River Lark

[fdking]

Fished the river Lark again today.  This time there was virtually no wind so casting was easy, though the river was low and clear. In the morning there were no fish rising so I used sawyers nymph with para-adams as indicator - caught 17 trout around 8-10 inches, mostly on the nymph though I had a couple on the adams and a few tentative takes.  As the day warmed up some fish started rising but I only saw a few mayflies. Anyway, after lunch I tried a few mayfly patterns, Grey Wulff and some parachute mayflies I had made myself.  All seemed to work well with the trout going nuts for them and I caught another 10 trout, now bigger, the best being about 11/2 lb. I had bought some cheap Grey Wulff off e-bay and although the tying was good, the hook was a bit heavy but when they floated the fish loved them, but they got mangled by the fish so I had to change fly after every fish caught.  I'll try tying some myself but use lighter hooks and grey aero-wing for the body to help bouyancy.

[fdking]

Weather forecast for Ilkley so bad that I cancelled my trip 'up north' and spent Monday on the Lark. Strong, gusty wind didn't help with casting. One cast blows to the right into the bushes, the the next to the left into the reeds, then the next landing about 10ft in front of me! In spite of this, I managed to catch 20+ fish, again mainly on sawyers nymph and para adams as duo. No mayflies today but lots of damsel flies and I noticed a trout chasing one. So I tried my only damsel fly and caught two lovely trout, letting the fly drift downstream with the wind, but after that the fly no longer floated so I switched to the duo. I'll get some more damsel flies for next time.
I don't know how common this is, but I've started using PTFE-coated micro rings to connect the tippet to the leader (the cheap non-coated rings are useless as they damage the line when knotting). This seems to be great for quickly switching between duo and dry fly and you can replace the dropper line without having to change the tippet.

[fdking]

Went again to the Lark on Monday. Windy but now an upstream wind so casting was easier. I went with a load of damsel flies and although there were some about, I spent about 1h trying them - nothing! I was mainly casting upstream with them and it was difficult to land them gently on the water with the gusty wind, so maybe the plop frightened the fish? But even letting them drift downstream as last time gave only one tentative nibble. Switched to the duo and caught a few trout but surprised how few fish were taking - and all on the dry fly, only one on the nymph. Then I met a couple of anglers coming back downstream and found out they had fished the stretch just before me! I caught three more fish in a stretch they hadn't fished but nothing else. On such a small river, it seems to take a long time to recover from the disturbance of anglers wading upstream and a motor cyclist thinking it is fun to ride through the river and get stuck!

[fdking]

After my fishing of the Wharfe at Ilkley last weekend it was back to the Lark today.  The river was a couple of inches up from this summer's low level and it had been steadily falling after the heavy rain a few days ago.  Gusty wind mainly upstream.  Not many fish rising and little fly activity, so tried my parachute adams standby.  Started with a size 16 and got a couple of takes but lost both fish with them not being hooked properly.  So switched to a size 14 and was immediately into a 1 1/2lb trout - nice start.  Continued fishing for another 4 hours and caught a total of 12 trout, including another 1 1/2lb fish. Also had a 1/2lb roach and a few dace about 3 inches long!  As I was getting into the water at the start there was a big chub just by my feet - I reckon about 5lb - that just quietly glided away upstream.  It would be fun getting that on the Tenkara! Now looking forward to my trip to Pickering at the end of the month.

[fdking]

After my brilliant visit to Oxfolds Beck, it was back to the Lark with a bump. By this time of year nearly all of the stocked trout have disappeared, whether by otters, cormorants or poachers - who knows, so all that are left are the crafty native wild trout. After catching nothing I caught up with another angler who had been fishing the stretch before me. He had caught only one trout but had missed a few. He was rather scathing about using the Tenkara and was very keen to show me his £800 Sage rod and a picture of him with a 10lb trout he had caught there a few years earlier. He did say that most of his takes were at long distance - further than I was fishing. He was also using a NZ strike indicator with a nymph, which looked very good and he claimed it didn't affect casting performance. His comment about distance should have sparked something, but it was only when driving home that I realised I had shortened my line to about 13 ft for Oxfolds, so I was probably spooking the fish. I was also using a 6X flurocarbon tippet, which may have been a bit thick. So next time I'll try a longer line with a 7X tippet. I didn't quite blank though, I did catch a 6 inch roach!