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Post by mspaddler on Oct 7, 2013 17:01:42 GMT
Had a day on the Calder around Copley yesterday. Managed 8 grayling and 4 trout. I fished a single dry, duo and czech nymph all with tenkara rods. 6 came to dry in a hatch of small olives just after lunch. Have to say a #4 fluorocarbon leader has revolutionised my dry fly casting and duo too.
Jonathan"
Sounds good Jonathan, I plan to try the main river this week I hope I have the same luck as you did.
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Post by mspaddler on Oct 12, 2013 11:12:27 GMT
Well I had planned to fish the Calder on Tuesday but events overtook that plan. Wednesday didn't look promising but the rest of the week's forecast was worse, so off I went. It was already windy but I set up my 11 foot Iwana (I broke the tip of my 12 foot at Pickering and was awaiting a replacement). The 11 foot had a tapered furled line on it from Phil at Tenkara Days. I tied on a brown shrimp on the point and a pink head nymph on the dropper. I was surprised how well the furled line cast in the wind, but I suppose the 2 nymphs helped. I fairly quickly hooked my first Grayling but lost it as I guided it to the net and the same again 15 minutes later. Both looked like good sized fish and both on the pink nymph. I then picked up a fingerling on the brown shrimp which I managed to hand line. The wind was picking up and the sky was turning grey but I moved up stream a little and caught and netted my best Grayling. Again on the pink nymph. Two more casts and the heavens opened and that was it for the day. Three hours driving 11/2 hours fishing a great day. Attachment Deleted
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Post by phil on Oct 12, 2013 12:34:47 GMT
Great report Brian. Glad the line is holding up and serving you well.
Phil
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Post by mspaddler on Oct 15, 2013 20:07:51 GMT
Another Tributary of the Yorkshire Calder and true Urban fishing. At 11 am this morning I decided to go fishing, the joy of retirement! However, rather than popping off to Pickering I thought I like to have a go at the River Holme in Huddersfield. I fished at Lockwood by the Landrover dealer. There is a municipal car park just in front of the Italian restaurant on the other side of the river. I thought I'd picked up my 12 foot Iwana but in fact I had my 13 foot Ayu rigged up with 2 nymphs. I fished upstream from the bridge for a few hundred yards. The river wasn't high but it was quite coloured and in spite of swapping flies every now and again I failed to generate any interest. So after about 11/2 hours and having just lost both flies in a tree, I decided I was wasting my time and quit for the day to go grocery shopping. As all fishermen do, I stopped on the bridge and looked at the river and low and behold I spotted a rise and then another one. So plan B. I quickly tied on about 3 feet of tippet and the smallest dry fly I had - a size 16 double badger and cast towards a rising fish. The fish looked at it and decided not to bother. But the next cast produce a purposeful rise and the Grayling below took the fly. I continued with the same fly until I 'fished out the pool' about an hour later and ended the day with 3 Grayling and 5 OOS WBT to hand. bringing the fish to hand with the 13 foot rod was a bit of a chore as overhanging tree branches made hand lining difficult, almost every time I ended up with line in the trees above me. Unusually I managed to retrieve line and fly without loss. Another great day on the river.
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Post by mspaddler on Nov 17, 2013 18:28:55 GMT
Had a good day on the Yorkshire Calder river system Friday. It was a little slow to start, but I eventually picked up 2 OOS WBT on nymphs(1 silver 1 orange) and one fingerling Grayling. A little later I picked up a decent grayling on a silver head nymph, all on 12ft Tenkara USA Iwana. I then decided to use my new 13 foot Tenkara Rod from Esoteric Tackle. The ESO rod had a Black Klinkhammer and a GRHE on the dropper, so I fished it. Something had a go at the klink I thought it looked small (and it was as I subsequently caught it). I picked a nice trout on the GRHE and then the fingerling Grayling on the Klink. A couple very decent Grayling took the Klink and some fingerlings also on the dry. I got on much better with the 410 ESO rod on Friday, the river was wider so casting was easier and the rod had no problems at all handling the good sized Grayling in the fast current. I saw no rises at all but more fish fell to the Klink than anything else. Altogether 8 Grayling and 4 Trout, 4 of the Grayling were more than 12 inches the others were fingerlings, nothing in between. Another good day on a post industrial river. Attachment Deleted
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Post by custheyder on Nov 18, 2013 9:14:13 GMT
What a great looking fish! Glad to hear the rod is performing well in strong currents with big fish. I'm looking forward to hearing more reports.
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Post by mspaddler on Nov 28, 2013 15:37:29 GMT
Oh my what a great day on Rivers in the Calder system. You know its going to be a fun day when you pull out a 13 inch grayling on your first cast. I Drew a blank at the Bradford City Angling Assn grayling Day on the Aire at Gargrave on Sunday so I was anxious to put that behind me. While thinking about the blank in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales it dawned on me that I seem to have most success catching and landing grayling on post industrial rivers. So with the weather and river levels gods with me I decided on a day in Huddersfield. True urban fishing at its finest! Two minutes after landing that first fish another grayling came to hand and the workers at the local tire depot asked if they could have the fish for their supper! I was fishing Klink and dink with a pink head nymph on point, the first 2 grayling took the nymph. I moved on and again with klink and dink picked up a couple of small grayling and 3 nice size trout. The trout all went for the klinkhammer so I took it off and continued to fish either a single nymph or duo. All the nymphs worked; Pink, Orange and Silver head and a GRHE. I lost count of the fish I landed but obviously well into double figures and quite a few long releases. I very possibly beat my personal best grayling (I really should be prepared with something to measure/weigh with me). My 12 ft TUSA Iwana and Nissin Pro Spec 2 way were the rods of the day. The Nissin is allegedly a 7:3 but it seems quite a bit 'softer' than that. I think the Nissin may become my go to rod for the smaller rivers. Attachment Deleted
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Post by mspaddler on Dec 12, 2013 21:45:22 GMT
A few hours on the Calder in the drizzle. Fortunately it wasn't cold, especially for mid December. Took a while to get any interest from the grayling but eventually I began to land a few. The interesting thing is for a couple of hours all I caught were little chaps and they went for the nymph regardless of pattern and one even took a Klinkhammer. Just before I decided to call it a day a couple of bigger fish came to hand all on a pink head nymph. The strangest thing happened on what was my last cast of the day. I hooked a fish I suspect another tiddler when suddenly the Iwana started to sing and bang the tippet broke about a foot down from my level line taking with it my nymphs. Maybe a Pike took my Grayling who knows. Double figures today and no trout at all, a first. Attachment DeletedAttachment Deleted
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Post by custheyder on Dec 13, 2013 9:35:12 GMT
Nice fish and a good days fishing. As to the singing rod the last time that happened to me I was boat fishing on Pitsford as a thunderstorm came over. The singing/buzzing was my carbon lightning rod charging up. Sufficient to say I put it in the bottom of the boat and headed in.
Perhaps it was a pike that got you.
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Post by phil on Dec 13, 2013 10:48:41 GMT
Another super report Brian. Perhaps you would introduce me to the Calder one of these days. From your reports it appears to have all those elements that make urban fishing so thrilling: banter from the locals, incongruous surroundings, and a healthy fish population. Cheers Phil
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Post by mspaddler on Dec 18, 2013 9:13:20 GMT
Tuesday was another "best day of the week" according to the weather gurus, so I had it find somewhere to fish. The prospects were not great as most of the rivers were high following the weekend's heavy rain. After pouring through the river level reports the Calder tributaries were the choice. I didn't really want to go back having fished there twice in the last two weeks but there was no real alternative. Although the main river was still too high at least the smaller rivers were falling. However, when I got there the river was higher than I preferred and quite coloured. I struggled! No hook up at all for the first hour then one got off and another blank hour went by. Around 1 pm things started to pick up with the landing of two young ones followed by two respectable grayling and two long releases. Moving upstream it looked like the river was clearing a bit and I noticed an upright or two coming off so swapped to klink and dink. Things continued to pick up and along with a single OOS trout I landed a few more grayling. All fish, so far, were caught on the point fly, a pink head nymph using a TUSA 12 foot Iwana. There had been some interest in the klink but no takes. Following the third look at the Klinkhammer I decided to take off the duo and try a size 22 Ffly and on the second chuck a nice grayling took the tiny fly. So after a poor start another great day on a wonderful Yorkshire river .
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Post by jonathan27 on Dec 20, 2013 22:21:28 GMT
Lancashire rivers seem to be all washed out for the weekend. The Calder looks high too at copley on the ea site. Are the tribs worth a look?
Jonathan
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Post by mspaddler on Dec 21, 2013 9:52:24 GMT
The Calder tribs look fishable but tricky for Tenkara as wind will be a problem
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Post by mspaddler on Jan 1, 2014 0:21:57 GMT
Had a stinking cold all over Christmas, but saw an opportunity New Year's Eve to maybe bag my final Grayling of 2013. Most rivers too high but headed out anyway for a couple of hours. Quite a few OOS Brown Trout and when this fish came to hand I called it good and drove home to York. Attachment Deleted
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Post by phil on Jan 1, 2014 17:00:36 GMT
Brian, you're the most tenacious tenkara angler on this forum. Fab work and I'm glad it paid off for you.
Phil
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