A horse's lair

Yesterday I told of a large fish that snapped my line, I caught a glimpse of the fish and it left an imprint on my memory and I vowed I would return. Today was about unfinished business. It took me a while to actually decide where I was going to fish, almost spoiled for choice really. As I had such a good day yesterday I felt I had to start where I finished and intended to start further upstream, but couldn't resist having another go at the monster.

Adams Klinkhamer

I quietly eased into the river below the main pool and sat on the bank taking my time to set up. Although my main target was the large trout I hoped to open the days account in the pool above me. As the duo had proved successful yesterday I rigged up the same again, size 10 Adams klinkhamer and size 12 JP Pupa with a 2.8mm copper bead; I also used the same outfit as yesterday as I enjoyed using the six footer that much.

After a couple of casts I hooked a good fish in the main pool, despite putting quite a bit of pressure on, it acted as though it wasn't aware it was hooked and was quickly brought to the net; at 15" it was a great start to the day. As the fish stayed at the bottom end of pool I was hopeful of another trout but nothing else materialised.

Caddis green JP Pupa

With the pool out of the way I could concentrate on the horse's lair. Same as yesterday, I cast above the undercut in the fast water and allowed the current to sweep the flies into the hole. The fish showed itself as it darted out to intercept the fly. I went through several fly changes as well as giving the fish time to rest; I tried a hydropsyche, a gammarus and a woolly bugger with out success. The main issue I was having was that the flies weren't being drawn under the over-hanging vegetation, I then tried a caddis green JP Pupa.

The horse's lair

After a few casts a sixth sense told me to lift, the line gave no indication but I found myself attached to a fish. Within a few seconds the fish realised it had been hooked and started to charge around trying to get in the undercut, as its plan failed it shot past me into the pool below. After jumping many times I started to gain control - I really wish I had a picture of the little rod hooped over. The fish was powerful and stayed deep throughout the fight, it was a relief to get the fish in the net. Bright sunshine bathed its butter yellow body, much brighter coloured than other fish I've caught from this river. I had my scales in my bag since I caught the 6lb'er, this fish measured 17" and weighed 2lb 6oz, my day was made.

I walked upstream feeling very pleased, there's nothing to beat the feeling of catching a targeted big trout. Walking up to the point where I came across the hatch of olives, I dropped in the river and was greeted by a rise ahead. With nothing particular hatching but the occasional fish rising I tied on a size 14 DHE, I really rave the fly since I started using it last year, it pulls fish up from nowhere; hats off to Bob Wyatt.

Bob Wyatt's Deer Hair Emerger

I progressed up the river catching several fish including one of 16", all on dries. The weather was complete contrast to yesterday with bright sunshine eventually turning the fish off as I spent the last half an hour not stirring a fin despite changing flies and methods. I'm starting to fall in love with this little river and there's still more to explore.

Oh the pain having to leave a river mid-hatch!

I took a trip to a different river today, it is a much smaller river that forms part of another river catchment to the main river the club has fishing on. I fished the river once last year and didn't fare too well only catching one fish. The main reason for my choice today was a stiff easterly wind, this meant an upstream wind, which should provide a more comfortable day. On arrival I found a slight tinge to the water, I hoped this would make conditions favourable. I chose to use my 6' 2# because of the close confines in parts of the river, teamed with a Waterworks Purist1 and Barrio Smallstream, this was the first time I had used this outfit together.

I started almost at the bottom of the beat just above its confluence with the main river. The river at this end is reminiscent of a freestone river, there are lots of pools and riffles despite this being a spring-fed river. As it was cold I opted to fish the duo, nothing was moving so I figured I'd cover the top with an Adams Klinkhåmer and the bottom with a JP Pupa. The pool I started on looks so tantalising, yet twice in a row it has failed to produce a single fish. It wasn't until further up that I finally caught a fish, a sprightly little six incher to the JP Pupa.

Next pool up produced two more fish, a slightly bigger trout again to the JP Pupa and a plump twelve inch fish that engulfed the klinkhåmer like is was its last meal. Just up from the main pool the current sweeps to the right hand bank and cuts a small deep hole under the bank before it flows into the pool proper. A deft cast placed the flies into the fast water, the current took the flies along the edge of over-hanging vegetation. As the flies drifted down, the line stabbed forward and it tightened violently snapping instantly. This was 0.15mm tippet - that has never happened - I have landed 6lb fish on 0.129mm tippet, but the 0.15mm tippet snapped like cotton. I wasn't disappointed, but I left the pool in awe at the power of that unseen fish.

Continuing up the river the next fish took the JP Pupa and led me a merry dance for over five minutes; the rod coped brilliantly, hooped over but with plenty of grunt in the butt. At 16 1/2", this trout was the biggest of the day and it gave a great account of itself, I was truly made.

Above where I caught the the 16" fish, the current flowed against the left hand bank, a drift close to bank proved perfect as the klinkhåmer disappeared in a vicious swirl. Another great fish at 15" wasn't much smaller than the last. These fish fight dirty though, they make the most of any over-hanging vegetation, undercuts and generally anything they can try and snag you up on. The day really was becoming great.

I continued up the river without much success, there were very few flies hatching and even fewer fish rising.

Arriving at a really deep pool, it was just the sort of place that might yeald a truly monster trout to a streamer, As it happens I caught two fish from the pool, a smaller fish that came off just as I was about to land it and a trout measuring 13" that took the klinkhåmer at the head of the pool.

As the day progressed more duns began hatching off, I even saw a mayfly dun hatch that was promptly nailed by something small in the edge of the river.

A little further up I came a across a full-blown hatch and lots of rising fish. The duns were small, a size 18 Barbour Paradun imitated them perfectly and I caught several more fish as well as loosing a few. It was great to be able to target individual rising fish; of course more fish were put down than caught, the upstream wind that helped with casting the light line now straightened things too much and drag became a major problem, inventive casting was employed and many wiggles added. I forgot to take any pictures of the fish, they were all between 7-10", but I did manage a couple of scenic shots.

I was having a ball, but time was running out, my daughter needed picking up at half four and I was about forty-five minutes away. It was hard pulling myself away, flies were still hatching, fish were still rising - there's always next time; I really like this river.

Danica Mayfly Nymph

I missed out on last years mayfly hatch; by the time my nights had finished the hatch had been and gone and I had only managed a couple of short afternoons beforehand. This year sees my nights brought forward by two weeks - it's a fifty week pattern - and my rest week falls on the last week of May, right in the middle of the hatch.

For some reason I didn't tie any mayfly nymphs last year - I am a confirmed dry-fly fan, but that is not to say I don't fish with nymphs, of course I do, but there is always a preference. I think it is the visual aspect that I has me tying on a dry-fly when I can; you cannot beat seeing a fish rise and your fly disappear.

This time around I have managed to tie a number of nymphs. In the past I used Steve Thornton's Mayfly nymph that he tied with his Virtual Nymph Skin ( see here for a very old SBS I did a few years ago). In homage to this fly and to Oliver Edward's Wiggle Mayfly nymph I have been tying a fly that utilises the tightly wound yarn body from the Wiggle Nymph with the overall profile of Steve's pattern and incorporating kinked rubber legs.

Hook: I use a curved longshank hook, for example Tiemco 200 or Veniard Osprey VH115.

Thread: White 50d GSP

Underbody: Adhesive lead sheeting

Tail: Dark brown goose biots

Body: Cream wool/yarn

Gills: Golden brown dyed ostrich herl

Wing buds: Dark brown goose biots

Legs: Medium Flexifloss/ Large Montana Fly Co. Tentacles in tan, kinked with a hot tip cauteriser

Thorax: Cream dubbing, I used the same wool as the body shredded

Thorax cover: Virtual Nymph Nymph Skin 3mm translucent coloured with dark brown marker

Head and Protonum: Same as thorax.

Place your hook in the vice - this is a size 10. Wrap a layer of adhesive lead sheet starting just above the hook point - this will vary depending on hook size, but you are looking for the initial layer to be around 2/3rds the hook shank - wrap to just short of the eye. Start a second layer of lead roughly two turn lead wraps forward and finish just short of the first layer.

Start your thread at the eye and securely tie down the lead, as you work your way down to the bend smooth out the lead layers so the underbody has a smooth tapered profile. Wrap the thread to a point  halfway between the point and where the bend starts. Tie in a single biot on top of the hook. Select your biot from high up the quill where you will find the thinnest biots.

Dub a small amount of dubbing and form a small ball immediately where the first biot is tied in. Next tie in two more biots, one either side of the dubbing ball. Tie these so they are just shorter than the first biot, but running parallel with it.

Next prepare a length of wool or yarn. To do this, trim off a piece around three to four inches long; you may need to remove a ply or two depending on the thickness of the wool. Taper the end by shredding the fibres between your finger and thumb, starting at the tip and working along roughly 3/4 of an inch of wool. This will help produce a taper when you wind the wool to make the body. Tie in the wool so that it is tight to the dubbing ball and biots. Then tie in the ostrich herl at the point where the first layer of lead starts, making sure it is tied in nearly underneath so that when the gills are wrapped they start from the side of the fly - this is more for aesthetics than anything, but note that the naturals gills are on top of the abdomen. Then tie in two biots at around the point where the second layer of lead begins. Tie these either side of center so there is a gap in-between them.

To make the body, twist the wool the direction it is already twisted to tighten it, this will give you a segmentation effect and wind the wool up the hook shank, keeping the twist tight as you wrap. When you reach the ostrich ensure that it remains in place in-between the segments and continue to one or two segments past the biots, again ensuring they remain in place.

To note, if you are wrapping the wool from back to front - opposite to the thread wraps - it will help immensely to tie the wool in the end where it has been cut from the ball. This way you will be twisting with the wool and the twist will remain as you wrap it around the hook shank, rather than the twist loosening as it would if you tied in the opposite end.

Next make the gills by winding the ostrich herl following the direction of the wool body and tie off;  trim the gills underneath either now or when the fly is finished. Then tie in a length of Virtual Nymph Nymph Skin on top of the shank, tying in tight to the last segment of the body. Tie in shiny side up and it will help to pre-colour both sides of the Nymph Skin with a marker prior to tying in.

Tie in two lengths of Flexifloss for the legs, one either side of the hook shank. The back set of legs should be tied in against the last segment, this will help to push the leg out away from the thorax. Wind the thread forward trapping the Flexifloss; these will form the middle set of legs. The middle set of legs should be fixed in a position around halfway between where the thorax starts and the eye of the hook.

Dub a noodle of dubbing onto the thread. I used the wool that formed the body to make the dubbing by chopping and shredding to mix up the fibres in to usable dubbing. Wind the dubbing, filling the gap between the legs and finishing approximately one wrap in front of the middle legs; use the dubbing to help position the legs, the back legs should point back slightly, the middle legs should roughly be 90 degrees to the hook shank.

Pull the Nymph Skin over the dubbing to form the thorax cover, you will need a small amount of tension to make the Nymph Skin behave, tie the Nymph Skin down to the eye. Then tie in the biots, you can do this individually or together at the same time, try to keep the gap between the biots.

Apply a smallish amount of dubbing to the thread and form a small head behind the eye, pull over the Nymph Skin and tie down securely with a couple of wraps of thread. Then tie in another set of legs each side of the hook; trim off the legs pointing backwards so the front set of legs point directly forward.

Again dub the thread and fill out the remaining part of the thorax, again use the dubbing to position the legs. Pull over the Nymph Skin and cover the last section of thorax (officially called the protonum), whip finish and cut the thread and trim the Nymph Skin. Re-colour the thorax cover and head if necessary. Readjust the fly so it is pointing down and kink the legs using a hot-tip cauteriser, cut the legs to length.

Ugly brute is my largest wild brown trout

An uncertain forecast this week meant I cancelled plans to fish the Derbyshire Wye with Mike; as it turns out the weather was reasonable and I had the chance to fish all day today. An early start saw me drop my daughter off at the childminders at quarter to seven, then an hours drive to the river. On my way I couldn't decide where to fish, I had unfinished business on a couple of beats but settled on checking out the urban stretch.

I haven't seen my nemesis since September, even on the occasional visit during the winter for grayling and coarse fish, I still didn't see it. Today was no different, I fear the fish has been removed leaving me only with the memory of hooking and loosing it and the exasperation of pulling a fly out of its mouth, but I can only hope I am wrong.

The last time I visited the urban stretch I took Steve for a tour, I told of a large fish that I'm certain went for Steve's fly even though we were sure it was spooked. Today I found that same fish, very dark from the top it was tucked under the concrete edging upstream of a bridge. Now most people would agree that a trout laying motionless on the bottom isn't a fish that will likely take your fly.

A waiting game needed to be played, I had time, it was early and the rest of the day lay ahead. Sitting on the grassy bank below the bread I took my time setting up. A Hends Canou leader was already attached to the reel which was convenient as a fly line landing on the water tends to put the fish down immediately. The river here is slow, the surface smooth, I needed a fly that ticked all the suggestive boxes and didn't sink like a stone. Andrew Ellis of Scruffy Dubbing fame had sent me some cream rabbit dubbing to go with the caddis green dubbing I already had. I use these two specific colours for JP pupa, cream being my all time favourite. A size 12 cream bodied with a 2,8mm copper coloured brass bead providing a minimal amount of weight.

JP Pupa tied with cream rabbit dubing

I saw a couple of fish milling about in front of me, knowing that my target was well upstream I supposed it wouldn't hurt to open my account trying to catch one of these. It took a few casts - mostly because I had to get used to the french leader again - but eventually I saw a trout take my fly as it drifted down in the current. A feisty fight from a trout that turned out to be bigger than first appeared started things nicely. A quick Glen Pointon style head shot and the fish shot off downstream.

I entered the water and slowly stalked my way under the bridge. Reaching the other end I could see the dark shape of the large trout in the same position I had found it in. As I was pulling line off and preparing to cast and unseen fish darted upstream from below me. It headed straight to where the larger trout lay, both fish the swam downstream back under the bridge, my head fell as I was left despondent; I had blown it before I had even had the chance.

Still hopeful I crept back downstream and to my surprise the large fish had taken up station two thirds across the river, barely fifteen feet away the fish seemed either unaware or unconcerned by my presence. I stood just down from parallel with it and threw a couple of ambitious casts towards the fish. One cast that landed just to the side saw the fish drift across to intercept the fly, last minute the fly dragged across the river putting it off but it moved to the fly - my confidence soared. Another couple of casts and the fly landed inch perfect, as the fly traveled down the flow, a blink of white brought an immediate reaction as I lifted in to the fish.

The fight was long and almost one-sided, there were no bonefish like runs, just pure dogged power. My Daiwa Lexa was bent doubled as every lunge and head shake was absorbed; the three weight was a bit under-gunned but coped nevertheless. I had a chap with his young daughter watching from above, as the fight wore on he agreed to take some pictures if I landed the trout.

Bit of a squeeze

After what seemed like an age I squeezed the trout into my pitiful scoop net - I really must get a bigger net. It was colossal, certainly bigger than anything I'd caught before. I handed my camera over  and explained how it worked as the fish rested in the net. The photos were quickly taken and I set up to weigh, I tend to take my scales with me when I fish this stretch. Some reference pictures were taken against the rod so I could work out its length. After another rest I weighed the trout; the scales said 6lb 1oz, my biggest wild brown trout to date.

My day was made already and it was only half ten, I had more than exceeded expectations, Not really knowing what to do with myself; I could have happily gone home satisfied. Of course I didn't, there was no way I'd waste the full days fishing, I set off to fish a club beat.......

As it turns out this fish and I have already met, after checking some pictures I caught this fish last year on the 6th August, it weighed 5lb 6oz, proof that good handling, and of course releasing, works.

Caught last year at 5lb 6oz