|
Post by custheyder on Mar 23, 2012 21:50:49 GMT
Such a pretty river and a great report with pictures. Good to hear that you are back fishing again. Tenkara has done the same for me.
|
|
|
Post by Simon on Mar 29, 2012 9:22:55 GMT
Intended to fish for a few hours after work, arriving at the middle section of Rossetts waters on the Alyn I bumped into another two members. A discussion started about the AGM and how the club was being run. Lots of very strong views! After over one hour I eventually managed to wet a fly. Sometimes I wonder why I take a rod, part of the fun of fishing, chatting on the river bank. The conditions were not good, the river showing its bones, clear with the sun beating down. Made my way upstream trying to find runs shaded by overhanging trees, still no bite, never mind, who needs fish when the weather and river are like this! Deciding to leave the river when I reached the weir I try a last cast as you do, a single PTN fished upstream, the lead stopped, a brown trout around 10in came to hand, slipped the hook from the scissors while still in the water. Time to leave. Photo and video are of the middle weir, here in Wales local bylaws say you are not allowed to fish 30mts above or below man made structures, so really nice weir pools are off limits. Simon. Video [youtube]Intended to fish for a few hours after work, arriving at the middle section of Rossetts waters on the Alyn I bumped into another two members. A discussion started about the AGM and how the club was being run. Lots of very strong views! After over one hour I eventually managed to wet a fly. Sometimes I wonder why I take a rod, part of the fun of fishing, chatting on the river bank. The conditions were not good, the river showing its bones, clear with the sun beating down. Made my way upstream trying to find runs shaded by overhanging trees, still no bite, never mind, who needs fish when the weather and river are like this! Deciding to leave the river when I reached the weir I try a last cast as you do, a single PTN fished upstream, the lead stopped, a brown trout around 10in came to hand, slipped the hook from the scissors while still in the water. Time to leave. Photo and video are of the middle weir, here in Wales local bylaws say you are not allowed to fish 30mts above or below man made structures, so really nice weir pools are off limits. Simon. Video
|
|
|
Post by custheyder on Mar 29, 2012 10:29:09 GMT
Very nice weir pool, such a shame the local bylaws do not allow you to fish it. We are fortunate not to have such restrictions here.
I know what you mean about being out on the river and talking with others. I hope I have a free run on Sunday when the season opens. It would be a nightmare to have a new rod and not be able to play!
|
|
|
Post by Simon on Apr 2, 2012 12:00:38 GMT
Saturday 31st March, sky is clear, hardly a breath of wind, but we really do need some rain as the river is so very low. Forecast for the week coming is promising? Snow and rain! We shall see. Spent a few hours on Friday evening tying up Tenkara style spiders in various colours on Partridge spider hooks, size 16. These I was going to try out today fishing them upstream. Arriving at the river around 12:30 there was a hatch of Grammon starting, fish were keeping out of the water to grab them! Should I change to dry imitation? No decided to stick with the spiders, which turned out to be a good choice. With my 12 ft furled leader and 5ft Tippet I had no problems covering the rising fish, one after another the fell to the flies, for the first time this season there were more trout than Grayling. Maybe the trout are starting to move upstream from the Dee? The Tenkara style flies look very different sub surface to northern spider where the hackle sits back streamlined along the hook. These even without twitching them look more like the wings of a drowned insect held out to the side, very deadly. Had around 15 - 20 by the end of the fishing trip. No report from Sonia as she decided to fish on the dark side again with the dry. If she's not careful I'll have to ban her from the forum! Simon.
|
|
|
Post by leckie on Apr 2, 2012 12:45:13 GMT
Simonm Nice report and photos....that looks a nice sized trout....and it's giving us the evil eye.....I can only dream of catching 15 - 20 fish in a single session tight lines Alex
|
|
|
Post by custheyder on Apr 2, 2012 14:13:17 GMT
Fantastic photography again. You out caught me. I only had 10, but I did lose a morning to no fish at all. Based on my experience with the tenkara style flies this weekend I'm going to make some adjustments.
|
|
conor
Bronze Member
Posts: 37
|
Post by conor on Apr 5, 2012 21:26:30 GMT
Thanks for your comments on my last report custheyder, it certainly is nice to be back on the river. Friday 30 March It was a busy end to the week but I promised myself at least one lunchtime trip to the river a week. I only had 20 minutes fishing time, so I went to a deep pool on the river to concentrate my efforts. Slowly I worked my way upstream on a dry fly in the shallow water and then switched to a double gold head nymph fished deep. No takes. A fish was splashing with abandon at the head of the pool, so I decided to swap back to the dry fly. A few casts later and I connected! Off dashed the fish deep into the pool and he gave me a right run around before coming to hand. There was time for no more and I headed downstream for the gap in the hedge back to the car. But I was tempted by a few downstream casts on a single gold head nymph into another pool below. I let the nymph free fall deep and then used a series of slight darting movements between two boulders that sometimes holds nice fish. I was just fooling about really, and then, a vicious take and a decent fish motored upstream passed me. What was it? Off he went downstream again and the rod bent over. Lovely! Up he went again the leader V-ing along the surface film. The fish showed in the shallow water…. A trout and a big one at that, at least a pound. My heart pounded, I rarely take a net, and today was no exception, but he was coming to hand, damn, he slipped away at the last second. An eventful 30 minutes fishing well worth nipping out for!
|
|
|
Post by Simon on Apr 6, 2012 8:14:40 GMT
Glad to see you back on the river Conor. Very hard fishing on the Rossett water at the moment.
Simon
|
|
conor
Bronze Member
Posts: 37
|
Post by conor on Apr 6, 2012 18:45:25 GMT
its nice to be back Simon albeit on a once weekly rather than near daily fishing basis! Thursday 5 April The end of the week loomed and it was time to go fishing at lunch! The temperature had dropped hugely from my previous trip with morning frost and snow on the hills. Last week people were sunbathing on the beach! The river had a nice quick pace about it, injected with extra volume from some heavy showers of late, but still running clear. I walked downstream to see if any fish were rising in a place they often do at lunchtime at this time of year. The run was dead. I kept going a little further and decided to give a deep pool a try with a gold head nymph fished downstream from a crawling position amongst wild garlic on the bank. I gave up after 10 minutes and one missed take. To hell with it I thought, I will fish upstream on dry and leave it at that. I started upstream into the previously dead run. There was a small fish rising at the tail of the run in no more than a foot of water. I gave it a go. The fish rose straight away, but he was beaten to it by a leviathan…. I struck and I was into a massive trout for our stream, over two pounds. He surged passed me like a possessed beast. I checked his run lest he enter the deep pool beyond where I wouldn’t be able to wade. He headed for a tangle of roots and other snags. But I steered him away again, abusing the top half of the rod by ploughing it through the overhead branches to keep contact and I was showered with early buds of spring. No net again. How proverbial. I decided not to hesitate, drew the line close and hauled in the trout. What a beauty he was with a large leopard spots all down his flank and a thick body and massive head. I grabbed hold of him…but he thrashed again and was gone. I didn’t mind. What a great fish, and on a dry fly. A rare event for the Alyn. That looked to be my lot for the day. But when I started to fish upstream again, I saw one, then another, then a dozen rises. A raft of large dark olives was on the river’s horizon and a feeding frenzy was on. Every single cast after that produced a fish. Here are a sample of fish that came to hand as I worked upstream. But so far no decent fish. Then came a nice trout. Then came a few more smaller fish and then a salmon smolt! More fish came to hand as I worked up to the head of the pool and that was it. That was some 40 minutes fishing! I was knackered. Looking downstream lots more fish were still rising but it was time to go. I waded upstream for a gap in the trees to get to the road. This was a broad shallow run of ripples over stones only a few inches underneath. Nonetheless I kept casting upstream as I proceeded. You never know, it was one of those days! And then a rise behind a large semi-submerged rock! And another decent trout!
|
|
|
Post by leckie on Apr 8, 2012 21:31:42 GMT
conor, Great report and pics....good that you are back regular fishing again....I think you will need to get into a discipline of carrying a net with you on your trips....I know you practice C&R but it's frustrating I know 'cause last season I caught a trout of over 2 lbs from the Water of Leith within Edinburgh City Boundary and although I actually touched it with my hand I had forgotten my landing net and there was no way I could beach it from where I was fishing. I would have released it anyway but would have like to have taken a photo for posterity...and forum reports ;D
tight lines
Alex
|
|
|
Post by custheyder on Apr 9, 2012 8:16:07 GMT
I'm definitely fishing more upstream dry fly with the tenkara setup than I ever did with my regular rod. That was mainly spiders across and down. There you have the evidence nothing to the nymph and lots of fish to the hand with the dries. Do you think the lighter presentation with a tenkara rod is helping the success? ...I'm not mentioning the net Great report and pictures. Cust.
|
|
conor
Bronze Member
Posts: 37
|
Post by conor on Apr 12, 2012 20:32:13 GMT
i get very frustrated with taking a net as i always tend to snag it in undergrowth either off or on the river. I feel more at ease without it, but that has its occasional downsides. But given that the large fish tend to be this time of year and at the tail end of the season perhaps i should take one!
I definetly think the seamless presentation of dry flies on tenkara rods and the line makes a difference. I often fish a leader of only 3-4 foot as i have found that i lose less fish in striking than with 5-6 foot, not to mention snags!
However when the fish arent rising I have tended to rely on new zealand style, which isnt really what the tenkara set up was intended for and its less fun as its quite finicky. I get the most joy from dry fly fishing with the tenkara rod.
went out to the river this lunchtime but didnt go fishing, just had a quick walk on the river as only had 10 minutes. nice pace to water, and more volume, slightly beer coloured but bottom still visible. no fishing rising anywhere. from memory conditions like this produce good trout on large gold head nymphs. should be out tommorow at lunchtime to find out!
|
|
conor
Bronze Member
Posts: 37
|
Post by conor on May 13, 2012 6:32:25 GMT
|
|
|
Post by leckie on May 13, 2012 19:46:26 GMT
conor, Boy you guys have had it bad weatherwise for the past couple of weeks...thanks for showing some photos of the Alyn and where the river levels reached...just hope it settles down soon and you can get some fishing done...it always amazes me why you don't see dead fish lying in the middle of fields after such spates...fish are real survivors...but it won't be long now before you can wet your line tight lines Alex
|
|
|
Post by Simon on May 17, 2012 11:39:01 GMT
After 7 months I am discharged from the hospital after my foot op, no more follow up appointments! To celebrate a trip the the Rossett section of the Alyn. As you have seen from the photos posted by Conor we have been flooded out. This is unusual for this time of year? The river is still high and coloured but it is shocking the amount of damage caused be the strength of the river. Banks washed away islands where there wee not, and the main damage is that the river bed has been stripped and washed clean of most things, all of the ranunculus in the folding sections has vanished, the river looks like it has just been made with all new bed stones! Not expecting much action at all I set up with partridge and orange tied Tenkeara style fishing it across and down due to the speed and flow of this section. I was amazed to feel a take in a very fast section, the rod bent but within 10sec the fish was gone, working my way down the field, still awestruck at the river conditions and state, one more fish slashed at the fly as it lifted at the end of its run, and that was it! As wading was still going to be an issue I decided to head for home and hope for the river to subside along with the rain. I have been reading all your posts but at this time I have very little time to reply, as work subsides I may get some more me time. Simon.
|
|