More Fly Fishing Fun at Albury and another big trout

My pal Malcolm has made so much progress with his casting of the fly that I decided to take him to the lakes at Albury Estates, near Guildford.  I also wanted him to see what a real fly fishing shop was like so we visited Peter Cockwill's Albury Game Angling tackle shop.  I need some fly tying materials and I wanted to make sure Malcolm invested in some blue flash damsel nymphs as they are deadly on the lakes.

Peter Cockwill is a splendid instructor, guide, author, lecturer and tackle shop proprietor. He has been guiding trips to Alaska every year since 1988. 

Peter's shop has everything you need to fly fish and fly tie.

We started fishing at Weston on the main lake, with me wanting to sight fish, but the fish were staying out of sight so we had a go at the Wood Lodge Pool where we could see fish, especially where the water flows in through the feeder pipe.  Malcolm caught on the blue flash and I blanked so after a sandwich we drove the mile or so to Vale End and fished the river pool. Malcolm positioned himself adjacent the tail of the pool (I hadn't told him that was where a couple of years ago our mutual friend Ashok had caught a 10lb fish).  I positioned myself at the side of a large tree, hoping to use it as cover because the water was fairly clear.  Whilst I was pulling a bit of debris from my fly Malcolm called out and pointed to the far side of the lake. I looked round the tree trunk and saw a very large ring rapidly expanding on the water about 25 yards away.  I quickly worked out some line, false casting like crazy and double hauling dropped the fly at the center of the ring.  Reckoning that the fish was probably still high in the water I started tweaking the fly in immediately and was rewarded with a firm snatch.  The fish splashed and Malcolm gave me one of his "I don't believe it looks"!  Ten minutes later having been taken back onto the reel, and having steered the fish out of reeds on both sides of the lake I managed to get it on the bank. It was in perfect condition with a lovely full tail. It weighed in at 4lb 8oz.

We both went on to have another fish each and ended a very pleasant winters day so glad we had gone fishing.

I tend to fillet larger fish as it is less trouble than gutting them, but note the filleting glove under the filleting knife.

Thought for the day: Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley!

Crucial protection when teaching a grandson to fly fish.

A few days ago I had the pleasure and privilege of giving Sam, my 15 year old grandson his first boat fly fishing experience.  He lives at Milton Keynes so that gave us the excuse of going to Grafham Water, around an hours drive away.  Grafham is a well run fishery, where they even provide drogues and landing nets (for reasons I wont go into here).  They have a superb tackle shop and allowed my grandson and I to fish on the same 6 fish ticket.  I had not fished the water for several years so asked where we should concentrate.  The weather was a bit contrary blowing a gale with bright sun.  Eventually we found the fish down by the dam, but it was tricky fishing as the wind was blowing us onto the dam.  I insisted on Sam wearing eye protection, he had forgotten to bring his sunglasses but fortunately so I gave him an expensive pair my son Stuart had left in my car.  Sam then forgot to bring those in the boat, fortunately I had got another spare pair in my fishing bag!  A hat is a good idea too Sam!

To cut a long story short Sam cast well, fished well and was rewarded with a brace of cracking rainbows caught on blood worm flies.  Here is the first one.

I am sad when I see people fishing without eye protection, having buried a hook in my own face a couple of times, I don't think it is worth the risk of getting one in the eye!

Close encounter with the EA and a change of trout catching technique resulted in eight trout

I have only ever fished Bewl Water with a "fly"!  Fly in the broad sense i.e. lures, buzzers, blobs, boobys and dries.  But this year I haven't been fly fishing very well, my best bag to date being five fish. Now that coupled with the fact that I don't like fishing in bright sunlight, especially if the water is warming, reminded me of Henry Ford's famous quote:-

 

"If you always do what you have always done, you always get what you have always got!"

 

So that made me decide to have a try at something different.  Originally I was going to try fishing buzzers on a very fast sinking line but when I saw (on the Windguru website) that the wind at Bewl was going to be quite strong and from the south, I gave that idea up.  Even with a drogue deployed if you are drifting too fast you just will not get the buzzers deep enough.  So as well as taking my fly gear I packed two short spinning rods!

 

So for the first time I signed in at the lodge as an "any method" fisher and set off for the deeper water.  Whilst rigging a rod up out on the open water I had a visit from two friendly souls in a green boat.  Having waved a document at me they announced they were from the Environment Agency and would like to see my license!  They came alongside and I was pleased on two counts, firstly I had my license on me and secondly I like to see licenses being checked and I didn't know they can do it afloat.

The EA ambush some happy fishers next to the overflow tower. Bewl 100% full!

 

Having had the excitment with the EA I decided to bait fish.  Now I am not going to tell you what bait I used, but the trout seemed to find it appropriate because as soon as the bait was twenty feet below the boat "bang" the rod went down and I had my first fish on (yes first cast).  As I landed it I thought if it is this easy I will be gone in a couple of hours!  The second fish I hooked was bigger and caught me out as I had forgotten to set the reel drag at all. The fish took off and the 10lb leader snapped at a knot.

 

I boated the next fish but not before it had broken off the tip of my rod. I was not too surprised at that as since I bought the rod nearly 3 years ago in Malta I had broken the tip twice before.  One  for the bin, I think. 

 

So I switched to a Shakespeare "Ugly Stick" rod and fished with that catching several more fish.  Well, things went a bit quiet during the afternoon fishing-wise but not the wind. It got stronger and stronger, and I was bumping up and down which made the drifting and fishing harder.  I tried a few spots away from the main bowl just to get some respite from the wind, but to no avail.  It was seven in the evening before I finally "bagged up" with eight fish.  They weighed in at 16 pounds 10 ounces so quite a nice bag.

 

So what were my feelings about bait fishing Bewl:-

1. I caught my limit, that was positive.
2. I caught in bright sunlight and strong winds, if I had been on the fly I probably would have caught far less.
3. Playing a fish using a short rod and reel with an adjustable clutch (drag) is too easy and not nearly as satisfying as using a fly road and reel.
4. In terms of introducing people, and especially youngsters to the sport of fishing, it is probably a more sure-fire method.  You only get one chance at a first impression!

Let the scales confirm the story!

 

So to sum up I think it is more challenging to fly fish and therefore more satisfying.