What a Difference a Week Makes

So you go out fishing with much expectation, but you blank.  This happened to me last week, which was surprising given the conditions - warm weather, some cloud cover, river clear and level good.

What was the problem? Hard to say but it may have been the rain over the previous weekend, river did seem slightly colder and that must have been enough to slow the fish down. There was an abundance for fly life from Sedges to Olives but the fish weren't turned onto them. Even fishing a nymph proved fruitless!

But as the title suggests, it hasn't all been like that recently.

The week before, I was fortunate enough to have an afternoon free and went down the lower end of the clubs waters (Wye) on a nice glide above the 'Fly Run'. I managed to take a couple of fish on the top but observing the water there were lots of fish turning in the top of the water so I decided to tie on an extra length of flurocarbon to the bend of my dry hook and attach a nymph - fishing the duo, New Zeland style (possibly my favourite fishing method).

To start with I used a small size 16 Gold Head PTN. This is where the action really took off. In the next hour I took 8 fish, some small some over 1lb and all from the same place that I blanked recently.

I also visited this (sometimes) productive spot over the weekend when the wind and rain arrived and took 4 good size Grayling, again on a nymph - this time a pink body with red ribbing and a Silver Bead.

Brownie on the dry



Brownie on the nymph

Salmon Parr

Best of the day - Grayling of 1lb+

Grayling with the pink fly in its top lip

Yes fishing can be frustrating at times but just being out in the peace and quiet is often enough to relax the mind.  I took a break from the lashing wind and rain and found shelter under a couple of trees. As the wind subsided and rain eased I sat there watching as a gorgeous Kingfisher took flight along the far bank, up and down the river several times before disappearing back into the bank. To be honest I enjoyed seeing the Kingfisher more than catching the fish that day!

One thing I was told when I first started fishing again was:
Its called Fishing, if you caught a fish every time it would be called Catching.

A very simple statement but how true it is. Everyone loves to catch fish, it's why we fish. However, some people get hung up on catching and being better than everyone else (something which has resulted in a lot of discussion recently about Competition fishing - something I hope to talk about again). When these anglers realise there is much more pleasure to be taken from fishing than hooking a 6" 'monster', I think they will really see the benefits.

Until next time...