Tag Archives: trout

Pheasant Tail Emerger Pattern

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!

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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 🙂

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!

Browns and Brook duns.

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Well the Brook duns are out in force and about time to!

I manged to get out on the river for a few hours in the week after a bonkers morning so rang the boss and had the day off and after sorting a load of stuff out i hit the river for a few hours.

I knew one of my mates was on the river that day so i made a quick call and met up with him and his butty. when i met them up around 11.30 the flies started to hatch and the day looked quit promising. Finally we caught sight of the brook duns taking off on the stones as we walked the river. In the night we had a fair amount of rain making the river quit cloudy but we knew it would clear over time and i always love fishing the river with a slight colour to it, it can be the best time to look for the larger fish on the move around and with good amounts of brook duns coming down the chances were in are favour :).

As the hatch was well under way the trout started to go nuts and even the grayling got in on the action. Rob and Adrian were having a right ball taking fish left right and centre in a long pool. I held back just watching and spotting fish but my eye was set on something else. I just knew it would’nt be long and i would here that noise that makes the heart jump and the hand shake. GULP!!! 🙂 took me a bit of time to pin point the bugger because there were a few fish rising on the far bank tight. i waited and watched and then i seen the bugger, i watched a brook dun come down and then that spotty nose pocket through the film of the water and that gulp noise and it was the end of the brook dun. I got myself into a good casting position and made the cast. as the fly went down it went all in slow motion and bang fish on,, cracking fight and what a lovely fish to catch. It was a lovely 4lb 8oz brown 🙂

As the fishing was going nuts i sat there just watching Rob and Adrian catching fish and having great time, we headed up river just using the dries, was plenty of bugging water but bit sick of chucking tungsten and with so many fish rising it was just pointless anyway!. Rob and Adrian took many fish around the 2lb mark.. I didn’t have much time left after that so i had 2 head home to pick my son up from school so the boys followed and all in all it was a wild few hours fishing and was great to see a cracking Brook duns hatch for ones 🙂 Rob below with some of the lovely browns he had!

Grayling fishing

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Well the trout season has passed and the Grayling are on the menu for me now and the cold weather will be setting in before we know it. Better put the summer gear away ladies and gents and dig the thermals out!

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea standing in freezing waters but i love it and look forward to every trip.

I’ve had a few trips out checking my Local water of the Taff to see if the Grayling are showing sights of shoaling up and checking the spots that have fished well for me every winter… Its been a little hit and miss to be honest and ive had the odd good day finding the odd group of grayling in the 1lb bracket but not really found the bigger fish, but im sure they will make a show soon! I had a hour yesterday just before dark and managed a couple of fine grayling in really good condition.. The method i was using was the braided leader with a pink dog on the dropper and a large peeping caddis on the point.. I was fishing hard on the bottom and as slow as i could, i did lose a few bugs but well worth it catching these below.

The Pink Dog

If you would like 2 see the flies ive been catching on check out the links below, it also tells you how i fish these patterns and what materials are used to tie them, hope you like guys!

I’ll be posting new patterns every week so please subscribe to the email,, The peeping caddis will be next!

http://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/article/Winter-Pink-Czeck-Nymph-Bromwells-Bug/25

http://www.cliff-harvey-angling.co.uk/article/Winter-Bugs-Hot-Spot-Hares-Ear/27

Stream fishing.

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Well it happened once again with the rain coming in and making the main rivers unfishable and deadly again.

With the rivers being out I knew that the streams would be the best bet and most often or not they are totally fishable even when the rivers are way up. My good mate Lewy fancied a change from the bigger rivers and sewin fishing so this was a good opportunity to do so, so the stream it was.

We set off around 12 taking it easy just thinking we would just have a few hours out and be home early to keep the wives happy 😉 The stream was not untouched by the heavy rains and she was pushing and coloured but it can fish quite well in these condition and from past experiences I knew that it would clear later on in the day. Dry fly was not an option so it was nymphing till the river cleared, I was looking out for fish on the fin but it was just pushing too much and too coloured. There was an abundance of stone flies hanging in the air and a few olives but it made no difference what was hatching in the conditions.

Sion fishing a fine pool below.

Sion took a few out of this pool and after the takes dried up he worked his way around the pocket water above doing the same by taking fish from every little crease and pocket There was no signs of the river clearing at this point and with a few odd showers we didn’t expect it to really.

As we moved around the stream, we both took turns fishing spots and going fish for fish, many fish were caught and every one of them were beautiful little gems. I took a lot of photos throughout the few hours we were out and usually i’m the one behind the camera but Lewy took over for some time catching a few shots of me holding a few little gems

I’ll leave you with a few photos of the day below.

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Flicking the dry fly

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After chatting to my mate Sion Lewis on the phone, we decided to have a few hours out before the rain kicked in as it was forecast to come in later on in the day.

Sion being a good man that he is come and picked me up and off we set looking for rising fish. The timing was perfect really when we finally got on the bank with blue wing olives coming off nicely and the odd rise, but it didn’t take long for the trout to lock on and start gorging on these little wee sweeties.

The fly pattern that I used to match the B.W.O

Makes you think on these times that all the time you have fished the river and fished these parts and not even having a take or even seeing a fish move. They are there but not bothered, but soon as these little jems start coming off every fish in the river goes mad. This can be a fantastic time for the dry fly angler and some great sport, you can even be cheeky and walk past fish and look for the better ones feeding. These better trout tend to be just ofF the bank and on times its like they are touching it, I had one today that was along side a large rock, I swear it must have been leaning on it and taking the flies that were touching the rock when coming around it in the flow. Love this kind of fishing because these tricky buggers can test the casting and presentation skills.

Me and Sion took turns on giving the tricky fish a go and just trying to target the better fish moving all the time we were out, it was great fun! Today the bugging rods didnt have a sniff and were set aside to keep out of the way.

Just a few photos below.

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Slow and steady is the way!

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As you know I had plans to go out today with my good friend Ceri Sweeney. I was picked up by Ceri at 8 and off we set to see if we could have a little fun tracking down a few trout and grayling.

Overnight we had rain bringing the river up a few inches and giving it a slight colour but this was a good thing because the river really needed it. After a short drive we finally got to where we wanted to try first but for the water and the time there was no point of setting up the dry so I kept that on my back and set up the french leader on my 10ft 3wt. For the flow of water we were in, I had a 3m hares ear jig on the point and on the dropper a 2,5m hotspot pheasant tail. My thinking for the hotspot was that it would stand out in the murky waters. Ceri also setup on the french leader with similar weights and we pressed on fishing a long run on the far side. I decided to go below Ceri and give him some room and fish the back-end where it was a little shallower to get some idea where the fish were. After a few short casts i was into a lively trout about half a pound and as quick as i hooked it, it was released to fight again, in that Ceri just above me took a fine grayling about a 1lb and in the flow it put up a good account of itself and after a quick photo the fish was on its way to get about its business. Not a bad result in a short time.

Ceri netting the grayling.

After Ceri slipping this one back there was no stopping him taking around 6 more grayling in the same area and one trout, I didn’t have much luck on the grayling front but I was doing well on the trout. As Ceri was picking the grayling off I spotted a few fish rising on the far side of the run in the slack so I pulled the dry fly rod off my back and set it up. Not sure what they were taking I put on one of my newly tied emergers . I watched for a bit before taking a cast to see if I could work out which was the best fish and after a few moments I decided to go for one just off the bank. First drift nothing but on the second drift, bang fish on. It was a trout about on the 1lb mark, didn’t get a photo holding it because it had other ideas by jumping out of the net and unhooking itself, these trout are getting wise :).

As we pressed on up river I had a phone call off another mate, Mark willows, asking what I was up to and if I was fishing. After a short chat, Mark was on his way to meet us and have a dangle! Ceri wasn’t staying long because of other commitments so he planned on making a move about 1pm but before that time mark met us up and we all pressed on looking for the fish with a good amount of banter:) I wasnt even fishing and I was having bites off Mark 🙂 I think it would take more than 3lb stroft to pull that fella in mind! After covering a fair bit of the river picking off a few more fish , Ceri had to leave so I stayed and Mark left with Ceri to go up river and fish somewhere else. I planned on meeting Mark further up river later on because I wanted to check out a few spots that I havent fished for some time. Just before the boys left, I hooked into a fine trout and Ceri took this photo for me below.

I made my way out of the fast water looking for slower waters to see if there were any fish rising, I seen the odd splashy rise but there was no way I could cover them on the far bank so I pushed on looking for something that I could cover without drowning. I finally found a few rising in the backend of a large pool so I slowly made my way up trying not spook the buggers. I spent some time creeping around there, taking a hand full of trout on my size 16 quill dun. One of the better ones below.

I finally met up with Mark and he was with one of his mates, I was introduced and I knew his face straight away, Rob Evans, Hywel Morgans apprentice 🙂 had to get that in Rob, Mark told me to mind so get him for it hehe. We all moved onto a long pool looking for likely spots and with that I could see a rise on the far bank so I moved over and after a few casts I was into another fine trout, i netted it after a good run around. Rob said pass the cam over and took this below, another fine river taff brown trout, Cheers for taking the shot Rob!

After releasing this fish I made my way out of the river with Rob to give the water a break, we talked for some time about flies, nymphs, river quality and how well the taff is doing for what it used to be like, it’s just great having this wonderful river just a stone throw away from my home in Pontypridd. As we talked on, Mark was still fishing targeting fish rising just above us in the dead slow water, not the easiest place to catch fish, fine tippets and long leaders are a must in the areas and a delicate cast. Mark is a fine angler and one of the most patient anglers I know, if there are fish there he will worry them out or if that didn’t work he would wait till the cows come home for the fish to rise again. Mark below with one that he worried out. Good angling butty.

Rob below nymphing this fine run

As me and Rob watched Mark working the river I spotted another fish rising not far from where the other fish fell on the dry. This rise looked much better and I even seen the fishes’s nose at one point. I made my way over slowly to get the right angle on the fish to get the best presentation and not to spook it. First cast was on the button and a few seconds after the trout come up over the dry and a split second after the strike, the trout was on and I knew it was a quite a good un at that. After a good run around and some wild runs I managed to slip the net under the fish and have a good look at this wonderful Taff Trout. After a quick photo courtesy of Rob the trout was on its way back into the depth of the Taff.

It was a great days fishing with great friends and it was very nice to meet another fine angler Rob. Rob it was a pleasure mate.

I’ll leave you with a gallery of all the photos taken on the day.

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Wales takes gold on the river Tay.

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Well what a hard week that was on the river Tay in Scotland, never have I ever fished a river so fast and wide and dangerous. The flow of water going through there was just beyond belief! Well where do I start really.

Dunkeld Bridge below

I was lucky enough to be reserve for the Welsh rivers team for the international held on the river tay in Scotland and god what an eye opener it was. We headed out on the 23rd of June in advance of the comp so we would get a whole week of practice in for the international that was going to be held on the 29th. Conditions were not great with rain most days and an up and down stream wind. At points in the day, there were waves going down river and it was just bonkers to say the least. Kieron Jenkins, Captain of the team assigned everyone a different method to fish that day and would swap everyone the next day. Great tactics to covering all the water and seeing where the fish were and what depth they would be feeding at certain times in the day, Dries would go first then wets then the bugs would come in on the French leader and stimmy behind. Many fish come to all methods through the week but it was far from easy.

The fly life wasn’t the best throughout the week but the odd day the fly life would be fantastic but you wouldn’t see a fish rise. This was so confusing and I just couldn’t believe that nothing was picking off these wee beasties, frustrated wasn’t the word for it. Most nights after a hard day searching out the water we would all be called in for a meeting by Kieron and Paul to discuss the day’s fishing as a team and lay the flies on the table for all to see. Then as a team we would decide on the best method to cover the water that we tackled that day. After the meetings we would all have a few hours tying and then to the bar for a little banter with the other teams. All in good fun. I met some cracking chaps and I do hope I get the chance to be there again some time.

Competition day…..

It was a nice and early start, double checking the gear over and then a quick breakfast and off we set to meet the controllers for the day’s fishing ahead. Around this time reports started coming in that the river had risen around 3ft over night and this was quite concerning for the fishing ahead. The plan was that i would run for Kieron in the morning and then in the second session I would run for Mark Willows, this was a great opportunity for me to see other anglers on the water in focus mode and to see their styles in action. Kieron, me and his controller got to our peg and what we knew about the water just went straight out of the window. River was up,coloured and the wind was making a quite a nuisance of itself. The time come for kieron to step in for his first session and he started off in a lovely run screaming fish but it wasnt to be. Everything was working against him and he left the first session with a blank but made up in the second session. fishing was out and out hard going.

After the morning session were over we all had to go back and meet up and have a bite to eat before leaving for the last sessions of the day. This was a tense time waiting on the boys to come in and say how they done in the sessions. I think the all round smiles said it all when we all finally met up that we were doing well. Food was done and handshakes all round and it was back out for the second round, eager and confident. This time I was out with Mark willows for the final sessions of the day, we got to the peg nice and early checking that water out and just hoping that we didn’t have to run out looking for something that was fishable. Mark set the one rod up on wets and the other on the heavy bugs. Before we knew it, it was time for Mark to get in and fish his heart out. As I said before nothing looked familiar and we were all back to a blank canvas. As Mark fished the wets and covered a fair bit of water, I spotted a few fish on the other side rising, this was our opportunity to give them hell, the information was passed over to Mark and he instantly changed methods and made his way straight to the spot with plenty of time to spare in the first session. I had my fingers crossed that we wouldn’t blank in the first, with only minutes to spare Mark had a measure in the net. Big smiles all round. Mark moved out of the spot where the fish were rising and left them alone till the next session started, he changed over at this time doing a little bit of heavy bugging but with no success. The second session kicked in so he moved back into the spot where the fish were, after a few casts, Mark was into a fine trout and no blanks, that’s all we wanted to do. The last session ended with 2 fish and god what a relief it was. Mark done so well and I was proud to be there with him. After a big handshake we moved out to go back to the hotel to find out the final scores. We all waited in the car park after putting in the score cards. You could feel the tension in the air. As we all moved on down the car park I could see paul with his hand in the air and with the biggest smile i’ve ever seen. You could see how proud he was with the team. We went into the club and straight away the handshakes kicked off with everyone saying well done boys 🙂 We did it! Wales takes the gold, what a feeling and I was so proud of all the boys for pulling out all the stops and bringing home the gold for Wales. I don’t really remember much after that but here are the photos of the team and the captain Kieron Jenkins and Alun Hughes for taking top rod.

I’m a proud Welshman and im so proud of the boys for doing so well in the condition. Well done to all.

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Fishing the river Taff

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Not posted for a while due to being on holidays for a few weeks in Jamaica and god what a holiday it was but there you are back to normality and back to the fishing.

I was out on the river today with a good friend that I haven’t fished with for some time and it was good to have the old partner in crime around again. Due to the overnight rain, the river Taff was running with a few inches on and with a slight colour but it didn’t dampen the fishing spirit!. Matthew my mate concentrated on the deep pools and the head of the pools with the heavy nymphs and I just concentrated on the back ends where the slow and shallow waters were. As we both moved up river picking trout and grayling off I had a call off another mate Ceri Sweeney who I haven’t seen for some time asking if I was out fishing. Soon after, Ceri met up with us and after having a chinwag, we all got to the fishing. It was far from easy and you had to work for the ones we managed to catch.

Im back on track with the blog so please keep checking in on times to see what ive been up to. A few more posts about flies and where ive been fishing them will be up soon.

Out and about in heavy water conditions

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Well, as everyone here is south wales knows, the rivers are all in flood and have been for a few weeks now but I just had to get out and wet a line somewhere to relieve the tension.

I didn’t rush out as early as I normally do, I think I left the house around 9ish and to tell the truth I didnt really know where I was heading with the waters so high in all the rivers in my area. Even the streams are high and would be a battle to keep your feet stuck to the bottom, so the only thing I could do really was to cover as much water as I could and find the slacks and the back ends of the pools. I took the two rods as normal but I knew that I would probably be stuck to bugging with the conditions. I didn’t see much fly life around just the odd olive passing by. I only saw two fish rise so that didn’t really warrant me to set the dry-fly rod up so I took it apart and slid it in the back of my vest to keep it out of the way so I could concentrate on the nymphing side of things. As usual I was using my 10ft 3wt streamflex, set up with the french leader for the nymphing. I was using two nymphs as normal; on the dropper I was using a goldhead 2.5 phesant tail flashback and on the point I was using a copper head 3.5 peeping caddis. Most fish came to the caddis pattern as i expected with the flow being so fast and with a small amount of colour to it. Fishing was good and for the water I could fish I just fished every little bit of it till it was bugged out as I say!. I even left a few spots for some time and then went back and this is a good little trick to getting another chance to catch a few more. Ill let the photos do the talking!