Tag Archives: large dark olives

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! 🍻

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.

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!

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!

Early Season Trouting

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The season is well under way here back in south wales but its not easy as norm for this time of year!

Fishing this time of year can be tough and can only be a few short hours of action in the day and that’s if the flies hatch. Being so early, the main flies that hatch are the large dark olive. Hatches  have been starting around 11am to around 2pm but depending on the weather conditions!

Trout are not really responding to the nymphs around here in my local rivers but the grayling are in crazy mode ready to spawn and it’s hard to target only trout, so not done much nymphing as late so lessening the chances of catching out of season grayling. Although frustrating, using the dry fly and waiting on the hatches.. can be well worth it if your looking in the right places of the river. I’ve been very lucky to land a few of the better trout on the dry so one good fish can make that waiting worth while.DSCF8290

As we were wishing the rain to stop in the winter we are now wishing for rain to get the rivers going again and it’s happened and the rivers are in flood. I cant wait to get out and look for the bigger fish that have moved back into their spots! There has been a few match brown putting in an appearance so it’s looking up and can only get better from now on so lots of post coming up 🙂

Ill leave you with a few photos of what i’ve managed to catch!

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March Brown Fly Pattern!

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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!

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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..

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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!

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Large dark olives are out in force!

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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!

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 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!

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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 🙂

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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 🙂

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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

 

 

 

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

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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 🙂

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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!

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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!

On the trout’s menu right now!

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Well  at the moment the large dark olives are on the trout menu because that’s all that’s bloody hatching at the moment with these wild winds and mad cold weather that has stuck with us. Please give us a break and move on winter weather, its spring for god sake!

The hatches have been starting around half 12 and going on for an hour to an hour and half at most, so be ready because it’s over before you now it!

These are  patterns that ive been using for the last few weeks on the river and they have been very successful.

Olive Emerger.

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Olive dun below.

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Check out a few trout that  have been enticed by these patterns in the last few weeks.

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