tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20386604491177967072024-03-13T00:03:34.636+00:00In pursuit of spottiesBen Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-8726140134341271882018-05-13T20:34:00.001+01:002018-05-13T20:34:10.432+01:00Tiny Tresillian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>The first week in May treated my partner and I to a short get-away in Cornwall, this was only the second time I had traveled this far into the South-West and of course I packed some fishing tackle for the trip. We stayed in a self contained cabin situated on a farm in New-Mills near Ladock, I knew there were some ponds that contained fish so naturally some coarse fishing equipment was packed, but I had no idea there was a small stream running through the farm which turned out to be the Tresillian River.<br />
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No river can remained unexplored and as we walked around the grounds soon after our arrival I saw a small trout dart for cover - bonus! Knowing the ponds could be fished I checked with the owners whether they objected to me trying the river, I was delighted that there was no objection and they even pointed out a good spot to try. Overnight rain coloured the river on the second day and by mid afternoon it had cleared leaving a slight tinge, I hoped this would provide a small advantage to help me stay a little concealed and hopefully giving the fish some confidence rather than being skittish in clear water<br />
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My small stream outfit was left at home over two hundred and seventy five miles away, this meant some major improvising, the Lexa was reduced to the top three sections and I transformed into an aquatic Robin Hood firing out bow-and-arrow casts as I shuffled along the river bed on my knees. A three foot furled leader was attached and the tippet was around the same length and to cover all options I tied on an Adams Klinkhamer and Copper bead pheasant tail nymph, there was barely a couple of inches of fly line beyond the rod tip but there was no expectation of needing the line to be free-running.<br />
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It was tight, very tight, even the three sections were too much at times but perseverance paid off and I caught very quickly in the first run. My knees screamed as I crawled and inched along for around an hour and a half, on the way I landed half a dozen palm-sized beauties that snatched at the flies soon after their entry to the water and hooked and dropped the same number; although the majority fell for the nymph the klink raised two fish that didn't stay on but a fish from the top is always satisfying.<br />
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The coarse fishing tackle never made it out of the car, only one small rudd was spotted and the ponds were chocked with lily pads, the owner told me he filmed an otter the week before, perhaps it's been keeping well fed although it wasn't spotted during our stay.</div>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-6687678510250402112018-04-27T20:53:00.004+01:002018-04-27T20:56:37.449+01:00Formerly<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 15px;">So where have I been fishing during the last two years? Well there have been two trips to the Don in Sheffield, more specifically one of the tributaries, the first time was with Tom and Steve joined me a few weeks after. When Tom and I fished we went as a party of five; Myself and Tom drove up from East Anglia and Mike and Jon travelled a much shorter distance from Cheshire and picked Danny up in Sheffield. The initial meeting at Owlerton greyhound stadium was the only point in the day when all five of us were together; Tom and I did meet up with Mike later on in the day on the main river. This was the first time I had fished this trib, Tom fished with Danny the year before as part of the five-rivers challenge when he won an auction lot provided by Danny on behalf of the Monnow Rivers Trust. Tales of that day captured my imagination as although they didn’t quite achieve the goal Tom told me of the excellent sport provided by the little river that day.</span></div>
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A short walk from where we parked took us over a bridge on the main river – it’s always uplifting to see rising trout early in the day and I pointed a good-sized fish stationed behind a boulder close to the bank. We started our day directly at the confluence, looking upstream the trib looked so inviting if a little clear and low, the gradient was immediately obvious as the river tumbled down small chutes and riffles into the occasional pool, little rivers like this are just my thing – I’m not afraid to admit larger rivers are intimidating to me, but only through a lack of experience on them, small rivers and streams are my undoubtedly comfort.</div>
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The first pool was deceptively deep for such a small river, the current syphoned through a small channel and under a large tree trunk spanning the river. There were a number of rising just off the main flow on the seam with a large section of still water. Tom succeeded in capturing one of the rising but the remaining fish from that pool took the nymph; we were using the ubiquitous klink and dink of course. Actually what is normal when I fish with either Tom or Steve is that we both set up our rods differently, one will be set up with a klink and dink and the other, which is usually a Lexa is set up with a French leader and a couple of nymphs. This suits our style of fishing which is to take turns in catching fish, or fishing a pool or run each depending on the day, this is what I call fishing with someone rather than two people turning up and separating to fish different areas.<br />
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The day carried on with both of us catching steadily as we continued up the river changing flies and tactics where needed. One slower paced run was lined with rising trout and chub taking midges off the surface. Paul Procter’s All Purpose Terrestrial and a diminutive black klinkhamer caught us several trout, but neither of us could deceive the chub, some which were comfortably two or three pounds – spooky fish. Walking through a shallow riffle I disturbed a very large fish that was holding in some very smooth deep water below a road bridge, there is nothing more disheartening than seeing a substantial bow-wave speeding upstream. A slow heron-like stealthy wade through this section took us almost through the bridge’s tunnel, a lively run flowing down a concrete embankment on the nearside meant we waited a few minutes to allow any disturbance to subside. Within a few casts Tom hooked a big trout, we both saw it as it swam past Tom close to the surface before somehow shedding the hook; Tom let out a devastated shout, that trout looked easily over two pounds. Carrying on we caught several more trout before reaching the next pool.<br />
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We were a little envious of the owners of a house who’s balcony overhangs the river at the next pool, although not large it was a typical pool in dynamics and absolutely stuffed with fish, it was in this pool we saw grayling for the first time that day - they are present throughout the lower section of the river, only a large sloping weir prevents their range from expanding, but they are not as populous as the trout - unsurprisingly we caught a good number of fish but the large grayling in that pool eluded us.<br />
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Further upstream I hooked a good trout of around a pound and a half as I guided my nymphs underneath the tightest overhanging tree I have ever fished, I also think because of a lack of room I failed to set the hook properly and despite playing the fish for a length of time it came off after one somersault too many, I was gutted now we had both lost a good fish, that said it showed the calibre of fishing available in this little river.<br />
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The river tumbled over and between some large boulders immediately upstream of the pool I had just been fishing and Tom took the honours of catching the days smallest fish here. The largest pool so far on the river sat above the pocket water, the drop between that pool and the one I had fished was some four foot, it was very noticeable when looking ahead. This pool provided a lot of action for Tom, he landed a nice grayling, the biggest of the day – not that we caught many, in fact I don’t think I caught one – most of the fish were found directly at the point where the river bed dropped almost cliff-like at the head, we didn’t attempt to wade the main body.<br />
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We carried on a little further catching fish on the way, I forget our total but when we reached the long weir we had caught a considerable number of fish especially in tough conditions, I’d expect when conditions are optimal with an increased volume of water and a slight tinge the numbers you could catch would be staggering, in fact I know this from the numbers Tom and Danny had caught last year in a much shorter time frame. We left the tributary at around three to meet up with the others on the main river, it was only Mike that we met up with, Jon and Danny were further upstream. I won’t lie, we struggled on the River Don, the river looked in good condition but we struggled to catch many fish and reports from Mike confirmed it had been a hard day for him, this made Tom and I more thankful for our choice on venue for the majority of the day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A dirty brown River Don</td></tr>
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Two weeks later I fished the same little tributary with Steve. There had been quite a bit of rain in the days leading up and the levels looked good, the sight of the main river saw our hearts sink, looking over the bridge we were greeted by a fuller river that ran the colour of watery hot chocolate – had we driven for two hours for nothing. Luckily the little trib was largely unaffected, an increase in flow and water volume as well as a small amount of colour lifted our hearts back up and really raised our expectations for the day.<br />
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Fishing in much the same way as I did with Tom we caught steadily throughout the day but surprisingly some areas where I expected to catch more because of the better conditions failed to produce any fish at all. There were no big fish hooked or caught although we did see the group of fish below the bridge, some thought needs to be given as to how I’ll go about catching one, which is difficult as I’m not a local. The only thing different that Steve and I did was go much further up the river, more to explore as we didn’t really fish that efficiently by the time we got that further up.<br />
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I also had a couple of trips to the coarse sections of my club river, the large trout that we found last year haven’t been visible, at least when I have been, that’s not to say they haven’t been around. As usual the grayling and coarse fish provided most of the sport, trout of all sizes were conspicuous by their absence and the few I did manage to hook did an impressive job of tangling the fly tine and leader in over hanging vegetation as they cartwheeled around the river, only a couple of smaller individuals were landed.</div>
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This leads me to some very exotic fishing, for me at least, but that is another post........<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First leg of some very exotic fishing......</td></tr>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-36294106402646115712018-04-15T22:23:00.002+01:002018-04-16T09:36:38.295+01:00Continuation<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">
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My first trip of the season was closely followed by the second the day after. Forsaking my club waters I headed elsewhere, somewhere that should be clear even if it was running high and I was pleased to find my predictions correct. It was a much more pleasant day compared to Thursday, although it was overcast with a hint of mist, the wind had lessened and it felt altogether warmer; more April than March.<br />
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Walking through woodland I headed downstream to start on a section that usually proves fruitful, the river here has frequent small pools interspersed by riffles, the faster pace provides many opportunities to find fish with the ruffled surface helping keep the angler concealed. Arriving by the waterside I sat on a half-submerged log, recent rains helping to elevate the height and flow to levels I haven’t seen for a long time and at times the push of the current took me by surprise when I found an increase in added depth. There’s something quite enjoyable about sitting and taking your time to set up while observing the surroundings, I never rush, the extra time allows the inhabitants to settle and this normally means you can catch very quickly, if you’re really lucky first cast.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larch cone buds</td></tr>
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As the river can often be enclosed <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: "calibri";">I rarely use anything other than an eight foot rod, either my Lochmor four weight or the Lexa nymph special three weight in its eight foot configuration, the choice always dictated by conditions and chosen method. In April a four weight is standard, unpredictable weather along with heavier nymphs means you need a line weight capable of delivering, there were times on Thursday when I felt a five weight was needed due to the gusting cross wind. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copper bead pheasant tail nymph</td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: "calibri";">Opting for the double nymph again I elected to use a tuft of indicator yarn at the tip of the furled leader instead of using a furled leader with an indicator butt and tied on the same flies as the previous day, the increase in depth and flow in this river also necessitated the use of even heavier tungsten beads with a three millimeter bead on the point fly and a two and a half millimeter bead on the dropper. I have absolute faith in copper beaded pheasant tail nymphs, it has become such a staple it rivals and in the early season surpasses the use of my favoured JP pupa which comes to the fore when caddis become more prominent as the season progresses. It’s funny how attitudes and opinions can change over time as I’d written in a previous blog post about preferring to use and tie more complicated semi-realistic patterns whereas now with time being more precious I opt to use simpler patterns that are no less effective and which allow me to tie a couple of dozen in an evening instead of half a dozen; a much better use of time.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wiltshire's baetis nymph</td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: "calibri";">The beaded Wiltshire's baetis nymph is a new addition to my fly box and it came about because I had a selection of silver tungsten beads without an obvious pattern to use them on and thought the baetis nymph would suit either the silver or a black bead - I already have plans of which hook to use when tying some black bead versions. The plain baetis nymph has already served me well, I caught a two pound plus grayling on my trip to the Dorset Frome and a number of trout when I have used it. I saw no reason why the addition of a tungsten bead should change its effectiveness, but it does mean it can be fished much deeper.</span><br />
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As I was setting up, I caught a glimpse of a goshawk I had seen recently when walking around the woods before the season start, I have a fond interest in falconry so to see wild birds of prey does excite me, I've been fortunate to have watched the majority of easily seen birds of prey in my part of the country, but the goshawk is right up there, hopefully I will manage to get a worthwhile picture at some point.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First trout</td></tr>
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Unbelievably I caught second cast, a well conditioned trout of around ten inches gave a good account of itself in the strong current, a good omen I thought and the baetis nymph did its job,. I have fished this section before and almost caught a fish a cast when working up the run, it wasn't quite that good this time, in fact it was much worse, I fished up the run without another take, this was odd. Happy with my fly choice I simply changed flies to change bead size, I was worried the flies were not getting down in the deep fast flow. It was a little while until the next fish came along, this time to the PTN and the third fish took just as long to follow.<br />
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Snagging a tree forced me to retie my tippet and I took the opportunity to change tactics. I had seen the occasional olive hatch off and although I hadn't yet seen a rise I was hoping as the day progressed they may start to look up. Although I hate that I use the klink and dink set up far too frequently, it is just such a devastating method on the small rivers I fish, if it was the only method I could use I wouldn't feel too restricted by it. As it happened my catch rate improved drastically, I can't really explain why, it could have been a combination of the nymph being presented at the right depth or that I had found an area that held more fish or that as the day advanced on they began feeding with more food items becoming active, but whatever the reason I caught over half a dozen fish from a pool located on a bend with an overhanging yew tree.<br />
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Carrying on upstream most of the productive areas where the deeper slower areas, the trout hadn't moved into the shallower riffles and faster runs and productivity was intermittent as I found areas and sections that held feeding fish; I missed a couple of takes to the klinkhammer as I was taken by surprise. I caught several sighted fish and some skillful angling led to a fish that took me under a fully submerged branch; I allowed the fish to run taken the fly line through the branches and thankfully it wedged itself in a thick clump of ranunculus, this gave me time to weave the rod tip under water releasing the line and I reconnected with the trout and safely landed it, not a big fish by any means but I do enjoy catching sighted fish no matter what the size.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A well earned prize</td></tr>
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I had decided to call it a day and headed back to the car when walking past a productive but difficult pool I spotted several good sized fish holding near the bottom. The rod was already broken down and I umm'd and ahh'd while still watching the fish trying to size them up as the occasional smooth patch of water flowed down the pool giving me chances to see the bottom better. It was earlier than I had anticipated on leaving so the decision was made to cross the river and set up in the cover on the opposite bank, hoping this would give the pool sufficient time to settle before I tried extracting its occupants.<br />
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I returned to the double nymph and indicator yarn and the tow flies from the beginning of the day. slipping into the river there was ample bank-side cover to hide my approach. Within half a dozen casts I was latched on to one of the larger trout I had seen, I love the sight of the rod hooped over as a quality fish tries its best to lose its link to you. For the first time that day I uncoupled the net as I readied to land the fish, this was a good fish, not huge but a fair size for this river which is more about numbers than size. After a short rest a took a few pictures and released it facing downstream, it skulked as the current took it downstream and I returned my efforts to the pool.<br />
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I fished this pool for half an hour as fish after fish came to my net or hand, both flies were taken and it appeared that I had timed it well, a small number of olives were hatching and it seemed as though the pool was switched on, this was the most productive I have ever found this pool, normally two or three fish is it but I had around eight fish before calling it quits as time had run out for me. This was how your season should start.<br />
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Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-37217327585079026552018-04-12T22:19:00.000+01:002018-04-15T20:03:51.273+01:00Commencement<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dave Wiltshire's baetis nymph</td></tr>
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Second attempt this month and my trout season has started. I had arranged a shift swap on the third but has happened with too much frequency this winter the weather forced a postponement, even my banker river had turned into an unappetising latte of sorts. Another significant rise at the beginning of this week had me feeling despondent, I genuinely thought it was going to be another week before I could wet a line, I watched the gauges with compulsion as the drop was as steep and quick as the rise but settling some two inches above the pre-rise level. Figuring the actual height of water would be acceptable it was the colour that concerned me; I didn't know what would be greeting me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What greeted me as I peered over the bridge</td></tr>
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A decision had been made to check the upper beats first, if these were unfishable then it wasn't worth looking elsewhere, a high and well tinged river was what I found as I peered over a small hump-back bridge. Easy it wasn't going to be but the opportunity was there. As it was sill early I decided I would look downstream, I had a desire to fish a beat lower down the river that has been productive for me in the past and it only took fifteen minutes to get there so it wouldn't have been too much trouble to head back if it wasn't any good.<br />
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There was slightly more colour to the river but the want to fish here overrode any concerns. Setting up the Lexa nymph special I opted for a 2.5mm copper beadhead pheasant tail nymph and one of Dave Wiltshire's baetis nymph adorned with a 3mm silver bead - this is the first silver beaded fly to join an established selection of tungsten beadhead nymphs; the usual 9 metre Hends Camou French leader connected to ample backing on my Lamson Litespeed completed the outfit.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grannom</td></tr>
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Well there's isn't a great deal to say but I spent two hours not catching except for a lonely grannom, which looked a little worse for wear when it came round to photographing it.<br />
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A little after lunch I drove back to where I started the day, the Lexa was packed away and a change of tactics but not flies was decided. I set up my Lochmor-X eight foot four weight with a furled leader incorporating a hi-viz orange butt section, I think it's easy to forget simple upstream nymphing in favour of the ever popular European leader techniques.<br />
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Within five minutes I had caught, a small trout of around six inches took the silver bead-headed Wiltshire's baetis, this saved my day from the dreaded blank, relaxation and enjoyment could now begin. It took a little longer before the next one came along, a fluky one really because I had hooked a sunken branch and in my effort to wiggle the fly free the second trout took the copper bead PTN as it dangled mid-current and coincidentally freed the stuck fly for me.<br />
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A lack of practice saw me hook more than the occasional tree branch and a swirling, gusty side wind really didn't help matters; anyone walking past would have thought me mad swearing at trees. The third and final trout for the day came from a tributary that flowed clear just above the junction - above that point the main river was actually more coloured, the trib diluting the river considerably.<br />
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An aching shoulder called time on the day, I had manged three trout in an hour and wanted to finish on a high for the first trip of the season.Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-13133539137833406272018-04-11T11:35:00.000+01:002018-04-11T11:35:09.364+01:00Apologies<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">
It has been a while since my last blog post and I apologise to those of you who have been patiently waiting for an update.<br />
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You can never be certain what lies around the corner when it comes to life, sure you can try and plan for most eventualities but a curve ball can really throw you off. I guess you have all been wondering where I have been for the last two years; well my personal life had been affected by major changes and as a result fishing took an expected minor role and I rarely went out, I had really lost my mojo for it and in stark contrast to two seasons ago where I’d be out minimum once a week I have hardly fished at all in the last two seasons.<br />
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This winter just gone saw a shift, the desire to go fishing returned and I managed a few trips out although the weather hampered most efforts. This years club membership has been renewed after a break for one season but still the weather has delayed the start of the season for me.<br />
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Some may have noticed a subtle change in the blog; I have slowly started to update pictures from older posts that have been affected by photofuckets effort to ruin the internet and all will be transferred over to Flickr in the near future.<br />
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Thank you to those who continue to visit the blog and be rest assured it shouldn't be two years between posts again.</div>
Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-62865767069812491702016-04-26T22:21:00.001+01:002016-04-26T22:21:18.961+01:00North country wet flies - retiedI won't lie, I rather impressed myself with the tying and photography of the Partridge and Yellow earlier in the year. As a result I set about re-tying and photographing some more spiders.<br />
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Last year after purchasing Rob Smith's excellent The North Country Fly I got into a frenzy and tied a lot of spiders and wet flies, I had a lot of fun, however, I had made the mistake of tying the bodies a little too long, merely aesthetics of course but it bothered me enough to have another go. These I feel are much. much better, I'm still impressed with myself, I hope you don't mind and now I've restocked with some more Partridge Classic Spider hooks I'm going to do a few more.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Procter's Pearly Butt Bloa</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olive Partridge, something I tied to show off a partridge skin I had dyed</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hare's Lug and Plover</td></tr>
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Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-90466161227417327182016-04-25T22:40:00.001+01:002016-04-25T22:40:19.082+01:00Rain, rain it's here to stay.Rain, pah, what rain. No fair weather fisherman here, not these days, I can't afford to be that choosy anymore. Twice week before last I've fished in the rain, my new Taimen wading jacket that came with a pair of waders I bought has done a fantastic job at keeping me dry.<br />
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A short three hour trip in persistent rain took me away from my usual rivers, experience tells me not to bother with my club rivers after a substantial amount of rain, the rivers colour up far too much to risk an hours drives only to end up finding unfavourable conditions. The river I fished can almost be guaranteed to be clear, even in the depths of winter. Arriving at lunchtime on Friday the 15th was no different despite a mornings worth of rain. I started the day fishing two nymphs with a small New Zealand indicator on the leader. A size ten short shank copper bead PTN and a size fourteen cream JP pupa were my choices.<br />
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Sitting on a log in the rivers margins while tackling up allows the immediate surroundings to settle from the minor disturbance caused by approaching and entering the river, it also allows you to observe the water ahead for any signs of fish. I caught on the second cast and the tally was up to three before I had moved my feet. The rain really helped to conceal me, usually you send tens of fish darting upstream as you make your way upriver; the biomass is huge, but in numbers not size and the ultra clear water can make things especially difficult.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking upstream, although clear the rain really helped to conceal my presence</td></tr>
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I have been toying with the idea of getting a GoPro, the first fifteen minutes would have made for some frenetic filming as fish after fish nabbed the flies as they drifted down. I was playing one fish which had darted down and was level with me when another trout took the remaining free fly, I've not had many double ups and the fight was interesting but short lived as one of them quickly shed the hook.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not many pictures, it's difficult in the rain - must invest in a waterproof camera</td></tr>
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The next two hours were much the same, short periods of frantic activity with a small number of fish caught in quick order as each new pool or run was fished and the overall tally steadily increased. Most of the trout came to the PTN on the point, however, the JP Pupa caught enough to earn its place on the leader and the New Zealand strike indicator performed superbly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rising fish all the way up, I fished to just round the corner to the left</td></tr>
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I was conscious that time was ebbing away and there was still some areas I wanted to fish. Climbing out of the river I bypassed a large section of the river for no other reason than wanting to fish a particular stretch of water further ahead. Scanning the river in front of me, I saw a fish rise directly opposite where I was stood, another rising fish upstream only served to confirm I had found a good spot. Dropping slightly downstream of the first fish, I eased into the margins, thick sediment held together by bank-side vegetation oozed as my body weight sank while I settled into position. The river here has been narrowed, the fast water current quickly washes away any disturbance and by keeping a low profile I re-tackled without disturbing the fish in front of me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barbour Paraloop Dun</td></tr>
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A decent number of large dark olives were hatching off and now fully in position I could see fish rising to drifting duns all the way up the run, I had truly stumbled on what all early season fly-fishers hope for, a proper hatch of upwings. Catching a dun as it drifted down I could see that these were slightly smaller than expected and were best imitated with a size sixteen Barbour Dun. Stripping off all of the old tippet I tied on a fresh length to the furled leader, I use 0.129mm Drennan supplex and tied on the dry fly. I found it hard to properly apply floatant to the fly due to the cold wet weather, I normally use mucilin, but it just gunked up the fly, especially the mallard wings which tend to clump up when mucilin behaves like this; I really should look into some other alternatives, especially for use in colder conditions.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On a dry-fly, that's what I fish for</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oddly this was only fish that didn't need the forceps to unhook</td></tr>
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I didn't catch the first fish in front of me, it mattered not as there were now so many fish rising all over the river, some were even leaping out of the water as the took hatching flies. I worked up the river and fished no more than twenty five yards of water and in around forty minutes I landed ten trout, changing fly once as it refused to float; I called it a day when I snagged up on a thick branch hidden by overhanging vegetation. One thing that really stuck in my mind was that every fish except on hooked on the barbour dun had to be unhooked with forceps, the fly was taken with that much enthusiasm, I think it is a great olive imitation. Despite the almost constant rain I'd had a great afternoon, foremost I was still dry and reasonably warm, besides I'd soon be warm walking back to the car. Nothing I caught was over eleven inches long, but that didn't matter, at last I had fished a decent hatch and found an area full of rising fish. Numbers wise, I kept an accurate record: thirty nine fish hooked, thirty four landed, ten on the dry-fly. It goes to show how well you can do even when faced with adverse conditions, I'm a firm believer in trying to get out regardless of weather conditions, it's only really dirty, high water that will stop me from getting outBen Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-40024446409572541512016-04-17T21:47:00.000+01:002016-04-17T21:47:15.779+01:00Rain forces a changeI was on holiday last week, a free pass on Tuesday gave me opportunity to meet up with Steve. The morning greeted us with persistent rain, however our plans were already made so with a little hesitation I made the hours drive to our club river. We planned to have a brief fling on the urban stretch before deciding which beat to go and fish. Steve arrived before me, the opening update from him made for grim listening, the outflow beneath the white bridge was spewing out a substantial amount of brown, yucky, urban fluid; this ruined the river immediately downstream but despite this I knew the river could well be clearer downstream as I have found out in the past.<br />
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Jumping back into our cars we took a short drive to convenient parking spot downstream, driving over a bridge we peered below to see a reasonably clear river, the murk hadn't made it down yet. Deciding to have a go two beats down, we parked up at the next parking area and began to tackle up, this was an area neither of us had really fished before and although we anticipated worsening conditions we were upbeat about exploring a new stretch. Walking downstream we scanned likely runs, pools and areas we expected to hold fish, as we continued walking along the river we decided to head to the bottom end of the beat, that would allow us to view the whole length, probably more for future reference. A weir marks the end of this beat, a short double-back along the path we had just walked took us to the end of a short run. I sat on the edge of the bank with my feet in the water and finished setting up, Steve set up behind me.<br />
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It was still raining, because of this I wanted to try a different method, well not method as such more a different set-up. Something that had caught my attention was the New Zealand indicator kit, I'm not adverse to the classical upstream nymphing and in the past it was a go to method for me, but lets be honest klink and dink has become the mainstay for many of us, myself included and I will happily admit to being lazy and frequently choosing the perceived easy option and I do have to force myself to fish other styles. So getting back to the New Zealand indicator kit, I bought the mixed selection of wool and opted to put together my own kit, I find the thought of spending thirteen pounds on what is essentially a baiting needle and silicone tubing a little excessive, especially when I had bits at home already, it was only some silicone tubing that I needed to buy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pearly Butt Bloa</td></tr>
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Ultimately there wasn't really any deviation in how I would normally set-up other than the addition of a small indicator on my tippet, I still used a furled leader - they rarely get taken off. I tied on two flies, a pearly butt bloa on the dropper with a copper-bead pheasant tail nymph, the indicator can be moved depending on depth and I had mine around two feet above the dropper.<br />
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As I had spent time quietly tackling up I felt the run would have settled from any disturbances we may have caused, slipping in gently I slowly waded over to the far side. The river held a fair depth, which only heaped on the anticipation, I was sure this run would contain a few fish. Peeling line off the reel, the first cast sent the flies around ten yards upriver. It only took a dozen or so casts before the indicator disappeared, in fact I didn't see it disappear, it was the noise Steve made that caused to me to look back and notice it was no longer there, a firm lift and fish number one was attached. It fought well in the strong flow, giving the impression of a much larger fish, my day was opened with a well conditioned trout of about eight inches.<br />
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Buoyed by this early success Steve took his turn and begun making progress up the run, it didn't take long before his klink sunk from view as he hooked a trout about the same size, this one was an acrobat repeatedly jumping, I actually netted it just after it landed, a lucky catch! Swapping again - it usually wouldn't happen this quickly - I carried on, a little while longer the indicator again performed perfectly as I hooked a bigger fish. Although not as lively as Steve's fish this one jumped a couple of times as well as shooting downstream past us trying in vain to gain sanctuary in the vegetation at the side of the river. A better fish of around ten inches had us dreaming of a superb day ahead; Steve finished the run without another touch which surprised us both.<br />
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The next run was seperated from the previous by a sizable overhanging jungle, casting over our wrong shoulders was in order but a smaller bush slightly up the opposite bank meant casting was trickier than it ought to be. Steve was still trying to catch his second fish and the jungle proved too bothersome and we had to scoot past it and recommence above. I decided to do some light trimming as Steve fished up the run, I keep a small fold-able saw in my chest pack for times like these and set about opening the channel up a little more while still preserving the essence of the overhang.<br />
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While clearing out a raft of floating rubbish I was met by something quite gruesome, a dead duck was caught up among the branches, it had been submerged for a while by the looks of it. Now this was no ordinary duck, it was a drake mandarin, despite the macabre nature of the find I wasn't going to waste an opportunity; the flank feathers on a mandarin and the closely related carolina wood duck are valuable and useful. I set about plucking both sides, the feathers were still in good condition and I had a plastic bag in my chest-pack which provided me with something to put them in until I could clean them later.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One mandarin drakes worth of lemon and barred flank feathers</td></tr>
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Steve had fished up the next run while I had been busy, unfortunately without success and also during this time the water had coloured significantly with lots of debris coming down in the flow. Steve tried another area a little further up but things were not improving, he persisted and insisted fishing to the top of the pool. With no more success we discussed our options. I put forward to go back upstream and have a look at the upper beats, suggesting that maybe all the murk was only coming from the town and upstream above it the water may be in better condition.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filthy, you wouldn't want to drink it</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barbour Paraloop Dun</td></tr>
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A brief drive via McDonalds took us to the bridge where we started our season. As expected the river was in top condition, clear as it was on opening day. I was still one fish up on Steve so he started on the section directly above the road bridge, it took a little while before Steve struck gold and caught a small trout on his dink. My go took a little longer, I lost my flies to a sunken branch in the margins though I could see where they were because the indicator was waving around in the flow. A rising fish caused me to pluck out a Barbour Paraloop Dun from my fly box, a size fourteen dark version to imitate the large dark olives that were hatching off. The fish I saw rise wasn't fooled by my attempts as we waded past its position, another fish rose on the inside, close to the bank, a lightning cast before the rings had subsided brought the trout immediately back up as it instantly took the BPD; there's no better feeling for me than fooling a rising fish.<br />
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We carried on. Steve remarked how much better he had done on opening as we failed to extract anymore from what is normally a productive stretch. At the top a tributary flows into the river, spring fed, the little brook flows clear all year round and contains a lot of smallish trout, Steve diverted up there and hooked and then lost a fish in the first pool, I carried on up the main river which oddly has less water flowing through it than the brook. Working my way through a series of small pools the river here is tight and constricted, my rod really was two foot too long as I struggled not to get caught up in overhanging branches and debris hanging in the margins. Occasionally the odd cast would work and land on the water, at the tail of a short pool I landed a small trout, near the head of the pool a couple of fish were rising and after snagging up again and ruining my tippet I opted to tie on a BPD. Unfortunately I only succeeded in putting the fish down and a final hang up on vegetation told me to call it time.<br />
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I met up with Steve who had made steady progress up the brook, he had caught two more trout which put us on evens, by this time we both needed to leave and headed back to the cars. I feel I need to conquer beat, the plan is to go back with the six foot rod and not let this stretch get the better of me.Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-20367249259440287592016-04-03T21:58:00.001+01:002016-04-03T21:58:08.328+01:00Opening day: Expectation vs reality<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peering below a bridge, an image every angler recognises</td></tr>
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April fools. I think the joke was on me Friday.<br />
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On Thursday as a pre-season appetiser Tom and I went to Earith Lakes fishery for a short morning session. Neither of us hadn't really cast a fly line during the winter using a french style leader mostly, it made for good practice. It also allowed me to have a proper go with the Daiwa NewEra I bought last year; although I have used and caught on it, I really wanted to give it a proper work-out.<br />
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Inspired by Dave Southall's writings about success with micro buzzers on small still-waters, I had been busing prepping during the week tying some simple patterns in sizes 20 and 22. Keeping on the simple theme I restricted the colours to black and olive with contrasting wire ribs, red on the black, black wire on the olive; 1.5mm tungsten beads added necessary weight.<br />
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Tom arrived before me and had been fishing for fifteen minutes before I arrived, I quickly paid for a four hour ticket and wasted no time in setting up. Tom was fishing an area which was conveniently in front of the car park, but for sound reason, there were quite a number of fish taking emerging buzzers, head and tailing as they patrolled around. With this in mind I set up a two fly leader, a size 22 olive buzzer on the point and a size 16 black magic spider on a dropper around two feet up from the buzzer. 0.16mm tippet was attached to a nine foot tapered leader and I de-greased the whole leader initially.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/26110673451/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="300" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1455/26110673451_9cd476e6c0_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The successful micro buzzer that scored well</td></tr>
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Still fishless after a couple of hours things were getting desperate, the fishing were still in front although they had disappeared for a while, perhaps disturbed by our repeated casting. I decided to change some things, despite the small sizes, I felt that they were perhaps sinking too deeply. The leader was promptly greased up to about six inches above the dropper, I also changed the buzzer to a size 20 black version, this one also had a small red holographic tinsel butt. After the second cast I hooked a fish, a scrappy rainbow that was lean and fit, fought strongly giving a good account of itself. Not long after I caught another one, it seemed the code had been cracked, quickly informing Tom of the changes, of course I passed over my fly boxes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/26177031245/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="300" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1532/26177031245_af67eaec08_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The single brown from Earith, - you don't see many people using chestpacks when fishing still-waters</td></tr>
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/26151073996/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="300" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1442/26151073996_c35d0cc001_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In the next couple of hours I caught four rainbows and a brown, all on the same black buzzer and though I think a couple of fish went for the spider I didn't connect with anything. Although Tom fished a practically identical set up to me he couldn't get a take, not a sniff; funny how it works like that.<br />
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On Friday Steve, Tom, Eliot and I opened our season fishing the upper sections of our main club river. As always on opening day the expectations were high, the river had dropped back down and cleared after recent rain earlier in the week, there was also hope of a decent hatch of large dark olives. We paired off, Tom and Eliot started just above a road bridge, Steve and I headed further upstream. We were both using eight foot four weight rods, I set up with two nymphs: a copper bead-head PTN on the point and an Oliver Edwards baetis nymph on a dropper about two foot above, Steve fished with the ubiquitous klink and dink.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/26109611491/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Steve Casting Around A Bend"><img alt="Steve Casting Around A Bend" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1589/26109611491_e21699f0dd_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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All I can say is I had a mare of a day. A strong wind blew rather predictably downstream, this coupled with plenty of bushes, trees, spent nettle and cow parsley stems conspired to snag and steal flies and tippet material from me. I won't lie, I got mad - really mad - I could have given fishing up, I had to take a breather, refocus and calm myself. Steve's day so far wasn't much better, same issues and after Tom and Eliot had fished their section and walked up to us it became apparent we really had picked the wrong area to start as they had caught a number of fish already. The downstream wind had also troubled them yet the openness allowed them to cast properly compared to our struggle to roll-cast into the wind. After a quick catch up they continued upstream as we set our sights on a couple of promising pools and a short run that flowed hard against an old brick wall. After snagging up and ruining the tippet I changed over to the klink and dink too. Apart from a splashy rise from a small fish to the klink we both continued to struggle.<br />
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Wading through a pool we had just fished I spied a trout holding behind a small rock in an otherwise featureless, even bottomed glide. Crouching down I crept up closer towards it, before reaching position the flies were changed to a single fly, a size 16 OE baetis, this I felt would be the best option in the slow steady flow. Tying on the new fly clearly gave the trout time to re-evaluate its position in life as it had disappeared by the time I was ready to fish for it - typical. We had however watched another fish rising frequently a little way further upstream, Steve allowed me to carry on with a change of target. There was nothing visible that I could see on the river surface, to cover many bases the nymph was taken off and replaced with a size 18 Adams paraloop emerger. Not a bad decision as it was taken after half a dozen casts. At last a fish! A short spirited scrap and the blank entry on the catch return card but a distant memory.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25573422893/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="One On A Dry"><img alt="One On A Dry" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1541/25573422893_b2884cda70_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First fish of the season, on a dry-fly too, you can't beat it</td></tr>
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Around the corner and in the shallow tail of the next pool Steve spotted a fish on the bottom, he queried if it was an eel, I crept up for a closer look, it wasn't an eel, my first thought was a brook lamprey. This was quite exciting as neither of us had ever seen one before and as far as I'm aware they're fairly uncommon although I had heard they have turned up in electro-fish surveys. We spent time watching them - a second one was spotted close by half tucked under a rock - Steve got some great footage on his GoPro and I took a few pictures. Satisfied but still feeling raged about the morning I settled on a fallen tree some distance away from the river and sat quietly watching Steve try his luck at some rising fish.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/26109567591/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Brook Lamprey"><img alt="Brook Lamprey" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1666/26109567591_37427894ad_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brook lamprey</td></tr>
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After a while I decided to leave Steve to it and headed back downstream. Slipping into the river just above the road bridge, a number of large dark olives were coming off and I saw a rise upstream. The wind blew stronger here due to the open nature, a poplar plantation that grew close to the bank had been felled during the winter leaving the area exposed. A size 14 Barbour paraloop dun makes a great match for the LDO especially the dark version, casting proved difficult and frustrating, there is nothing worse than seeing your fly blown below the end of the fly line. One more snagging and fly loss proved too much for me, I'm not afraid to admit, I lost my rag and stormed out of the river. It was only a few minutes after I returned to the car I could see the other three heading back. Tom and Eliot had more luck, Steve had still yet to catch and I told them that that was me done and that I was leaving, I really was pissed off. They did there best to get me to change my mind. Steve decided to carry on where I left off as Tom and Eliot headed downstream to the next beat. I milled around by the car, I was reluctant to give up despite my foul mood. In the end I decided to carry on and also headed downstream, I figured the other two had walked right down to the limit of the beat, I walked to around the halfway point starting where a cattle crossing spanned the river. My only reward for fishing a short section was a brief encounter lasting a second, before a small trout decided it wasn't my day.<br />
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Walking back to the car I really was in two minds, I wanted to go home, but I also felt I couldn't end the day like that, not opening day. With that my mind was made, a short ten minute journey took me to a the town the club river flows through. I knew where I wanted to fish and I was hoping it wouldn't let me down, a long run which really is a couple of pools with riffles connecting them has been good to me in the past, usually gifting me a few fish.<br />
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It is easy to fall into a complacent routine and I am guilty of that when it comes to fishing with a klink and dink, but its effectiveness can't be ignored and when prospecting it can be deadly. Of course this is how I fished the run ahead of me. I won't lie, I only tie one klink: the adams version, I don't need any others, a copper bead PTN hung below. Within five minutes I had caught a fish, I felt relaxed at last, at peace almost and I fished up with a steady purpose. By the time I reached the end my tally was on nine, this is what I had wanted from my opening day, I questioned why I hadn't just come and fished here from the beginning.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/26176045325/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Decent Handflu"><img alt="Decent Handflu" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1650/26176045325_1c5aad80ec_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally catching some fish</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25571252204/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Urban Brown"><img alt="Urban Brown" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1556/25571252204_d69010f08d_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copper bead PTN, a very versatile nymph</td></tr>
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I was running short on time, the wife had been on at me about when I was going to get home, I delayed my departure as I wanted to have a few casts in the outfall pool. Because of the slower flows I changed the dink to a JP Pupa, a cream bodied version with a standard copper bead, I didn't want this fly to plummet through the depths. In quick succession I caught two trout, the third fish was what I was after. I knew it was big, not just because I saw it but also from the way it behaved. The power was smooth, the head shakes meaningful, they felt frightening and unlike most trout that thrash around in the air when they jump this fish just leaped like a salmon, no thrashing, no great height either, its size was significant. It was one of those moments where I wished I wasn't on my own, the fish lay in bottom of the Glen Pointon LTD floating net, genuinely I didn't know what to do with this fish, I couldn't get a proper hold of it to lift up for a picture and I was still awestruck at the size of the it. This is when I made a fatal error. The floating rim of the net allows you to lay your rod across it keeping it out the way and frees up both hands too. kneeling down I took hold of the trout with hands, lifted it up to hold against the rod to gauge the length. Eighteen to nineteen inches is the figure I got, then the inevitable happened. The trout thrashed out of my hold landing outside of the net, then it was gone. A scream left my mouth, then a single swear word was uttered, and uttered again, and again for around five minutes, I felt such a loss, I hadn't experienced that feeling for a long time and I felt pretty devastated. Understandably I ended the day there, still muttering that single swear word as I walked back to the car. I still cannot believe I failed to take one picture, I know I have the memory in my mind and I doubt anyone would question my integrity, but I do like to keep a record of substantial catches, better luck next time I guess.Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-20012439667418309642016-03-21T22:12:00.000+00:002016-03-21T22:12:11.178+00:00In Limbo<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25766043125/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="High Riser"><img alt="High Riser" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1637/25766043125_a078be3588_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No need to hold the fin up</td></tr>
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It's that time of year again, no mans land, the coarse season has ended and the start of the trout season is two weeks away in my part of the country. I ended the coarse season last Sunday having a final crack at the grayling and I certainly wasn't alone, there were many reports of people making the most of the fine weather and fined down rivers.</div>
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The winter season has been chaotic, each week brought a new storm or two from the Atlantic and certain parts of the country were left devastated by severe and prolonged flooding. I guess it was fortunate that I was otherwise preoccupied for three months and although I managed the occasional trip none were on my club rivers, which have been a perpetual chocolate milkshake all winter, only the river levels varied.<br />
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Back to last Sunday, the 13th. Steve and I journeyed up north to Sheffield to fish the River Don, this was our first trip back there since the end of September and the river conditions were in stark contrast to last year. We were greeted by a full but clear river - if you discount the dark peaty colour of course - this did make wading precarious, in fact there were times when I genuinely thought I was going to end up swimming; this was the first time I felt panicky and unsure and made me question why I didn't put in the studs that were provided with a pair of new wading boots I bought. A lesson learned for next time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21497105185/in/dateposted/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="White Bead Melanistic PTN"><img alt="White Bead Melanistic PTN" height="213" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5717/21497105185_9376ccf4aa_k.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Bead-head Pheasant Tail Nymph</td></tr>
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A short walk down took us to just past the point where we started before. Setting up at the tail of a tantalising pool that lay at the end of a long run that flowed against a wall, Steve chose to set up a klink and dink as he only had his 8' 4# Hardy Zenith, I set up the Lexa with a Hends Camou French leader, this allowed us to cover most options. For the first time in a very long time three flies graced my leader; something that was mentioned to me a while ago had stuck in my head, this combined with the fact I have never fished with spiders led me to tie on a Pearly Butt Bloa on the top dropper. Initially I tied a squirmy wormy style fly with a 3mm tungsten bead and a white bead-head PTN on the middle dropper, I chose these because of the colour of the water and in fairness they showed up really well - even at depth - however, the squirmy came off quite quickly, but only because a slight flaw with they way I had tied them meant the bead slid down to the bend. This was replaced with a pink bead biot nymph and the fly selection didn't change after that.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21497126485/in/photostream/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Pink Bead Biot Nymph"><img alt="Pink Bead Biot Nymph" height="212" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/610/21497126485_29511ea7ad_k.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pink Bead-head Biot Nymph</td></tr>
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Just as we were finishing setting up a coarse angler set up at the top of the pool, we don't think he saw us and as he had settled and started fishing in rather quick fashion we clambered up the back and walked upstream past him. I started by fishing a deep hole without success and I recalled that I didn't catch anything there last time either. Walking a little further upstream we noted that the river had drastically changed, a S-bend had been replaced with a straight section, no doubt by some substantial flooding throughout the winter.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love seeing the Lexa bent round</td></tr>
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Passing the rod to Steve as I stripped off a couple of layers - a precarious attempt to cross the river had warmed me up - he started at the bottom of a long run; it was this area where Steve had filmed me landing a 15" trout. It didn't take long for him to catch our intended quarry, a small grayling that took the middle dropper and meant he wouldn't be blanking today. I didn't feel under any pressure just yet and told him to carry on, I was still faffing on the bank.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25465051590/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="First Grayling Of The Day"><img alt="First Grayling Of The Day" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1609/25465051590_3a5e97a6d0_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve's first fish of the day</td></tr>
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As Steve continued upstream he concentrated on the deeper water against the far bank, this left quite a bit of water on the inside and with Steve's approval I started to search the shallower, slower section of river. Keeping a low profile by crouching I maintained a short lead of a couple of yards fanning casts across the nearside half of the river. After around ten minutes of relatively slow progress the klink sunk out of view, lifting into the fish I was met with a substantial amount of resistance, a large shape twisted and turned in the shallower water, this immediately led me to believe I had hooked a grayling. Very quickly I knew I was wrong, the fish powered off across the river into the main flow, this really tested the 0.15mm tippet and it didn't take long for it to point itself downstream taking me with it. Thankfully it stopped in a small back eddy, I stood and watched as it tried several times to rub the fly off of the end of its nose. I'll have to admit, the trout was in charge, I couldn't get its head up and every time I tried to persist it to my way of thinking it would just surge off somewhere else. Eventually the fish began to tire, standing in a strong flow with an uneven bottom made things difficult for me, I ended up unclipping the lanyard to my net and tossing it to Steve who was downstream of the trout. At the second attempt of trying to lift the trouts head up Steve scooped my hard earned prize, in the bottom of the net lay a truly buttered beauty with the most intense red spots I'd ever seen.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25135345904/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="It Was Supposed To Grayling Fishing"><img alt="It Was Supposed To Grayling Fishing" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1696/25135345904_35c380cdea_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deep intense red spots</td></tr>
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A good few minutes rest in the bottom of the net allowed the fish enough time to recover. Steve had some lightweight scales and we quickly weighed the fish whilst still in the net, this gave us a figure of 2lb 12oz, the net weighed 10oz after the trout was released. A few quick snaps and the trout steadied itself as it was released into the flow. First fish of the day, 2lb 2oz and 17" long, but no one had told this fish it was five days early.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25135396374/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="It Was Supposed To Grayling Fishing"><img alt="It Was Supposed To Grayling Fishing" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1448/25135396374_9c6db15d57_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You cannot grumble catching fish like this, even if they're only just out of season</td></tr>
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Continuing upstream fishing the remainder of the run, our drifts were not interrupted. The next pool up was wider still, this allowed us to fish side by side dissecting half of the river each. We used our own set-ups and very quickly I caught a grayling, we then proceeded to have a fantastic fifteen minutes of catching; together we caught ten fish, a mixture of trout and grayling and all fell to nymphs. What did stand out was that we could only catch when fishing a small area ahead of us and only the bottom third, nothing in the edges or the top end of the pool. Twice Steve and I simultaneously caught and played fish together which gave us some amusement. We left the pool feeling jubilant and hopeful this was a sign of things to come, but alas it turned out to be a false start and we carried on the day fishing and making our way upstream.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25670844821/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Double Up"><img alt="Double Up" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1624/25670844821_0938eaab9d_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Double up - one of each - notice the colour of the beads</td></tr>
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25135524414/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Plenty Of Trout"><img alt="Plenty Of Trout" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1610/25135524414_ae4a4afff9_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25739571846/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Sprat"><img alt="Sprat" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1678/25739571846_d672d9a1c0_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sprats are the future</td></tr>
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We weren't alone on the river and it was no surprise, the weather was glorious if slightly fresh and much to our surprise the trio we had to keep leap-frogging were also fly fishing, however we observed they didn't deviate much from a downstream and across approach and I couldn't say whether they had any success.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/23894103795/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Barbour Paraloop Dun"><img alt="Barbour Paraloop Dun" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/739/23894103795_a077c6be52_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barbour Paraloop Dun - the dark version</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25135561734/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Garyling On A Barbour Paraloop Dun"><img alt="Garyling On A Barbour Paraloop Dun" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1626/25135561734_383c6ef372_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dark version Barbour Dun doing what it does best, representing LDO's</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25766119165/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Pink = Trout"><img alt="Pink = Trout" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1522/25766119165_2ccfc6b700_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Steve's last fish</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/16686746785/in/dateposted/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Pearly Butt Waterhen Bloa"><img alt="Pearly Butt Waterhen Bloa" height="213" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8593/16686746785_284f5dc8e3_k.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pearly Butt Bloa - tied a little too long but lesson learned</td></tr>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>The highlights of the day were two grayling that I fooled on a Pearly Butt Bloa and a Barbour Paraloop Dun. The take that registered on the indicator when the spider was taken was so animated and aggressive, I have never seen an indicator move so much before. The grayling that took the Barbour Dun is the first fish I have landed on a dry fly this year, it's not that I'm a purist but I do love surface action and it was a welcome change from dredging the depths with tungsten. We finished with over twenty fish between us, the ratio leaning towards me and there was a good mix of species with neither one dominating. Something we noticed with regards to which species took which fly, was that most of the trout were caught on pink bead-head nymphs with the grayling mostly taking the white bead-head nymphs. What was also interesting is that my pink bead nymph was on the point and would have been fishing much deeper than Steve's which would have fished quite high in the water owing to the method he was fishing. This does replicate similar results when I fished with Tom in September on the same river, very interesting indeed.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25740015116/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Pretty Lady"><img alt="Pretty Lady" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1441/25740015116_74113095e0_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first spider caught fish</td></tr>
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All that remains is a short wait for the trout season to start in East Anglia, bring it on!<br />
<br />Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-35543105187953185992016-03-01T22:04:00.003+00:002016-03-01T22:04:48.705+00:00It's been a whileIt's fair to say things have been pretty quiet on the fishing front for me, I don't think I was prepared for how disruptive changing jobs as well as having a newborn would be. I'm certain a balance has now been reached as I have settled into a routine and begun to find time to tie flies and even a trip or two fishing recently.<br />
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As mentioned in the last blog post I have been tying dry-flies for the Wild Trout Trust annual auction, these are now finished and the box is complete and ready to go. Of course calling the selection early season dry flies is stretching it a little as I have included the devastatingly effective Adams Klinkhamer, which in certain parts of the UK fall foul of a dry-fly only rule and a variation of Gwilym Hughes' Cul-de-Canon which is another emerger pattern.<br />
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So now that the box is finished, what is included:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/23894103795/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Barbour Paraloop Dun"><img alt="Barbour Paraloop Dun" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/739/23894103795_a077c6be52_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10 size 14 Barbour Paraloop Duns in dark variation</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/23265819454/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="JT Olive"><img alt="JT Olive" height="266" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5697/23265819454_18664aa42a_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10 size 16 JT Olive</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/23811559881/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Cul-de-Canon Variant"><img alt="Cul-de-Canon Variant" height="266" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5786/23811559881_963a94a889_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10 Size 12 Cul-de-Canon variant</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24649311496/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Jingler"><img alt="Jingler" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1497/24649311496_20ed557ea4_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10 size 14 Jingler</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24047368404/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="March Brown Jingler"><img alt="March Brown Jingler" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1576/24047368404_d3cf9f43fe_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10 Size 12 March Brown Jingler</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/23811640741/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Adams Klinkhamer"><img alt="Adams Klinkhamer" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/614/23811640741_1a4a1f3063_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">10 Adams Klinkhamer - 5 size 12, 5 size 14</td></tr>
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Along with the box of flies I am also offering a days fishing guided by me on my club rivers; you can see the illustrated catalogue on the Wild Trout Trust website <a href="http://www.wildtrout.org/sites/default/files/about_us/WTT%20Auction%202016%20Illustrated%20Catalogue.pdf" target="_blank">here,</a> lots 32 and 247.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24047276514/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Winter Serenity On The Dove"><img alt="Winter Serenity On The Dove" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1618/24047276514_0e20808cd5_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Changing flies</td></tr>
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Tom and I took a trip to Dovedale in the middle of January, perfect conditions greeted us, it even felt like winter after recent snowfall. I have always found the Dove a fickle temptress, this was only the third time I had fished the river, luckily I saved myself from a blank again as did Tom.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/93187982@N02/23840971213/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1170124.jpg"><img alt="P1170124.jpg" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1581/23840971213_70eb40df2d_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A real winters day</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/93187982@N02/23839586664/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P1170125.jpg"><img alt="P1170125.jpg" height="300" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1564/23839586664_4be065f93f_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom took a few black and white pictures</td></tr>
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We both caught trout and grayling although our ratios were opposite, Tom catching three trout and one grayling, I caught one trout and four grayling. One of those grayling was around a pound and a half and gave a very good account of itself which Tom caught on film, unfortunately as usually happens with grayling it slipped out of my hands as I was measuring it so there is no trophy shot.<br />
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I also managed a short afternoon on the town stretch I fish, the river was well coloured but fishable and the trout agreed as that was all I could catch, all three of them; I could not find the coarse fish or grayling that day.<br />
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More recently I visited this years British Fly Fair International at Stafford, a mob of four of us went to spend our hard earned dosh and take in all the excellent flies being constructed on Fly Tiers row. I didn't quite manage to fulfill my shopping list and came home with a sum of unspent money, but Tom and I did go halves on a couple of superb Whiting Coq de Leon saddles in medium pardo and ginger pardo. I also picked up a new partridge skin from Cookshill along with a chickabou pelt from Chevron Hackle. Picking up a few extra spools of silk from the Langleys stand, a superb bright yellow was pointed out to me as being <i>the </i>colour for the Partridge and Yellow spider so naturally I bought a spool and I have of course tied with it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24464476724/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grey Partridge"><img alt="Grey Partridge" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1624/24464476724_969ce8c301_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The highest quality, as you'd expect from Cookshill</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24727479519/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Partridge and Yellow"><img alt="Partridge and Yellow" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1588/24727479519_71c0cdd133_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Partridge and Yellow - rather pleased with these</td></tr>
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I'm hoping in the near future to really start knuckling down and tying streamers, I have a few sculpins which I have shown previously but I really want to get on with some baitfish patterns, having struggled to find hooks that are made small enough for my needs I found some Sakuma 410 in sizes four and six from the Funky Fly Tying stand; ideally I would like the find hooks similar to these in sizes eight and ten to satisfy my needs.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24464642434/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Chickabou Bugger"><img alt="Chickabou Bugger" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1662/24464642434_e5d59f90eb_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brahma Bugger using the Chevron Chickabou complete skin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24464521844/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Coq de Leon - Medium Pardo, Ginger Pardo"><img alt="Coq de Leon - Medium Pardo, Ginger Pardo" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1517/24464521844_19c2aa2ad5_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Medium and ginger pardo Whiting Coq de Leon saddle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24727571739/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Quilled Coq de Leon Dry Fly"><img alt="Quilled Coq de Leon Dry Fly" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1637/24727571739_b253cf397e_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A generic hackled dry-fly using CDL for wings and tail, the hackle is a cree sent to me by Hugh Rosen</td></tr>
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More recently I took part in a little social gathering on the Dove at Dovedale. I met Steve on the way and we traveled together and Tom drove with Eliot. We met up with Mike Johnson, Jon Kerr and their companion Lester. We spit up a little and made our way up and down the river in small groups spending time fishing likely runs and pools. Meeting up at one, Jon pulled out his Kelly Kettle and set about boiling some water for a much earned hot drink. Only Steve didn't join us for lunch, he had yet to score and was determined not to blank.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25123981710/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Get The Kettle On"><img alt="Get The Kettle On" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1573/25123981710_87446021c2_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the watering hole</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/25301291672/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Pink Always Works"><img alt="Pink Always Works" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1593/25301291672_d45e9588f6_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pink shrimps = grayling</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/24792802243/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Eliot Dredging A Run"><img alt="Eliot Dredging A Run" height="266" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1716/24792802243_cb8e79fa43_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eliot working through a likely run</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21497126485/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Pink Bead Biot Nymph"><img alt="Pink Bead Biot Nymph" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/610/21497126485_29511ea7ad_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pink bead-head nymph</td></tr>
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The biggest fish went to Tom, indecently it was also his first and by the end of the day we had all caught fish, grayling predominantly but also a number of trout. No particular type of water favoured either species and fish were caught in some surprisingly shallow fast runs as well and deeper slower water. I caught fish on pink shrimps and small tungsten bead head nymphs and my final tally was ten - seven grayling, three trout. I was hoping to catch a fabled dry-fly caught winter fish as there were a number of olives seen coming off and a member of the party saw a rise late morning but that was all, I will have to wait a little while longer before I catch off the top again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/93187982@N02/25266206902/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="P2280063.jpg"><img alt="P2280063.jpg" height="267" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1709/25266206902_20197017fb_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom's biggest fish of the day</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pink bead-head nymph caught for both Tom and myself</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skinny pink shrimp caught me several fish</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our view of lower Dovedale, the sun greeting us as we made our way back to the cars</td></tr>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-7328818086822084182015-12-21T22:20:00.002+00:002015-12-22T22:03:17.677+00:00In a different lightI've been busy preparing for early season dry-fly action and tying flies for a Wild Trout Trust Auction lot for next year; this will be my first time taking part in the WTT auctions having been inspired by Matt Eastham<br />
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Three flies form my early season staple, though of course one is an emerger and the common theme running through these patterns is the use of Pearsall's silk no. 5 yellow. You'll notice two flies aren't yellow but olive; cobblers wax from Funky Fly Tying is by far the best I've used, in my opinion of course, and I have tried Bailey's cobblers too.<br />
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You can see on the bobbin how much a difference the wax makes, though the wax is sticky, it's best to apply liberally and take off the excess.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/23811559881/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Cul-de-Canon Variant"><img alt="Cul-de-Canon Variant" height="266" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5786/23811559881_963a94a889_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cul-de-Canon Variant</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/23265819454/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="JT Olive"><img alt="JT Olive" height="266" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5697/23265819454_18664aa42a_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JT Olive</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/23894103795/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Barbour Paraloop Dun"><img alt="Barbour Paraloop Dun" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/739/23894103795_a077c6be52_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barbour Paraloop Dun</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pearsall's silk no.5 yellow with a band of waxed silk ready to use</td></tr>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-70182165317049245072015-11-29T17:41:00.001+00:002015-11-29T17:41:32.245+00:00Utah Killer Bug Revisited - New ColoursOk, so this is the article I wrote for Eat, Sleep, Fish E-zine, but there are some new pictures and a video that I haven't revealed before on this blog. Take a look at the new colour variants at the bottom of the post to see what else you can do with the killer bug format.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My killer bug box</td></tr>
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I stumbled across an interesting pattern a couple of years ago while doing a bit of research on the Sawyer's Killer Bug - a pattern called the Utah Killer bug. At the time it had only been revealed and talked about on the US Tenkara forums, many even called it their one fly pattern. A blog post I wrote last year is my most read post by several thousand views, I can only assume the UKB is a universally popular fly and rightly so - this is a devastatingly deadly fly. As with Sawyer's bug this is also tied with particular materials; the yarn is Jamiesons of Shetland spindrift wool, the colour Oyster. The original dressing uses pink thread for tying and pink wire for weight. For simplicity I have omitted the thread tying this as I would a Sawyer's Killer bug using just the wire. Tied on a curved grub hook the profile screams shrimp and when wet this fly glows, it is translucent with a fantastic pink hue, it makes a great subtle replacement for the usual gaudy pink grayling bugs.<br />
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The grayling population in my club river is sparse and localised, as such it is hard to go out for a day and specifically target them. When I do fish for them, the Utah Killer bug catches it's fair share and not just on my limestone club river, it has caught me many fish on Northern freestone rivers, but don't be fooled, this isn't just a fly for grayling as proved by some superb trout caught this year, including a 17" trout from a coarse section of my club river that was captured on film.</div>
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To tie my version of the UKB you need only two materials; 0.20mm pink wire and oyster coloured Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift wool. I have found the best size for this fly is 12, although I do tie them in 14's. The wool can easily be purchased directly from Jamieson's themselves of through fly tying material stockists that sell smaller amounts, personally a whole ball represents much better value for money and you'll have more than enough to last as well as passing some on to friends.<br />
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Use a drop of superglue to secure the wire under-body and start wrapping the wire at around the two-thirds point back from the eye.<br />
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Wind the wire in touching turns to the eye. Take one long wrap back so the wire is at the one-third point on the hook shank and recommence the touching turns back around the bend. Once you have wrapped a second layer of wire covering the middle section of the shank, make another long wrap to the starting point of the wire and trap down the tag end. Helicopter the tag end off and make another couple of turns of wire and leave; the wire will not unravel. The under-body should appear to taper up from the eye to a thicker middle and taper back down at the end of the body.<br />
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Tie in a length of wool starting where the second layer of wire ends - keep hold of the tag end - wrap the wool to the eye, then wind the wool back towards the bend so there are two layers of wool. When you reach the tag end of wool trap it with one or two wraps of wool and cut off the excess. Continue to where the wire has been left and tie off the wool with four or five turns of wire working back towards the eye. Trim the remaining length of wool and cut the wire close; a drop of superglue on the wire will keep it from coming undone.<br />
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A quick simple tie and very effective. For more weight wrap a layer or two of adhesive lead and wind a single layer of wire starting at the eye.<br />
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Of course the proof is in the pudding; I wrote earlier about a 17" trout caught on film on the Utah Killer Bug, this fish had refused several flies including some that I consider to be very effective and one that rarely gets declined, the JP Pupa. Tying on the UKB more as a last gasp - not so much a last resort - but I was beginning to despair, thinking it would be long before the trout spooked and taking my chance and the other fish with it. Second cast and the trout tilted up and then shook it head as it tried to eject the fly, the video tells the whole story, from there on this season I started to fish the UKB much more, recently using it as a single fly on the end of a French leader during low summer flows, because it is tied with just copper wire it isn't too heavy to fish during drought conditions.<br />
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My biggest fish to date caught on a UKB is a grown-on stocked trout that measured 18 1/2" and weighed 2lb 13 1/2oz, this fish is a few miles down stream of where it was likely stocked and certainly wouldn't have been more than 12" when first stocked. The grayling fishing has been improving since the season started and of late they have far outnumbered trout, sometimes by a big margin; a recent afternoon trip with my friend Tom, saw us catch over thirty fish with grayling making nearly three quarters of the total catch - we both fished a single size 12 UKB on the end of a French leader, my preferred method at the moment.<br />
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I implore you to give this fly a go, of course you can experiment with different colour combinations - in fact I have just ordered a few new balls of yarn - the profile of this fly suggests that of a shrimp so think of the colours you tie your shrimp/scud patterns in - I'll be tying up some orange, bright pink, watery olive/grey as well as dark grey versions - you cant get any simpler.<br />
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Earlier in the year Tom and I talked about using different colours of wool to tie the UKB in, our thoughts were more directed towards grayling and we discussed the sort of colours that would prove useful in our arsenal. Clearly the original fly is simply deadly and I'm not saying these are in anyway an improvement, but it can't hurt to have some variation.
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Settling on three new colours, we chose a brighter pink, an orange and a sort of watery olive grey. As with the oyster blend these all change when wet, darkening up with an internal glow, especaially the orange. I have taken before and after shots so you can see what they look like dry and wet, the wire colours chosen best match the hue when the fly is wet, again using 0.20mm coloured copper wire from wires.co.uk.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21310241779/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Utah Killer Bug - Pink"><img alt="Utah Killer Bug - Pink" height="266" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5776/21310241779_3da26abd3a_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamieson's Shetland yarn Salmon with Supasalmon wire</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not much of a change when wet but the brighter darker pink could prove useful in coloured water</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamieson's Shetland yarn Buttercup with Light Gold wire</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I believe this will prove to be equally as useful as the oyster coloured original, I love the <br />
translucent glow this yarn provides when wet.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/20876110573/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Utah Killer Bug - Shrimp"><img alt="Utah Killer Bug - Shrimp" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/633/20876110573_b093b16344_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to find a yarn that looks closely like a shrimp, Jamieson's Shetland yarn Rye looks a better much when looked at with the naked eye rather than under a macro lens, trust me it is a good colour, though perhaps this version may benefit from modification such as a grey flexibody shell back and roughed up underneath to look even more shrimp like. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21309033620/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Utah Killer Bug - Shrimp (Wet)"><img alt="Utah Killer Bug - Shrimp (Wet)" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/670/21309033620_3c1e497427_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rye when wet, you can see slightly more of the olive tinge that we were looking for, I'm certain this will still catch.</td></tr>
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Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-84197199447064415922015-11-18T22:22:00.003+00:002015-11-18T22:22:41.111+00:00Where Have The Trout GoneSince the beginning of September there had been a marked change in my fishing. For some reason the trout have been very thin on the ground compared to earlier in the season. Grayling have been present since before their season started and on certain beats their presence has increased significantly more recently; one day when fishing with Tom we had just over thirty fish between us and grayling accounted for a good three quarters of the total. It's not just me that has experienced this, Tom and Steve have both found that trout have been conspicuously absent in the beats they have fished.<br />
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One area that has been bucking the trend is the coarse fishery beats lower down the river. Trout aren't especially abundant although they have been making a bigger proportion of numbers. I spent a short afternoon after work in the middle of October after Tom had reported a good number of quality fish.<br />
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Arriving at the river I was greeted by superb conditions, recent rain had revitalised the river, giving it a slight tinge and looking like it was later in the year - more winter like. Most of the weed had disappeared leaving a clear bottom and with the increased flow it really looked promising.<br />
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Having parked at the top end of the fishery I walked downstream to where I wanted to start. On the way down I kept an eye on the river trying to spot fish as I walked past, and although the clarity wasn't perfect, I was able to spot a good fish holding station over a bright patch of gravel in a shallow pacey run. I made a mental note of its location and continued on my way.<br />
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Arriving at the bottom of a relatively long run, I eased into the river and waded across to the far side standing in knee deep water some twenty yards downstream of where I would eventually start fishing. Setting up my eight foot four weight I tackled up fishing the duo (klink&dink) with a copper-bead pheasant tail nymph suspended below my usual Adams Klinkhamer. This set up allowed me to cover both options as I have found that the fish will take both flies, perhaps not always equally, but it is an effective method when used in the right circumstance.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21853778888/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Copperhead PTN"><img alt="Copperhead PTN" height="213" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/651/21853778888_5936178dc3_k.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Copper Bead PTN</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/16124755770/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Adams Klinkhåmer"><img alt="Adams Klinkhåmer" height="213" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/16124755770_752e08085e_k.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adams klinkhamer</td></tr>
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I began working toward the run I wanted to fish, the klink dibbed lots as small minnows and grayling attempted to take both fly. I did manage to hook a small grayling on the PTN, it's great to see a healthy number of small grayling; the population appears to be climbing again after a slump in numbers.<br />
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I worked up the run and in all honesty I struggled to catch the numbers of fish this part of the river normally yealds. I missed a couple of rises to the klink and a couple more fish came off before I could land them. I was left feeling pretty frustrated although I caught some fish, a trout and three grayling in total, but far fewer than I would normally expect.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21853749958/in/dateposted/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Coarse Fishery Brown"><img alt="Coarse Fishery Brown" height="266" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5671/21853749958_0fef776e74_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Moving upstream I stopped at a short stretch of fast water which is essentially a ford for off-road and farm vehicles. I left after a short while having caught a trout from the top and a grayling on the PTN. I was starting to get somewhere and I can never complain when the dreaded blank is in the distant past. Walking further upstream I bypassed a lot of empty water devoid of fish before reaching the area I had previously spotted the good fish on the way down.<br />
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I climbed down the bank probably forty yards below where I thought the fish was and spent fifteen minutes working upstream without a touch. Being aware I had reached the point where I thought the trout was, the klink shot under within seconds after landing and a firm lift saw me attached to something substantial. Very quickly I knew the fish was good, having it cartwheel in front of me repeatedly only confirmed this and it tore off downstream in several long runs, cartwheeling on its way. Thankfully the firm even bottom helped as I tried my best to follow quickly in waist deep water, the fish took me back downstream to at least where I started if not further. I was relieved when I safely secured the fish in the net.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21853401250/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="17" Coarse Fishery Brown"><img alt="17" Coarse Fishery Brown" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/649/21853401250_4f053d32d7_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Allowing the fish to recover in the net as I got the camera switched on and ready, a few pictures where taken and a quick measure before I released it. Another 17" trout this season. it was a different fish to the one I caught on the Utah Killer Bug that was captured on film. I could have happily finished there but there was still more water to fish and it wasn't home time yet.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21853569378/in/photostream/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="17" Coarse Fishery Brown"><img alt="17" Coarse Fishery Brown" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/732/21853569378_8e2f671112_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A very brief walk upstream again, I slipped into the river just below a bend, above the bend was the large gravel patch that held a number of very large trout at the beginning of the season. On the way down I had spotted a few fish on the gravel bar as well as a couple of rises slightly downstream from there.<br />
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Still using the same set up and flies I worked up towards the bend catching a trout before reaching it. Round the bend and up to the gravel patch I caught a further four trout up to 14", I was really pleased with how many trout I had caught, especially with the relative lack of truttas recently and from a coarse section of the river. I finished the afternoon by having a quick go in the weirpool below a ford a couple of grayling and chub ending my session with variety, a truly great bit of sport.<br />
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Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-91090124736382935162015-10-12T22:48:00.000+01:002015-10-12T22:51:24.880+01:00This Is Not The End<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21806282852/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="A Ladies Shadow"><img alt="A Ladies Shadow" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/761/21806282852_4534eb979f_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A pewter shadow laying on the bottom</td></tr>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Tom and I fished during the last week of September, we thought we were fishing our last session of the trout season but we have since found out the trout season doesn't end until 30th of October - who knew - I always thought the season ended on the 30th of September, lucky buggers aren't we.<br />
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I took Tom to a non-club river in deepest East Anglia. On arrival Tom was amazed by the clarity of the water, I think he doubted me when I told him how clear it is. We sat on a well positioned tree trunk in the margins and tackled up; we both elected to fish the duo with almost identical flies on both our set ups, an Adams klinkhamer and copper beadhead pheasant tail nymph were my selected flies and both of use using 8ft 4# rods. The weather was glorious, the occasional gust downstream hampered things, but it was more a slight irritation than a hindrance.<br />
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As Tom was the guest he naturally had first go. We entered the river and approached a narrow run that was below a small pool. Vegetation hung over both banks and overhanging trees behind us meant casts had to be accurate, before long Tom hooked a stout branch and was stuck fast. As we had only just started to fish this run Tom elected to keep the line tight as it lay along the bank. Wading in front of Tom I started to fish my way up, very quickly I caught a trout and by the time we reached Tom's flies I had caught three altogether. Lifting in to one fish that had taken the klink, we were both surprised to find the fish landed was fairly hooked with the nymph, I can only assume I was a whisker away from a double up. Tom had some catching up to do, but not before he left the pool amazed at the sheer number of fish in the short run we had fished through; the clarity of water and disturbance of each fish caught, means you'll not really extract the potential from each bit of the river - well I can't at least.<br />
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Ahead of us was quite a long riffle, again a small pool started at the top, this run differed from the one we fished as it was shallower, faster with just a gravel bottom, no weed beds here. Overhead trees were the main obstacle here and trees along the far bank didn't help either - the river was only about twelve yards wide so it was tight. The deeper water lay under the trees across the far bank, trying to flick the flies underneath proved hard and Tom had to reach further up with a longer cast above the over-hanging trees allowed the flies to drift freely underneath. It didn't take many drifts before Tom caught his first fish and thus the day continued as we slowly waded up the river.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21197038473/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Tom's First"><img alt="Tom's First" height="266" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5683/21197038473_8d35c2a643_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom's first fish</td></tr>
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Resting one pool after a couple of fish had been caught, we found a good number of needle flies crawling over the vegetation, I caught a number for both of us to photograph later. In the same spot were some water forget-me-nots, rather pretty little blue flowers and I have since found out the name is applied to many similar flowers rather than just one species.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/22051422331/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Needle Fly"><img alt="Needle Fly" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/708/22051422331_3afa878b72_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The only picture I managed to take of the needle flies I caught</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21818164515/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Forget Me Nots"><img alt="Forget Me Nots" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/639/21818164515_1a4c7ade43_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water Forget-me-nots</td></tr>
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Reaching a part of the river that opens out we were bathed in sunshine, ahead of us the water funneled between beds of ranunculas; a couple of years ago I had a blinding hour here fishing a hatch of small dark olives. This time the spot wasn't full of fish, although we both managed a couple, it was Tom that struck gold hooking and landing by far the biggest fish of the day - 16" long the fish was a little battled scarred but in superb condition. Tom hooked it tight hard against the right-hand bank and it led him around the pool, more than once the trout made our hearts skip as it tried its best to unhook itself. Some underwater pics were taken on Tom's Olympus camera and so good they were, I intend on buying one for the start of next season.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21197158463/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Chalkstream Idyll"><img alt="Chalkstream Idyll" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/735/21197158463_f78654dff9_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A superb underwater picture, this really shows how clear the water is</td></tr>
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We continued fishing our way upstream and the numbers steadily rose, we had gone beyond the point of being able to keep count, I don't know how Danny manages it, I forget after five most of the time. It really has been such a treat this season to be able to fish with company, of course we perhaps don't always extract the maximum potential, but I haven't blanked at all this season - although many occasions a single fish has saved the day.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21818196005/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Pristine"><img alt="Pristine" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/754/21818196005_ca5cc4419b_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Faffing around I missed stoat run along a log that lay across the river, clambering over we found the remains of a small bird, maybe we had disturbed it as we progressed up the river. A kingfisher veered off every time is came across us on its travels, seeing wildlife always completes the day and it's amazing what you'll come across when you're discrete and quiet.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21630532368/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Clarity"><img alt="Clarity" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/753/21630532368_bdb8e8b935_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A rather strange occurrence, I managed quite a few fish with many more missed on the klink yet Tom didn't rise a single fish to his; both were the same size, although Tom ties on Daiichi klinkhamer whereas I use the Partridge version and only slight differences in the materials used, there clearly was something about my fly that the fish liked. Our bead-head nymphs were virtually identical and were by far the most successful fly of the day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/16124755770/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Adams Klinkhåmer"><img alt="Adams Klinkhåmer" height="266" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/16124755770_752e08085e_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Adams klinkhamer, I rarely tie klinks any other way</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21853778888/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Copperhead PTN"><img alt="Copperhead PTN" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/651/21853778888_5936178dc3_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A simple copper bead-head PTN</td></tr>
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We finished the day by checking out a deep pool protected by several logs spanning across the river, we saw a couple of really large fish and left pondering how we would fish the pool, we guessed around twenty fish in this pool which spooked almost immediately, a challenge indeed. I promised Tom we would come back.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/21462682700/in/dateposted-public/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="That Is A Four Pounder!"><img alt="That Is A Four Pounder!" height="266" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/596/21462682700_ecd2e7e48e_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The trout to the right is possibly a four pounder</td></tr>
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Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-916905678232029022015-10-08T21:39:00.001+01:002015-10-08T21:39:27.108+01:00Northern Distraction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had another stab at the Don a couple of weeks ago, I took Steve with me and we had another bash at the section I fished with Tom. This time the river was clearer and lower, I knew it would be a struggled and I wasn't proved wrong. It took nearly a full hour before we caught anything, the first fish falling to me which also happened to be the largest of the day. I hadn't been aware that Steve was filming and testing his new Gopro out, he made a short video from the footage.<br />
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So we trundled upstream fishing through all the likely looking runs, some produced may didn't, what I found really surprising is the number of spots that produced plenty of fish previously failed to yield anything at all - very frustrating.<br />
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We didn't quite reach the point where Tom and I finished, but we did walk much further downstream before starting, so we probably did fish the same amount of water. The clearer water meant the brash, brightly coloured bead head nymphs were out, the more subtle but ubiquitous copper bead was firm favourite; we did also catch a fair number of fish on dry flies too as we were both fishing the duo method. Despite the conditions being difficult we still managed to catch double figures each, with an even spread of trout and grayling; hopefully next time there'll be a little more water in the river.<br />
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Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-60372454492189280502015-09-21T23:15:00.001+01:002015-09-21T23:15:24.054+01:00In Memorium<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>It's been hectic recently. My second child, a boy, was born a fortnight ago so priorities have shifted somewhat along with my time being taken up in fatherly duties and of course that's how it should be. However, I'm sure I'm not alone in getting itches when I don't escape for a short length of time - such is the draw that flowing water holds over me.<br />
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I was fortunate enough to have been able to take part in a friendly match in memory of Gary Hyde who sadly passed away last year. Although I had only spoken to Gary a couple of times, his posts on the flyfishingforums were always ones I wanted to read, generous with his knowledge and always friendly.<br />
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The match had been arranged by Danny and was well attended by many from the northern region; myself and Tom represented the south. The match was held in Sheffield on various parts of the River Don. Sections of the river were split in to beats, thankfully there were no fights over the stretches, Tom and I teamed up and headed to the beat that conveniently was closest to where we had all met up - no worries about finding parking.<br />
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After a short five minute walk we arrived at the river, damn did it look good. Peering through the undergrowth, we spied a fish rising on the edge of a seam, in the middle of a lively run. Trampling our way through balsam and bramble progress was slow but we eventually worked a little way downstream; conveniently we found ourselves and the bottom end of another tantalising pool. As Tom had already set up he had first dibs while I quietly tackled up on the side-line, we both chose to fish a french leader although later on Tom changed over to the duo and single dry; we used each others rod depending on what tactic would suit the particular piece of water we had in front of us.<br />
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It only took a couple of minutes and half a dozen casts before Tom landed the first fish of the day, a grayling, from there on we took turns catching a fish each and passing the rod over - not the most efficient way to catch and yes although it was a competition of sorts, we were happy to be there. We both believe fishing like that is really fishing with someone, rather than both fishing near one another but not actually fishing with each other.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom's first fish</td></tr>
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Our pace was slow as we worked upstream and I'm sure we could have covered a lot more river by the end of the day, but there wasn't really any rush and it was great just to be fishing somewhere different - I have only fished the River Don twice, both were winter trips, the last being a short three hour session curtailed by persistent rain and rising water.</div>
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Overall we fished a tad over half a mile of river concentrating on the faster sections working our way through some superb pools. The thing that amazed us was the sense that you weren't fishing in the middle of a large city, the river was tree-lined for the most part and apart from the occasional building butting up against the river bank it was easy to forget where you were.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White bead head pheasant tail nymph, tied with melanistic<br />
pheasant tail, courtesy of Matt Eastham</td></tr>
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biot body and Hends peacock spectre dubbing</td></tr>
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Most of the fish fell to small tungsten bead-head nymphs, normally I tend to only use copper beads of various sizes, this time I stepped out of my comfort zone. A white bead pheasant tail nymph as tied by Matt Eastham who drew inspiration from Gary and a biot bodied nymph with a pink bead were the stand-out flies of the day; it will be interesting to see if flies with brighter beads would work on my own club rivers which run much clearer. What we found interesting was most of the trout we caught fell to the pink bead nymph whereas the white bead nymph picked up the grayling, although I suspect this was more to do with the flies placement on the leader than the colours of the beads.<br />
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Despite it raining most of the morning we encountered rising fish, although we couldn't really see anything hatching off there were plenty of chironomid shucks floating past; later on the we fished a small hatch of second brood large dark olives - smaller than the spring hatch - but perfectly imitated by a size 16 Barbour paradun, the fish taking the midges were occasionally fooled by a size 24 (old size) black klinkhamer, we generally found the fish taking the midges particularly difficult to deceive.<br />
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We finished with seventeen fish each, the ratio was probably two-thirds grayling; Tom caught the biggest fish, a trout of 15", unfortunately the fish didn't want its picture taken and I only managed to get a snap of it right before it fell out of his hands.<br />
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As an aside it was the first time I used a new wading jacket that I received as a birthday present. Extremely well priced, a snippet at £39.99 delivered from Caimore vie eBay and it performed exceptionally well. Despite the continued rain I didn't get wet except for when I failed to put the hood up. If you want performance at a reasonable cost then I seriously recommend you have a look at this jacket.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Largest fish of the day, just before Tom dropped it</td></tr>
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Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-78679456656910012972015-09-01T14:48:00.001+01:002015-09-01T14:48:36.361+01:00SculpinsI have been wanting to get a fur coat for quite a long time, the reason, to tie up some bullhead/sculpin patterns; it is the most effective way to get a large quantity of fur on hide. I haven't fished with streamers for a few years but now I'm beginning to tie some up I can't wait to trow them out there among the monsters; of course the smaller ones eat them too.<br />
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A simple fly really, I have used a Daiichi 2546 salt water hook in size 4 with a double layer of medium lead wire superglued and flattened with pliers to create a wide but slim profile. The main body of the fly is a zonker strip cut from the hide - you can see the shape of the body in the pictures below - the lead is covered with dubbing to match the hide, with a small hot-spot of red to imitate the gills. The head is fur cut from the hide and spun in a dubbing loop or split thread as I have done. Trim the head and zonker body to shape. You can add some barring using a dark brown marker pen, brush the fur when the ink has dried.<br />
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Of course there are some elements missing - I don't have any eyes to attach to the fly and I haven't tied anything in for the pectoral fins - I doubt it will make much difference and maybe the next few will incorporate them.<br />
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My forum name isn't sculpincrusader for nothing!!Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-52237133200838175342015-08-22T12:02:00.001+01:002015-08-22T12:02:24.004+01:00Inpursuitofspotties is on FacebookFor those who are on Facebook but weren't yet aware I set up a Facebook page just before the season started, it allowed me to post quick snippets and pictures where a full blog wasn't necessary.<br />
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Please take the time to follow the link <a href="https://www.facebook.com/inpursuitofspotties" target="_blank">inpursuitofspotties</a> and like my page to see the latest news of my fishing escapades.<br />
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-32793131115137609562015-08-11T22:22:00.000+01:002015-08-11T22:22:01.661+01:00Urban Bonanza And A Strange Evening<br />
Another lunchtime finish on Friday - I think I've only fished once in the morning before work so far this season. Tom was working at home and would be joining me later on, I had already planned my afternoon and knew where I wanted to fish.<br />
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There is a section on the urban river I fish that remains relatively untouched, this is because it is penetrable; concrete banks encased by a canopy of tree branches and a barricade of brambles at the top of the banks, means it cannot be fished from the bank. During the early part of the season you can see a good number of fish before the leaves obscure the view so there ought to be fish around. Fishing here also gave me an excuse to use my much favoured six foot rod, that said side casting would still be the order of the day.<br />
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Walking downstream to just beyond the trees I spotted a rather nice grayling, at least for this part of the river. Easing into the river above the fish; obstructions meant a traditional upstream approach was impossible. Standing in the edge of the river I quietly set up while allowing my surroundings to settle.<br />
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Ahead of me and across the far side a fish rose directly above a small bush that hung over the river's surface. Unable to refuse a rising fish I tied on a quill bodied cdc shuttlecock, a small trout threw itself on to the hook. The rises stopped after that, but I guess a fish is a fish.<br />
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Turning around and moving downstream a little I took the shuttlecock off and replaced it with a Utah Killer Bug, I find this a devastating pattern for grayling all year round. First cast landed the fly upstream and to the side, I watched as the grayling drifted side-wards and engulfed the fly. A firm lift gave way to the sinuous gyrating fight so typical of grayling; held in my hand it was a pristine male fish of about thirteen inches, defiantly holding its dorsal up, a great start.<br />
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Climbing back out of the river a very short walk took me to the beginning of my intended spot, a cautious clamber down a four foot concrete bank started things off. I spooked a couple of very small trout that kindly shot downstream as I waded slowly over to the left bank. Ahead of me a branch thick with leaves blocked my view, using it to my advantage I stalked forward using it as a screen. As I stood behind the branch I could see two fish a couple of yards in front. With the UKB still tied on I executed possibly one of the shortest bow and arrow casts ever, a small grayling intercepted the fly as it drifted towards me. Pulling the fish downstream quickly and releasing it allowed me to repeat the proceedure, landing another small trout.<br />
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Unable to see clearly in to the water ahead of me to took off the UKB and tied in a size 16 All Purpose Terrestrial, with all the cover any fish ahead of me should be used to small things dropping in the surface. Wading slowly up produced a few more trout with many more spooked, the low slow flows not helping things, perhaps I'd be better visiting earlier in the season, normally the river here moves along briskly.<br />
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At the very top a small weir forms a convenient boundary, it is often quite productive but again the low flows and excessive weed made the pool virtually inhabited except for a plump ten inch fish which was the biggest trout from the urban river.<br />
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I moved upstream to another weir, this one generally being very productive. As I reached the pool I could see a small group of roach holding station in quite a flow over gravel in shallow water. It was one of these that I caught first, not big but absolutely perfect. Then followed a succession of small trout and another good-sized grayling that disappeared before I could take a picture. As I left the pool my tally was thirteen trout, three grayling and a roach, superb sport.<br />
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Walking back towards the car a spotted a couple of large trout milling about in an over-wide, slow section of river. Keeping low on he high bank I was crafty enough to get the klink and dink out near one of them, as the JP Pupa slowly sank I watched as the fish swam and sucked in the fly. Despite my fly line hanging over a thin branch it didn't impede in the strike, though maybe it did as the fly fell out after a few seconds, I was pretty gutted really that fish was easy over two pounds, oh well I don't win them all.<br />
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By this point it was time for me to meet Tom, after a fifteen minute drive I arrived at our bottom-most fly beat; I waited a while before Tom showed up. We walked the end of the beat, I had changed rods, taking my Lexa with me and intending to set up a french leader, Tom had his 8' four weight and opted to fish dries, we agreed to use which ever rod suited the particular bit of water we were fishing.<br />
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After faffing around looking at the very bottom end of the beat we settled on a short glide below a pool on a sharp bend. We saw many small dark caddis fluttering in little swarms, Tom tied on a dark deer hair winged caddis with a hares ear body. After many casts and a couple of missed rises, Tom caught a grayling, a great start for him. I fished a lot of water before I too finally caught a grayling using the French leader, another followed; although we had seen trout, so far there was not a sniff from one.<br />
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It wasn't until we fished a deep pool did we see the only trout of the evening. Tom had fished first without success and I persevered eventually being rewarded. Using the French leader again I changed the point fly to a 3mm tungsten bead JP Pupa, the pool being particularly deep. Although the fish wasn't huge at sixteen inches it was very welcome and provided a great scrap on the three weight Lexa.<br />
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More than satisfied we skirted a lot of river, most sections are bank to bank weed and low flows meant a lot of water was devoid of fish. Arriving at another deep pool, we could see many fish ahead of us against the light sandy bottom. This pool is quite long in comparison to most on the river, what I'd consider a proper pool in the traditional sense, though it doesn't have a shallow tail. The grayling frustrated Tom, the trout were still conspicuous in their absence but he did manage a couple more grayling. After unsuccessfully trying the head of the pool a large trout shot past as we waded through, really should have put more effort it.<br />
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By now it was getting dark, we tried a pool that has fished well previously, last time I fished there, there was a cracking medium olive hatch. With the river so low and lacking flow the dynamics of the pool had changed, either way nothing moved and we walked up on to the riffle above. Ahead of this was a long stretch of generally uniform channel and flow. The light had almost gone, Tom and I have been talking about glow in the dark flies, a la Glen Pointon. Tom was the first to experiment, a glow in the dark post klinkhamer the first offering. More just to see what the fly looked like on the water Tom had half a dozen casts in the smooth water ahead of us. One drift was quietly interrupted by a tiny rise in the middle of the river, Tom lifted in to the fish and we were both left in shock as the rod jagged ferociously, the line parted quickly, the only evidence that remained was a boil in the surface that faded as it drifted down in the current. That concluded the end of our evening, on the walk back to the car we couldn't help but talk of that fish and the comparative absence of trout, a rather strange evening.Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-27921073736537086602015-07-31T22:38:00.000+01:002015-07-31T22:38:39.008+01:00Urban Variety<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A planned trip to Bedford to fish a section of the River Great Ouse called the New Cut didn't quite go to plan. Having fished here in the past and caught a wide range of coarse species I have always used bait, I really wanted to use a fly and from what I remembered of the river French leader techniques would work well. Arriving with fevered expectation I crossed a bridge and was greeted by a strong clear flow; the river looked in fantastic condition, the gravel sparkling, the ranunculas bright green and swaying.<br />
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Scouting several spots I found a dark pool, its depth dark and inviting, feeding my imagination at what might be cruising in the shadow. Unfortunately while looking at a notice to check the day ticket prices I found to my horror the stretch was now season ticket, feeling a little devastated I had to quickly change plans; I didn't have £43 for the ticket, nor the inclination to pay that either as I doubted I would fish here enough to warrant the cost.<br />
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Tom was due to meet me in Bedford as he works nearby - a major reason for choosing the venue - I told him about the change of plans and I headed in the direction of our club waters. Knowing Tom would be a couple of hours behind me I headed towards the urban stretch. We fished there on Sunday evening during persistent rain and didn't fair particularly well although we didn't blank and I caught a rather nice brownie. Due to all the rain during the afternoon, on top of what had fallen over the last few days the river was coloured and became murkier during the evening.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A dark trout from Sunday evening</td></tr>
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Arriving at the river I was pleased to see clarity had returned with an increase in flow the river has been desperate for. Setting up with a Hends camou leader on my Lexa I headed towards the pool below a surface water outflow. I could see a number of dace, trout and the occasional perch and chub, nothing particularly big, the largest trout perhaps going over a pound.<br />
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As I set up, the surface became alive with rises, with the fish cruising around the pool taking invisible items from the surface. With this change in conditions I chose a size 20 CDC shuttlecock - simply tied with an olive dyed peacock quill abdomen, a tiny ball of dubbing at the thorax and finished off with a healthy tuft of CDC to keep it afloat. After missing a couple of speedy rises the first fish landed was a feisty dace followed by pricking two other fish, the pool went quiet after that so I moved on.<br />
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Next to the outflow a bridge spans the river, the water running below flows over a smooth concrete bottom - not known for its fish holding properties. A tall sloping weir ends directly above the bridge, many holes within the weir slope create upwellings at the base. I spotted a trout earlier in one of the upwellings while looking down from the bridge, it was big enough to have noticed. A few casts into the boiling water with a JP Pupa saw the indicator stop as it traveled downstream, a firm lift attached the fish to the line. Despite the shallow water the fish stayed close, using its power it tried the reach the safety of the hole at the bottom of the concrete weir, the Lexa subduing every lunge and surge. Once in the net I was left surprised at the size of the trout, great condition and a chunky handful.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A small trout caught from the outflow pool after the larger fish from under the bridge.</td></tr>
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Above the weir the river is canal like, constricted within concrete banks, ribbon weed grows from the silted bottom - this is coarse fish territory. There used to be a great number of trout in this part of the river, many over four, five pounds, in the past I saw even bigger, those days long gone now. I could see quite a number of roach as well as a couple of chub and trout. I managed two roach before everything refused to look at the flies.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roach are a rare capture for me on a fly, this was a nice example.</td></tr>
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Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-20772109556189369852015-07-25T22:06:00.001+01:002015-07-25T22:06:32.242+01:00A Short Afternoon In The Rain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I finished work at lunchtime on Wednesday; after an almost shocking evening on Monday when Tom and I nearly blanked I really wanted to give a new section of river a real go.<br />
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The river is quite narrow here and the bank side vegetation encroaches on the water taking up more room. As I arrived it started to rain - the occasional shower drifted over during the afternoon - but thankfully it wasn't particularly windy allowing my to use my six foot two weight.<br />
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Due to the intimate nature of the river this far into the season I opted to keep things simple and nothing is as simple as a single dry-fly. I have found the trout to be free-rising, even if nothing is hatching. I've been so impressed this season by the effectiveness of Bob Wyatt's Deer Hair Emerger I find myself automatically reaching for a size twelve to tie on my tippet; it is fast becoming my one fly - for fishing in the surface at least.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One that Tom lost</td></tr>
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I started above an almost impenetrable tangle of trees, ahead of me lay a tantalising run, clearer and more open than the rest of the river I fished. Tom hooked a lovely looking fish after we spotted it rise on Monday. A well placed cast in the same area saw my DHE confidently taken, much to my surprise it didn't turn out as big as I thought it was but nevertheless I was off to a start. I spooked a small fish as I walked upstream passing through a veritable jungle, certainly no chance of catching that, not with a fly anyway.<br />
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Passing under a rail bridge, a pool the other side underneath a sycamore had a couple of rising fish Monday evening. No risers this time but that didn't stop a feisty fifteen inch brownie from taking the fly. A quick couple of pics and I moved on round the corner.<br />
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The river now set into a series of small pools and deep holes sectioned by short shallow riffles. Each little hole or pool generally relinquished a trout or two, but some failed to provide to the expectation given, maybe next time those empty spots will yield.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The river can be very intimate in places</td></tr>
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I fished for just over two hours and caught twelve trout, a rather pleasing result especially considering Monday's near disaster.Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-47531853992318749572015-07-17T22:03:00.000+01:002015-07-17T22:03:35.892+01:00A good fish leaves me puzzledHere's and interesting one for you. A fish I caught on the 1st July is a repeat capture of a fish originally caught 15th May. I had measured the fish at 17" using measuring markers on my rod and working out the length at home with a tape measure; incidentally the trout weighed 2lb 6oz and was in great condition. I caught it from a small hole in and undercut bank with overhanging vegetation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'old' lair</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In peak condition</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unassuming and easily dismissed</td></tr>
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The place where I caught the trout yesterday is 250 meters upstream, which I guess isn't far in real terms, but still a long way from what could be considered a prime lie. It's new lie is a slow deep run with undercut banks either side as well as the expected overhanging vegetation. I hooked and lost a superb trout on the 3rd of June in the same lie, but I'm not so sure this is that same fish; the one I lost looked a lot bigger and I got several good looks at it before it broke off. My regular fishing partner Steve also hooked and lost a fish - the same one I think - and we caught that on camera.<br />
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Steve hooking and losing a big trout</div>
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I have tried to tempt this fish every time I have fished this venue - without success. Yesterday I found it feeding steadily on small items in the surface film. Not seeing anything in particular drifting past me.<br />
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Some footage of the trout feeding</div>
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I tied on a size 16 All Purpose Terrestrial. It only took a few casts to tempt it, having learned from my previous loss I kept the rod tip low, so low it was often underwater; it fought hard, though not as hard as the one I lost. It wasn't until I sent pictures to Steve that I found out it was a repeat capture - he spotted it of course, I didn't even think this would be a fish from downstream.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Proctor's 'APT' All Purpose Terrestrial</td></tr>
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Using the measuring markers on my rod, I worked out at home it was 18 1/2", now I'm no biologist but it's safe to assume a trout is not going to grow an inch and a half in six weeks; strangely though the trout appeared to have lost weight and wasn't as plump as before - I need to refine my measuring techniques.<br />
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All that remains is to see whether this is the fish that haunted me or there is another, bigger one laying in the undercut.Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-58847928784697143992015-06-24T16:30:00.000+01:002015-06-24T16:30:20.569+01:00Fishes GaloreI work with some great people - Lee, one of my colleagues covered my morning shift for me on Friday last week allowing me to fish all day. I was due to fish the smaller club river with Steve, which would have been his first trip to this river. Due to unforeseen circumstances Steve couldn't make it and this gave me the chance to spend the day on the river I fished the end of May.<br />
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I spent such a short amount of time there and was left captivated by the river, I couldn't wait to go back. As I had the whole day, I left a little later, missing the rush-hour traffic which gave me a much more pleasant drive. Arriving at the river it was de-ja-vue, conditions were very similar although the river looked a little lower, despite being spring fed it suffers during dry spells.<br />
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I crept into the river and crossed to the far bank; I find setting up whilst standing relatively still allows the river to settle around you and it doesn't take long for feeding fish to reveal themselves. As before I set up my self built six foot 2/3#, I can't get enough of this rod, I love it, and I love using the Waterworks ULA Purist with it.<br />
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I could see quite a few fish rising ahead of me, some were sipping, others launching full-scale attacks on late mayflies hatching off. The surface film was covered in fluff from seeds being released upstream, among the debris I could see the occasional aphid and suspected they were providing the main feast. As much as I love fishing aphid patterns I feared it would be a struggle to see such a small fly with all the rubbish on the surface. To make things easier for me and also because it is such an effective pattern I tied on a size twelve Deer Hair Emerger; this fly has probably caught the biggest majority of fish for me so far this season - it is deadly.<br />
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I slowly made my way up the river casting at either seen fish. or those revealing themselves with frequent rises. First fish was a plump little trout of around eight inches - I always relax more once that first fish is out of the way, no-one likes a blank. A small dace followed before I came across a larger trout that was feeding, the DHE ticked all the right boxes for this fish and a great scrap ensued. In such a confined river I was lead a merry dance as the fish tore all over the river mostly trying to get into the edges where trailing vegetation reached the water.<br />
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At twelve inches long, the trout was in great condition and clearly full of energy, as a result I had to move upstream a little and allow the river to settle down from all the commotion. Ahead of me was a deep pool on a bend and I failed to catch a single fish here last time, I had learned my error and approached with much more caution. I had caught and released around four or five trout by the time I reached the head of the pool around the corner.<br />
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I missed a good fish that was tucked only inches away from the bank sat in the smallest of depressions. I had watched it rise several times and as I walked past it was obvious why it had taken station there; a foam line consisting of a single file of bubbles providing a steady stream of morsels drifting down the current.<br />
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I saw a trout I recognised from my last visit, scales shimmering like gold flakes across its back makes it very distinctive, I couldn't tempt it this time. Missing a couple of really small trout, I found a small group of chub hanging around a slack part of the river, catching one sent the others in to a frenzy as they charged around scaring everything else. I spent some more time resting the river as I tried to squeeze past the frightened fish and stood still waiting for things to calm back down.<br />
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Like a small doorway, an opening in front of me was surrounded by a horrifying tangle of brambles and branches, an exact cast was needed otherwise you will certainly be fetching stuck flies. A small trout could be seen against the light bottom, hanging mid-water occasionally tilting up to take items from the surface. First cast failed to tempt it, second cast went wayward into the vegetation, thankfully it didn't remain there allowing me to seduce the small fish, however, it didn't stay on.<br />
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The river above flows over a shallow gravel bar hitting the bank and flowing hard alongside it, the bottom worn down to clay by the flow and back-lighting all the fish that lay above it - great for fish spotting. I spooked a good-sized trout and watched as it shot past me - at least it went downstream.<br />
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Another trout of similar size was stationed in a small depression near to the bank, the current flowing over its head bringing food. I watched as it darted out from its lie to intercept food. My cast landed short, not that it mattered, the trout turned on its tail and took the fly as it faced downstream. Shooting up over the gravel it used the velocity of the fast current to propel it back downstream with ferocity, heading for a tangle of sunken roots and trailing weed. Taking a few minutes I finally drew the fish over the net. Too slippery to take a picture the fish made twelve inches - they fight far harder than they ought to for their size.<br />
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As I retied my tippet and a new fly, I could hear Joe calling my name, he had seen my car and came down looking for me. I told him of my success and failures and he was surprised to hear that I had been fishing for four hours, such was the slow speed of my travel. He offered to take me and show me some of the water held by the club he is a member of - the club is generous allowing a member to rod share with a guest. Joining the river above a small weir, we waded up-river, there were a few fish ahead of where we entered the river, mostly dace, but there were one or two trout dotted about. I missed a couple of dace and trout - very poor angling on my part.<br />
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We found a large trout lying close to the near-side bank, despite several well placed casts the fish drifted away and hid under some weed. We trampled along a very overgrown bank, the river here was more a slow flowing lowland river, although it remained crystal clear. As we walked upstream the rivers pace quickened and the ribbon weed replaced with ranunculas. We changed our path from the bank to the river. As we walked the river we came across a small group of large fish, a shame we had already spooked them.<br />
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It wasn't until we reached a weir below a ford that I caught a fish, two in fact - one small, the other larger; we finished there and followed a road back to where we started. Joe dropped me off by my car as he had run out of time and had to head off. I returned to the river where I had left and crept back into the water.<br />
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Above the gravel bar a large tree over hangs the rivers surface, tickling the film with the tips of its leaves. A trout was rising underneath, not an impossible cast but tricky enough. Several attempts were needed before the fish took the DHE. Lifting firmly, the fish immediately and savagely accelerated down. the Purist singing sweetly and line was stripped off at speed. Unfortunately the fish was too powerful and I too slow, the tippet snapping like the proverbial cotton.<br />
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I spooked a couple more fish as I passed through the trailing branches, ahead was a lovely riffle, last time I fished I spooked fish from the whole length. I was determined not too fail this time, a trout of around ten inches launched itself at the fly moments after it landed, a brief fight let left me feeling pleased as I really wanted to catch a fish from this run. By the time I had reached the end of the short twenty yard section I had caught three fish in total.<br />
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The next pool up only produced one fish, it had spooked all the others which was a shame as I managed quite a few last time. This fish had an interesting black mark near its tail, an old wound that had healed with a darker pigment.<br />
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I had now reached where the river runs at the bottom of several gardens, the river is really attractive along this stretch, the river is slightly wider and shallower as a result, ranunculas carpets the clean gravel, swaying in the current. There were a lot of fish in this area - chub, dace and the occasional trout - most were holding next to the reeds on the near bank; they provide a decent overhang and the fish generally swam under for protection.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Athripsodes cinereus - Brown Silverhorn</td></tr>
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I caught a number of dace with the odd trout and chub mixed in, one notable trout that needed some effort in tempting, fell to a size 22 (old sizing) klinkhamer. As I reached the top of this part the river flowed under a tunnel of trees. A good swarm of caddis were zooming up and down the river, I could catch them easily enough, but getting them from the net to my container proved problematic, although I succeeded in the end and secured two specimens in my film canister. I later identified them as Athripsodes cinereus Brown Silverhorn after taking some photographs.<br />
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I changed over to a Balloon caddis and caught two more trout from under the trees. By this point it was time to leave, it had been a long and extraordinary day, I caught upwards of thirty fish, mostly trout with a good number of dace and a few chub.<br />
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Days like this are good for you, because although I do like to pursue larger than average fish, sometimes you need to catch a net full, just to recharge the desire.<br />
<br />Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2038660449117796707.post-83678379074520980202015-06-15T12:09:00.000+01:002015-06-15T12:09:18.161+01:00Last Of The MohicansA very delayed post for some reason - I think I just forgot to write it.<br />
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A lunchtime finish on the 3rd saw me head off to use a guest ticket I had won in a raffle, for a club whose waiting list I am on. To cut a long story short I wasted a couple of hours looking at various bits of water; I struggled to find anywhere worth fishing as a lot of the river was over grown both inside and out of the water. Access was restricted on one of the sections I looked at due to a barbed wire fence that created a buffer patch - great for the river, but not so good for the wader-wearing angler who incidentally was fishing a river with a no wading rule!<br />
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I conceded defeat and headed to the smaller club river that has been so kind to me recently; I had permission to fish late so it didn't bother me that I didn't get there until late afternoon. I made my way to the bottom of the long glide where I had fished last week with Tom. I knew there were fish here and the number of mayfly spinners in the air and flitting along the rivers surface gave me hope of good sport.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/18135363461" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Mohican Mayfly by Ben Lupton, on Flickr"><img alt="Mohican Mayfly" height="240" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7762/18135363461_aee63be7f5_k.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oliver Edwards' Mohican Mayfly</td></tr>
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The afternoon was bright with a little wind, there wasn't any surface activity while I set up, despite the spinners laying eggs and a reasonable number of duns hatching, but I was hopeful that the Mohican would do it's thing and bring the fish up. I fished up the glide without so much as a swirl or missed take, it wasn't looking good. Even the pool at the top failed to produce anything, and the pool above that too failed. I was starting to get desperate.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/17106469399" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Caddis green scruffing dubbing JP Pupa by Ben Lupton, on Flickr"><img alt="Caddis green scruffing dubbing JP Pupa" height="213" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7668/17106469399_e610aac6d3_k.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">JP Pupa - Scruffy Dubbing caddis green</td></tr>
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By this point I was standing just below the horse's lair, not really wanting to deliberately recapture a fish I desperately felt the need to hook, let alone land a fish. The ever reliable JP Pupa tied with a standard copper coloured bead with a Scruffy Dubbing caddis green body produced a fish first cast. You simple can't beat visually watching a fish take your fly and after a brief and unconvincing scrap a plump 15" fish lay in the net, not the horse I was expecting but it saved me from the dreaded blank. Checking with previous pictures this fish was indeed a repeat capture, caught earlier in the season in the main pool below the horse's lair.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/17810587823" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="15" Wild Brown Trout by Ben Lupton, on Flickr"><img alt="15" Wild Brown Trout" height="266" src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7776/17810587823_bf0b3acf70_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/18404784166" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="15" Wild Brown Trout by Ben Lupton, on Flickr"><img alt="15" Wild Brown Trout" height="266" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8861/18404784166_a1c94fa6e8_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Moving up the river I continued in vain having retied the Mohican back on. This section had yealded several good fish but gave me nothing that afternoon. Making my way upstream, I couldn't help wonder if anything was swimming in its current, I still hadn't seen a rise yet. A little further up a rise gave me encouragement, after a couple more rises I knew there was a fish I could target. A sprightly 12" fish rewarded me for my perseverance.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/18432887701" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="12" Wild Brown Trout by Ben Lupton, on Flickr"><img alt="12" Wild Brown Trout" height="266" src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7793/18432887701_a9ba42a2e4_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Leaving the river and walking a short distance, skipping what I consider fairly unproductive water I slipped into the river at the bottom end of another long glide. I don't know what made me but I stood in the edge of the river and waited for a few minutes. It wasn't long before a very large fish exposed itself. Rising close to the bank it moved with purpose taking spinners and duns without fuss, I watched, barely further than six meters downstream. Moments like this make you appreciate how essential a quite approach getting to and entering the river, I really was that close to it.<br />
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A few casts proved to be too short, anxious to not spook the fish I gave it a rest while watching. Lengthening more line it took a couple more casts before the fly landed where I wanted. A confident rise was met with a firm lift and the fish was on. Boring deep into the undercut on my near-side the fish tore up and down, doubling over my little six footer. I saw the trout more than once, it was colossal. I remained calm and met its every move with a counter move, side-strain was my allie. However, as with all big trout, this one knew what it was doing, finding a small but thick branch in the undercut it had successfully caught my line around it. I was still in contact and remained confident, this may have been my downfall.<br />
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Tightening down to the fish, I made a fatal error. Initially it was the furled leader that was entangled around the branch, the result of my shortening my line meant the tippet was now in contact with it, the furled leader ultimately being stronger than the mono. All this was happening inches away from me, I could see the trout trying to get away - then it happened. I watched without it registering as the trout shot off, a few seconds later the realisation hit, it was gone. As I snapped and pulled the branch out before throwing it into the bank I vowed we would meet again, I was confident of it.<br />
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Surprisingly there was little dejection flowing through me, it was just one of those things - some you win, others you lose. Tying on another fly I fished out the run missing a take, the deep pool failed to provide any comfort.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/18641063728" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Foam-Winged Mayfly Spinner by Ben Lupton, on Flickr"><img alt="Foam-Winged Mayfly Spinner" height="213" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5460/18641063728_3ec6b2ae1c_k.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foam-Winged Mayfly Spinner</td></tr>
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Once again I left the river and walked a short distance before rejoining it a little further upstream. A small trout jumped after a fly but I couldn't get it to take and prospecting up the run and around the corner left me wanting. At the head of a small pool a fish sipped flies with such regularity I wondered if there were more than one. Tying on one of the foam-winged spinners that had given me so much frustration only the week before, I wondered if it was a good idea - I vowed I would simply lift harder, in case the wings were masking the point and preventing the hook from penetrating.<br />
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Several well positioned casts failed to lure the trout as it took flies around the spinner. I was beginning to have doubts whether it was mayfly spinners it was taking; I spent some more time observing. There were the very occasional olive spinner drifting down the current, but their numbers were dwarf by the larger mayflies. I persevered and eventually my persistence was rewarded, a much more powerful lift than I would normally firmly attached the fish to my hook - and it held. I was led a merry dance by this fish - the trout in this river love their undercuts - but the little six foot rod performed beautifully.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129829908@N07/17808629784" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="18" Wild Brown Trout by Ben Lupton, on Flickr"><img alt="18" Wild Brown Trout" height="166" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8826/17808629784_229faa0dd4_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Expecting the fish to be the 16"er I had caught before from this pool, I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the fish that lay in the net. It measured 18" but was a long lean fish, by the end of the summer I'm sure it will be reaching three. However this trout was nothing compared to the one I lost earlier, I reckon that one was easily over 20" and looked fuller in the body, possibly a near four pounder! I'm not sure how I will catch it, the mayfly now over my job will be much harder, but I am focused and relishing the challenge. Bring it on!<br />
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Fishing a little further on without success I quickly cut my losses and headed home. Despite losing that monster you can't go home after catching such a splendid fish and my biggest so far.Ben Luptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16836748184844685848noreply@blogger.com0