Late season trout

Leave a reply

Only a few days of the trout season left now and to make the most of it my good friend, Nicholas Steedman, and I spent a day on a small stream hoping to find some late season trout. A cold night meant that the fishing was slow in the morning although we both caught some lovely small trout in their spawning colours:

A superb hatch of various insects in the afternoon brought some great dry fly sport. The fish were clearly feeding hard before the winter and we were both able to pick off a number of fish that were picking off duns and emergers.

The standout fly of the day was this hot spot nymph:

The hot spot is tied with the new Harvey Angling micro fibre which is perfect for creating a bright target point on nymphs. However, it’s so fine that you can also use it for bodies on nymphs. The olive fly in the photo below was particularly good during hatch in the afternoon:

Liquid Glass UV Cure Resin

2 Replies

Cold, damp spring days aren’t favoured by many but for the fisherman, they can offer superb fishing. Inverterbrates seem to favour these dour days and hatch en masse. None more so than the dimunitive Iron Blue Dun which can often save the day when you might have second thoughts about going fishing. Today was one of those days and my good friend, Nicholas Steedman, and I experienced a hatch of Iron Blue Duns of biblical proportions. The river was covered with duns! These rare occasions can prove frustrating – with more food available than even the greediest trout can feed on, they become selective and tricky to fool. Surprisingly today the stand out fly was a Large Brook Dun ’emerger’ which is generic enough to pass as a general olive emerger pattern. Large Brook Duns are frequently claimed to be of no interest to the fisherman but these large upwings often get blown onto the water or hatch mid-river (despite only being meant to hatch by crawling up stones on the side of the river). With thousands of Iron Blue Duns and a smattering of Large Brook Duns plus a few other species the trout were spoilt for choice today but the larger imitation certainly proved the most effective at fooling some tricky trout:-)

I’ve included a few photos of the fly below (previously posted on an earlier post). The body is natural stripped peacock quill which is protected by Harvey Angling’s Liquid Glass UV Cure Resin which dries clear and tack free – exactly what you want from a UV resin! Give the fly a try, you won’t be disappointed;-)

Dressing:
Hook Tiemco TMC 200R #14
Tail: Coq de Leon
Abdomen: Stripped quill (natural) and liquid glass uv resin
Thorax: Fox squirrel
Wing: cdc
Hackle: Metz Honey Dun

The Liquid Glass UV Resin is available from Harvey Angling

March Brown Fly Pattern!

2 Replies

It’s that time again that the March browns are starting to show up in and around the large dark olive hatches so I had to restock the dries box for the pattern that I use to match the hatch. I didn’t have many left from last year so it was a few hours on the vice and I was ready to go!

I do enjoy this time of year when the March Brown’s starts to hatch because this is the time that the larger trout start to show looking for a mouth full after the long winter months!

I find the key to catching the larger trout of the river is to spend a lot of time watching the water and timing the hatches perfect In certain spots of the river. Most large deep pools hold the bigger fish but they are not always seen! I can spend the whole hatch watching one place of the river and waiting for that tell-tale sign or sound, the dimple or the slurp! This can get the pulse going and the hands shaking for sure. It doesn’t always happen but when it does its fantastic!

This trout below was one of them fantastic days 🙂 Watching and waiting will pay off in the end!

When I get to the river bank I decide there and then what im going to do after looking at the conditions. if it feels right I go looking and watching. But other days I just like to amble my way up river fishing most spots and taking in the scenery and the local wildlife..

march brown

I’ve also been tying the March brown nymph that works very well before the hatch starts. I like to fish this with the French leader in the long slow pools where the larger fish tend to wait around waiting on the hatch to start, I also fish this nymph if there is a tricky fish feeding that don’t want to eat the dun. I like to put a small amount of gink to the cdc and the tail, this helps to slow the fly down as it goes through the water column. This can be a killer and has worked on so many occasions for me!

Large dark olives are out in force!

2 Replies

Headed out this morning around half past 9 with a plan 🙂

The plan was to see if the trout had moved into the shallower glides and runs already with all the fly life that has been going on, I did turn a few rocks over at the start to see what was going on under there. loads of stone clingers and olive nymphs ready to emerge 🙂 The wind and the bright sun was a bit of a pain from the start so I did wonder if the flies were going to make a appearance later on in the day with any good numbers. Only time would tell.

As ive said in other posts, early season can be tough and frustrating but it does get better as it goes on so hang on in there!. I started with fishing the French leader with only the single nymph. set up was 4ft of 1.40 stroft around 3ft from the indicator to the point fly, the fly choice was a 3m silver head hares ear hotspot, scruffy as hell thing but a good early season fly for me!

The dry fly patterns I use to match the large dark olive hatch are the cdc emerger for the start of the hatch that works a treat and as the hatch goes on and the trout switch to the dun I use something a little different 🙂 Both patterns below!

As I was bugging my way into the second run of the morning my good mate Sion Lewis AKA Lewy give me a ring asking where I was, not long after Lewy met me on the river hoping to brush the cobwebs away after a long absence off the river due to work commitments. It wasn’t long and lewy was into his first trout of the season for him. Not a bad trout for the first either, lucky bugger 🙂

As we moved our way around the river the olives started to hatch and the trout started to feed hard, we both were taking fish on the nymphs and the dry but we both decided on moving out of the faster flowing waters to go on to the flat pools concentrating on the rising fish! The olive hatch was in full swing and fish started to rise all over the place. I did see a good number of March brown going by. I did catch one and give it a good looking at and they were march browns! It’s nice to see them in good numbers on the river Taff, over the years the hatches of the march brown have been very rare. I’ll try to get a good photo next time out, my little camera just doesn’t do the job so ill have my kit with me on the next outing. .

I’ll leave you with a few photos of the trout that we both caught 🙂

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pheasant Tail Emerger Pattern

Leave a reply

It’s great to have the dry-fly setup once again and my go to pattern early season is the pheasant tail emerger. Fishing is still slow but I enjoy just creeping around the river when the hatches start. At the moment the large dark olives are coming on around 11am to about 2pm and then they tend to peter off, but in this time you can have a little fun, they don’t turn their noses up to this pattern and It have accounted for many of my big fish that I’ve managed to catch over the years on my local waters!

I tie this fly in size16/14/12s

Hook. Kamasan B100.
Thread, Black UTC 170.
Body. 4 pheasant tail fibers
Rib. 2lb mono.
Hackle. Blue dun.

I like to tie this pattern on the kamasan due to the quality of the hooks and the strength. It’s Very important to have full confidence in the hooks when you hook into that fish of a lifetime! These have the thumbs up from me! Here is a link for the hooks so please check it out they won’t let you down! ..https://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/search_prod_list.asp?maingroup=HOOKS&thirdgroup=Kamasan&cha_product_category=8

Trout season is here and yes i’ve been out finally!

Leave a reply

As we all know the start of the season can be a killer, slow and very frustrating trying to catch your first trout of the new season, but don’t give up there is always one or two that like to play ball somewhere!

It’s trout season finally and the grayling are still playing ball also and are fun and I won’t turn no fish down but they can be a pain when your trying to locate a trout. At the moment the large dark olives been hatching slowly but getting better as spring arrives. On the saturday the weather was very unsettled with bright sun and a down stream wind so that was a washout but sunday was a much better day with light rain and less wind. Good conditions for a better chance of a good hatch of dark olives. Around half past eleven, the LDO;s started to appear and steadily the hatch got better as the afternoon went on, the grayling didn’t wait around just mopping them up but I wasn’t looking for grayling,I was looking for a spotty! But i did have a little fun before moving on 🙂

I moved away from the grayling and made my to the very ends of the pools waiting for a trout to poke its head out. Grayling tend to rise around the middle of the river and trout can be more tighter to the backs from where I was fishing, so that’s where i was watching. Finally I found two fish rising, i managed to catch the one and the second slipped the hook the bugger 🙂 I love this time of the year because on the river Taff you have to work that much harder to find and catch the trout!

Not much trout action in the day but the grayling were fun and a few hours on the river is never wasted time! Looking forward to getting out next and maybe finding a few more trout rising and just maybe finding one of Taff monsters poking its nose out! Who knows what could happen!

Crystal clear compact dubbing box, 12 compartments

Leave a reply

Just bought myself a few of these crystal clear compact dubbing boxes, ideal for storing all sorts of dubbing and you would be surprised how much you can put in each slot! Instead of having your dubbing in bags or in a draw taking up space at your fly tying station use one of these, cheap as chips!!! click here to check them out http://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/prod_show.asp?id=6259

Finally a day on the grayling

Leave a reply

The conditions are great but the levels are not, the Taff has been holding its high level for weeks but it’s nice and clear and all you can do is fish the inside line in most pools with a fair bit of dodgy wading. Bit cold for swimming this time of year so much care is taken and with shore footing!

I’ve been catching quite well and enjoying catching the small grayling in the shallower waters close to the banks but now and again you find a few fat pigs hiding in a hole 🙂 bloody Grayling are stuffed solid and I think a few that I have caught have been quite close to bursting haha food must be plenty in there! Good news for all!

I’m quite impressed on the condition of the grayling this year and its great to see them in good numbers in all sizes once again! Like everything it has it’s ups and down but the Taff hasn’t really had a good grayling year for a few years.

Tactics! I’ve been mostly working the inside of the fast runs due to the higher water levels, grayling like to just sit off the main flow darting in and out picking off food passing so less energy is used! Sp, target the slower water out of the main flow, this can prove deadly but don’t forget the fast water entirely. Everywhere is worth trying!. In the colder months of winter, grayling can be very picky on where they lay, they move around a lot. In the morning they can be right in the tails of pools and in the afternoon they can move right into the heads of the pool in a foot of water or less feeding hard. Some people can make the mistake of walking through this water and I have many of times thinking they are just not there, take the time to work the water’s and it will pay off in the end!

This fish below was caught in a tail end of a deep pool using the French leader with the two nymph setup. Tippet 1.80kg stroft. length around 4 half feet from the indicator to the point fly. dropper tied on around 20″ above point fly! Nymphs… Point fly 3.5m hotspot hairs ear jig and on the dropper a 3m copper olive caddis pattern, this was the fly that fooled the grayling below!

DSCF1151 All in all it was a cracking day and many fish fell to both of the flies shown above so get tying if you haven’t got them in your box! Not done much on here for sometime, sorry about that people but I will be back on track from now on! cheers for checking in guys and girls 🙂

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Trying the new camera out!

2 Replies

Bought a new toy a few weeks back, FinePix XP 70 but god it’s not as easy to use as I thought it was going to be :S

It has got Video editing on the camera and after a lot of trail and error I come up with this below! Bear with me guys, it’s a work in progress! Got a few new posts under work and a load of fly patterns coming up soon so to 🙂

The dries were in and the bugs were out!

Leave a reply

Over night rains put the local rivers out of action but there is always one or two cheeky fish that will rise in places so don’t let it beat you get out there and look for them spots! sometimes in can be very rewarding as you can see below! 🙂

The river Taff below the house was up and brown due to the over night rains but this didn’t stop me and my mate Tony from getting down there and seeing if we could winkey a few out in the conditions! The water clarity was very poor and there was debate on just saying bugger it and go home, but we kept at it looking and checking out the slack spots in the shallower runs. In this time we walked around a fair bit and as we were doing this a good steady hatch of blue wing olives started to hatch with a good number of august duns putting in appearance. finally we found a few fish rising and i stuck 2 the dries and my mate stuck 2 the heavy metal bugging everything as he does 😉 check this greedy stone loach out trying to eat my mates huge bug haha classic eyes way to big for its belly!

As i was saying i found fish rising so my setup was a 12ft tapperd leader going down to a 4lb point and at the end i tied on around 2ft of 1.40 stroft, ..love the stuff!. The dry that i tied on was a size 16 bwo pattern i tie, works well nothing to perfect but it works! didn’t take long and i was into the first fish and then the second and so on! was all good fun on the light tackle the 3wt took a beating because of the flow of the water, even the small fish put a hell of a bend in the rod that made things quite interesting until you had the fish under the tip i couldn’t tell how big they were really!

I was surprised how many fish we both managed to catch in the rubbish conditions but was worth sticking it out for sure!. It was a tough few hours but well worth it! Ill leave with a few photos below , hope you enjoy!