For those of you that know Tim Woerner, I just heard that he was spotted outside today, doing a few practice laps and getting ready for salmon season. He's healing up and will soon be back at the Landing.

Only Just Spring And Already Praying For Rain

A first trip out to one of my favourite Shropshire venues was a little bit of a shock last Sunday. This little river was running at a drastically low level and as a result the flows had become almost static in places that would normally have a good pull of water running through them.

It's no surprise that under such circumstances the chances of a good days fishing was virtually non existent and added the fact that the water had become crystal clear and there wasn't a cloud in the sky I would have chosen better to return back home and tie some flies for when things get better.

The only chance for any likely fish was going to be the deeper gullies that ran at the neck of a few of the pools and I did manage to connect with a couple of trout from one or two areas but it was one of those days when I soon realised that I was just going through the motions and as a result the enjoyment level had diminished rapidly.

We all long for a nice, warm days when we go out fishing and pray that the rain keeps off but I came away on Sunday hoping and praying that we have a prolonged spell of rain that will help turn this little river and many others in this region back to the healthy flows that help sustain the delicate balance these rivers depend on.

I'm hoping to be back on the Wye around Builth Wells next weekend in time for the prolific Grannom hatches that this river usually gets, but even this Welsh giant of a river is unseasonably low at the moment and will require early morning/late evening tactics to get the best out of it.



Recently Tied Grannom Emerger #14



The leopard sharks were spotted (no pun intended) today in the cove at Tom's Point (Brazil Beach on some maps). The gentleman reporting said he saw fins all over. They are probably spawning, so a sportsman would practice catch and release. For those of you that aren't sportsmen, try to pretend.

Not too much to report. Still a few Dungeness crab getting caught on the pier. The weather is keeping the pier uncrowded. There was another sea lion eating a shark a couple of hundred yards from the pier on Wednesday. It looked like a decent sized leopard shark from the glimpse I had of it.

The crabbing has been pretty slow. The one boat that went out over the weekend caught three Dungeness in six pots after an overnight soak. The ospreys are flying around with perch in their talons but neither of the guys that I spoke with had caught any. The rain muddied up the bay, so the leopard sharks have probably moved to the deeper holes for a little while. The clams and cockles have been there for those that try for them. I heard a story about a salmon being caught in a crab pot out in the deep. If it's true, it's a good sign that there's a lot of salmon out there. My rule is to never let the truth get in the way of a good story, so I'll just assume it's true.

New Season Aspirations

This winters Grayling fishing has been pretty kind to me with some superb days fishing mainly down to the warmer than usual temperatures. Last weekend on the River Ithon in Mid Wales wasn't exactly one of the better weekends but it did produce a couple of nice end of season Grayling and also my first 'official' brownie to kick off the new trout season.

Pair of Red Kites flying low over the River Ithon

My best from last weekend

So what's this new season going to offer? Well that's a question that non of us can answer with any degree of certainty, but on a personal level I have some definite targets set out for this year which include the following:

Firstly, I aim to visit some 'new' waters that I have not previously fished and have a list of some nice looking rivers and streams which hopefully will appear in this blog in due course.

Secondly, for me the ultimate pleasure from fly fishing is casting a dry fly upstream on a small stream in the middle of nowhere to a trout sipping flies off the surface undercover of some overhanging branches, then getting in the perfect cast and watching it take a recently tied pattern...glorious!!! But as this is a rare occurrence I intend to further explore other styles of fly fishing. One style that I am getting to grips with is the recent development of the 'European long rod/leader' approach to fishing which can really prove deadly in the right conditions.

Fishing the 'long leader' with my 10' #3 Greys Streamflex

Thirdly, Since starting fly tying some three years ago I cannot now imagine not tying my own flies anymore so this year I hope to further my tying abilities and share some of the patterns on this blog.

A major concern and one of the biggest problems likely to be encountered this year will be the lack of rain which is already causing rivers to run well below normal and with little foreseeable rain I can only imagine some areas of the UK will suffer even more so.

Just a quick note from Fish and Game: 

Point Arena to Pigeon Point (San Francisco)

Open April 7-30, 2012

• 2 salmon per day of any species except coho
• Minimum size limit: 24 inches (total length)

Final regulations for May through the rest of the year will be decided in April. Sharpen those hooks and crimp those barbs, we're going fishing.

The pier has crab for the lucky, apparently. I saw a group of boys pull their four nets, three of which were completely empty but the fourth was plugged with crabs.They ended up with six keeper Dungeness from the one net. All the nets were baited the same and nobody had "checked the nets for them." The snare crabbers have been pretty consistently catching dinner but not limits. There were a few surfperch fishermen this week but the few I spoke to hadn't caught any. If any shark fishermen are reading, I saw a sea lion tearing apart and eating what looked like a brown smooth-hound shark right at the pier a couple of days ago. With the tiny amount of rain that's fallen the leopard shark fishing should be pretty good from the shore this month, especially on the incoming tide right after the mud flats get covered up.