Fly Fishing: Winter Grayling and scouting about.

16th-18th February 2016

It's official, i've wet my knot after 4 months. With my good friend Mike France off work for a couple of days we both felt the need to get our fishing. Fortunatly we was hit with 2 dry days after a week pf rain allowing the river levels to drop substantially, the rivers were still up a foot or so which allowed us to fish many nore deeper holes but with the temperature barely above freezing we opted for a dinner time start in the hope the water would be 'a little warmer'.

We soon arrived and was into a fish within five minutes each, both grayling! With our point system in place (3 for a grayling 1 for a trout) we were both off to a flyer. This grayling was extra special too, as it was the first fish to be fooled by a fly tied by my own hand! Funnily it aas a copy of the fly that caught me my first grayling the year prior. I was fishing trio with not too much weight, but the water was running fast so it was a case of pocket water hunting.

Mike took the lead with a trout and another grayling and headed upstream. I caught a small trout then targeted a 2 foot strip of slack water next to a raging riffle,  i was in straight away and the grayling made light work of the fight by swimming towards me through the rough water. However the next 3 that took the fly were pulled off the hook as soon as they entered the rough riffles. It was frustrating obviously but still fun knowing my flies were convincing fish to feed. After the run went quiet i headed up and caught up with mike.

He told me of a fish he'd lost that he'd on for quite a while which was frustrating as it would of been the biggest of the day easily and we headed across a deep slow pool fed by a bend in the river. I was into a nice grayling straight away it was running me downstream and from past experience i lost alot of grayling last year when they got below me, giving it some line in the hope to calm it down as i headed downstream to get below it, however after constantly thumping the bottom it came off, possibly due to the line slacking as i headed past it. Thing went a little quiet for me then, well compared to Mike.

Mike had found a pool of them and his shrimp he tied the night prior was pulling them out! As a team effort there is no frustration in seeing your friend catch fish after fish even if he manages to make the score of 38 points (10 grayling 8 trout) i meanwhile had caught a second small trout and a small grayling. I again came into a decent grayling and was again frustrated as it swam under a snag, possibly the other half of a pipe that stretches across the river. I waded out and used my stick to spook the fish and after some head shaking it was off the hook and my flies popped out of the snag.

Following Mikes lead i tied on my own czech nymph, barely able to feel my fingers at this point. Heading up past the bend in search of fish i fished a pool i had caught several fish previously and wasn't dissapointed. Well, not by the lack of takes, 6 grayling i lost before a final 7th take was in the net. With the wind coming upstream my line was doubling over on itself meaning it was very difficult  keeping in contact possibly causing poor hook placements and thus lost fish.

Overall we ended the day on 52 points. 14 grayling 10 trout and despite the freezing weather it was a very good day!

The next day we had planned to look at the second half of the river however some overnight rain had occurred and with the new river level chart being a little hard to understand as peaks and gradual rises are higher to define we risked the journey to heck. Upon arrival it was up another 2 feet easily, raging chocolate brown and all running at one speed with no slack water in sight. So we decided to go pike hunting on the canal.

The canal was crystal clear when we arrived, very little cover as it had been cut down and only 3 feet deep at most. It took till a mile or so before we hit coloured water and with my pike senses tingling i spotted a jack pike slowly moving out from the side. We both tried tempting it and after a brief look at Mikes fly it awam off to the opposite bank.  Moving on up we fished a basin and any weed or cover that was there with no avail so we continued on our pike stalking.

I again spotted another pike just on the inside of the wall and again we both tried to convincd it but after following our flies briefly it soon grew wary and swam off. The third and final pike which i spotted was much the same but we was dissapointed with the canal overall. Nothing moving, no features or cover and a small dead jack on the bottom. Probably due to the clear water and kids with air rifles.

On the third day we knew the rivers would still be up ao we headed deep up the river in its top most tributaries in search of fishable water as we expected it to run off quicker here than the main river and  it had. We didn't fish for long as we was scouting for water to fish when the main river is rained off and we found some. We both convinced a trout each in our brief moments of fishing, and i lost a second fish. Was good to be up in the wilds of a narrow stream which held some very fishy pools.

All in all it was good to be out in good company and despite only carching 4 grayling and 3 trout in 3 days it wasn't wasted. We learnt alot about the river and its changes and we broke our duck of 4 months without fishing. Finally catching fish on my own flies was a huge moment in my fly fishing journey!

:pics and videos will be added once my internet is sorted:

Countdown to the season start

With BT still struggling to figure out how to gain access to my house due to a tree root, i am still without internet and tv making blogging hard and video and photo upload almost impossible, so apologies in advance for the lack of images which i will rectify once i am up and running, hopefully before the season starts!

So with the season looning closer i am still yet to organise my fishing tackle, mainly due to the bad weather making any grayling trips nigh on inpossible, without the ability to drive it is worthless risking travelling a distance to find a river 'almost' impossible to fish. So i have a couple of hours a week been spent fly tying. Now i have been mainly 'messing around' testing what materials can do and look like and i have surprised myself. Still awaiting my partridge feathers from John Norris so aboiding dries till then, thoughi do need some cock hackle in fairness for some nymphs. There is so much to learn and remember but the best part is you can picture a fly you want to make and tie it, theres basic patterns you can go off and add you own twist and colours, but until the season starts it is impossible to see which are effective. I'm enjoying it more than i thought i would and i an glad i started now as i was going to start in a few years.

With the local river being the Irwell and it's lack of grayling theres almost a 5 month gap between my fishing trips, a long time! So the itch is real right now! Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks there might be an oppurtunity to go chase some ladies! If it's planned then there will be some bling and pink flies being tied in preparation, already have a couple but with the flooding this winter there will be many additional snags!

2016: A new year and many changes

12th January 2016

So it has been a month since my last post and alot has happened in this, somewhat, short time. Firstly, i am writing this on my phone, limited to my phone for internet due to moving house i have been somewhat pushed away from some of the people i have come to know since i began fly fishing last year. Hopefully when BT figure a way to get internet past the tree roots on my street then i will be sorted. Secondly, and i will post pictures once i have internet on my PC, we have had 6 major storms since me and Mike asked for a bit more water in the river. One lf which broke all records and caused 20-30foot rise in the Irwells river level. Now, floods are natural, but they can be managed better, i won't go into my case on urbanisation and deforestation (even if its a coiple of riverside trees i don't mean like in the amazon).

The unnatural thing about the floods is the amount of rubbish left behind and the numerous bikes and other objects that i removed from the river last year are all in vain as the river is now inandated with tonnes and tonnes of not just rubbish but massive metal objects, ripped away from there bankside lies. The river has changed shape, tonnes of silt deposited has changed the river with channels formed and a total removal of a tiny side stream feeding 'big fish pool', again pictures will be posted once i have got internet on my pc.

So what have i done in my spare time, well moving house is stressful enough, especially balancing a higher rent. But one thing i didn't expect to get into this soon was fly tying. Now, i had been talking to Mike F about it for a while and i began to develop an itch. After trying to find a vice another friend of mine, Mike J messaged me he had a vice he had. Having kept hold of it for a month while i moved house and sorted some finances i bought the vice and he kindly threw in a few materials to get me started. Mike F kindly tool me to a Bolton fly tying meeting and showed me how to tie my first fly, i soon realised i needed to wear my glasses. Something i haven't sone since i left my best pair in college 7 years ago. Now with the 'spare pair' with slightly bent arms from playdates with my daughter they offer me greater vision on such a tiny work space. I tied 6 of the fly Mike showed me to tie, a pheasant tail nymph, and i was pleased with the result. Was great to finally get going and with a ideology of 6 flies of each tied, it gave me a basis to work on.

Now i have been watching a good few videos and have enjoyed watch Davie McPhail on youtube, he doesn't mind leaving little tags so gave my confidence in not being 100% neat, something Mike F had told me about a highly respected fishermans fly tying being not about neatness but catching fish. After watching a video of him tying a polish nymph i decided to have a crack, having only pheasant tails featherwise, except CDC, it allowed me stick with something i knew. I had a couple of issues with the dubbing not staying on the thread as well as i would of like, a frayed thread as it caugjt on the hook end, and the whip finish getting stuck behind the bead causing the final pull through to be a little tough. All in all it turned out well and i am looking forward to whatever i choose to tie next.

To conclude, most of you who have followed my blog know of a couple of flies that got demolished last year to a point were they fell apart, well i kept these and what was left of them and was considering, especially the adams, doing a repair job, the adams was basically stripped of dubbing and the depth charge,well, all that is left is the superheavy bead but i have tinsel and black dubbing to restore it to the depth charge!

Blog images here (can't upload from phone)
Click link to view images!

Fly Fishing: End of the first year!

So since i took up fly fishing back in April. One of the greatest decisions i have made i might add, i have come to learn so much about the art of fly fishing and yet still know so very little. You see fly fishing is all about theories. It's ok knowing what your doing, but in fact there are a thousand theories in your head once you arrive. Which fly, location, method, angle, distance, thousands that we have to filter through in a short space of time that we barely realise how much we do, but even then the choice we make doesn't guarantee us a fish, as the only truth amongst all these theories is the trouts final decision itself.

Now i have come to know of some very good fly fisherman and some personally, which when you originally come from a council estate in Bolton i wouldn't of expected to be among people such as these and to you all, and even those who merely put the odd comment now and again, it's all very much appreciated.

I am moving house at the moment so any more fishing this month before 2016 is unlikely so the chance of a winter pike on the fly is highly unlikely as free time has been sparse. So this is, i guess, a summary of my first 'year' of fly fishing.

It all started off with me treking down the river, wading in with my wellies on and practicing my casting. Youtube and text book guided. I hadn't been fishing since school, though i had fished since i was 3, but now i had a beautiful family i could go out and relax and unwind and when that large trout came full bodied out the water my hunger was back.  It took me 4 trips before i got a take and then another till i landed one (well 3) 2 on the nymph and 1 on the dry as it began to rain. Since then i went 44 trips without blanking, some days tougher than others but learning all the time.

The last time i went was when the hurricanes landed, Abigail or angelica i believe it was called, the river was high and dangerous but we risked it, then we did an hour on the canal for pike. I blanked that day, understandably. Since then there were 3 more hurricanes, i've had walks down to see the local Irwell sections and the river has changed shape with the huge flow we have had. But with time constraints the piking has been out of reach.

All in all my tally for the year stands at:

I'll leave my last video from youtube here and keep an eye out for next years adventures too, where my daughter maybe alongside me (if she doesn't throw the rod in)

Fly Fishing - It never rains but it pours - Day 50

7th November 2015

With a weekend booked off and a grayling trip booked with my good friend Mike France we was both excited, all our previous visits had been on low summer levels which had obviously affected the fishing even though we still bagged some fish and the main target, Grayling.  So we wanted some rain! It was a nice week with steady rain throughout the week meaning the river level would rise slowly and not colour up too much. With our departure time at 7.30am, the river was at the same measurement it had been all week, 40cm, 10cm higher than it's summer level which was a little surprising considering. The weather said rain till 11am where a micro-burst would be followed by sunny skies. The weather actually did that, however at 11 we was heading back to Bolton to do some pike fly fishing on our local canal. So where did it all go wrong?

Well funnily enough i have a tattoo on my neck which quotes 'It never rains but it pours' now most of you will know what this means but for those who don't it basically means when one thing goes wrong, everything does. Upon reaching our location the ducks were swimming backwards, the current to strong for them to swim against, the river was practically the Atlantic Ocean and it was up by around 3 feet (not 10cms nor the 30cms the map showed later on when it updated again) It was easily up 3 feet as the usual dry banking was now up to my butt and i'm 6ft 8. It was like we was in Blackpool in a storm with the tide coming in. Nevertheless we gave it ago, we don't get many fishing days together due to our work clash so didn't want to waste our good company. I went with a trio of nymphs. Heavy, rubber worm, Super Heavy. I still wasn't touching bottom and every cast was a strike as the leaves were horrible. So not only was the river raging, nor too coloured it was laden with thousands of leaves. We hacked it out for 2 hours before we called it quits.

Note: red line was level when we arrived (was up by 3 feet easily) green line is the usual summer level.



We came to the conclusion that would a fish sit there getting thousands of leaves smacking them in the face and building up on them, no, they would find a rock to hide behind or calm water and wait it out, now if my heaviest nymphs aren't even touching bottom, even if it was good visibility, the chances of tempting a grayling to move into that heavy flow was nigh on impossible if i wasn't at the bottom.

So off we went back home to do some pike fly fishing, Mike borrowed me his #8/9 weight set up and we was good to go, the weather here was bad with a bad cross wind and torrential rain, casting  pike flies feels so unnatural compared to the usual fly fishing so will take some getting used to but again, here, leaves were a problem. Mike Eventually hit into something big but it was solid and we guessed he'd caught the bottom but in fact it was a huge birch tree branch. We don't let things get the better of us so we landed the 'branch' posed for a picture etc fly et al.

The rain became heavier still so we called it a day, was no point making ourselves ill and risk ruining an enjoyable day despite the conditions.

Fly Fishing - The Quest for Irwell Chub

My quest for Irwell Chub has taken me further afield around the Irwell, generally walking an hour or two too a new run, fishing the deep holes and slow runs, but still the chub have avoided me. The trout have not come in too big a number either thankfully but the one's i have had have all been nice trout, one i thought for a second was sea run it was that silver, only darkening off to a creamy mushroom colored back.

Now these little adventures haven't been all bad, in fact i've found some cracking spots to fish especially during the school holidays as they are hard to reach and dangerous to the foolish.  Thankfully the water has been crystal clear and easily 5 foot visibility allowing me to see the dark deep sections and the dangers underfoot. Creating a mental map of the areas for the future.

I have been under aquaducts and bridges, to old rotted wooden weirs to hair pin bends against 100 feet cliffs with a deep pool to match. How many dogwalkers? None. I have fished alot of last light water, it is amazing how quick the dark can come on so i'm always giving myself plenty of time to get out of the river before it is dangerous.

It's a damned shame there isn't any Grayling in our system as the water seemed so perfect in the places i was but that is the problem. It is sustainable it's just the amount of incidents that occur would kill them off in a year. But thankfully we have good people fighting our cause and maybe not to far into the future we will be able to reintroduce them.

But these chub are proving illusive, it's all trial and error and when i do finally manage to tempt one other than on the dry, which i won't risk in the off season, then it will be a tactic worth expanding on. Funnily the only course fish i caught was a small perch as i spoke to someone on the canal bank which i use to quickly navigate the river.

Fly Fishing - Chub Chasing: Sods Law - Day 49

9th October 2015

With the close season in full effect and a couple of hours to spare before last light i decided to put some chub chasing research into action. There isn't much about fly fishing for chub on the internet, but the general gist of it is to allow a nymph to swing in an arc from directly in front of you to 90' downstream, then a slow retrieve. With this in mind and the water being high and dirty after the much needed rain i looked towards the deep pools at the end of faster water. Basically well oxygenated pools were food would accumulate.

It was 5pm when i first started out so the dark was already drawing in, with 4 pools in mind to fish, i decided half hour on each was fair game. Pool one was where i hooked and lost the biggest trout i had seen personally, yet alone landed but knew i had lost that fish due to snags. It was only a couple of flies i'd be losing this time, with my new wading stick i was able to salvage most of the flies by getting closer. I know one snag is a huge pine tree branch as only the smaller branch would come up the weight of it too much for the wading stick and too deep for me to grab it.  No hits here.

Moving to the second run i knew this had the odd snag, and it wasn't long till i found out how large the piece of metal was that popped up above the water. Surely it's an aeroplane wing or something? Regardless the barbless hooks allowed most of the snags to ping off with counter directional pull. Again here nothing. I decided to head to the next run but failed to compensate the time it takes me to get to each pool in my fishing time, so i was running out of light fast and would only be able to fish one more pool.

The last pool has been productive for trout in September with several 14 and 15 inch trout coming out. Would it be the same for the chub? 10 minutes went by until i got my first hit and it was a slow heavy take. Initially thinking it was a moving snag as it gently flowed downstream, it suddenly bolted down. It was a fair weight and i knew it was a decent fish, was it the chub i was after? I'd seen a few knocking around these runs in the summer of a good few pound but so far they'd eluded me. It wasn't swimming fast, mainly using its weight to hug the bottom, then it decided to bolt to the far bank, dragging line of the reel i stopped it dead in a risky line grab as it headed straight for the far side, i know there is a sunken tree branch on that side. The momentum caused the fish to pendulum up through the water column and out of the water. It was a trout. 

That was its power, yet it didn't want to use it, it was a still a strong fighter and resistant to turn but i could constantly feel a downward pull rather than a pull up or downstream. After around 2 minutes the constant turning and retrieving of line i had it on it's side, after one squeaky bum moment at the net when it decided it had a short sprint left, i had it soon back in. It slowly plopped into the net. Barely. I have a 16 inch diameter net and it was bigger than that!  It was the offseason however so joys and frustration were mixed. No fancy photoshoot for this old girl. I presume it was female as she was as fat as my arm. A belly of gold and grey. A quick picture in the net before i set her for release, a quick measure against my arm as i laid her in the water showed she was from the tip of my finger to the crease in my arm.  A good 18 inches once i measured at home. She swam off in only a couple of seconds and i packed up set for home.

Turns out my chubbing technique avoids all fish except my new personal best trout. Who i couldn't give the full glory of the camera.

Sods Law Eh!.