April - Week 4
Having been away for the early part I had some catching up to do, teaching, fishing & furled leaders. In between the fishing there's been the admin, something I quite enjoy... by admin I mean building websites, I've updated Paul Procter's to included a blog for him so he can update his many followers with his fishy tales up and down the country. I don't know anybody quite like him, one minute he's deep in the South demonstrating casting or tying and the next he's up in Scotland chasing his favourite fly hatches. He's always at the game fairs fly tying etc, someone I would highly recommend you go see if the opportunity arises. See Paul's website & blog from here, alternatively you can catch his many articles in the fishing publications such as the Trout & Salmon.


Next came Vic Knight's website, my casting guru and all round great bloke... I put this site together for him in quite literally one evening. Still some content to build in but what he does is pretty much all there, again a greater caster and even more so an exceptional fly tyer... Vic is an AAPGAI Master in all casting & tying disciplines... is there nothing this man can't do?


I also managed to squeeze in a visit to Blenheim Palace on Wednesday afternoon, Orvis are organising a Stillwater day there in June which I'll be heading up as instructor. It'll be advertised here shortly I guess - so if you feel inspired... give it a go.

Graham Peck the Head Game keeper at Blenheim gave myself, Keith Passant & Vic Knight a superb grand tour before we tackled up and did a wee bit of fishing for the trout in the Bladon stretch which was great fun. Absolutely loads of sedge & buzzers hatching, you dare not breathe to deeply for fear of tasting a few.

Saturday was spent at Orvis Burford's open day, I was demonstrating how to build furled leaders whilst Dave & Dennis from UK Fly Dressers were tying some superb flies. It was a great day having spent most of it in the fly fishing department, with other fly fishers talking nothing but fly fishing... simply heaven (Must get out more!)


Today was spent on a Chalkstream with Simon & Patrick, not only first time fly fishers but first time actual fishing full stop!


Great guys who enjoyed I think what fly fishing can be, relaxing, fun and a great way to take your mind off things... this only came however after the frustrations that can be the fly casting.


Even with good sedge & olive hatches evident the fishing was quite difficult, not helped in some areas by the abundance of ranunculus (pictured below) which needed some cutting, the guys did however manage to pull up some grayling & brown trout on klinkhammers which meant neither blanked... good on ya guys.


Note to self: Must perform rain dance before the zzzzz's tonight. Some of my river levels are low and a couple of days rain would be more than welcome. Apologies to the sun worshippers.

April - Week 3
Yet another cracking weeks fishing & teaching. The weather continues to improve which makes for excellent fly hatches. I've seen some great Midge and Alder hatches on the lakes this week prompting some super top of the water sport, all be it brief on many occasions.

The rivers have also prospered, Midges again in abundance but in particular some superb hatches of Olive - Klinkhammer emergers and nymph imitations have proved unstoppable... how can the fish resist?

Over the Easter weekend as mentioned in the previous post I went out with Stella, it's 2 years since she last fly fished with me on the Bybrook and she's not lost any of her skills. Like getting on a bicycle again, a few wobbles to start off with but within no time at all she was casting sweetly.

Using the duo technique with olive imitations she pulled up many a fish and managed to land plenty, a couple of pics as follows.

A lovely wild brown trout falling to the Olive Klinkhammer

Meanwhile, out on the lake ~ Tim, a first time fly fisher was out on a lake with me this week (Watermark), having gone through the casting elements as usual we were in need of a break so time to have a fish and relax a bit. Not for too long though, this peach of a rainbow fell to a Shipmans in the surface, not wanting to come in any time soon this gave experienced course angler Tim a heck of a fight before landing it with authority some minutes later.

Back out went the cast with a team this time, on the top a Shipmans and a Flexi buzzer 3ft below on the hang, we didn't have to wait too long, within minutes and with expert retrieving Tim managed to land this beauty of a Brown trout. I've not seen better from a lake in a long time. Spot on Tim, great fishing.

Roll on this week, conditions would suggest this month's going to be great fun, I hope it's bringing you plenty of fish as a reward.

April - Week 2

This week has pretty much mirrored last week, good weather, good fishing & great company. I managed to actually get out myself all be it briefly on Monday (6th April) when I got to spend a late afternoon with casting guru Vic Knight. - otherwise known as "Mr Roll Cast"

I met Vic at the River Bybrook, it's the first time he'd seen it and I wanted to show him a small natural wild brown trout stream in all its glory. We meandered up and down it's well vegetated banks, olives a bound and several fish rising, we were chomping at the bit to get back to the car to set up, why?.... well, Vic had decided to give his Sage Zero weight an outing, dare I say 'tis' a delicious wand to waft, it has a fixed reel and feather like fly line, the rod demands a gentle caressing cast for thistle like presentation, just what was required in the Lock pool at the bottom of the beat.

With an 'F' fly applied, casting to the tail of the small Lock pool it took no more than a mere few minutes before the rod was bending double on 8 to 10 ounce wild brown beauties. As the remaining light drew in (and at pace I noticed, in fact as soon as our rod was ready to go) time was spent either tempting trout on the rise to the size 18 fly or just sitting on the bench soaking in our surroundings. How blessed am I able to do this on a daily basis..... very blessed in deed.

So, on to Tuesday at Watermark - I spent some time with Paul, a first time fly fisher, keen as mustard and a really nice guy to boot.

Having spent time covering the basic roll and overhead casts it was onto fishing. On went the damsel teamed with a daiwl bach, the fish were moving all be it a fair distance out. Paul pinged out a few casts, 10... 15... 20... 25... second counts and a varying retrieve from slow to medium pace in the hope of attracting a few roaming fish.... nothing doing at all. Off came the olive damsel to be replaced with a more drab brown version which proved more subtle and less obvious in the clear water conditions. Back to the count and retrieve we went 10... 15... 20... 25..., still nothing for a while then BANG!, the rod doubled up, it had come late in the retrieve so was pretty close to the margins when the fish took. Looking to the depths to see why all of a sudden everything had stopped (Still with tension in the rod) we were met with the menacing gaze of a pike which had been attracted to the damsel nymph, nothing spectacular in size - I'd give a guess of 3 to 4lb easily. I looked at Paul as we both waited for the inevitable turn, chomp, & then ping as it bit through the leader.

To be honest I'm not a pike fan and I was more than pleased to see it disappear in the way that it did than to have to mess about trying to extract my size 16 damsel from its jaws - 'Darn you pike'.

Sadly that was our only fish of the day, we'd popped into a spot late on where other anglers had bagged up for the day on terrestrials (beetles), we just couldn't catch a cold on this day, it just wasn't to be.

I hate days like this, not what I want for a beginner, I need them to feel a fish, the fight, the play and then if desired, dispatching it properly ready to feast on it for supper. But these blank days happen and any angler that says otherwise is spinning you a yarn, "he who confesses to none is he who has the most" ~ JW 2009

So to Wednesday, back at Watermark - Orhan was a beginner, wow! how quick did he pick this technique up, sweet roll casts and delicious over head casting in no time at all, by god I'm good.... not really, Orhan used to be a Fencer at national level. This rod was just like his Sabre, and my could he use it. It was an absolute delight to watch him cast, you just new he was going to get this, and quickly.

In no time at all we were fishing, back to yesterdays spot and straight on with the terrestrials, I put on a beetle and an ant, the fish were still quite a way out but I was sure the wind was blowing flies off the bank & trees far enough for the fish to show interest, low and behold our second cast produced a 3.25lb rainbow trout, Orhan was retrieving as slow as was physically possible..... the first fish diving under the pontoon close in as one would expect heading for cover, I just needed to revisit how to play a fish with Orhan once we'd bagged and tagged this feisty devil.

Off we cast, again in the same area as there was plenty of surface activity. Bang! a fish hit hard into the beetle on top, up went the rod and Orhan was on him..... in he came to all but 15 feet away before we lost it having given the fish some slack line, just enough for him to kick off.

Back out there again, still fish boiling in the surface, this won't last so we need to be quick. Out went the long cast, the slow retrieve applied by Orhan..... BANG! there was another 3lb 'er, Orhan was really switched on this time, plenty of tension and bend in the rod, holding it out in front with long controlling pulls on the line, I reached out with the net and bagged his second fish.

"That'll do us" I said having reached our limit, Orhan carried on fly-less just perfecting his cast before finishing up late afternoon. These are the days I prefer, start to finish and with a cherry on top. "Enjoy these Orhan"
Over the Easter weekend I was out with Stella, some 2 years have passed since her return to the river, actually 2 years since she last fished.... I'll let you know how she gets on in the next post

April - Week 1

This week sees the start of the river season for me, namely for river trout, that's not to say however that I've ignored the grayling, far from it, like most fly fishers over the winter months I've either been out there fishing for them myself or teaching and showing others how to.

The early part of this week saw me on the River Bybrook, unfortunately rodless, no fishing involved as it was time for a bit of tidying up, trimming & bank maintenance. I tend to leave this sort of stuff quite late on this river, it holds only wild brown trout so I like to give the new fry and the old residents every opportunity from October through March to get themselves sorted before I go in wading and cutting.

It'll take me a couple of afternoons over the coming weeks to get it looking top notch ready for the rivers main activity period which tends to be from early May onwards. The waters still cold and the fish seemed well hidden in one of the four pools on the main stretch, similarly the fly life was pretty sparse, a few dark olives here and there but as yet nothing to get either me or the fish too excited.

Yesterday I spent the day with Ray, a great guy who I met whilst guiding another regular client & friend Malcolm Hensher one day at Wherwell in February. Ray had only recently taken up the sport and wanted some general casting and fly fishing help. We met up and got cracking on his casting skills late morning, by the time the afternoon arrives we're normally fishing and looking at varying techniques, flies & watercraft etc, not Ray, he was so engrossed in the casting we just carried on. Pinging out cast after cast, a joy to watch, it'll be no time at all before he's enough in his armoury to cope with pretty much any situation he's confronted with. I'm so looking forward to our next lesson, his company is great and enthusiasm infectious.

Today (Saturday 4th April) the morning was spent with Matt & his son Tom, this is the third time back for this father & son team. The first lesson at Churn Pool Trout Fishery saw Tom hook and land two fish at the same time on a team of flies, what a natural, or is he just lucky?

The second visit, again to Churn Pool was troutless, the day was hot and the trout were having none of it, so they ended up targeting & catching Carp on the fly instead as they cruised in the surface on a gorgeous summers day.

Today we were at the Watermark Fishery, the morning was warm and bright but the wind was howling (Where did that come from?) searching the margins we saw no fish at all. Having circum-navigated the lake for trout it was clear nothing was in close, nothing had risen either so sub surface tactics were the order of the day.

With the wind up I gave a hand with the casting, we stood facing the wind and pinged out a few casts with a stick fly and a living olive damsel chaser to get down deep. Three casts and we were in, well at least Matt (Dad) was, a lovely 2.75lb rainbow chomped the damsel having followed it in close to the bank. (1-0) to Dad and young Tom needed a fish "It's not a competition" said Tom who couldn't then get the flies in the water quick enough. Almost an hour went by without anything, not even a pull. I was keen to move as I'd pinged the line into the wind for as long as I could muster. "Let's go across the lake and fish with a cross wind" I said, so we did. Same flies only this time I cast further out, a count of twenty then a steady pull. 5... 10... 15... 20 minutes had gone by without a touch, then... BANG! ... "pull the line Tom" I shrieked as he lifted the rod high and proceeded at pace to pull in copious amounts of fly line as the fish raced towards him, the stick fly was just too irresistible. He showed great composure and control landing this 3.25lb beauty of a rainbow trout..... now it was (1-1) but Toms was bigger and that's what mattered to him. Dad was chuffed to bits, as was I, yet another rewarding day with great clients...

Tomorrow and Monday will be spent back on the River Bybrook with the scythe, some of the ranunculus I planted has taken hold and spread a bit wilder than I'd expected, time for a cut. I'm also meeting up with my casting mentor, all round guru and roll casting genius (AAPGAI Master Instructor) Vic Knight to show him the river and perhaps have a fish with his Sage Zero weight, that'll be fun.