A Little Place I Call Heaven

Today ( bank holiday Monday ) i made sure i had booked a day off work so that i could get a good few hours out on the stream as i haven't fished it for a few weeks due to practicing with the french leader ready for the winter grayling.  Anyways the day started off with me giving Mostyn a ring to see if he was going fishing today and he was more than happy to say yes :)  We got onto the stream and it was still very low and crystal clear even though we had a good bit of rain for a few days during last week and the weekend :-/ but we ploded along fishing some nice runs with fast water and picked up a few nice trout which were very very fast striking the fly but not very big neither only a few inches but nice to see none the less :)
As we moved on up stream we noticed that there was a very good hatch of olives, brook duns and the odd mayfly plus the sherry spinners flying about everywhere.  There was fish rising everywhere in the fast water, glides and calm water :) myself and Mostyn put our flies in separate pool and both of use were into a fish straight away :) the fast strikes and kept on for around 2 hours and missing them too, but it wouldnt be called fishing if we could catch them all ;) As i rested down for a drink and something to eat Mostyn fished a nice pool which normally has a good head of fish and i just knew that he was going to have a few so i got the camera out and he was straight into a fish and 2 more straight afterwards ;)


As it got a bit on in the day and the air temperature got a bit colder there wasn't as much fly life left on the water and a lot more area's where shaded so there wasn't so many splashy rises but we hit a pool which just screamed out fish so i was first to give it a try :) first few casts i had a rise but didn't strike into it as Mostyn was talking to me and i wasn't concentrating :P but now that i knew where the fish was lying i casted it across the other sections of the pool and give that one a rest.  I cast above about 4/5 feet from where the fish is laying and wait in anticipation as the fly passes it..................... and nothing .  So i cast it again and again and still nothing.  So myself and Mostyn decided to call it a day so i cast the length of my line out to reel my line in and then BANG i wasn't expecting it :-o i struck and as soon as i knew it the fish was hooked and jumping like crazy and then it happened it snapped and Mostyn was laughing :(  But it was nice to be back on the stream with my little 6ft 3# and if i died and if i died and went to heaven  this would be it :)

here are a few more pictures of the day :)

River & Stream

STREAM 
It was Saturday and had the weekend off and i was determined to get out onto the stream to get out and persuade a few wild trout to the dry fly.  I phoned my trusted companion for the day and asked where are we going and he said that he has a surprise for me today as he was going to take me onto a stream which is hasn't been fished for years  :-D  So we get to the untouched stream and it looked as beautiful as i imagined it in my head, over hanging tree's, large boulders, fast runs, nice glides, riffles and pockets.  I couldnt wait to jump in and wet a line :-D

Mostyn let me take the first pool, it had a bit of slow water with a fast run down the middle and sides at the top of the pool.  I fished the fast and slow water making dozens of casts, kneeling down all the way not to spook the fish but still didn't entice anything to the dry fly.  It was like that for a few more pools and runs up the stream until i came to a nice side pool which had lots of channels of fast water coming into the main pool.  I placed my fly at the ends of the fast runs first just encase there was anything lying there before i put my fly into the much faster water, and straight away i had a rise to my fly but these wild brown trout are very very fast and i mist the take but i was determined to get one from this pool ;-) a few more cast and a few more mist takes and i actually hooked one, a nice little perfect wild brown trout.
But it was the same all the way through the stream, a bit of hit and miss for myself unlike my good mate Mostyn who was picking them up rite left and center but mainly dropping them off but a nice day and i shall definatly visit this wild small stream again :-)

Mostyn fishing a nice pool.


RIVER
The next day ( Sunday ) my brother phoned me up asking me to teach him a few things about fly fishing as he has been nagging me for ages so i could not say no :-/  I set him up on a team of nymphs as where i was taking him it was ideal as it had some shallow fast runs and some deep pools with a bit of flowing water in it.  I was first up in a run which i like to call mine and only mine pool :-p
I was set up with a klink & dink, i stood a fair bit off the fast water to start off with just showing my brother a few things on casting etc etc and then started fishing the faster water where i know usually there is a good head of fish :-) I placed my flies up against the fast water and directly in the fast water itself where there normally lies a few nice fish but nothing today.  So i decided to put on a heavier nymph and sort of czech nymph it with a short line keeping the klinkhammer out of the water as an indicator and using a heavier nymph.  as soon as i was drifting the nymph down in the fast water next to the wall i felt a tug on my line but i didn't strike for some reason and didn't hook into the fish so i decided ( obviously ) to put it past it again, but this time i struck and was into a fish.  Then all of a sudden it shot off up river and down river, i knew i was into a good fish so i let it run some line off the reel and tire itself out whilst placing a bit of pressure on it to keep the line tight.  It was jumping and splashing about like a wild horse and finally after about 5 minutes managed to calm the beast down enough to get it into the net.  A nice 3 1/2 lber  give or take :-)

After hooking that monster i gave my fly rod and same set up to my brother and showed him what to do and where to place the flies and low and behold a few flicks to get used to the rod and how to flick the rod he was into a fish around 1lb.  As the day got on myself and my brother hooked into a few nice fish and lost a few nice fish too.  But i will definatly take my brother fly fishing again as it was a good laugh and we also caught a few nice fish too.  What more can you ask for ;-)

Here are a few pictures of the day.


my brother with his first fish on the fly

A rare photo of myself ;-)