Sunday Night - Weekend Over

I'm sitting here writing this at 25 past 11 on Sunday night - weekend is over.

Outside its cooler than last week, but there's still not been much rain and the Aire (as I drove over it earlier) is very low. If it doesn't rain soon we will be in trouble as there's simply not enough water shipping through.

A fishless weekend - hence tonight's Blog. I was hoping to get out Saturday morning - but my very good friend came over Friday night, a couple of bottle of Rioja later and driving on Saturday wasn't the best idea in the world.

Then again tonight - I was hoping to get a couple of hours after I took my dad home. But Mr Federer's inability to finish off Roddick meant a late tea and therefore it was turning 8 when I got back home.

Trout - you got off lightly this weekend!

So, will I get out this week?

Monday night is off - Grassington meeting

Tuesday night may be driving to Uxbridge

Wednesday night may be driving back from Uxbridge

Thursday night - Catherine works therefore it makes sense for me to stick around

Friday night - a big possibility!

The weather forecast for the week is for some rain - so Friday may be good - it all depends as a week is a long time in the scheme of things.

I may also regroup and hit some new swims - possibly start concentrating on Burnsall!

We shall see.

Night all!

PS - tied up some new wets and F-flies though - all with my own little twist - looking forwards to trying the March Browns and the white F-flies. It will be a massacre!

Whilst I was busy - John's Blog - July 2 2009

After three weeks of exceptionally hot weather the forecasters tell us it’s about to change to cool, wet and windy. In other words normal for a Skipton summer so I decide to have one last evening on the Wharfe.

I call Craig but he, poor chap, is confined to barracks for unspecified domestic chores whereas my wife is away. I revel in the unfettered freedom, have fished three nights this week and set off for the river at 7.30 pm. It’s perfect evening, temperature now down to around 26 degrees and very little wind or cloud.

Where shall I go? We’ve flogged the member’s stretch and I decide to go down stream to the lower limits of our stretch which is somewhat remote and doesn’t get fished as much. I have to push my way through four foot high grass to get there and wonder why the river keeper does no maintenance? In fact I wonder what he does do as I haven’t seen him for four years!

I get to a remote bend where there is a convenient bench to tackle up. I have never, in five years, seen the river so low, rain is desperately needed to increase the flow and all sorts of rocky outcrops that are not normally seen are now very exposed. It’s incredibly quiet, not much birdsong and I passed a racing pigeon sitting on a fence post and he looked at me with disinterest and couldn’t even be bothered to fly off!

I tackle up, I’ve obtained some new size 14 olive coloured klinkhammers which I think should do the job. I wade in, goodness the water is warm, and I make my way to where there’s a little faster water. If there’s oxygen there the trout may well be lying waiting for a tasty fly. After a quarter of an hour there’s no action so I move downstream to where the water is deeper and there is some flow, bang I’m into a good one and he comes to the net at just under 2 lbs. The fly is pretty smashed up from this encounter so I treat the remaining trout to a fresh one. I fish the whole area, very few rises, one or two fish who think they are of the flying variety leap clear of the water, not to feed but to take a look at me. They are merely curious and wondering why Craig isn’t here too. I try a few more flies but nothing rises.

It’s now just after 9.00 and I think I’ll try our favourite pool between the two bridges for the last hour as we did really well there late on Monday. By the time I’ve walked back the sun has made a spectacle of itself, setting in a glorious red sky and all is well with the world. What do they say “Red sky at night is shepherds’ delight”, we shall see.

When I get to our pool there is no-one else there so I wade out to the middle to a gravel bar from which I can cast to the deeper water on either side. I try all kinds of flies, including the ones that worked three days ago but nothing was rising or taking. It was as if the pools were dead.

The light was fading as it got to 10.00 when, as if switched on by a time clock, fish erupted from the water in both pools but they don’t like my klinkhammers. What fly shall I try? I know, a size 18 grey spinner, only problem the light is going fast and trying to tie one on quickly is a frustrating experience when you are in a hurry and you eyes are 72 years old. This fly too is ignored, help me Craig what is the magic fly tonight? With trembling fingers I desperately try a couple of alternatives while all around me in the growing gloom fish are splashing away like teenagers in a swimming pool. It’s no use I can’t get a single rise, it’s too dark and I have to stop, reluctantly I paddle back to the shore and the waiting car.

Now I have another problem, having had a knee replaced I’m not as flexible as I was so how to remove the waders without my pal to pull them off? After a struggle lying on the grass trying to avoid rolling in the dog’s mess I manage to disrobe and drive off home.

As I do so I notice that the rising moon is a strange orange colour with a halo of mist and as I get out of the car at home there’s a cooler breeze blowing. Yes, the weather is definitely on the change. Perhaps with a decent rainfall we shall see the behaviour of the trout revert to something like normal, in other words even more difficult to catch. However hope springs eternal and Craig and I will try again next week.

Here comes the night

The hottest day yet this year, uncomfortably so in fact, all day long sticky, humid and slightly misty with the sun not quite burning through.

Loads to do at home after work - take the car to the garage for some work, pick the daughter up from dancing, run some more errands, and watch Murray on TV at Wimbledon.

At 7:45 that evening my time is my own. There isn't a breath of wind and the sun has finally burnt through then cloud and mist - in fact it's the best part of the day.

Phone Johnny and 20 minutes later we have managed to get a parking space in the rare 6 slots and we are tackling up. Shirt-sleeves ready and off we trot.

Gosh it’s hot.

I've made a bit of a boo-boo. In my eagerness to load the kit into the car I’ve made the mistake of not putting in my polarized prescription glasses, so instead I get my emergency reading glasses out of the glove box. – I know that this is going to bite me later on.

We start off by heading upstream – there’s no point fishing the flat water tonight as we need some movement, so after a 100 yard walk upstream we slide down to the river only to find another angler tucked into the nearside bank. Now normally this wouldn’t be a problem as there are more swims upstream of that and we could have worked down. Unfortunately upstream there’s some kids lashing the water to a foam (possibly no license given the state of them) and the chappy in the swim is fishing the wrong bank and standing on the fish – thereby trashing that run.

150 yards downstream later we get to another faster run and both gingerly wade in. By now we haven’t much daylight left.

It IS perfect though, another ‘stop it in time’ moment. A truly beautiful evening with the dippers bobbing under the trees at the far bank, and a kingfisher zipping along the water’s edge. Oh, and the fish rising.

An hour and a half later neither of us have had a tickle. Thrown lots of different flies at them, different techniques and not a sniff. They are taking sub-surface, but what? Beats me (and John). But like the old veterans we soldier on. There’s no point in moving as the light is fading fast.

A last ditch effort I put on a small size 18 grey klinkhammer. (Note here – to all fly tyers on and offshore – NEVER LEAVE THE HOOK EYE VARNISHED UP. – What a pain in the derriere and shop-bought flies should be banished if they ever sell them like that) Rant Over.

At last, first cast, a small twitch and the trout hits it hard. Not a bad fish but no trophy. JB changes fly and he’s into a fish as well, plays it forever as if the camera is rolling, and pops it on the head for supper.

By now the light is fading and the fish are going berserk, taking surface flies all over the river. JB reties his fly and recasts. By now I’ve cast to 4 fish and not had a tickle so there must be a problem. I examine the fly and the hackle has come unwound from the klinkhammer wing-post – if I was a fish I would be laughing at the fly and avoiding it like the plague. JB gets a small Grayling (first of the year) and recasts.

Remember the glasses? – I basically now have no chance of putting on a small fly as I can’t see the eye of the hook in this light, I knew that it would haunt me, and I’ve not brought the head-light. So I have to put on a large grey fly that I know will struggle.

JB gets another trout and whilst he’s playing it I catch a baby trout on the size 14 grey f-fly. I net his for him and that gets a bop on the head as well.

A couple more casts for me and I know that I’ve no chance, so I whip the fly off and wind the line in. JB is now casting like a maniac to every rise in the dark (big moon so not too bad), but as the light goes completely the fish switch off the surface fly again.

Trudging back to the car with a couple of bonny fish for supper we are attacked by midge which bite us daft, and tackling down is a race against being eaten alive.

Back in the car we turn on radio 5 to get the Murray result (10:15 pm now) and there’s the tennis highlights on. Eh-up though, its not the highlights it’s the live game – being played under the lights at the now be-roofed centre court at Wimbledon.

Murray wins.

What a great evening – picture postcard, a Murray win against the rub, some fish, some lessons learnt, and great company again.

Until tomorrow night then!

John and John and Me

Sunday - a day of rest - but not for the fisher folks. The text came through at 8 "How's your head? Rubin is up we can be ready at 9.30 if you have time to come". Well of course I have time, so thick head or not I'm at John's for 9:20 and the car is loaded up.
Now John Rubin has no gear with him so I've kitted him up with a spare set of waders and my 4 weight Sage so we are well sorted and off we pop to Barden.

Calamity - the field is once again full of caravans - so nice of the Estate to not give a toss about the paying members, but we decide to give it a go.
We look like the big hunting party once we are in the gear and down we go into the water. It's once more low and warm so it's the faster deeper water that will produce again.
Now Rubes is a jolly chap and he casts a wonderful line, but he's not used to fishing the Wharfe so it's up to me and JB to sort him out with fish.

But we failed miserably - not a bite for JR, 3 fish for JB and 2 for me, the biggest winkled out of a narrow, fast run on a all olive nymph. It's really tough though - the members stretch gets hammered and I swear to God that the trout have seen so many flies that they know their names as they float above them, which makes the fish more knowledgable than us sometimes.
No matter, I've brought a fish home for my friend Miles (as promised last night) and I've spent a few hours with two of the nicest people that you could meet Johnny Beerling and John Rubin. Now I probably won't fish with Rubes again until we hit the Tweed in October, but I may fish with JB again on Friday - so I will look forwards to that. It's high time I saw Rubes with a bend in his rod so perhaps a Salmon will oblige in October.

By the way, another roasting day. Seems awful to say it but we need some rain through the river and give it some height and air. However with it being so low I did manage to suss out some new routes down the middle of the river and work out some great lies.
So until Friday perhaps . . .

Can't sleep again - so river bound!

Another early morning - it's hot, sticky, daylight and 6 am. What should I do? Try to get some sleep or get the gear in the car? No contest so at 6:30 I'm tackling up as the morning mist starts to clear.

I love mornings like this. Quiet, peaceful, a little misty, warm and not a breath of wind. Somebody should freeze frame this and keep it for reference as it is as near to perfect as you can get (if you're a fly fisherman of course).

To be honest I'm not too worried if I don't catch a thing as it's just good to be alive today.
I've tackled up by the river, left the net in the car (as I never use it) and set up 3 wet flies. The river is low and clear, in my view it needs another 6 inches of flow as it is not really pushing through. No need to guess where the fish will be - in the faster water with a higher oxygen content - and there they are.

Should have taken the net as the first fish is a big lively trout who just refuses to be gathered, so I flick the fly out of his mouth and off he goes - Not a bad start!

Knots!
I have a real problem with knots - is it the end of spool that is just a little ropey or is it me? During the 4 hour morning session the 3lb leader end breaks off 5 times. I've lost too many flies this year - and I haven't time to tie up more - so I will have to resort to the
interweb for some new spiders.
Anyway back to the fish, it's not easy but well worth it as it gives me the chance to try many different techniques - but very satisfying especially at the end when I get 2 great trout by simply ambushing them by using a really long leader and working the fly hard.
Another really enjoyable morning.

My good friend John Rubin is staying with JB this weekend, so it will be great to sort him with some spare tackle tomorrow and show him the great fishing here on the Wharfe.
In the meantime, some new leaders, leader material and flies are required.
Come on Rubes, lets go fishing tomorrow.

Saturday and can't sleep

So it's Saturday morning and it's 6am and I can't sleep. The rest of the house is deadly quiet and I'm at a loose end. So I sneak out of bed, slide on my fishing gear and get a quick breakfast. The house is still fast asleep as I slip the car into reverse and pull off the drive.

It's actually quite a good morning, not cold but not hot, and it must have rained overnight as the roads are still wet.

Where to go? The members stretch of the Wharfe at Barden gives me a few options but as I pull over the bridge I'm met with about a million caravans.

Bolton abbey estates do this a couple of times a year - just to make money and it makes the few hundred pounds that we pay every year seem to be a waste of good money. Anyway I park up and decide to fish the Burnsall stretch upstream of the bridge.

A few casts at the car park run results in a lost fish after 3 minutes so it may be a good day.

Partridge and orange in a size 16 is the order of the day, on a 12 foot leader and off I go upstream to find the faster water. The river is a good height and clear - there's a few fish knocking about but not too many - so I reckon that it's sub-surface all morning.

Having said all that the first pool looks a bit nymphy so it's a grhe gold head that gets me 2 small fish after 3 minutes, but somethings not right so it's back on with the partridge and orange. Bang bang bang - 4 good fish in the next 5 runs through, fit fighting fish all
over the pound and a half and beautifully coloured.

That's the order for the rest I the morning - some great fish from different runs, including 3 fish from a small feeder split in the river that I bet is never fished, one of which was a strong native
fish that I bet had never seen a fly before.

Why a great morning - good job that I couldn't sleep.

I've returned home to a daughter that's been throwing up since 7 and a wife and son both wanting to get out and play tennis. So it's patient sitting for the rest of the day and our for tea tomorrow for fathers day.

Hot and Sunny

Spent a good few hours down the river again today and it was really lovely. At last some summer weather -the water was perfect height and running clear. In fact it was too warm as I allowed for showers and wore my wading jacket all day which was a bit of a discomfort.

Strange fishing today, the fish were obviously taking flies/nymphs as they rose through the layers and not interested in the surface fly at all - but I couldn't get THE fly. I went through the box but couldn't find the colour/size required. Managed a few fish nevertheless but could have done many more which was very frustrating.

However, that's fishing - if it was that easy eveybidy would do it.

Interestingly the fish went off as the sun got to it's height and started to come in again as I was leaving later. It would seem to be correct that they don't like bright light. Tonight would be a good time - but I will give it a miss tonight and light the BBQ instead.

By the way the fish are very fit and solid - they are obviously feeding well. Is it on flies or crayfish?