Fishing

@ColinTheBald look at the shoulders on Dave!

Had to try on the local club River Lea stretch yesterday being the last day of the season. Nothing graced the net but saw lots of carp, and got side-tracked trying to land one instead of targeting barbel or chub. Even had a carp on the hook but predictably came off so will return in June. Would have been nice to land my first fish of the year but nonetheless was a pleasure to be on the bank yesterday.

Dave is not a singular perch, I have discovered. Dave 1 was 1lb 8oz, Daves 2 and 3 were about the same size, so I presumed they were one and the same. Today I caught Dave 4, who weighed exactly 1lb. There is no way he could have lost a third of his weight in weeks. There are two conclusions: a) this is a genetic mutation which affected a year class of perch, b) I can only catch inbred fish.

Nature notes: a weasel was hunting no more than 20ft from me, I saw my first kingfisher and grass snake of the year, the local marsh harrier was gliding around majestically.

Caught my first tench of the year, about 4lbs, best perch of the day 1:15 with a full dorsal fin.

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16:7 on double maggot on a 16, match rod and 3lb line. Will post some tench pictures later. Gonna need a bigger net!

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A couple of today's tench, biggest 7:1, not monsters by modern standards but lovely fish nonetheless.

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Used to fly fish a bit as a kid (maybe 4 trips to Wales/Peak District with an instructor for 1 day). Anyway, went on a stag do to the Arundel in Devon the other week and it was amazing. About 20 of us, 5 of which had fished before so got to the go on the river with 2 instructors, rest were on a ridiculously well stocked lake.

Going to try and get back into it by finding a local club and renewing my kit (my last trip ended with me about 15 picking my rod up by the wrong end and snapping it). Hopefully find some kind of mentor

Edit, some pics. I had a tiny grayling early on

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Am I right in thinking you’re bristol way?

Indeed! Are you?

Yep! Moved to Clifton mid last year, having been in Exeter and had fishing on the exe on my doorstep. Looking to check out the little river Avon and river chew as I’ve found some cheap/free fishing and been looking for someone to head out with. Let me know if you’d be keen. Got spare rods if you need kit?

Extremely keen! Will pm you. Cheers

Met up with @bobble and explored the Bristol Frome this week. We both had a few takes but nothing in the net unfortunately. It’s a lovely river, although really low at the moment and can’t believe a lot of it is free to fish.

Explored a bit further upstream this morning and was rewarded with this fine looking fellow.

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An overnighter. First in well over a year. I was the only one to catch, 5:45 AM this chunky Mirror at 14lb screamed off. Lovely sunset too

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I love people celebrating catching beautiful fish that don't threaten any records and will never feature on YouTube wank videos. Cracking mirror and @jupiz's wild brown is stunning. I ran away screaming from the big fish circuit waters many years ago, fish like this tench from Wednesday make me very happy.

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Wow, @ColinTheBald and @EB they’re big boys! The brownie was let loose, and the blue spot seems to indicate they’re fully wild as you say as opposed to any stocking.

Btw is the close season for stillwaters for coarse different to rivers? We had a few guys come up to us and comment. I’ve always enjoyed that I can still fly fish for chub, grayling etc after September but it’s difficult to target species except for avoiding trouty/coarse looking bits of water.

@ColinTheBald @jupiz thanks! Nice Tench that, love an early 'season' (as was) Tench!

Interestingly this water I'm fishing used to be a Trout fishery and there are still some in there. I've yet to see/catch one however. It's one of the moodiest waters I've ever fished, they don't tend to show themselves at all so location is difficult.

I've only ever caught fishing as tight as possible to the far bank, so often I'll use a solid PVA bag and cast it onto the far bank then yank it backwards into the water! It's a risky method as have been caught in the bushes/trees before now

Ah that’s quite interesting. Normally in trout fisheries when they’re first stocked they’re pretty daft and will eat anything bright and big that’s pulled fast past their noses. But pretty soon the switch to a natural diet and will only eat more imitative flies, but will readily take bait. If theres not a load of ground baiting (and your water doesn’t look like chocolate) maybe they’re still more focussed on insects?

Yeah I'm not sure how many there are left TBH, but I've never seen one myself!

Back out and about in Bristol and plenty of Mayfly about. Didn’t have anything to imitate perfectly but a big wingy thing did the trick.

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The wingy thingy is actually a Green Drake, a bona fide mayfly imitation. I have been suckered in by flytying bullshit and spent far too much time producing 6 'infallible' mayflies. Tomorrow afternoon will see most of them decorating the far bank bushes of the Darent.

Beautiful brownies BTW....

Ah good to know it has a name! Well it did the business, and even if it doesn't look hugely like E. danica it did a good job of covering the big boys and the smaller olives that were hatching at the same time. Mr Trout didn't seem too fussy luckily, although I'm still annoyed at the bigger brother I lost whilst sliding down a bank to try get him in the net.

Tight lines on the Darent and hope the 6 newly created upwinged works of art encounter more than leaves and twigs.

Upwinged my arse, more like decorative haystacks. The fan wing thingies like your Green Drake have always turned the last 3ft of my leader into a spun up mess, landing on the water like a plate of spaghetti. I do hope you slid down the bank with the delicacy of a rampaging hippo and one hand in a wasps nest, that's how I do it.

Looking for some more advice please…
What’s the best way to learn how to fly fish?
Lessons on a local river? Research, YouTube etc. + a day ticket? Join a local angling club and see what the advice is there? I’m based between Salisbury, Southampton and Bournemouth. Thanks.

Yep, turns 6x tippet into a nice big ball of nonbiodegradable fuzz. I took to letting it unspin every 5-6 casts which helped.

No wasps nests, but you'll be pleased to hear I slid gracefully down the concrete turned 45 degrees from vertical and managed to sting myself on the only nettle within 10 metres. Fish was still just on when I alighted from the descent though, so it had the grace to let me stand up so I could see it when it spat the hook.

Youtube can definitely help, but probably best to learn the basics from an instructor if you can as you'll make much much quicker progress. It's a bit easier to learn fancy casts on the water, but for the basics just faffing around on some grass works fine.

You live in the epicentre of flyfishing in England surrounded by the some of the greatest rivers and stillwaters in the World. Unfortunately, they are amongst the most expensive, but I still envy you. My starting point would be to walk into the nearest tackle shop that specialises in flyfishing, admit to your L-plates and ask their advice. They will be very willing to help, if they aren't, you're in the wrong shop!

One nettle? Amateur!

I totally agree about the instructor, I should have listened to someone 35 years ago, it would have made me slightly less shit now. The only thing I would add is that Matt should choose one with loan rod and lines, buying stuff without knowledge is an expensive way to find it isn't for you. Casting on wet stuff rather than grass for practice is always better where possible, it doesn't wreck a fly line and sometimes even I can hit a (large) lake.