Willersley Castle

From 2010-10-24

Making up for the lack of fishing in September, I managed to sneak away again for another fish in Derbyshire. Really enjoying the river fishing this year, and so it was time for a Grayling Hunt at Willersley Castle. Awoke to a frosty but bright morning, so a quick scrape of the car and off I went.

Arrived to a busy car park, and a few maggot danglers in the vicinity, however the weather was good, and I was hopeful of a good day. Had never fished this stretch before so the old fish radar was dragged out to locate some fish. It was obviously slow to get going as I had a few misses on a dry and not a lot else.

I walked the stretch, having the odd chat with people who were catching, and they were doing nothing different to me....always good to know you are doing the right thing, which obviously makes it all the fishes fault.

I returned to a very fishy looking bend and cast away with my duo setup with a pink shrimp on the point....and wham, first fish of the day.

From 2010-10-24

Then the next cast....

From 2010-10-24

things were looking up!!

Managed another 3 from this swim before it went off the boil....not a bad day now I actually proved I could catch. walking back down to the car I saw a swim which was very promising but required a bit of a wade....got there safe, and very quickly had another grayling of 1lb size. Then came a piece of angling genius....the cast was amazing, hitting the exact spot, the body was tensed and ready....the eyes ever watchful on the fly....and WHAM a really good brown getting close on 2lb....

OR you may have seen me check my mobile phone with the fly dangling in the water and the brown came and hammered it.....stupid fish.

From 2010-10-24

From 2010-10-24

Other swims were full with others fishing so I jumped in the car and hit the Dove.... saw a few rising so stuck on a dry for a change, and managed 2 nice little grayling before the toes were blue and I was bored of being cold.

From 2010-10-24

Lechlade

Well Rich had to use his already paid for ticket at some point, so I thought I would try and educate him on the ways of lechlade.

He was obviously over excited about the fishing as he arrived over an hour early.....although some may say he just had no idea it was as close as it was.....

Anyway we tackled up 2 rods, one for the stream and the other for the mighty trout.

I put Richard right on the first swim skirting the weed, where we could see a fish moving "always a fish here" said I.....and within about 15 minutes richard had a screaming reel, and was all the way to his backing.

I had had a few plucks and follows but was not finding much connecting. We carried on for a little while on the bank, then took to the boat, near the house, I had another 3/4 follows, but still could not land one. Then we moved to the next buoy down where richard had another.....this however put up about as much fight as a tesco's carrier bag. Useless.

We moved around a few buoys and eventually i connected with a fish, on one of my pink feather lures.....traditional they are not, but they do work!

Nothing much was happening again, so we tried the river.....if anyone would like lessons on how to spook spooky fish I think we can give you a masterclass.....was a bit of a wasted effort.

By this point you could see for us the fishing had gone ok, a number of people were leaving with their tail between their legs.....so we took over their swims....Richard took another, and I had more follows (notice the theme here)....we then proceeded to provide some advice to a complete novice, who was on his second ever trip....he had had some connect but had lost them. No idea why he was learning at Lechlade as its as tough as they come....but he was enjoying it and I hope he continues.

Then it came the time for Battle Perch 2010.......To which I gracefully lost......badly

Finally got rowed back to the boat launch....by the worlds slowest rower....god I thought I was bad...

 

Dove Tales: Part I

First time fishing since the Dam social.....my god that is a long time, however work got in the way of fishing which is never a good thing. 15 flights in 30 days....time for a break on the river bank I think.

I was lucky enough to go fishing with Roy on the L&D section of the Dove, I have fished other parts of the river with my DCAC membership but it is always nice to see some other parts.

The river is set in an amazingly beautiful gorge, which provides a superb back drop for the fishing, the trees and changing light make the river a real pleasure to be on.

We strolled up to a good pool on the beat and Roy left me wading into the cold water, while he went further upstream.....I had optimistically gone for a dry, but soon changed to a nymph.....still no fishes though....Roy returned with a mild grin however, one out of season brownie on the board for him. True to form Roy's aura on the river continues...

I moved down the pool a little to find fish rising, so the dry was back on....and I had a dinky out of season brown (or OSB....as there were a few)......

We continued down the river towards the car and had some success but nothing great. I cant remember how the catching continued but it was tough going, I hooked a grayling and nearly had him landed, but the slippery little bugger came off. And roy had a grayling or 2....I had another OSB.

We did another full run of the section we were on after lunch, I managed an OSB, and Roy got a lovely grayling right at the death which was the fish of the day (aside from the monster I spotted earlier). The fishing after lunch was hard going with little going on anywhere we went, in the end we were more productive packing up and going home.

Thanks go to roy for being a superb host, had a great day out, shame the fish were not completely on form, but there we go.

When elephants attack....

This was a bit, with electical wiring in only, that the elephants decided to play with.

It was chained to the wall but they pulled that off too.

The biggest tree in Rabi!!

Bugs and a hot wash

Bugs are everywhere....and this moth was in the loo.....still in my newly shortened boiler suit I looked the part....apparently they only have one setting on the washing machine....100 deg....by the second wash this thing was castrating me and was at a very fetching mid calf level.

Work & BBQ

Food has been excellent, well it has to be when there is nothing esle to do in the evenings. The BBQ on the sunday was superb and made up for the 12hr shift!
Fillet Steak, Duck, Chicken, Sausages.....and more.....mmmmmmmmmmmm

Prison Camp in The Jungle

First up was a flight into the middle of the jungle, Rabi, was the final destination. Got here, unpacked in my portakabin prison and then got on with work. Hey ho.