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
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