Trout season is almost here :)

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It’s been sometime since I’ve written a post but hopefully with a little more time on my hands I can start posting regularly again.
Well what can I say the winter was a complete washout and I hope the new trout season and weather will be kind to us.
As most seasons come in I’ve been quite busy tying the early season nymphs and dries. As most know early season trout fishing can be hit and miss due to the cold water and weather and takes the fish and insects a little time to start moving, hatches can be very sporadic and last only minutes on times. Nymphing can be a little more successful but there is nothing better than seeing an early season rise after such a long winter throwing mental at everything.
below are some of my early seasons successful flies

In search of wild brown trout in the welsh mountain lakes

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It’s a little different to what i normally do but my good butty Dan asked if I fancied fishing for wild browns in a lake in the welsh mountains and I jumped at the chance! I’ve fished the lake before and it was a great days fishing but the weather was a little better with overcast skies and a good steady breeze on the water that day!

We were greeted with bright sun and hot, very hot! Not the best conditions for chasing wild brown trout in! But fishing is fishing and we made the most of the fresh air and beautiful scenery! Not to shabby hey?

There was some promise with clouds building over head throughout the day but the takes and fish were hard to come by.

We both moved around the lake looking for drop offs and waiting for cloud cover to cast. We both had a few takes but they seamed very reluctant to hammer the fly, It was a little Frustrating at times but time past chatting away about the fish Dan lost the day before. I’ll not say much about it because he’s a big fella and I don’t fancy having a black eye lol all I can say is, it was big, very big!

Dan below with a stunning wild brown trout that he fooled with a little black lure he tied on the lake bank, Stripped very quickly

After Flogging the water to death we decided to move back across the lake to get some food and tie a few flies to pass the time and to see if the weather would change a little.

As the day went on the cloud cover got a little better and fish started to rise for a bit, I did try but to no avail sadly. It was quite difficult in amongst the weed beds so I give up!

I did finally avoid the blank after what felt a age trying to catch. It was a lovely fish that for the size give me a hell of a scrap and took a few runs and leaps before slipping it into the net

Time slipped away chatting about all things in life with Dan and the fish he lost the day before 😉 All in all a great day with great company. Sometimes it’s not all about how many you catch, It’s about taking everything in and relaxing with good mates! And thats what we did!

Until next time and tight lines all!

Monnow Auction Guided day with Barry and Paul A.k.a. chuckle brothers!:)

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Slightly different day today for me I helped Rob Bending Guiding Barry and Paul, the successful winners of his Monnow auction lot, A day on the river Usk chasing wild browns!

More the dry fly anglers they both wanted to see what the French leader was all about and how it’s used Effectively.

They both had the right gear for it, 10ft 3/4wt rods & they were ready to go! We started off with the basics including, casting, line control, presentation & bite detection & before we knew it they were both getting takes & fish.

The guys were both keen to learn about fly selection & the reasoning behind it & this was explained & demonstrated throughout the day with the abundance of fly life & hatches coming off.

Later in the day the fish really came on & the guys got in to the fish with some dry fly action with the fish on hawthorns, medium olives & then midges. It was a pleasure to help rob guide two absolute gentlemen who were open minded & keen asking about the why? When? & How? Instead of just catching a bin full of fish.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day & you’re more than welcome back down anytime gents & cheers for the beers! 🍻

Fishing the river Usk

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Over the weekend me and my good mate sam went and had a little look at the river Usk in Mardy. It’s been a long time since I’ve fished the beat, I think it was the year before on the March browns and we caught it perfect if I can remember rightly!

We got to the river quite early and bumped into another angler walking off the beat but he was on the Wye and Usk passport, so after a little chat and saving the guy some cash in his future trips we headed up river scanning the river for anything moving! We did spot a fish but it only popped up the once. Time was around 10.30am and there were some Signs of fly activity!

Fly life this time of the year can be a right mix-and-match. Olives, small olives, brookduns, yellow mays, mayfly, black gnats and many more! It Can be a minefield for anglers matching the size and pattern that the trout lock onto!

While waiting on the trout to react to the flies, me and Sam done a little nymphing in the fast water and the deeper pools with good results. We both got busted up and was a little disappointed but that’s how it goes.

We did catch around half a dozen between us, nothing big but pure quality!

Finally moving out of the fast water, we made our way to the long tails hoping to find trout rising and there were a few taking olives and the odd bigger duns so we set up the dry rods. I was using my 10ft 3wt with a leader around 16/18ft for Presentation

But just before Stalking a trout rising on the far bank, I watched a guy for a while before going over to chat with him. His name was Glyn and he was quite new to it so I lent a hand changing his set up and helping him get better presentation. Was great chatting about fishing and we dropped onto the subject of the fishing blogs he reads. He said he reads a blog taff Diaries 🙂 made me smile because it was all good. I then Re-introduced myself as the writer. we both laughed for a bit after!

I love how fishing can bring people together from all walks of life on the river. It was great chatting away about flies and leaders and I hope I helped and explained it enough to understand

Sam getting ready to slip the net under yet another lovely river Usk wild brown trout on the dry!

These are the flies I fished throughout the day below. Simple but they do the job 🙂

Little rivers with little reward!

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Managed to get out for a few hours with my mate Burnsy on a small local river that normally fishes real well and has a good head of grayling in it, but not today for some reason

Conditions were steady with a bright sky and not to cold with a low wind. An anglers dream at this time of year. Setting up, I was thinking this should be good but I was so wrong! You can never tell how a day will go but that’s fishing!

Everything looked great with water levels spot on but the fishing was as tough as old boots. Changing methods, fishing hard on the bottom with big beads and mixing the depth up to no avail. As the afternoon progressed, the odd large dark olives came off and the odd spinner passed fluttering about but not enough to get the fish moving. I finally gave up and dug deep in my box and pulled out a squirmy worm, things got desperate for a take! Few casts later I took a grayling to my surprise.

If in doubt worm them out from now on lol, it doesn’t matter how long you have been fishing and how much experience you have, on days like this you feel like a newbie. Challenging and changing conditions can make you or break you. Never give up. Always think of doing different things and work every little run, ripple or pool. It was hard but we both caught a few in the end so not a red letter day but more than that we had a good day chewing the fat and putting the world to right.

Nymph images

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As I’ve only had a few short hours free due to family and work commitments I’ve been using the time at the vice relaxing and thinking about my favourite time of the year, early season trout fishing!

The March browns and brook-dun hatches! This can be amazing so u need to be prepared I’ve started with a pattern I like to use fishing the slower pools with the French leader and as a dropper when the fish becomes active on the March brown and brook-duns. It’s a great crossover pattern that works great throughout the year in many different sizes!

Hook, hends bl550 size 14

Thread, 17/0 trico

Tail, bronze mallard

Body, olive quill / uv resin

Thorax, hybrid fox squirrel black pepper

Wing case, natural Pheasant tail

Grayling in small rivers

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Finally the rain stopped enough to get on a river here is South Wales

The river levels are still a little high in many of the larger rivers so me and a good mate Dan decided to fish a smaller river looking for grayling. The river doesn’t hold a massive head of fish and not that big but it’s not all about that, It was just getting out and walking a new part of the river and searching out the little pockets and pools!

It’s a great little freestone river that is hidden among housing estates and industrial factories but the river is alive. At around 12pm there was a steady hatch of large dark olives coming off and I was hoping fish would react but I only seen one fish rise and that was it but the fish became very active on the nymphs so we tucked in!

Method of the day was the French leader with a two nymph setup, I had two 3m size 14 grub pattern on that took did the trick! Fish seamed to be sitting in around 2ft of water and not much flow but wanted the nymphs dead,dead drift. Takes were very delicate!

My mate Dan went for the pink shrimp on the dropper and a big nasty squirmy worm on the point. He waved it around the river like he owned the place Lol. Love them or hate them they do the business!

Was a challenging day in amongst the trees and trying to get to right presentation but all in all a good day with great company as always!

Jig pattern for grayling

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Little pattern that I just tied up for the grayling on my local rivers!

I’m out tomorrow on the lower waters of the river taff near Cardiff so going to give them a dip down in the posh area of the taff 🙂

Ian Gillard at http://get-slotted.co.uk/ sent some trout line hybrid squirrel in rust colour for me to try so come up with this pattern below. Rust and a purple rib. Looks nice and sure it’s going to do the business for sure! I’ve added a little of the black pepper to the thorax also, it looks awesome wet!

In search of grayling on the river Severn

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Over the weekend Me and and my good butty Sam Weston traveled up to the river Severn for a day of grayling Fishing.

The river Severn is a wonderful river and very beautiful with wide open valley with a meandering river running through it, You never know what’s around the next bend and every pools clear and fine gravel under foot! It’s such a beautiful place.

Was quite fresh starting off and quite cold with frost on the ground so first we started off with nymphs in the slower deep pools.

My setup, Hanak 10ft 3wt superlight using a french leader with a 2 nymph setup with a yellow indicator around 12″ long. From there 4ft of tippet with a dropper around 20″ up from the point. Simple setup to start with. For Nymphs, I went for a little colour due to being so cold and no sight of any movement or fly life, It’s a start! Later on I went for more natural colours and still nothing really. Just one of those days!

I found it quite difficult to pin down the grayling using all sorts of nymphs, after a spell of catching trout, I dredged the bottom and fished just under the surface to no avail, They just didn’t seam to be anywhere or feeding, It happens on times. Your always learning and thinking in these situations. Me and Sam did manage to pin a few down later on in the day but was very quiet. Trout were very active so we moved around a lot trying to avoid them!

For the last hour a small hatch of olives kicked off and there was a little window of dry fly action, smaller grayling but action none the less!

Grayling jig pattern

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Nice simple jig nymph that I use for grayling!

It’s quite successful in the winter months for myself in the smaller sizes,16/14! 2.5/3m beads silver and copper.

Hook, Hanak h400bl

Size, 16

Bead, silver 2.5m

Body, black rabbit

Rib, Red wire

Tail, Bronze mallard

Coller, glo bright 7

Good little pattern in clear water! It’s a great little pattern fished on the French leader on its own, no dropper!

I like to fish it slowly at distance in around 2 to 3 foot of water where grayling Love to hang around when on the feed, it’s a great searching pattern!