Monthly Archives: October 2011

The Wye

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I managed to get back up the Wye again this weekend with a good mate Sion Lewis. It was his first outing up there and I was hoping that is was going to be a good days fishing for him on the ladies.

We turned up to the river pretty early so just to kill some time, hoping the air temp would warm up and get a few flies in the air I described to Sion my fishing tackle, why what rods and line I use. Sion was most interested in my fly line choice.  I was given a fly line by Kieron Jenkins which had a heavier taper towards the front few feet of the line. He described that the heavier tip would allow me to propel my flies, roll or overhead casting. I really like the fly line for klink and dink fishing, I can use a bigger dry fly and heavier nymphs as the taper of the line carries the extra weight easier at short and long range. Normal fishing line tapers are good for casting light dries and small nymphs but the Airflo Ridge Supple Tactical fly line excels in accuracy. Only recently I’ve got back into using the klink and dink, and im sure the line has helped me alot. Im impressed.

Here's the line - Click the pic to take a look

Anyway – back to the fishing. I wanted to fish the waters just below where me and Paul Jenkins fished first last week high up the Wye valley. I was hoping that it would be a little better than the day we had up there. It was Sion’s first trip on the upper Wye and he was well excited to fish new waters. The weather was looking great but there was a down river wind that was picking up by the hour and making it a little difficult but it didn’t bother us too much really, the thing was the wind was blowing all the leaves in the river and this was worse than anything. At some point you had to wait for a small clearing on the water surface to cast the fly. For the tight condition in amongst the cover and trees, the fishing was more at your feet in most places so I was using the klink and dink on my 8ft 4wt fishing rod. Sion was using a similar outfit also on the klink and dink.

It was quite early when we started fishing and it was very slow without any takes or even seeing fish moving or feeding, I knew from the weekend before it would probably pick up by the afternoon. As we worked our way up river keeping a sharp eye on the water we started to see a little fly life, Stone flies mostly and a few odd olives of some sort. This was just enough to kick off a few fish to rise, finally something to target. I covered one rise and with a quick splash I was into a fine wild brown trout. The colours were just beautiful and I would say it was on the 2 lb mark. Soon as I got him to the net and a quick look he was released without me even laying a hand on him. Sion stepped in where I was and after a few short casts beside a deep pocket on the far bank he was into a fine grayling on the nymph. The cheeky smile said it all, it was a new PB him. result! Nice one butty 🙂

A few photos of are great day we had below.

Wye oh Wye oh Wye

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I had the chance to fish the Wye with Paul Jenkins this weekend and I was really looking forward it, Paul picked me up bright and early and off we set.

The weather was not looking good at the start of the trip with it raining and we were both hoping that it would pass over so we could have a great day looking for the ladies on the upper Wye without getting wet and miserable. The wind was down and conditions were looking great as we drove alongside the river checking out the runs and pools up high in the Wye valley. The water was as clear as glass and the level was perfect and after having a good look around we decided to pull in alongside a lovely looking run  and a pool above that. After chatting and deciding on taking one rod each and going fish for fish, I set up  the french leader on my 10ft 3wt and Paul set up the klink and dink on his 9ft 4wt. As we got to the river’s edge Paul  gave me the honors to fish first. For the clear water and level, I decided to use a 2m on the point and a 1,5 on the dropper, the distance between the flies were around 20″ or so. The run looked perfect for where I stepped in. There was a bush that stuck out in the river and it seemed to have a little drop off beside it. I pitched the nymphs below working my way up to the likely looking spot for a grayling on the drop off. I had a fast take but missed and then as I got to the drop off I pitched the nymphs way past it and tracked the indicator as it come down river. The indicator slipped away up river and I was into the first grayling of the day. Result.

After releasing the grayling Paul stepped in with the klink and dink and worked his way up the river and in no time he was into a lovely out of season trout. Lovely colours and in perfect condition and in seconds the fish was returned without any harm done. We both worked our way up some lovely pools and runs without catching even a trout. The water screamed fish but seemed to be void of anything. We moved on trying hard to get in contact with a grayling but with the odd trout falling to the nymph we decided to move back down river a few miles and leave the trout alone. Paul took me to a few places that he has had good success with over the past years with the grayling. It’s always a learning curve fishing with Paul with his vast knowledge of tactics and approach to the river, I truly believe this man could pull a fish out of a puddle if he wanted to 🙂  We made our way down river stepping in and fishing a few runs on the way that looked good and managing a few grayling to hand. It seemed that I was destined to catch the smaller grayling of the day but I was happy to catch anything so it didn’t bother me one bit. I already had a fair grayling at the start of the day and I was happy with that and anything after it was a bonus.

Below Paul is into a fine grayling using the klink and dink method, the grayling was taken on the nymph at the back-end of the pool. The grayling to hand is in the photo below this one.

The day was going really well with a good number of grayling to hand and the odd trout. As the day went on the fishing just got better and better, Grayling started to rise and in no time we were into the fish using a small stone fly pattern. Bushy being Bushy showed the way forward casting in the tight vegetation and flicking the fly under the over hanging limes that were touching the water surface and picking off the most difficult fish feeding. After taking a few more grayling the day was getting late and the fishing started to slow as usual. The temp started to drop so we decided to make a move on up river back to the car but before we left we gave one last run a few more casts and i’m glad we did. After a short time, I was hooked into another grayling on the nymph and then another on the dry. Paul stepped in behind me and in seconds was into another fine size grayling. It seemed that it was a good choice to fish the run before we set off home. A few more grayling fell to our flies and the decision was made to make a move home. It was a great days fishing on the Wye with paul and not a dull moment to say the least. Fishing was great, the company even more and if all goes to plan, I will be fishing the same area this weekend with another good mate. I really can’t wait!!

Ill leave you with a load of photos of are great days fishing.

First outing on the grayling

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Well not much to say of the day today, I was only out a few hours with my mate Lewy looking for the ladies.

It was an over cast day and a strong down stream wind that made things tricky with presentation and casting the french leader at a distance. There was a few fish on the fin but only small grayling so we kind of missed them out and let them get on with their business. I was looking for the better grayling in the drop offs of the pools and runs that i know and just testing really to see if there are a few better fish moving. It’s a little early on the taff from my experience over the last few years fishing it for grayling. We both managed to catch a good few small grayling and a bag full of out of season trout, i wish someone would tell them that. No harm done and all were returned safely as always.

My mate Lewy above has just started fishing with the french leader so ive been helping as much as I can and giving him a few tips, hes picking it up quite well so its been great watching him catch more fish and even catching fish in places that he would have never have caught fish before. As we both picked our way up the pools and deep holes, I came across a long run that had a fair depth to it, this called for a reset of the depth and nymphs. I pulled off around 6ft of 3lb stroft ABR and then tied in a dropper around 18″ above the point. I decided to put on a size 14  pink jig 3.5m gold head on the point and on the dropper a 3m pink buggy thing. The flow of the water in this part was quite fast so it called for the weights. After a few casts up river I moved up a few feet and could see a channel in the weed so I pitched the nymphs well up passed it and in the centre. As it was moving down, I seen a flash and a fish turning so I struck and I had a fish on, It shot up river like a clappers and then with a sharp turn back down river exploding out of the water. Straight away I could see it was a salmon, after a little bit of a run around i landed this fine fish. Result on the french leader and not a bad feat on a 3wt rod and 3lb tippet.

I didn’t get many photos of the day but I think the one above made up for it.

I’ve been buying my jig hooks, stroft and french leaders from Fly tying boutique. Please check out the link… http://www.flytyingboutique.com/Store/StoreIntro.asp.

It’s a great company and great service.

My last trip out of the trout season

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Well all good things come to an end and the trout season has finally passed and the grayling season has just started. If the grayling season is anything like the trout season ive had, it’s going be a good winter.

Nicholas, a good friend of mine gave me a ring in the week and asked if I was free to fish the Rhondda for a few hours on thursday. As I was  booked in for an operation on the friday I jumped at the chance to fish my last day in the trout season for myself.  Nicholas picked me up the following morning at around 8.30 and after a chat we decided to give the taff a go before hitting the Rhondda. Nicholas has never fished the top half of the taff where I live so it was all new water for him so it was a pleasure to show him all the runs and pools that I have on my doorstep.  We made our way down river a few hundred yards and got in at the head of a large pool where there was a good flow of water and where I’ve had a few nice grayling in the past and plenty of trout, But this day there seemed to be nothing moving in the run so we moved on up river a little into a shallower water with a few nice weed beds running down. Only after a few short casts in between the channels of the weed I was into my first trout of the day. Nicholas was fishing just below me so I called him up to fish the run knowing that the fish were up in the run. Nick moved into the run and was into the fish straight away on the french leader.

As Nicholas worked the run catching a few more trout and the odd small grayling we moved onto the next pool and fished the slow back-end of the pool with the leader.  The water wasn’t very deep and not much flow so it called for a single 2m nymph. The first few casts were behind a large rock that stuck out of the river bed and it wasn’t long when the indicator slipped up river and I was into another wild brownie. As I turned around I could see Nicholas coming up behind me fishing the far bank so I just waited for him to hook a fish and get a shot of him in action. The shot below was taken in the second of the strike. Moving out of the pool after picking a few more trout out, the time was ticking away so we made a move to give us enough time to fish the parts of the Rhondda that we wanted to. We stepped in where the Rhondda goes into the taff and worked our way up river under the road catching a few trout in the pocket water. We moved into a good pool that ive had some really good fun on the dry but there was nothing rising so we set about it with the leader. We both managed a few fish to hand and Nicholas lost a nice fish after a crazy fight. The trout manged to transfer the hook into a small amount of rubbish on the bottom.  Unlucky Butt 😦  but that’s fishing and he’ll be there for me next year:). As we stood there talking, I happened to look down a drop off in the water and saw a few trout on the bedrock just lying there, that’s the first for me on the Rhondda and it was nice to see. I pitched the nymphs just above them and jigged them past and one turned and grabbed the nymph but I missed the take. It happens and after a few more tries I decided to leave them to it. For the rest of the day we fished well and picked off a good number of trout and covered a fair bit of the Rhondda and it become a good outing and great company with Nicholas. Ill leave you with a few photos of are cracking days fishing.

Fishtec Fishing Social Media

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Fishtec have now set up 3 different Fishing Tackle pages for the benefit of us lazy buggers 😎

I used to do a bit of sea fishing myself, knowing a bit about the terminal tackle, fishing rods, reels and areas and seeing some of the new fishing gear and equipment on the Fishtec Sea Fishing page brings back a lot of memories and makes me want to give it a go again.

Fishtec have 3 different disciplines on facebook – Coarse Fishing, Fly Fishing and Sea Fishing.

Have a look at the links below to take you to Fishtec’s Facebook. (click the logo)

Thanks for looking – I hope some of you ‘Like and Follow’ the pages.

Terry