Little & Large

Fly tying for me is all about inspiration...I may have an urge to try out a material I've not used before, or see a pattern someone else has tied that is 'my kind of fly' and then try to replicate it, sometimes the inspiration will come from a desire to create my own 'killer pattern', either way I find that I tie better with an ultimate goal in mind.

This fly was create after seeing something similar on the UK fly dressing forum. Tied on a #10 heavy buzzer hook and containing 2 tungsten beads of 4mm + 3.5mm (1 buried in the thorax). This is for use on those big rivers where pace and depth call for such heavy bugs to be used, predominately for winter Grayling fishing.

The following flies were tied really just as an experiment in tying the 'smaller' sizes of fly which I have not done much of and an area which I really need to get to grips with. Tied on #22 which is still a long way off from the miniature flies tied by the likes of Andy Baird but one small step in the right direction for me.

Back On River Clun

After a couple of weeks going stir crazy waiting for the river levels to subside after the recent rain/snow melt it was a welcome change to be once again back out Grayling fishing on one of the rivers of the Welsh Marches.

Today (Sunday 23rd) 3 of us went to tackle the River Clun and found the water pushing through quite hard but it was certainly fishable with the colour dropping out nicely so expectations were initially positive.

 We split up and covered a large section of the river, I managed to latch into an 8 inch Grayling quite early and thought it might be a good sign for the rest of the day...how wrong!

A few hours later I met up with my brother who was fishing upstream of me and we exchanged a few choice expletives in reference to the days fishing thus far...he had not had a single touch all day. We went on and fished another area upstream we had both caught well from before where I managed to connect with another 2 fish after calling it a day.

After meeting back up with my mate who had fished well downstream of me and to be told he had also had a fishless day we knew that there was only one thing for it...a pint or two and snacks at the local hostelry and a brief debate on the reasons for the poor fishing.

The final conclusion was that these rivers are still in recovery mode after what has been a few weeks of severe weather conditions combined with the fact that in reality fishing this time of the year often results in a lack of fish.

Regardless of the fishing it was great to be back in the river again and with spring not far round the corner there is sure to be plenty to look forward to.

Here's a video of the whale:

Same story with the Dungeness, a few here and there. Some better numbers from the bay this past weekend with several people limiting out. A good surfperch bite at the north end of the beach, sometimes coming in three at a time. The whale has moved out toward the mouth of the bay.

The Dungeness keep coming, just less of them. There's at least a few caught every day from the pier, some days more than a few. The bay has become tougher but still pretty good if you tend your gear often and move around until you find the Dungies. Outside is slowing down as well but again, if you tend the gear you should catch. There's no point in trying to catch crabs that aren't there.

Upper Welsh Dee

A trip out today on the Upper Welsh Dee was just what was needed to get the mind back focused on the winter Grayling fishing I've missed over the last couple of weeks due to unnatural river conditions (frozen over!).

We headed to a stretch I'd not fished before along with a couple of lads from the Sea Trout Forum and although the river was running a little higher than we would have liked we still managed to connect with a handful of Grayling...with a couple of the fine specimens this river seems to hold.

Paul(squirrelblue) with the biggest Grayling of the day

Hoppy playing what we thought might be a monster Grayling...

       ...turned out to be a totally alien species(Rainbow Trout) for this river

Although I had managed to connected with a couple of the larger fish I never had them on long enough to get them in the net, but glad to get a photo of the ones that were caught.

This beauty turned out to be the last fish for 2010 for Hoppy.

With a couple of days left of the christmas break and the river levels dropping I fancy there may well be another excursion to the Dee valley before the return to work.

PS. Happy New Year to all who visit this blog.