Nearly

Sunday seems now to be our fishing day
and a trip out with Phil and Mike is always
good fun even when the fishing's hard.
Mike was busy at the boulder pool, the water
looked clear and I thought the fishing may be
hard .
Just as I reached Mike he lifted into his first fish,
he is now more than comfortable taking Brownies
on the fly .

A typical fish for the river not big but
good fun on a lite rod .
It turned into a bright day and I picked
up a few stones, I tried to match the nymphs
I found, a wee bit smaller and darker would
have been spot on.
I set up with 0.10 line thinking I may get
more takes but alas this did not happen.
It became a bit of a off day for me, the fish I
hooked mainly got off and the rest of the time
seemed to be spent in every bank side obstacle
or worse untangling line.
The little nymph was getting the odd fish
and I finally landed one.
The odd fly came off in fact most of the day
you could see them but not in any great
numbers, the fish seemed to match this the
odd spasmodic rise was about it.
I managed to get a half decent shot of
a spent fly, it's part of my day now
snapping the odd shot, I almost fish to
blog at times, its made my days fishing
better, I for sure observe more and take
in all the things happening around me.
I would like to think its improved my
angling, this may not be fact but my
logging of days gone by as been looked
back on over cold winters nights with
great fondness .
Think Mike is finding the same feelings
as me with his angling these days, it's
nice to catch, after all that's what we
go for but being by and knowing all we can
about the river adds to the pleasure .
Phil is also getting to grips more and more
with all things fly! It seems a long time since
I constantly told him about how he would enjoy
fly fishing , I love rivers and I think he has the
same passion, he has certainly caught some good
fish since our first outing and he came up trumps
again Sunday .
I felt a little guilty on the way home that evening
the scales pushed round to 1lb 15oz, depending on
how accurate they are the fish may well of broke
the 2lb mark which is one of his aims for the year.
One plus it will keep him going if you hit the target
too early you may miss an even better prize .

Still a most beautiful fish and one to be proud of.
The picture above is Phil perking his lips he was that
happy !! if I knew the kiss was for the fish I would of hung
around and took a picture of the moment !!
So not my best day but still very enjoyable,
I do think I'm learning more and more even
though my last outings have been a little
lite on fish caught my approach has changed
it sort of took my eye off the ball a little, missed
fish, tangles lost flies and I find myself stood in one
spot day dreaming of why I'm not catching and
what I'm doing wrong that's because I'm trying
to read the situation more, last year I found a fly
it worked and I stuck with it and fished .
This year I want a little more think what the fish are
doing the thing is I'm not fishing but when I do and
it clicks I think the satisfaction will be worth
the wait.

Flying Start

You may be thinking why the picture of my daughter?
well the story starts with a small explanation of why
after the Trout season started Sunday it's Wednesday
before I managed to post.
Scarlett looks like butter would not melt, but she is
''Oh so much a little lady'' Strong willed, intelligent,
loving, funny and well the list goes on and on.
Give her a ''Pandora's box'' though and she can not help
herself, on this occasion it was my camera.
For hours I searched but it was only when I asked
Logan did the mystery unravel, ''well dad it's strange
but they asked at school today was this anyone's
camera ?'' so I popped into the school office before
I dropped the kids off , and there it was ,but how?...
.........Scarlett..... she looked at me like a cat caught in
the headlights '' it floated off dad'' it got in Mummy's
car Dad'' a string of excuses before a little tear.
It's funny now but at the time!! her Mums not helped
my hair line over the years she will finish it off without
doubt. All that said I love her more and more each
day if thats possible.
Any how back to the fishing we met up at the river,
it was Pete's first outing with the fly rod. I had been
telling him about the good Trout, so when we arrived
and looked over the wall to see Mike landing a fish
at nearly 3lb it was great.

We left Mike and Phil at the first pool and made our way
to an area that would require a short cast and also give Pete
a good chance of a fish. I made a cast to see how the water was
and to show how too fish the line, as I did the line twitched and
my first Trout was on and lost in a few seconds . Pete now tied
the old favourite for this water the ''peeping caddis''
A few casts later and the line tightened and Pete was playing
his firs fly caught Brown Trout ......well done!!! I was well happy
the feeling of sharing moments like these is fantastic, I know Pete
was happy with the smile on his face .
I had spotted a few fish rising and could not resist
trying for my first dry fly fish of the year in fact my
first fish, they seemed spooked very easily but a fish
lower down was still rising quite a few casts later
and I managed to fool it .
Plenty of LDO's came off Phil had one or two in
a bottle no doubt he will be tying one or two up
A fish on the dry can not be bettered in my opinion
not too bad for the first day.
I took another fish on the wet before we moved on.
Phil was fishing fast water but it was hard going
I had little else for the rest of the day a odd little
bang but that was it . As always I worry a little
when conditions are seem good but the fishing is a
little slow. Still it was the first day and we had
seven fish between us a couple lost so not too
bad, if anything the water may have been a
little low and clear .
Pete was now tuning in to nature above the fast
riffles .
Petes first trout above was typical of the fish we caught last
year in great condition and quite silver .
I also have a new pattern of the caddis to try I may
give it a longer go soon if it does the business I will
post a picture, I like the looks of it hope the fish
think the same .

Last Outing

Today was in all likelihood the last outing
of this coarse season on the rivers .
I really enjoyed the last few hours last week on
the River Dane so made my mind up to get out
again this week.
I decided that today would be a nice time to get the
pin out , and made my mind up to try the swim from
last week. I soon found that the wind was a bit stronger
and had a bite of cold in it . My reason for fishing the pin
is because I like it so much , but the closed face is also
a very enjoyable way to trot a float down the stream.
I now think on the Dane the closed face is a more useful
reel , it allows you to both fish slower water with lighter
floats better .
I hooked into another animal today , now I'm
gaining confidence in my Normark I Lent into
the fish hard , the glide as a bad snag and the
fish know only too well how to find it!! after a good
struggle the hook pulled .
The swim died but a move brought me a couple
of nice Chub .

The weather turned a bit nasty so that ended my
day and another season , looking forwards now to the
Trout season opening .

March Bronze

I had been wanting to spend a few hours
on the River Dane , it had been on my mind
to have a few casts and this afternoon I found
myself with a few hours .
I packed the gear up and made a quick dash
to the waters edge.
The spot I picked as always produced in winter
but today really felt like Spring .
The neck of this pool as very fast water , then
the river bends the water deepens and the pace
is taken out ,the river though small as little
swirling creases and you can fish several lines
each holds food so by feeding the fast water at
the neck you can guarantee a little feed on each
run.
The first half hour or so brought a few little Chub
and even the Minnows , thankfully not too many.
The rod soon arched into a better fish a Chub
over a pound.
The next run brought a solid bang after a good
few minutes the fish found a snag ,it was a good
fish , time to step the tackle up .
I was glad I did!!
I now put a 0.14 hook length on it's the new line
I've been trying it's about 7lb which is needed
when you hit a big fish in fast snagy water .
The float made it's way downstream , every now
and again I held the line back , slowing the bait and
allowing it to raise and flutter , I almost imagine
the river bed , and what the bait is doing .
It was just as I allowed the float to carry on it's way
that it dipped , the fish came upstream , I had learned
from the last fish lifting the rod instead of side strain .
This also tested my Normark rod out and it soon
had the fish under controle several last lunges
and she was in the net .
A perfect Barbel in great condition I would say getting
towards 8lb deep bronze and very broad a cracker for
this little river .
Unfortunately I was now loosing the light on what was
a lovely evening .