Fly Fishing - A weekend of chasing trout

23rd & 24th July

It seems the days go by so quick during the open season and i already can feel time running out as we edge closer and closer to the close season, be it a few months away still the winter closed season lasts forever. The weekend of the 23rd came at the end of a very hot week turning into clouds and rain but still mild temperatures. The Saturday was 32' in the early part of the day, when i was at work, but with an early finish i had taken my gear with me too work and headed straight to the river. I knew it would be busy with the school holidays combined with the weather but with clouds heading in there wasn't that many people actually riverside.

I hadn't been fishing long in the oxygenated white waters where i had pulled 2 trout out in quick succession did i meet someone else. I noticed a head watching and the pleasantries were said and again that question 'Is there anything in there?' 'I hope so 'cos i've just had two' i joked. I beckoned the couple down who were in there 50's or so and gave them the basics of what and why i do what i do, it's not just fly fishing, its not just an escape from reality, it's so much more. I said give me 5 minutes and i'll have you a fish, in fact it didn't take that long but with the fish welfare priority it wasn't too happy with the ordeal and was quickly back in the river and away. 'There will be one just there' i explained, 'how do you know what to aim for?' and so the explanation on feeding lanes and adjusting your bodies of water based on weather, depth and oxygen etc and i was in again. This trout was happy to hold still and be the star of the show and he was himself back in the river once more.

We bid farewell and i continued upstream, with a couple more trout i noticed an unusual rise in a large back eddy. With all the foam in the eddy it was hard to figure out if it was a big trout or a small one but either way i set up the dry fly rod. It had stopped by now and despite covering it with several casts, nothing. I headed on up to a run that should hold more trout than i have been getting her lately, it's just below waist depth, plenty of cover, plenty of oxygen running through a long pool yet nothing. But just above it, a small rise. I covered it but it was moving around but eventually it took the dry, a small trout but another on the dry. They are very slowly building up.

At the end of my run a South African sounding man and his daughter were playing in the river but i knew they hadn't affected the short run i wanted to fish and first cast i was into a small trout. This prompted a very slow walk over by an inquisitive father but not fast enough as i couldnt hold about too long so i released the trout, knowing that i would probably catch another should he want to show his daughter. I didn't fail to live upto expectation and i hooked into another trout. They didn't engage with me much, more interested in seeing the fish but i offered the girl a better view of me releasing the trout back into it's home.

I don't mind fishing with an audience, well if people are gaining positives from it anyway. I hope people start to realise the life that is in these rivers and help protect them more, i hope people see that me releasing them encourages them to do so if they decided to take up fishing. In all i had 14 trout averaging around 1 every 8 or 9 minutes and a lone minnow, not had many of them this year!

The Sunday i was fishing with my good friend Mike France. We had a job prior to do which was water sampling to test it's levels of ammonia etc. We continued afterwards to fish and i was soon into a trout, a good start, the water here was visibiliy clearer than the previous section and was deceivably deep. The second trout had the fight of a big trout but was only a 1lb 1lb 1/2, it took the nymph after i let it drift under a tree and ran 20 foot of line of my reel as it stormed up the far bank. It turned and i got it into the deeper water infront of me, it started shaking it's head violently and it was off. It hadn't slipped the hook it was an error of my own. I had been experimenting with tippet rings to help the line sink a little quicker but the dropped hadn't been tied on perfectly, despite a check i hadn't double checked it and the fish was gone.

We continued upstream hitting into the odd trout, the river was really on it's arse and we had to do alot of water searching, i even got one through a punt at running a nymph through a very deep but still pool, with how they have been lately (staying in fast oxygenated water) i really thought i had hit a snag. As we proceeded upstream Mike got a nice trout but the weather continued to worsen. The rain was on and off and as we hit a nice pool which again should of held more fish it became torrential. We continued for half an hour but as we were entering narrower valleys we were running the risk of getting caught in rising water so we called it despite some very fishy water around us.

The weather this year has been very unpredictable and has made fishing trips hard, but i do enjoy fishing with Mike, it's nice to enjoy the moments together and have a laugh. Hopefully i will see him again soon and we might even go after Grayling again, it has been 6 months since i last held a lady of the stream, just don't tell my Mrs.

 

Fly Fishing - The 'dead' river

14th July

With a break in the bad weather i gambled with the river conditions and decided it was worth the hassle. Rain is still very much predicted and today was a bit of a fluke. A hot sunny day was sure to bring people out and there were out in their droves, alot of them hunting around the rivers and through the bushes for pokemon, though it is good to see people outside enjoying themselves.

The river was up a foot or two but wasn't a raging torrent, visibility however was very poor.  I set up the nymph rod as nothing was rising and opted for a orange tagged version of my nymph and a heavier black one on the point due to the raised water level. It wasn't long until i was in to a fish and despite it's size it was a start and within 20 minutes i'd bagged 5 more trout. Nothing spectacular but all pretty fish. The fish were showing in what you call 'summer water' despite all the rain we had, i fished the deep pools still but to no avail.



Heading up i ran into a man and two women who questioned my intentions, "Are you fishing? Is there anything even in there?" "Oh yeah" i replied enthusiastically "Trout and the odd chub." "Really? In that? I'm surprised if anything can live in there." "Well you know, there's just enough about it to keep them going, it's up to us to make it better" This exchange must of been intriguing or hilarious to them as one of the women pulls out her phone and starts videoing. Determined not to star in a video labeled, 'Idiot fly fishing in a dead river of sewerage' i positioned myself well and cast my nymphs so they landed near the back end of a low hanging tree. An almost instant take and almost breaking news for the audience, 'Man catches trout in River Irwell'.



Another one soon followed and a 3rd made an acrobatic leap through the air before popping off the hook. The fish had done the business for the audience, a positive show, high fins all round, a pat on the dorsal.

I continued upstream and again were only finding trout, bar one, in the 'summer runs'. A heron startled from the river were i caught the trout in deeper water which may explain why it was there. Funnily it screeched when it noticed i had a trout as it sat high above me in the trees. I tried to get it in the background shot but i think my finger covered it.



In all none of the trout were spectacular in size, taking a mixture of both flies, didn't even lose a fly in the end funnily enough and they accounted for 16 trout in total. 3 more had slipped the hook throughout the course of the trip. After packing up and squeezing my sock out, i had forgotten to fix the leak. I sat back in the sun and enjoyed it for a bit plus it helped dry my pants off!

Fly Fishing - A break in the rain

4th July

It was a spare of the moment thing, with over the next 2 week predicted for rain a dry murky day while i was on a 11 hour shift didn't come into my mind too much. It had been torrential of late so the river wouldn't recover in a day but the day after, today, was something that wasn't expected. It was warm and sunny, like summer should be and it was then i decided to get some fishing in, hopefully it had recovered just enough! 

It was just after 11 i reached the river, all my gear in a rod tube and a backpack, i'd managed to condense it down enough so i don't need anything in my hands, waders on and the nymphing rod set up (i brought one for dry fly) i was all set, with the loss of my action-cam there's no need to wear my fishing pack which held it as well as my gear so i stuffed my tippet and fly box in my wader pocket and left it all in the backpack.



5 casts or so and i was in to a small trout, a great start and hopefully a sign of things to come, the water clarity seemed good at first with the sun beaming down on it but in the shallows it always does, anything over a foot was still a murky brown but it was enough. Not much later and i was in again, bigger trout this time, with it's beautiful blue hue on it's cheeks. I was using my polish nymph i tie which has become pretty much my main nymph, i tie it in a couple of different sizes and weights and maybe a change of color or thread for water conditions but it's the same fly and it has been very good for me this year.



I started selling it on eBay after a lot of messages off Instagram and they've gone off to Italy and Argentina! But the most rewarding message came last night where a guy starting out fly fishing messaged me saying he had his first trout on the fly with one he bought off me! One day he may progress to tie his own and fulfill that milestone too!

I continued upstream and only missed 2 takes while landing 6 small trout, the color variations differing so much, trout have more chromosomes than humans (almost double) allowing them to have more variations due to their genetic diversity. They are a sight to see, no matter what size, some of them have truly amazing patterns, like little works of art, religious men will say god painted them, but i myself believe that nature is a beautiful thing which makes catching these trout, regardless of size a great thing to do.



I saw a rise around 20 feet above me, so i set up the dry fly rod and waited, it never showed again, so i continued nymphing upstream and hit into another bigger trout, another beautifully made trout which is always a shame as you never see them long in reality, hence i take a picture of most of them, my harddrive is pretty much a compilation of trout patterns. Taking a picture is effortless and quickly done. Net the trout, keep the net submerged while grabbing phone out of pocket, hold phone in mouth while wetting left hand, grabbing phone ready in right hand and reach in to grab the trout. Quick lift, pause, picture, release. I even think dripping water adds to the image, some pictures don't go to plan as without having a firm grip on the fish it is free to jump free if it wishes hence why it's always taken over the water.

 

 I fished a long stretch which disappointed me really with only 2 small trout, i've had plenty of big trout from it and the conditions seemed ideal but i didn't catch until i was fishing the pocket water in the riffles above. I then spotted a solitary rise upstream, just in front of a large boulder. It wasn't a big rise so it had possibilities of being a big trout. I watched and watch this rise, there was no clear indicator of what it was taking but i had put a quilled f-fly on which i had tied, olive color. Then it gave itself away, a small trout lept clean out of the water and then continued to rise. i decided to go for it regardless, a bit of dry fly action i had been missing for a while and it was in a tricky position. I allowed the fly line to land on the boulder rather than drift round in the current flowing around it, which minimised drag and allowed for a good presentation. It took it with a little plop off the top. It will hopefully learn to not break it's cover when it's bigger.



There would be no more rises unfortunately, but 7 more fish came on the nymph bringing the total for the day to 21. I stayed while the rain came in the hope it would attract a rise but it didn't. So i packed up and headed home, it was a warm rain so the fact i had no jacket didn't bother me, but i have discovered a small leak in my left leg of my waders which i need to locate, half an inch of water from 4 hours fishing means it might be a tricky leak to find.

Fly Fishing - Sight fishing on a small brook in a thunderstorm

23rd June

It had been an interesting start to the day with the EU referendum result and it caused a stir in the weather too, from 23' the day prior to a murky muggy wet morning. I had hoped to have gone fishing today but i knew my options were limited and as i sat and watched the radar as the heavens opened outside i spotted a potential break in the weather. The problem was, as i don't drive, i would have to walk an hour or so in the rain, in fact its an hour and a half and i lost half an hour of dry weather as i was still enroute. It was nice to dry off, i only wore a shirt as it was warm, and as i passed a small lake carp and pike basked on the surface, tempting i thought but no onwards i must.

I reached the river which is one of them totally urbanised brooks, more of a drain than anything but i know its secrets. Anyroad as i headed up to the more fishable stretch i thought i should look over the wall  to see how good the clarity was considering the rain earlier. It was good, a foot is all you need i say especially when it isn't even a foot deep in most places. But something else caught my eye, 2 trout just lay up taking nymphs in the shallow water. The trout at the back though was a beast, i was at least 10 feet above it, the path is raised above the water level thus adding to the 5 feet of wall. It was probably 3lb or so, the trout on this stretch are fat, probably from eating the rats that i see roaming here.

I was in no way prepared with my 10ft #4 no waders on and i wasn't even set up. In honesty i didn't expect much, i flicked the nymph off the wall and held the indicator above the water, it went past but it turned and chased after it, i saw the white of it's mouth and i struck! I nipped it but missed! Damn! It went straight back in position so i cast again this time i didn't fail in my strike it was on! I lost my camera last time i was out fishing so i grabbed my phone and videod a short clip of it as i tried to work it out of a small tree at the side, which i did and numerous times i had to pull it from under the overhanging back on the far side, now i'm used to a #6 rod so the level of bend was a bit frightening especially after the snapped rod incident but after a good few minutes it was on the surface. Then it dawned on my, how the hell was i going to net it. I couldnt go upstream or downstream because of obstacles and even if i had line of a breaking strength to haul a trout of that size 10 feet up a wall it would go everything i preach for as a catch and release angler.

Have you every tried to get your waders on one handed? Not recommended! Luckily i managed and knew what my only option was, to jump over the wall. I climbed the wall, not helpful in waders, and perched waiting, were are the dogwalkers when you need them, i was hoping one could hold my rod so i could grip the wall facing it  with both hands and jump down. But no, so i turned rounf lowered myself down with my rod horizontal in my mouth, gripped the wall with my boots, bent my knees and pushed off, i landed safely, a little rough on the legd but i was ok, i pulled the rod tight but it was slack, the line had snapped, it must of caught on the wall or the shrubs as i'd jumped! But the trout was still there! Tired and recovering, i had 2 options, rush it or sneak up on it, i chose to sneak, i crept up behind with my bet outreached, it was lay on the bottom, its a shallow river and a big trout, as i went to put the net under it to scoop it, how it would fit hadn't crossed my mind yet, it bolted, like a freshly released trout it was off.

Thinking back i don't even think i had one bad thought, i can remember saying 'that was worth the walk alone' but i knew i hadn't thought every possibility through and thus it was my fault! I moved upstream as the rumbles of thunder groaned in the distanced, i knew i was running out of time, with the brook very overgrown it made spotting quite hard but i eventually spotted a feeding pair, the rear trout on nymphs and the other on drys, poorly positioned i might add as it chased each one downstream. They looked similar size from this distance so i went for the back trout, with trees all around on my side, the bow and arrow cast was fairly accurate and tempted the trout out of its lane to take the nymph. I practically dragged it downstream to try to avoid spooking the other trout and it used the vegatation to its advantage as well. I'm used to fighting in vegetation though from my course fishing days, popping a float in front of a tree or reed bed 5m away. It was soon in the net and it was a lovely trout.

I headed back for his friend as the first rains hit the water, i was very conscious of the thunder but there had been no lightning yet, it took it first time, it was smaller so it could of been a different trout but it was a trout none the less and not long after the rain became torrential. The river almost instantly became a solid brown mess. I headed upstream and camped out for an hour or two under a bridge, watching the inlet pipes grow in intensity as the deposited all their crap in the river, it was strange as the river went up about 2-3 feet then dropped a few inches despite the rain continuing and eventually the blue came and the rain eased off till it stopped. The damage was done now, it would be unfishable for a while and as i walked the long walk back home i only wished the weather had been like this earlier.

On the way home i came across a mother duck and 10 or so ducklings huddled on the path, this was a very bad situation for the duck as it is prime dogwalking ground. So i knew i had to try to move her on, she wasn't far from the water but she was on the wrong side of the path and was not for moving.  She bigged herself up and hissed so i lowered myself so i didn't appear as threatening and tried to calm her, she did, so i reached forward to usher her towards the water and she went quackers! Bit me on the knuckle, it didn't hurt but i admired her courage, it would be no use on a dog though. So i stood behind her and put my foot near her to target on, she got the idea and attacked my boot and got hold of my jeans! it was quite funny having a duck swinging off your jeans as it flaps away trying to scare you off, but luckily it spooked the ducklings who made a break for the water and the mother duck chased after them, wrapped her wings around them and ushered them into the water. It was mission complete and i was much more satisfied when i passed two Jack Russells off their leads a couple of minutes later.


Now one thing i have noticed with my pictures is they don't give a clear indication of size, i noticed this when i was with John Tyzack as usually i take the picture of the fish myself. Here i am with the same trout in my pose and how it looks if someone else takes the picture.

Fly Fishing - Stranded

15th June

It was my first day back out from guiding and some practise at home was due a real test, until i got a lighter weight rod things would still be tricky as the rod wouldn't load as well as it should for the method i was fishing but i was confident none the less. The weather was stuffy but cloudy. There had been heavy rain for a couple of days but the day prior was fine so the river levels had started to drop. Visibility was around a 18 inches so easily fishable.

I bobbed around my usual runs, concentrating on what i had learnt previously but was surprised to not get a take for around half hour, in fact takes were very few and far between. They were small trout but a fish none the less, and there's always a bigger one lurking.  Strangely the fish seemed to be right up in the riffley water which i didn't expect after the rain fall, i had expected a few to be lurking in the deeper pools.


Around a hour and a half in i saw my first rise, it was a lone rise and never rose again, however when i was watching i saw a flash of a fish just ahead of me under the water and i cast around 2 feet infront of it, i got a take from a small trout but i knew the flash was a bit bigger so i cast again and on the second cast i hit into a slightly bigger trout. It was a nice trout and ended up being the biggest i landed.

Further upstream i fished a long glide bubbling with cover yet didn't provide till right at the head of the pool, 4 casts 4 fish, 3 were small and one jumped off and the last was around a pound a half which after some violent head shaking underwater managed to slip the hook much to my frustration.

I then made an almost fatal error, i waded across a section of river i usually hit bigger trout (on average) however in my waist waders i hadn't anticipated the depth change due to the rain and was litterally an inch or so to being watered down, it was still raining too.  I fished around 20 metres until i get to a section of river i needed to be closer to the current but the river bed here is notoriously bad, big boulders around a foot, each one like ice, seems when your on them you can't find your way off them.  So i'm stood pissing around in the river trying to jam my stick into a crevice to gain some grip in the pouring rain when i think i need to call it, with so much sun and lower rivers i've forgot how to handle myself in a raised river.

However, by this time i know i cannot cross the river as the shallowest point i crossed previously is now above my waders, so i look to the hill, flowering hogweed and 10 foot high knotweed. Last time i was here i had a little path carved up this steep embankment, but christ how this stuff has grown. So i'm literally wading through this stuff trying to avoid a rogue hogweed leaf i haven't seen, and gently pushing past the knotweed, soon as i start hacking the stuff then i'm in trouble. It's a steep embankment so i need to see my footing and if i fall then hogweed a plenty is down at the bottom. Eventually after 5/10 minutes i managed to get up the hill, it's only 50m or so but it was the choice of drown or burn.

After reaching the top of the hill i noticed my camera was missing, ripped away from my by the knotweed no doubt, chances of finding it in all that? Not worth the risk, so it was a lesson learned today in a number of aspects.

 Half way up

 half way down

Fly Fishing - Guiding with John Tyzack

So i had come to the decision that there is only so much you can read from books and watching youtube videos of fly fishing in New Zealand, there's only one English channel i know of and that's about it.  Now there was some debate of guided fishing in one of my local groups but the age old argument of learning yourself off your dad showing you, which is effectively guiding, is all you would need.  But after a season of fishing i had a few quips in my method, books and videos don't tell you what your doing wrong that is affecting your catch rate. Whether it be presentation related or something else, i needed that second voice reminded me of what i was doing and as i tried to get my brain to remember it to constantly keep that form, obviously i would drift back to my 'natural' style but with reassurance it improved throughout the day to a point a went from catching the odd fish now and then to catching very often.

Now why John Tyzack, well if your going to get told what to do by someone why not get told by someone who i class as the best fisher catcher in Britain. Not only can he be dependable in that sense but he is just a normal guy, like myself. Don't get me wrong he is still serious in his role but from someone who doesn't really take orders very well i never felt pressured. He never forced me to do as he said, though it'd be pointless if i didn't listen, but i wasn't being barked at like a military sergeant. Now i have fished with John before and JT knew my style and method etc and i today i had a few specifics i wanted to change but with that comes alot of change from the 'natural'.

So here we are on the Irwell, i river i know well, i've got alot of information running round my head so at first i find things a bit tricky adapting, but with Johns reassurance and reminders and observations i eventually picked up the skills to a degree and began getting praise. Now one thing JT can't teach is reactions and though i always thought i was quite fast at reacting i realised i paused for a split second. Things started off ok, the odd couple of small fish here and there which was good. As we headed further up the river my confidence and technique improved and John would say his approval and like magic i'd get a take. Now if fish had pockets i'd say he'd been giving them backhanders but these fish were brasic. Despite their small size they were plenty fat so had obviously been skipping their salads this spring.

We had a laugh further up when a old man with a stick started waving it at us saying we was fishing in off season, we reassured him it wasn't explaining the law but he got more aggressive and wove his stick more, luckily at John more than me, and with the final words of 'Well i hope you don't get caught' he was off. Not long after while fishing a slower seam of the current i hit into a nice trout, plenty of girth and plenty of fight, keeping it downstream of my run i guiding it into John to net and we grabbed a pic or two and it was off.

 

We hit into a lot of small trout and the average size ones but managed a couple more decent trout. The colours varied but we had a lot of silvery grey trout with shimmers of blue on them. But other than catching fish it was a very productive day, i had learnt alot and had felt improvements in my fly fishing, i knew i still had along way to go but i had improved and knew what i had to do to continue that way. Like golf, breaking a bad habit is hard but once it becomes second nature then it is easy.  Hopefully next time i see John he will be impressed in my newly developed techniques and we can try something else.

Fly Fishing - Chasing Monsters

29th May 2016

It was a horrible sunny day and i had preplanned a trip on the river with my very good friend, Mike France. By the way, you read that right, a horrible sunny day. With the kids off school next week and temperatures pushing 20 the water ways would be horrendous, so making a well thought out decision, we decided to fish a section of the river surrounded by high banks and hogweed, that's sure to keep them away. It was a decision that would prove to be the correct one.

We stood on the bridge and looked at our potential swims, with no rain for a couple of days and visibility in the water good we would have to plan our tactics and swims carefully. We spotted a nice deep run which i usually fished from the near bank but with the water down and clarity good we spotted a crossing point which would allow us to fish it from the opposite side of the river. 

We both set our rods up, still using the redington till the tip arrives for my rod, and funnily enough we picked the same tactics and even the same length by a inch or so. Klink and dink was the tactics, low summer water, tonnes of snags keeping the fly moving with the klinkhammer would allow the fly to avoid as many snags as it would stay off the bottom in the pools. Our only difference was leader length, i'd chose an 8 foot leader in the hope of covering any rises, it meant i had less contact with the nymph, but as i had fished this section before i had more success at range than close quarters.

We fished as a pair, taking it in turns and i was casting 20 foot or so across several flows meaning i had to put a mend in the line to avoid drag setting in as quick. It soon paid dividends and i was into a nice trout, after a quite a length fight for it's size it was in the net.  The multiple currents and determination of the fish dragged the fight out. The trout had interesting markings, almost absent of spots on its back. It was Mikes turn to fish and he was quickly into a trout himself, his was much smaller but within 15 minutes of starting we had both avoided a blank.



I was back in the hotseat and i continued to fish the far bank, a deeper greener pool under a tree, and it proved effective again, another nice trout and it was in the net quicker than the first.  An interesting thing to note was the huge dent in the trouts back that once would of been a gaping hole and had now healed almost perfectly other than the dent in the trouts back. Some of these trout have done so well to have survived and it is a pleasure to catch them!



Swapping places with Mike and again he was soon in, again a small trout but this time it didn't want netting. Heading up to the bridge pools i allowed Mike to fish first in the hope of him getting something bigger but after a good 5 minutes of nothing he allowed me and i was in first cast. His decision was made and he changed to a fly that resembled my own as much as possible. I had my ginger quilled nymph on again.  As Mike changed flies he allowed to fish the pool and i was into a bigger trout, trying to keep it from going downstream into the riffled water it jumped once and the hook popped out. Unfortunate but fun either way.




I fished the rest of the pool with no success so headed towards the second bridge arch, Mike in lead chose to fish a very small pool on the way which produced two small fish in quick succession, a sign of a good fly change. The second arch proved uneventful and even when i fished it nothing was interested. There would be fish there just something didn't quite look right for them to take the bite.



We headed upstream, avoiding the rougher water as it had proved unsuccessful downstream and fished the slipstreams instead. It was quite shallow and the only deeper section again proved uneventful. Above was a complete change in water, a wide glide of water that seemed motionless however it carries a fair speed but lacks surface breaking rocks to create any slack water. One trick i use on this is to cast 20 or 30 feet in front and try to aim for the deeper channels and sunken rocks, the channels are dug out by the current flowing around larger rocks adding cover to a exposed section of river.



It proved effective as at the back end of the drift i got a take and was into a nice trout. It fought well and as it tired it started to swim around me, almost wrapping round my stick at one point and even aimed between my legs but it was eventually in the net and it was a nice 1lb 1/2 or so, plenty of girth on these trout.  Again this trout had a noticeable mark with a v like mark near it's back end and chunk out of it's gill plate leaving the gill exposed near the back. This fish had survived it's attack and with the amount of goosanders i seen earlier in the season, as well as the two that flew over us, it shows that they are capable of avoiding capture.


I allowed Mike to take lead as we headed upstream, fishing around the old sleepers that held the weir to the paper mill back in the 17th Century. I had lost the big trout here last time when JT came on a prospecting trip but today it seemed too quiet. It was interesting that alot of 'fishy' water was not providing the expected fish. We knew they would be there but something just wasn't right to initiate a take. I headed slightly above the weir onto what is now a huge section of segmented bedrock. Ankle breaker bedrock, with it's segmentation the cracks between each section were deep and wide so any wrong step would cause some damage. As i stood watching Mike i spotted a nice greener pool on the far bank near a tree, it seemed the only section that wasn't bedrock as i cast a good 30 feet across the currents to it.  The sun was on my back and with good water clarity fishing parallel had to be done from a distance.



Both me and Mike had done alot of casting off the opposite shoulder today, it seemed to work better with the current and with the tree on the right hand side, a cast from the opposite shoulder allowed the line into the pool with less risk of snagging a branch. As i got to the far side of the pool a large trout popped out from behind the rock and went up towards my dry i struck as it went up towards it but half way through the strike it went back down, i paused for a fraction of a section and continued with the strike, it was on. I can only believe it had come up for the dry and switched to the nymph as it felt the current. It looked big but it was hard to tell, it dropped into a channel of deeper water in front of me and i glimpsed a sight of it, it was a nice trout, how big i was unsure as it could of been 3 or so feet down in the channel, difficult to tell size when clarity is this clear which gives misleading sense of shallowness in deep water.

I shouted to Mike saying i wanted to keep it here, in front of me and avoid it going downstream where i lost the big one last time, it seemed a good idea however the trout had other plans. I kept it in the pool for a little bit, it was slightly getting pushed back with the current and i was aware of my line strength so didn't want to fight the force of the water and the weight of the fish to much, as it drifted back it started to come to the surface and it took a big jump. That was when we saw it's size, it was easily 2 feet but it had a big thick round body, it was a cracking trout, however now it had jumped it was out of the deeper water and it started to panic.

It shot across to the opposite side of the river following one of the cracks in the bedrock and as it shallowed off as it near the bank it turned and shot back across, as it reached the deeper channel it turned downstream towards the old weir and pulled the hook out. The sheer force and weight of it's run had caused the elasticity of the line to ping the hook out. I was left with a single scale from it's mouth on the hook.  I laughed and screamed at the same time, the adrenaline still pumping through me as my brain ran through 100 different things i could of done, but it did the one thing i was trying to avoid, heading downstream. It was an epic fish but a great moment to share with Mike who has seen me come on leaps and bounds since we first met.

After everything calmed down we headed upstream, the pools here were nice, deeper and with a current running through but again this water seemed lifeless, something we was doing in these more flowing sections wasn't quite right, maybe our nymphs rode to high in the water for them to risk cutting across a few feet of moving water. In all it was a great short trip, we had learnt alot and had some good fish. Fortunatly i didn't lose my fly as i only had one of them tied, back to the vice i go to tie a few more 'ginger nuts'.

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