CFF Social: The Dam

Well it was my first chance to fish in Wales so was looking forward to trying a few different places.

Left work at lunchtime and started my battle with the idiots on the A roads into deepest darkest Wales.  Ignoring the need for immunisation I shot over the border eventually getting to the campsite around 5pm.  No one was around so geared up and walked down to the river.

The peace of the river was only disturbed by hearing Tony.....something socials seem to be famed for  :wink:  :wink: He and alan had not had much luck on the upper section of the beat, however Alan had just caught his first salmon so was beaming.

I crawled around the bushes.....narrowly missing the deep abyss...although there were a few near misses as the nipples nearly got wet.  I only managed to get a few fish to come up but missed them all.

The following morning got up and went back to the river and fished some of the lower sections, managed a nice brown from the middle of the pool which was a great start to the day.  Wasnt massive but the blank on the river had been avoided.

After brekkie it was time to tackle the dam, I never have great success on the reservoirs so was hoping for something above average.....Rog, Bill and I went off to an arm of the lake on the east side to try our luck.  Water was very very low, however Rog had one first cast and I had one on 5 mins later.  This one decided not to want to be landed, as did his mate who also departed the hook early.

After the downpour...there was a great rise, but I missed the chance to hook one.  It then went very very quiet so we decided to de-camp and make it over to the popular side where everyone else was.

They were having mixed luck with Luke always seemingly into a fish.  The rest of us struggled on, and in the end I managed to land a fish, which was kept for the barbie.

Luke on his hot spot.....rooted.

Bill getting miserable

My Line with no fish attached

The Dam trophy winner!  For his generosity for letting Luke poach all his decent flies.

We then set about having a few beers, even more meat, and a few more beers.

Sunday, I needed to go and see if I could hook a monster from the deep, right fly, right cast, wrong fisherman....missed my chance and killed the pool :evil:

So on the way home I fished near Rayader in the river, the water was quite coloured, but I still managed one from a very fishy pool which was nearly 8 inches in length.  Which I was quite pleased with.

Fishy Pool

River

Superb ploughmans at Monkspath on the way home!....Cider for later  :wink:  :wink:

All in all great weekend and company, big thanks to Bill for organising.

A day in the dales

Well after getting some money for a new fishing rod, it would have been criminal to not go out and give it a try.....

Decided to try the rivers in Derbyshire, the weather had been overcast and rainy so was hoping for a reasonably clear river.....which I got which was lucky, and the day was only punctuated by the odd shower, which is better than most got!

Arrived early at the first river, walked to the end of the beat, seeing the odd fish rise as well which was a good sign.

Started from the bottom of the beat and worked my way up, finally found the right dry to use, and missed my first fish, but I was soon into my second, a good fish close to 14 inches.  Then within a few casts near the top of a pool was into my second, not quite as big this one but still good for the river.

Continued up the path with mixed success missing a few along the way, then while I was being watched by some walkers, a fish duly obliged, demonstrating my fishing prowess.  Easily the biggest of the day and gave a good account of itself.

Ended near the top of the beat with about 8 fish rising around me, could I catch one?  er No.  Instead I had them nudging the fly with their noses!  Cheeky little buggers.

Went through loads of flies and got nothing so in the end saluted them and vowed to be back another day.

After a quick map read, found my way to the Manifold river, this was a section I had not done before, and it was very overgrown and not a lot of fun, still I got a nice little brown trout from the ripple at the end of a flow.  Very nice indeed.

I then ended the day on a lower section of the dove, and was pleasantly suprised to catch three graylings on some black gnats.

Superb day!!

Fishing in Ashbourne

Fishing near Ashbourne easrlier in May, most life I saw all day was a dead eel, ah well was a lovely spot.

Photos from Skye 2

Photos from Skye

Isle of Skye

Well was up in the far reaches of scotland for a stag / walking weekend.

Set off on the Thursday, and after13 hours in the car, pitched the tent and collapsed.  Friday we spent on the Cullin Ridge....well part of it, however my knackered ankle and knee gave in, and my bottle on the more exposed sections went, so I came off the mountain early.

This meant that instead of walking on the saturday, I could pull out my sneakily packed fishing gear and go give it a swish on a nice mountain river.

We were staying at Sligachan


View Larger Map

And helpfully the hotel here does permits for the river, and there is the chance of salmon, sea trout and brown trout.  Never caught salmon or sea trout, and the likelyhood of them being there was beyond slim.  They had not seen rain in weeks, so the river was really really low.

So armed with permit (well it was imaginary as the hotel said the John Muir Trust had not sorted themselves out), and rod I plodded up the river.  Now I have never fished these types of river before, in fact the most northerly I had fished was Pennine Trout Fishery.  Nothing was rising so went with a small black wet.

First cast the fly did not sing and something came up and grabbed it, I missed it, but that was a good sign that dry's may work. So on went a small f-fly and the adventure began.  From that point onwards the first cast in a new pool or flow, produced a small splash at my fly.  And to be honest I missed most of the takes.  I could have caught 50, but ended the day with 4, nothing longer than 6 inches.  Still that was more fish than I have ever caught on dries, and I had only one wild brown to my name as well in the past, so all in all a very fun day in glorious sunshine, and tbh one of the easiest days fishing I have had.  Stockies at lechlade make you work way harder!

The Elinor Social

Well it was time for my first CFF social (well an overnighter anyway).

Went out to Elinor in Northamptonshire on the Friday night, in glorious sunshine, good for the tan but not the fish!

Arrived to find a little village of CFFers on the lake side, shifted some sheep shit, pitched my tent, said hi, drank a beer, and then donned the waders....

Well there is always a chance for a fish......however they all chose to remain in the lake and not join me in the very clear dusk.  The evening rise was very small with only one of us catching.

It was then time for the evening BBQ, Chris had done a sterling job with the catering, so a lot of meat and bread were consumed with the odd ale, before bed.

Then came the fishing stupidity....got up at 4am, I would love to say it was because my alarm went off, but no it was a sheep sticking its nose under my tent and snorting.

A few other idiots were up at this time, so we proceeded to search around the lake for the morning rise.  Again not a lot going on, however after getting to the far end of the Lake I eventually got a fish.  This was on the middle dropper of a black buzzer.  First ever fish on a buzzer, after months of trying, so can now confirm they work.

Nothing much else was going on, so returned fro some food and drink, and then continued to fish as the morning mist lifted.  It was going to be another scorcher, however as the mist lifted it gave a brief rise on the lake, where we quickly switched to dries.....bam another fish on, superb fight and kept for the pot!

Mick managed to stalk a brown on a dry as well, which was probably the highlight of the day.

Did try some boat angling nice and deep in the middle of the lake, but at the end of the day the weather was way too hot, called it a day around 6 ish and headed home.

Car broke on the way home but the great Skoda repair people have already got me the car back!!