Tag Archives: flyfishing

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.

Winter fly tying

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With only a short number of hours in the day for Fishing the next best thing is tying flies!

I’ve done a fair bit over the a few months and posted quite a lot over Facebook and not here so making up for it. I’ve done a few smaller boxes of dries but mostly nymphs in all colours and sizes.

The nymph below has been the bomb for the grayling so far me and my good mates!

Hook, size 14 Hanak h450bl

Bead, 3.5m gold

Body, squirrel hybrid black pepper

Tag, glo bright 5

Rib, gold medium wire

Thorax, small amount of 17 spectra dubbing

To finish off add more squirrel in front of the 17 and brush over, it Gives a great affect when wet!

Winter bugging for grayling is something else. U love it or you hate it, and I love it! Everybody has there favourite pattern and for love no money you won’t get a look in but me I’m happy to show the world. Presentation and size and a splash of colour for good measure does me well 🙂

More flies to follow in the next posts I’ll be adding tying videos soon also. Hope you like the pattern and if you do tie it I’m sure your not going to be disappointed!

Welsh river trials on the river Tawe , leg 1

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Well we asked for rain and we got it but way to much and on the day of the bloody trial. Typical hey!

Condition are not the best river rising and slightly coloured but the weather says it’s going to pass over around midday, Fingers crossed for the boys because it’s going to get interesting.

Today I’ll be controlling Terry Evans / Wales manager and good friend!

Always a tense time waiting for the time to kick off, it’s like time slows down. Your thoughts go onto that first fish and to get it the net to settle them early match nerves!

My thoughts on condition and looking at the water and height, Ide be using the French leader with a variety of colours, silver beads, black, orange and even white but with black pearly body’s and flashy Darker flies, Not forgetting the streamers in places!

It’s going to be interesting how Terry is going to attack the first beat and get the best out of it. Fast runs with good depth and lovely long pools, Looks quite fishy

Peg 2

Well terry headed into the head of this run and took a fish straight away but didn’t measure at 17.2cm Very unlucky and was needed due to conditions changing quite fast. Water was coming up and all the branches and rubbish started to come down. Most casts coming back with weed or small branches attached.

Finally a measure came in falling to a black small streamer pulled through the edge!

Not long after terry hooked a good fish but spat the hook while playing, Not a good thing to happen in a comp that is tuff Fishing but you must not think about the what ifs and carry on looking for the next one!

Conditions are changing by the minute now, There could be a few blanks in these early sessions for a few but that’s comp fishing, you haft to fish to the conditions and this could happen on comp day, You must be able to adapt to the changing conditions as quickly as possible.

As you can see in a short space of time the difference in water level after the first sessions below. The river was getting big and nasty!

The day was turning into a nightmare for the anglers and I was very glad I retained my place due to winning the brown bowl and didn’t haft to trial

There was much talk about blanks and how hard it was getting but the rain blew over and the river peeked so it started to drop quickly and the colour started to run out in the afternoon session. Look at that rise :S not good!

Still pushing but more fish able Terrys afternoon peg was a cracker but it wasn’t going to be easy due to a small river running in on the left side looking up river giving it more colour. But there was a seam between rivers that screamed fish. Terry managed 1 in the 3rd session and 3 in the last session.

Good angling in the condition for sure.

Overall a very tuff and hard trial but fish were caught and the first part is over. Next the taff for the final! Good luck to boys and good hunting for that one. Hopefully better condition

I’ll leave you with a few photos of the day below and what the boys had to contend with. If it was a normal days Fishing you would have packed up and gone for a pint! But this is comp fishing 🙂

Finale results for leg 1

Grayling candy

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Well the grayling are back in the crosshairs and the vice has been red hot getting ready for it!

Hopefully the weather will be kind this year, giving us many chances to fish for the stunning fish!

Been tying all sorts and in all manner of colours,Pinks,purples, Flo orange and Gold. Always great to have a wide selection of colours in the box but also don’t forget the drab flies, the more natural looking colours, brown, tan, black, and greens!

Below there are a few selections of my favourites ready to hit the water. I’ll put up the more natural patterns soon. Warning please wear dark glasses with these images 🙂 All materials are bought from Funkyfly tying, Great company and great products!

Pheasant Tail Emerger Pattern

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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

  • SONY DSCHook. 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

 

 

 

The run around

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Why is it that every time you book a date to meet up with your mates and fish, the heavens open and smash your plans to bits.

Well I woke up at 8am to the sound of rain yet again against the window and the sight of black skies. First thing I done was check the river levels of the taff and its colour. Its only over the bank where I live and I can see a fair bit of the river from my window. It was a little high and with  a slight colour to it but fishable. After a quick chat on the phone to Toby about the conditions he was on his way over with Nicholas

It wasnt long before the boys turned up and we were all on our way to fish the Rhondda. By this time the rain was coming down hard and it wasnt looking good for the river. The problem with the Rhondda is that there are so many run offs from the streets and roads that any good amount of rain affects the level and colour. In the space of getting the gear on and setting up, the river was totally unfishable, very disappointing for the boys traveling so far. It was a quick think and we were on our way to the clydach to try to make the most of the day. At this time,  the heaven opened up yet again and the day looked to be a disaster. It was really disappointing and I kind of gave up and thought there was no point of going on but we pressed on and had a look .  When we checked the stream out it was looking perfect and totally fishable but it wasnt for long. About half hour in with a few small trout to hand the river just went like soup 😦  Mother nature was against us this day. But myself,  im damn sure its Toby’s fault, Stormbringer as I call him. After following Nicholas up-stream and watching him take a few trout out of the soup, we all decided to make a move.  On the way back down to the car and after a little chat, we decided to give the Rhondda another look. I didn’t expect much but when we got there the river was running much clearer and looking not too bad. It was still running with a fair old flow but we were just busting to wet a line. For the conditions, we all set up on the french leader with a mix of heavy nymphs. I found myself in the middle of a long fast flowing run with a fair old depth to it so i cast the leader around 10ft up river and laid it on the water. As the indicator came close I rose it out of the water and for a second the indicator stopped so I struck and fish on, on the first cast too.  It was looking good. We all made up for the lack of fishing and with a good number of fish to hand. It was great to finally catch a few and give the boys a bit of fun. It all turned out quite well at the end and here are a few photos of our trip out

Toby below with a fine Rhondda trout on the line.

My last trout of the day.

Frenching it throught the Rhondda

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 As always the weekends go so fast and Monday morning is on us before we know it but this week wasn’t so bad because me and my mate Nicholas Steedman arranged a trip on the Rhondda mid-week.

The morning came and the rain with it! I think he must be some sort of relation to Toby aka Storm-bringer. Whenever he tells me he’s coming over the bridge for a trip the heavens open and the rivers rise. Toby& Nick , next time just come over and don’t say nothing please :).   Well as I was saying the rain was in and the wind started to pick up and this was all before we even placed a foot on the river bed. Nick picked me up at 10am and after a quick check of the gear we were off to fish the Rhondda. This was Nicks first visit so I was hoping he would like the river and I had my fingers crossed that the river would perform.

 The conditions were not ideal at first and I wasn’t very optimistic of catching because it was up about 6″ and coloured, six inches don’t sound a lot but in the Rhondda it means a hell of a lo., the flow of water is crazy for such a small river. It’s difficult wading at the best of times.  As for the conditions, the dry fly rod was left behind and the bugging rod was the answer. Nick set up the french leader and I done the same and after a quick chat about what flies we were using and depth we moved onto the first run of the day. Myself,  I had around 6ft of tipped with a dropper about 18″ from the point. The point fly was a 3m gold head hares ear and on the dropper I had a black 2.5 flash back pt.  After a few casts with no success I decided to fish the water at my feet and close to the bank. After only a few flicks I was into my first Rhondda trout of the day on the point fly. I stepped back and Nick followed with catching around four trout out of  the head of one pool, not the biggest of fish but all were in top condition and their stomachs where all fat. They were on the feed big time. It rained for a few more hours but not hard so the river started to clear up and the fishing just went wild. Nick was taking full advantage of the river, pulling trout from everywhere, the smile on his face said it all, It was a tag team. Nick was fishing the left bank and I was fishing the right bank. we slowly moved up river taking fish in the shallows and glides. I think Nick was well impressed with the river and the quality of fish.

Nicholas below

Moving up river into the long runs and deep holes we started to pick up one or to better fish. Nicholas moved on to the right hand side of the river where there was a run along side a wall, it didn’t look deep but looked a good spot for fish to lie up out of the current. It was one of them spots where there was nothing else to hide behind so he was on a winner. He caught 5 trout that I seen so he was on the ball fair play, nice going Nicholas.  As that little spot went quiet we slowly fished the ripply water leading up to a small weir. Nicholas moved in for the kill and had five cast and five fish. It was really good to watch. After dragging him out of there 😉 we moved on up into a pool where I’ve had some amazing fishing in the past in a similar condition. I had the first few casts this time and managed a few before Nicholas moved in. After taking a few out at the back edge, Nicholas pitched his nymphs into the main flow and as the leader was going through the run, the leader stopped and he lifted into the take but it just stopped dead! His rod was double to say the least and all this time the pressure was on and there was nothing he could do. The line just went across the river and so slow you could see the line going back and for, it was a big, big fish. The pressure he put on didn’t even change the fishes mind, it was like it didn’t even know it was hooked. It moved across the flow and went into a snag and that was that. I feel for you brother 😦  I’m still gutted. Would have been great for you to catch a monster on your first outing on the river. There is always next time and ‘im sure you will be back soon.

I’ll leave you on that and here’s a few photos of the great day we had.

River Rhondda.

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I was up at the crack of dawn this morning all set to fish the Rhondda in its low state.

The weather was not looking to good first thing this morning with heavy cloud cover and a little bit of a chill in the air, but by the time I got on the river and set up my greys 4wt with the dry and my streamflex 3wt with the french leader the cloud started to disperse and the sun started to make a show. As I said the river was very low so a stealthy approach was needed, this is where the french leader comes into its own by enabling you to cast the nymphs well up-stream and keeping minimal drag for presentation. At the moment im using a 21ft camo leader so i can cover a lot of water without making a step. Enough waffle, back to the fishing.

It was all slow-moving,  just picking through the pockets with a 2m flash back PTN. In no time i was into the first trout of the day and after that many more came to hand on the leader. I didn’t see any fish on the fin so the dry rod was on my back and that’s where it stayed most of the morning until around 12ish when a few brook duns started hatching and a few B.W.O  and a few other upwings that I could get close enough to identify.

As i moved around the Rhondda picking a few fish up from the small pockets and glides i decided to take a bit of a break and turn a few rocks over and see what was going on. I didn’t have anything on me to put the nymphs in so i improvised with an old can that i found on the back side. Worked a treat too. I found mostly stoneclingers and a few cased caddis and small lava of some sort and a few snails. I only took photos of the stoneclingers/Heptagenid below.

After letting the nymphs go i done a little more fishing but with the dry fly. I was  fishing blind really just casting into likely looking places behind rocks and along side the fast water, well what fast water i could find.  Didnt do bad though with a few to the net and a few miss takes and after that little bit of fun i made a move  home to earn a few points with the wife 🙂  Few photos to finish off below

The Cynon outing

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I had a phone call last night off Kieron jenkins asking if i would be interested in fishing the Cynon with him. I’ve never fished the river before so it was a good opportunity to have a look and it’s always an experience fishing with Kieron to say the least ;).

After a quick journey on the train in the morning, i met with kieron and off we set to fish the Cynon. Seeing the river for the first time kind of reminded me of the river Rhondda but not has rocky. I couldn’t wait to set up and get a fly in the water like always. As we havent had much rain for the past few weeks, the water level is very low so we decided to go for fish for fish. I set up on the dry,  Size 16 cdc olive and Kierion set up the french leader. With the conditions, using the leader, kieron pulled off around 3ft of nylon and attached that to the indicator and then from there the nymph, he used a 2m flashback ptn. Cracking all round pattern for any river and conditions.  The weather seamed to be holding for us with heavy cloud cover and the odd glimpse of sunshine breaking through and the odd small shower.

As we moved up river seeing a good few fish rising we thought it was going to be like shooting fish in a barrel, but it wasnt to be. They were highly spooky and just didn’t want to know the dry. We came to the conclusion that they must have been picking up midges or something. Kieron tried all kinds of flies but only managed one. Just one of them things i think. The leader was more effective so that’s what we did for the rest of the day with the odd flick of the dry with no success.

Kieron below holding a fine brown trout

As we picked our way through all the pocket water and runs we came across, we found that we would only pick one fish out of each pocket and run and no more. The fishing was quite hard and in some parts where you would think you would pick one out it was dead.  Hard fishing but great fishing,

There were a few sherry spinners around, a few Blue wing olives and the odd brook dun but it didn’t help with the dry fly fishing so we just kept on plugging away with the nymphs  picking a few more trout out. At this time it was getting quit late in the day and we were both running low on energy   so we called it a day.

Brook dun below

Just a few more photos of are day below

We will be fishing it again when we have a little rain and the level is a little higher so we can see if it makes any difference on the numbers. All in all a great days  fishing and great company and as always i learned a few things off my good mate Kie

A photo of the river when we were leaving below

River Taff early bird

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As i opened my eyes at 6am to find the alarm to throw it at the window, i realised if i did, the taff would have been flowing through my house! The rain was bouncing off the window making hell of racket. So i headed out of the house about 6:30 to head towards the middle of the Taff.. Thinking it was a bad idea.

As i hit the river i set up my two rods, one on the dry and one on the french leader.. On the french leader rod i set a 6 ft leader up about 18 inches between the flies. My plan was to set up with 2 2mm tungsten bead jigs to fish the back ends of the runs, and then work my way to the faster water at the head of the pools altering the weight of the flies.

Managed to take a few fish while i was working my way up, towards the sides of the runs, as the water was going up the fish seemed to have pushed to the edges out of the main flow. Some fish were seen jumping and moving but nothing really as there wasnt a great hatch of flies on.

Slowly moving up river and the conditions getting worse i decided to set the camera up and video myself using the french leader in a place where the river had split from the main flow. Have a look to see how it turned out… Sorry for any bleeps i made but you will see why 🙂

After this fish, the river started to rise and colour up even more so i thought that’s enough for today, so i headed home with the hood up because it was absolutely tamping down.. Its always the same ai, i get days off work and the weather goes to hell 😦

I wasnt out that long but well worth it with well into double fingers to hand, not bad really considering the conditions.