Hi guys.I was going to pack my blog in but so many seem to check on it that I thought I would carry on. Well my trout lake has been quite slow. with just the odd fish, even after the recent stocking of trout. It has been quite warm for this time of year so I think it will get better and I am currently at my fly tying bench trying to come up with something that the fish find irresistible !! I am now preparing for my grayling winter on the Yorkshire rivers and have tied some nymphs as recommended by Yorkshire's own river champion Fred Bainbridge. Along with this my piking season has just begun. My first session on the Ouse saw a couple of fish about 7lb but my last session drew a blank that was shortened by a head on Northerly wind. Anyway I will be back soon with pics and more detailed accounts. Thanks for keeping in touch !

French Nymphing tactics

I am quite happy with my Stillwater Trout fishing techniques but I have never felt really happy with my catch rates on the river. I catch fish but I feel I could do better. I have decided to try French Nymphing tactics this season on short and long lines and have invested in a 10ft 3wt rod - a DT 3wt line, a quality tapered French leader ,a new 3 wt reel and a bicoloured indicator. Will be tying suitable flies to match the outfit so will let you know how I get on. May need to try various nearbye venues as my local club water is challenging at the moment as the stocking of brown trout has been stopped in order to increase the number of native fish - which I support. Can't wait to try new techniques - we should never stop learning !!

Back again

Well I seem to have done less fishing in the last few months than usual and it is not that the weather has been that bad. I caught my best pike of the winter at 13 lb 4 oz from the River Ure near Boroughbridge in February after a strange start to the session. I arrived at an area that I catch pike more times than I don't and rummaged through my bag preparing to set up my two deadbaiting rods. The problem was I left my terminal tackle box at home. I had no weights, floats etc but I did have my hook traces. I had some spinning gear but decided to freeline my baits as I had electronic alarms to aid in bite detection and the pike on the stretch usually go on a run after they have picked up the bait. After an hour I had my best pike of the winter after the worst of all preparation - another lesson learned.

Small but beautifully formed

Las year I kicked off the pike season with two doubles from the river Ouse. This year I am happy to settle for this beautifully marked feisty little dude. He took a popped up smelt and surprisingly the lamprey section was left untouched. The weather continues unseasonally mild.

Trout and grayling

After hearing that the club trout lake and the stretch of the Nidd were fishing well I decided that the pike would have to wait. I went to the lake first and was concerned to see that the only anglers on the signing in sheet had failed to catch. There were also no signs of any trout moving about. I tried a couple of the corners with a black lure without success. I met one of the members and his grandson who were just setting up with a pattern that I had also had success with in the past - a white and green lure - I decided this could be the way forward as the lake seems to be overrun with small roach at the moment making for challenging fishing. My fly being weighted with fluoro green bead chain eyes.
This seemed to make all the difference and I was rewarded with 3 of the recently stocked fish weighing about 2lbs.

 

It was now midday and as I needed to be back about 3 pm it was time to try for some grayling on the River Nidd.
I set up my 4wt rod with a 3lb bottom and a red squirmy worm. I tried casting upstream and also across and down as I usually do when fishing spider patterns. Casting across and down worked straight away and a couple of grayling were landed and released. Several fish were rising and I finished the session with a fish on a dry fly. This time a klinkhamer.

 

 

The squirmy worm dropped out as the fish was netted.
A very enjoyable session.

Back again !

Well at last the summer seems to be just about gone now and it seems time to get fishing again. The club trout lake was stocked yesterday and there is a bit of rain around today which should make the rivers a better prospect. I have filled the bottom drawer of the freezer with sardines, lamprey and smelt ready for some pike action. I have been out a couple of times already for trout,  pike and barbel but all I have caught is a chub about half a pound, Hopefully things will start to improve in the coming weeks and I can post some nice fishy pics.

A range of flies caught today.

Managed 6 rainbows today at the club lake. Here is the last of them caught on the fly bottom right in the picture below.

They were caught on 4 different flies although their feeding spells seemed rather short and I couldn't really get them going on anything specific. Whenever the sun went behind a cloud was the best time.

My only trout session on the river so far resulted in an out of season grayling ! Hopefully the weather will warm up soon but the odd fly is coming off already.