in the bar over a few drams & pints.
With most Society guys fishing our rivers this morning, I decided to take a walk out and aid them where I could instead of fishing myself, although I did take my rod along
I bumped into a couple of guys on the bank who thankfully I can say both had caught some fish and after a long chat & some reminiscing of times gone I left them to carry on with the fishing & I took a slow wander downstream.
As I was walking I came across a group of long tailed tits singing and messing around in the trees above. The weren't for staying still for long but I did manage to get a picture of a couple of them.
I seen a few fish rising on a slow moving stretch so decided to set up my rod with a dry fly & see if I could tempt one of them, A small hatch was on so I decided to opt for a #20 Supa Pupa and the next 10 minutes I captured 5 Grayling, not large fish but all on the dry fly which made it even more pleasurable.
A couple of them.
The wind picked up and the fish stopped rising so I headed back in the direction of the car, scaring off a few of the pheasants as I went.
A nice walk with a couple of fish thrown in for good luck as I helped out fellow Grayling society members and to everyone involved in making these things happen I thank you all for a very pleasurable & enjoyable weekend. Thank You.
If you arent a Grayling Society member all I can say is your missing out on so much!
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