Islay September 2012 - Send him down!!

Well after the boss time I had on the trip in April I was mega keen to get myself on again this year so I booked for September so I could hopefully try my hand at fishing for Salmon on the River Sorn and River Laggan and also Sea Troot in one of the sea lochs.

We had arranged for me to drive Glen and the other guide for the week (Heathy) up to Islay so the morning started off with bacon butties at mine and then transfer all the gear from Glens van to my car. We all managed to squeeze in and after Glen double locking his van (hes scouse-ist) we were off.

The usual conversation flowed when you have 3 blokes in a car (Glen-Port Vale, Heathy-Older Women) and after several hours we arrive at the ferry terminal.

Great Views Driving Up

We had an hour to kill before getting on the ferry so we got a spinning rod out and decided to have a chuck. Well who else would catch a Mackerel on their first cast!! Glen has his breakie for the next morning!! top stuff.

Quick few casts before the ferry

Rate tasty fish bro

Off the ferry and we head for Woody's gaff to meet up with him and the other 2 guests known only as "the judges". Heathy was sweating due to the fact that there where 2 blokes of boss class in the house and me and Glen had been winding him up telling him we would be getting smashed and swearing our tits off. After calming Heathy down we met Karl and Anthony (whos names have been made up for the purpose of this blog)who within practically an hour felt like we had known them much longer. We drank wine and whisky and had a good laugh and then bed after a long day.

Glen and Heathy had gone up a little while before me (they must have been so tired after dozing in the car whilst I drove them haha) and I was looking forward to getting my head down.

Getting ready and into my bed Glen started stirring and suddenly belted out "IN ME ARSE " god knows what he was dreaming about then I heard the laughter from him and Heathy.

So, take 2 and finally asleep. Thinking we would have some kind of lie in til about 8-8:30 me and Glen were woken by Heathy spouting some crap about how you should never eat or feed hedgehogs and that they must be killed or something like that - we were still half asleep to care or take any notice.

Anyway after that we all got up had some scran and set off for Finlaggan Loch.

After all getting set up we headed down to the shore and with Glen and Heathy helping out Karl and Anthony I was allowed to go off and fish. I had about 8 small wild brownies mainly on the LTD sedge and bibio all within an hour and then the fishing just switched off at the flick of a switch. The others had a few fish too and it was then decided to head off to give Skerrols a go for the afternoon.

The shores of Finlaggan

Before leaving Finlaggen we bumped into a group of Polish lads who were over for the whisky tours. after trying a little of the whisky they had Glen jumped in and was trying to explain how he had fished the River San. the conversation went a little like this:-

Glen : do you know the River San?

Polish Lad: San? No! How do you say it?

Glen: the river San.... S A N, SAN!!

Polish Lad: Sun? river sun?

Glen: No San, san, san.

Polish Lad: River San? i don't know it.

Glen: Yeah the River San, you know S A N!

Polish Lad: OOOOOHHHHH San? yes I know the river San

Haha, I love languages! it gave us all a laugh and after 10 mins we finally were away.

We had a fab afternoon on Skerrols, with the other lads out on the boats and me wading around. The fishing was ok, but it had suddenly gone bitterly cold and started raining so the fishing switched off yet again. We all mainly had success on a mix of Sedges,Bibios and Katie McLarens.

Well, after tea and warming ourselves up we got stuck into some more wine, champagne and whisky and and sat in Woody's back room laughing and joking looking out onto a moonlit Loch Indaal. Then the music requests started and after some old skool NWA hip hop the phrase "this reminds me of my Oxford days" was slurred. we had an absolutely quality night. You usually have one night on a trip/holiday where you go that little bit madder than the others and this was that night.

Loch Indaal (Woody's back garden)

Woodys back garden

Surprisingly up early we had all walked down to the bottom on the garden and had 30 mins fishing for Pollack and Mackerel and then it was decided that conditions were right for some salmon fishing. After meeting up with the guy from Islay Estates we decided that we would fish the River Laggan as we could all fish this together. We had stocked up on various flies and then drove to the estates H/Q where we all put our gear in a Landrover and set off. I had never fished for Salmon before so wasn't really sure on techniques needed and how to approach it and the best parts of the river to fish.

In the morning I fished a stretch by myself whilst Heathy and Glen guided Karl and Anthony. I muddled my way through and caught a few very small trout not much bigger than my treble.

I then met up with Woody and Chris who had joined us the night before. Taking a break at the side of the river I said to Woody "am not sure if this Salmon fishing is for me mate". Its not like me to be like this but I got a few pointers on the fishing and carried on. Woody went off with Anthony and me and Chris fished a long stretch overlapping each other until he overlapped me and went out of sight around a corner about 200 yards away. I was flicking my fly diagonally upriver and retrieving at different speeds until the fly swung around at the bottom of my run. About 8 casts in and at the end of my run - Thud!!! oh crap, snagged!!! The snag then started to rise in the water but I still wasn't sure if I had just dislodged a sunken branch or something else.My heart pounding at the unknown I waited for whatever was on the other end of my fly to come to the surface. Then, all of a sudden I saw a large head and then a flash of silver and all hell broke loose.The salmon, with one quick flick of it tail turned and headed downstream. For some reason I was thinking so far ahead and realised I didn't have a net and where I was was too deep and a bit of a drop for me to beach it. I screamed like I've never screamed before - A scream a teenage girl drinking cheap alcopops down the park on a Friday night would be proud of.

CCCHHHHHHRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS, I'VE GOT A FU@7IN FIIIIIIIIIIISH!!!!!

I screamed and screamed as I didn't know if he could hear me due to the wind and distance. My first ever salmon and I didn't want to have it hooked and not able to land it because I didn't have a net. My heart still pumping the fish made another couple of decent runs and then a sight I will never forget Chris running over with his net- Relief.

After about a 10 minute scrap the fish was ready to net and after a quick scramble to untangle his net Chris graciously netted it for me. Major shock set in then and I was actually speechless for a few seconds. Id only know Chris for a few days but he got a big hug off me. As it was my first Salmon it was swiftly dispatched and that was me done for that day. I always find it hard to describe feelings when fishing but I think I was physically and emotionally drained haha.

For the next couple of hours I walked the bank with Woody watching the others hoping they would catch too. After a couple of hours we decided to call it a day and went back to the house leaving just the keen ones Chris and Heathy to fish on till dark. After picking them up later we all enjoyed the Salmon washed down with great white wine and some Bowmore 12yr. Woody however opted for his favourite floury cheese baps - class!!

A Happy Tim

After another early wake up call from Heathy, I think it was women advise he was asking me and Glen for this time at 7am we decided to go to a new Loch as Karl and Anthony had booked to go on a days stalking - obviously their profession would frown upon the seedy type of stalking so they were after a nice Stag.

Me, Glen, Heathy, Chris and Woody had decided to visit a Loch not fished on one of the trips before. it was called Ardnave and we headed off on the drive over. Uunfortunately conditions were not favourable as the water was very coloured and we called it a day after an hour or so. Its a hard Loch to fish but I've heard there are some big Brownies in there.

We then decided to pick up some fresh Oysters from a local farm to eat later with the others and then headed for some sea trout fishing as high tide was 1pm ish. We all sat off on the beach looking out onto a fairly calm sea and swallowed a few Oysters - not my cup of tea really but I guess it was one of those moments that I got caught up in. After feeling a little frisky from a couple of Oysters we all cooled off by spreading out down the beach and slowly wading our way into the sea and began fishing for these amazing fish. Glen had caught one earlier in the year and you could tell he was still buzzing off it. We had pretty much fished it through and headed back up the beach to the cars. Heathy, bless him was still out there trying his hardest and then I heard "he's into one". I quickly turned around only to see Heathy launching his rod into the sea - he had lost it. I felt for him but had to giggle slightly at the sight of him almost breaking his rod,

Still hungry for fish the conditions were perfect to head over to Skerrols to catch something for tea.

Myself and Chris fished the far left hand side of the loch (looking from Skerrols House) and Heathy the far right. the next 2 hours produced one of the best in terms of most productive afternoons fishing I probably have ever had. We fished a mix of drys and wets and could not stop pulling them in - we were all going to eat well tonight. This afternoons fishing was topped off with a magnificent sight and another first for me - My first up and close sighting of a Golden Eagle. I was suddenly aware of a dark object flying from left to right along the top of the tree line right above where Heathy was fishing. I just turned and starred in awe and looked at Chris who had seen it too - we just both look shocked. An absolutely amazing sight and one I will never forget. We could still see it a good 5 mins after it had flown over the Loch as it was so big. A great end to the fishing day. Now back to the house to eat and have a great laugh.

Heathy (MILF Hunter) with the Skerrols catch

Cooking up a nice tea

Lord Pointon

Weather closing in

Well the second to last day was here and we decided to head off to Loch Gorm to fish the Fly Fish Islay September Comp. weather seemed to be ok on the way down but as soon as we were fishing we knew it was going to be a tough day. The strong winds we had had overnight had coloured the water up with a nice peaty tinge. I picked up a couple of fish on the dry close into shore and Chris picked up about 4 decent ones through the day but it was still a really tough and choppy days fishing. we had even managed to damage our prop on a submerged rock and Heathy (who had borrowed a reel off me) managed to get my Rio Gold tangled around the prop and had to promptly cut the line in order to try and start the engine before we grounded on the island - Nice Work!!

After grabbing a tow from Glen we all managed to get back onto dry land and headed back to the house to clean and warm ourselves up.

That evening we all looked back on the boss week we had had drank and laughed as we had done every other night in the week. Its not just the fishing that makes these trips special but without sounding cheesy its the whole experience from fishing, to great company to the laughs you have in the day and evenings that make it an absolutely 5* fishing trip. Woody's hospitality and Glens fishing expertise and stories are a must to experience.

Getting towed in

Chris being presented with the Fly Fish Islay Trophy and the Quaich of Woody's Perpetual Dram

Me having a drink from the Quaich and looking proper scouse

The last day myself and Chris decided to visit a few distilleries and pick up some special malts from around the island and then we all headed off for a nice pub meal and early bed as we had an early ferry to catch.

My second and another quality trip - see you next year!

Machir Bay

Machir Bay

Woody doing his thang!

All the best

Tim

River Nidd - Summer 2012

Me, Wayne and H from the Islay trip earlier in the year fancied a weekend camping/fishing somewhere in Yorkshire and I knew of a nice area to try where I had previously been but not fished. We decided to fish the River Nidd in North Yorks. we would fish the day ticket stretches that ranged from Summerbridge to Pateley Bridge and further up river. After much faffing about with campsites on the phone (I detected a bit of the anti scouse when enquiring at one campsite) we found a fab place to stay at Studfold Campsite.

I met Wayne and H at Huntleys Farm Shop in Samlesbury off the A59 and stocked us all up on some butties and then we were on our way.

When we finally arrived in Pately Bridge to get our tickets I realised that I had forgotten my Rod Licence  and so had H and the post office would not issue our tickets without them - Schoolboy error!! Well the laptop was out on the boot of the car searching for my confirmation and finally had to ring the EA and they confirmed that we did both have a licence. Panic over and still time to get some fishing in before it went dark- Boss!! Well time if we found the campsite and got the tent up in time.

My arse

Finally up and we can go fish

Haha Wayne's tent

After getting the tent up and having a little scran we got our resy gear out and drove off to Scar House Reservoir. Driving down the track to the water we were greeted by about 100 rabbits running down the hill in front of the van,. It was quite a sight to see and H wished he has his air rifle with him as even he couldn't miss in that crowd (just point and aim and one would get hit) Scar House is a large water and we had no boat and only a couple of hours until sunset. Plan of action was to park up and fish close to the dam wall where we could see rising fish. We all fished a duo as there was a bit of a cross wind and we would have been tangled up pretty quick with 3 on. I put an LTD Sedge on the dropper and a bibio on the point. 1st cast a boil around the sedge, strike and nothing.

The only thing we got lucky with was plenty of kisses of the midges.

Scar House Res

Scar House Res

Anyway it was nice to get out onto the water for a bit and we really came to fish the river. We headed back to camp, ate, drank lots of whisk, smoked cigars and played poker - class end to the day.

The Orvis Boys!!

Romeo y Julieta

Auchentoshan Bordeaux Barrel

Ardbeg Uigeadail

Next day we started fishing the Nidd just by the cricket ground at Summerbridge. It was quick fast moving water at the start which gave way to a nice current and overhanging tree and something that we could get a dry to without much drag. We all picked up trout on this stretch and fished a little further up river until the day ticket stretch ran out. We then jumped into the cars and drove to glasshouses, parked up and then walked to the next day ticket stretch. It was a very deep slow moving section from what i can remember and again we all picked trout up on small dries - Sedge, klinkhammers, F fly's. with it being school holidays people were out in their numbers and it was only inevitable that I would have a run in with the local teenagers after a few rocks fizzed passed my head!! Moving swiftly on we continued to fish this stretch picking up the odd fish under the over hanging trees. We jump out, get back, shower and then the local pub (famous for barring local resident Janet Street-Porter)

The Nidd at Summer Bridge

Nice!!

Boss Swim!!

After Hearing the pitter patter of rain on our tents on the Sunday morning I thought we could be rained off but it suddenly gave way for glorious skies. We headed into Pateley Bridge and fished the section up river from the Town. This looked more like it, it was more like a true river shallow quick runs with nice slack deeper sections where you would expect to pick up grayling from. We waded up river nymphing today but still nothing. We began to question ourselves and carried on quietly. then we saw the huge weir with a big deep pool at the bottom - out eyes lit up. I fished a rubber legged nymph on the point and a smalled beitis type nymph on the dropper - 2 cast and a fish!!! being fairly new to river fishing started to give the fish some stick when i should have just let it come, i saw a big flash of silver and then it was off. There goes my Grayling on the Nidd!!

Yes we scaled that!!

By this point H had scaled the  weir and began fishing dries at the top and successfully landed a few.

From here on it was all dry fly section and we picked up 7-10 trout each on the afternoon until it was time to go home.

A great weekend had by all and a good laugh too. I think in 2013 we will have a camping trip on the Eden or Ure.

Tight Lines

Tim

The Derbyshire Wye with Glen Pointon August 2012

Today was going to be my first real lesson in dry fly river fishing and what a cracking river to do it on.

I collected my day ticket from the Peacock Hotel (noted that this hotel meets my approval for any dirty weekends away in the future) and drove back into town to meet Glen. We drove and parked up near Sheep Wash Bridge were I promptly unloaded a crate of cider and a big bag of cigs and tobacco into Glen's van (not a dodgy scouse deal, I used to work for a tobacco company). The look on his face was like that of a teenage lad pulling at 2am in a nightclub. Once sorted we had a good look in the river and Glen was pointing areas out to me where he would expect fish to hold up and we could see a lot of fish moving and feeding on Nymphs. I find it good to take time out initially to see what insect life is about and this is something that Glen reiterated to me. The next lesson that came was casting a dry fly on a river and trying to eliminate the drag caused by the flow and after much practise and rod waggling I managed to master the upstream cast. For some reason I expected today to be rather simple, relaxing and laid back and I did not think about the technicalities of dry fly river fishing at all - Lesson learnt!!

We moved downstream towards Sheep Wash Bridge and scanned the water. Glen wanted me to catch my first Wye fish so he stood back and let me fish, helping me out when I was pretty much blind fishing around corners. My first 3 fish were WBT WRT and Grayling all on a dry fly - not huge but I was loving it.

Poacher!

My 1st Wye Grayling

My 1st Wye WBT

We moved slightly downstream of the bridge to where Glen had seen a good sized WRT rising in the middle of a run but it wasn't the easiest place to get to let alone cast. after much crawling and wriggling through the bushes (second nature to a scouser) Glen was in a position to let rip with a delicate down stream cast. Bang, the rainbow had taken the fly and shot out of the water. Now I've caught some big fish in my time and hooking a 40 inch Redfish in the gulf of Mexico on light tackle is one to get your heart going but this certainly did and i was physically shaking but unfortunately it didn't stay on. Still shaking (with excitement I think) i had a few casts but nothing - it was good to practise my down stream casting anyway.

We continued downstream with Glen stalking out and targeting numerous fish and catching a few and some others, and a difficult flow getting the better of us.  After a while decided to get into Glen's van (full of blue bottles-don't ask) and move further downstream. Am not sure of the exact area but it was near a showground and we tied our luck there. after an hour or so time was getting on so Glen suggested driving into the town centre and fishing near the cricket pavilion (cue flash backs of back injury). We have a little fun fishing for the big chip fed trout by the bridge and after catching a few move past the cricket pavilion where Glen hunts down a cracking couple of fish. i was really happy just watching Glen fishing and picking up pointers from what he was doing.

Quality Rainbow - love the spots

A really well earned fish - a cracker

After having a fish myself further downstream and losing a decent rainbow thanks to some guy distracting me by asking what I was doing (er am baking a cake mate, what does it look like!) we moved back up towards the bridge for a bit of fun with the fatties before the sun went down. Another great day out on a river and loads of learning again too.

Tim

Fishing life 2012

Well, I really did have the fishing bug after Islay and could not wait to get out again. I bought myself a vice and started to tie some simple F flies with variations. I remember one day at a still water no one was catching I was having take after take on my peacock hearl F Fly and took a sizable rainbow back home for Sunday dinner.

Simple but very effective

After a few visits to my local still water something didn't feel right and I couldn't think what it was. Driving home after a few hours fishing it dawned on me that I was bored! Bored is probably the wrong word, I definitely needed a new challenge though. I remember from the trip to Islay of Glen and Woody talking about river fishing and Wayne and H having a guided day with John Tyzack - this was the challenge I needed. I promptly joined the fly fishing forum and bombarded Glen with texts and phone calls about what gear I would need and ways of starting out.
As I couldn't wait to get out again myself Wayne and H ventured out to west yorks to fish a nice little urban river. So there I was with an 8ft 6 #5 rod that I used for my dry fly fishing, hardly the gear that is ideal for nymphing but I just wanted to get out on the water. I muddled my way through the day fishing a duo and caught my fair share of WBT and Grayling. I loved it and the fact that we were constantly moving and crawling through bushes really appealed to me.

Urban Fly Fishing

Nice little dry fly section

My biggest Grayling of the day

H finally avoids a blank - All quotes in this video are from "Pete Roberts classic Islay one liners"

After this day fishing I met with a couple of guys off the forum - Dave H and Woz and fished more rivers with them. They gave me some flies that they tied and really helped me out. Being a Manc Woz would probably tell people I stole the flies off him!! This was the banter and social side of fishing that I mentioned in my first blog - manc/scouse style. Anyway, I bought some new nymphing gear and really started to learn about river fishing - set up, flies, where and how to fish the river and I was absolutely loving it.

Nice WBT on the dry

Woz with a nice WBT and full Man Utd kit on under his waders!!

Woz trying to climb up what he thought was a well rooted tree to get his flies back (fat b@stard)



I was loving the different challenges that were being thrown up from river fishing, and constantly picking up tips especially entomology and learning every time I went out on a river.
Summer was into full swing and then I  had a little phone call off Glen Pointon
Glen: "Scouse laaad, fancy the Wye? There are some raaate good fish in there bro".
Me: "is Ken Dodds dads dog dead" (yes)
Am off the the Derbyshire Wye for some dry fly heaven.

Tim

Islay April 2012

Well after much excitement the day finally arrived to start the long trek north to Islay. I know how much of a pain in the arse it is to get there as one of the Whisky brands I work for is based on the island-A pain in the arse it maybe but well worth it. After a long, tiring but entertaining journey by car and ferry we finally arrived at Skerrols House and we were welcomed by David Wood (Woody) who runs the trips. Within 15 mins of our arrival our guide for the week had dragged himself up the shore of Loch Skerrols to meet us-Glen Pointon. Prior to the visit Woody had told me about Glen and how knowledgeable and passionate about fishing he is, he also mentioned he was a mix of auf wiedersehen pet and those old J R Hartley yellow pages adverts - this should be fun I thought!!

Something to warm us up on the ferry

The Paps Of Jura

I have always enjoyed the social side of fly fishing as I have regularly taken weekend still water trips to N Yorks and have been lucky enough to have a weeks fishing in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast. A lot of my non fishing friends assume it is a solitary sport, which it can be if you choose (and that is nice sometimes) but I get a lot of enjoyment from the social side of the sport. Having never fished rivers I was used to standing on a lake bank or in a boat having a laugh and chatting to who I was fishing with. With fishing Lochs either by wading or boat then this trip was well up my street and the banter in the day and evenings I could see being very good.

The week started off with me joining Glen on the boat that first evening. So after scoffing curry and chips washed down with a nice Rioja {a mighty fine combination} I got my warm gear on and me and Glen (chin and mouth literally covered in curry sauce) headed off to the jetty and sat in the boat and set up. Glen rowed us out over a small weed bed on the loch where he thought the trout would be holding up and feeding off small beetles/snails. He wasnt wrong and it wasnt long before we saw the odd fish rising too. He tied on his LTD Sedge and we passed the weed bed and set a drift to fish over it. Glen was giving me lots of instructions and telling me about the fish on Islay all to help me catch my 1st true wild brown trout. After a couple of passes and missed takes (the light was fading fast) I finally hooked and caught my first wild brown trout and an Islay one at that - Magic Stuff and a great end to an exhausting day.

The next morning after bacon butties we all tackled up and set off to the shore of Loch Finlaggan. Woody and Glen had told us stories of this place with days of nearly a fish a chuck and we could see lots of small splashy rises in the shallows on our walk down to the shore-The excitement kicked in even more. We started fishing our way around the Loch and within 10 mins we all knew it was going to be a tough day. It went from rising fish to flat calm in minutes and that prompted us to switch to wets or a duo of LTD Sedge and Bibio. 

Wayne, Harrison, Glen, Fred, Pete, John, Woody - Finlaggan Loch

We stuck it out for a few hours and when Mr Chirpy (Pete) piped up with "there's no f'ing fish in here, this is w&nk" we decided to call it a day, head back and warm up. We cracked open a magnum of champagne, wine and whisky that night and the stories and banter flowed - what a boss night that was!!

Wayne and Glen after a few

Next,we had a days fishing remote hill lochs for Pike on the fly and days at Skerrols and Finlaggan again and the fishing improved somewhat with us all catching.

The day that still sticks in my mind was one where Fred and myself were taken out on the boat on Skerrols. The wind was blowing quite hard so we ventured further down the Loch to shelter from the wind and it was there that we had 2 hours of what Glen describes as "class dry fly action". There where a series of small bays running down one side of the loch with lots of natural features created by broken branches and small fallen trees. We could see lots of small splashy rises right close into the shore and we started to catch - not massive fish but the sport was good. We soon discovered that there was a drop off about 6 foot from the shore and that was where the bigger fish were feeding. We had many passes along a bay where we had loads of fun fishing on single and double dries. We must have had about 20 fish between us and I was lucky enough to have my first double hook up on the dry. A boss day with sound company!!

A windy day on Skerrols

My double hook up on the dries at Robbo's Bay

A welcome fish on a tough day

One afternoon I decided to take myself off for a wade on my own and put into practice all I picked up from the weeks trip. I waded at the shore nearest to the house and in a couple of hours managed to pick up some nice fish for our tea and another double hook up, this time on the wets - Kate Maclaren & Bibio.

A nice couple of hours work and a double hook-up on the wets

My first pike on the fly

Glen doing a better job than me posing for a pic

Proper Boss!!

Me and Harrison wading around Skerrols (i am standing in a drop off and H is 6ft odd!! haha)

We decided to hold a comp on the last day and Woody would hold it on each trip. It was a really tough day and with the banter on the radio being minimal i knew everyone else was struggling. I had managed to pick up 3 small fish after about an hour in the shallows and to say I wasnt feeling confident was an understatement. Once the hooter sounded for the end of the comp we weighed in and we all waited nervously - some more than others. I ended up winning with 3 fish at a total of 8oz - this taught me never give up and be bloody grateful of every fish that you catch. 

 

Our last morning was spent visiting the many distilleries on the island and some general sightseeing.

All in all it was a quality week and I knew I would be booking back on for later in the year to have a dabble at Salmon and Sea Trout fishing.

 The River Laggan-will i get a chance to fish this in Sept 2012 for my first Salmon??

Tim