On Saturdays I Do It Twice

6am I'm awake, may as well fish.

Coffee, shit, car, lake - my needs are simple. Graham is there already, he's caught nothing since dawn. I have to catch, he's a pro and I want to impress. Boat to the nearest buoy, having learned my lesson I put on Fantastic Green Thing - everyone at the moment is insisting that dry flies are the only thing working. I know better!

In ten minutes I have a fish! ! I'm a god! Right in front of his nose, I even shouted over ' look graham, I've got one' - I'm such a bitch!

By ten I'm done, give Graham the 2.4lb monster and go home.

2.30pm Laura watching tennis, I think I'll fish. Now Mr friend/enemy is there - whenever I arrive, he's there with his son and ALWAYS got a fish on the line. (actually he's always nice and friendly, the enemy bit is I my head! ). He's on the bank by the clubhouse, I'm on a boat on the orange buoy. On goes Fantastic Green Thing, in 5 minutes I've got a fish, again right in front of him! I love it, so happy, happy, happy. God, I'm a child!

One interesting thing, on my way out chatted to mr bmw 5 series, he's been catching on a dry fly daddy long legs the last 2 times and caught 2 each time. Shows me the fly on his rod so I know he's not bullshitting me. Must try next time.

PS. Graham shouted over to me this morning, ' you have the most beautiful casting style Grant' - made my day, I'm slowly learning..

Bring Home The Bacon Trout

Thursday.. Friend coming from london for dinner. Trout would be nice! But can I cope with the performance pressure?

Today I'm fishing from the bank. Dry flies. As usual with me, the trout are swarming in my area, looking up at my offering and then pissing off! They were all in the far corner by the gate feeding on damn damsel flies.

3 hours later, I'm sun burned, arm is paralyzed, no fish. I give myself 5 mins, one more fly, and I have to admit defeat and go back to Laura and Carm empty handed. I move to the bank by the straw barrage, put on old friend, The Fantastic Green Thing, instantly I have a fucking fish! ! Joy joy joy..

Fishing with a Pro

I was invited to fish with Graham, a trout & fly fishing veteran. So late yesterday afternoon we met and went out on the boat. Three 'top' flies were recommended and the perfect anchor spot was identified.

My first shock was that for the first time ever, I hooked my fellow boat mate with the fly! Luckily for me it was in his arm. I noticed that he very quickly put on his hat, having already been to A&E that week to have a hook removed.

Fished for 2 hours, not even a bite or an ounce of interest!!

Shows that even with a pro around you cant be assured of a fish. I was disappointed and secretly pleased at the same time. I would have been horrified if we had caught loads, it would have meant that I was a true amateur - now I know I'm a lucky beginner..

BTW - I tried 12 flies in total - all dry flies (daddy-long-legs, spiders, moths, may fly, damsel) and in desperation the Killer Green Monster - still nothing. Still I met an interesting person, who gave me good tips and whose brain I can mine in the future.

Freaky Friday with Mother-in-Law

At the crack of dawn my mother-in-law and myself decided to do a joint fishing trip. Armed with a few new flies and the cool morning breeze to assist us in casting -we took a two man boat and moored ourselves to a buoy.

We first tried with a dry fly to see if the trout were taking from the surface, but I think it was too early in the morning. I should have known as there were no damsel flies to be seen anywhere.

After around half an hour of no action we decided to put on a long green thing that I hoped looked like a hatching damsel fly nymph. Instantly we both got big takes and landed two fish.... Joy of joy, now we have the one under our belts we can relax and enjoy the fishing. (As soon as I catch one, I'm happy to chill and enjoy the scenery).

Now we carried on fishing for another hour and no more bites!! Damn! By this time we could see the Damsel flies hovering above the surface so it was back to the trusty old dry fly. It was my day, I landed a 2lb fish straight off the surface.. So happy!!!

After 4 hours and way too much sun with no protection at all, we called it a day and went back to the jetty. M-i-L saw fish literally swarming around our feet, so we threw in our lines again, I got a take and lost one, but generally they swam right by the flies, turned up their nose and carried on their merry way. Why?? I cannot work out why a fly will work once or twice and then be useless.

It was a fantastic, exciting 5 hours and a great way to end the week.. and how fortunate I am to have a M-i-L that fishes with me..

Dry Fly Day

Today it was suggested that I try a dry fly for the first time. The trout were swarming at the surface to eat the thousands of Damsel Flies that were either on or just above the surface.

I, as usual, sucked the knowledge from the brain of a long-time member, got him to show me a suitable fly and went out on the boat. To keep the fly from sinking I added some floatation liquid to the feathers and this worked well. The trout took the fly in 5 minutes and I then proceeded to loose two, I struck too early and pulled the fly out of the month of the poor fish. I was later told that I should watch the trout take the fly, count to 2 and then strike. I can see how this would work better.

It was so exciting and for the first time I could actually see them swilling around the fly and pop their heads out the water to take a look. Again my heart was pounding and excitement growing as I hoped for a feeding frenzy. At one point I had a take, struck, lost it, threw the fly back in, it took it again, struck too early and then broke my line by being too enthusiastic. Oh well, you live and learn!

My Trout fishing frenzy

During the last week of May, I experienced a feeding frenzy for the first time in my life. I used a fly suggested by a member and it was a Damsel Nymph. (I had never heard of this and went out an bought one immediately)
I cast this fly and within two minutes a fish had taken it, I continued to catch 4 fish in 30 minutes and had I not reached my limit that day I could have caught 4 more. It was amazing and I could feel my heart pumping and excitement building as the fish swarmed around the fly.

May Trout Fishing

Well, May turned out  to be more challenging than April. (one long time member commented that the fish would take a brick if I threw it in the water in April). I had to start to understand what the trout wanted to eat and when. It was interesting to talk to different members who all had opinions on what to fish.