E.A. Rod licence

Hi all
Just a reminder that you have 1 more day to go (Thurs 31st) before you need to have a new rod licence.
E.A. bailiffs will be active at any river or fishery - so be warned
Is it worth the risk??

Indicators or not - that is the question???

Had a great lesson with Gary and his wife Lindsay from Burnley. They did really well with the casting both overhead and rolls. Difficult afternoon for actually fishing - bright sun but with the water temps still well down, no signs at all of rises.
When it's like this you really need to sort out a technique to handle to conditions - hit and hope just won't work.
So what are the options - floater long leader with a team of buzzers? Intermediate line, slow retrieve with lures? or??
Try a static lure -could be a blob or an egg fly but must be absolutely still no movement at all.
If you think about it everything in the water is moving in some way, fast or slow except, in this case, your fly and this can be a source of annoyance for the fish.
When fishing this method 3 things could happen
1/ absolutely nothing! Not the desired result so try something else!
2/ The fish start to nudge the fly basically trying to work out what it is and get it to move.
3/ The fish grab it with a vengeance. If this happens your lift into the fish must be fast,  in fact very fast or you will miss the chance!
The question is do you use an indicator?? If there is just one question to stir up so many differing opinions then I guess this is it! For what it's worth if you do try this method then you WILL need to use an indicator. The fly needs to be absolutely still and you will need an indicator to hold the depth. You may however fall into the band of flyfishers who just don't like the idea of using a "coarse fisherman's float" just one question for you - what is a floating line if not a float albeit 90+ft long??? An indicator just makes this method more efficient by stopping the end of the floating line from sinking
Fly fishing is all about opinions and it would not be as good if we all agreed on everything!!

What a week!

Great week with lots of varied lessons, beginners and more advanced, just how I like it.
Even managed to get a few hours on the river for a bit of early season trouting!
On the river tomorrow doing rolls and Speys with some of my mentoring group, then it's off to Llangollen for the weekend for a meeting of the GAIA assessors and more training workshops.

I love it when it's busy!!!

Busy busy!

Had a great lesson today with Graham from Blackpool. Had him casting well in no time at all and I am sure he will be taking up fly fishing on a regular basis now.
Pretty full diary for next few weeks (that's certainly not a complaint!) mixture of beginner's and advanced stuff at Curley's and on the river. Still will be able to squeeze a few more lessons in if anyone needs them - don't hold back!!!!

Tuesday 15th March - the first day of the Brown Trout season! been a long time coming so dig out all those Large Dark Olive and Grannom patterns!!

This Grannom pattern is from the Gwent Angling Society Site and is an adaptation from Gwilym Hughes' famous Cul de Canon flies

Fly Fishing in France anyone??

Found this great article on Fly Fishing in France read here
Doesn't it make you yearn for some great fly fishing on warmer days and some sunshine, especially when it's horrible outside.
I did have a lesson today with John from Bolton Fly Tyers but we decided to re-arrange!!!!

Open day at NWAC

Hi All

Friday 25th March

North West Angling Centre at Hindley will be holding an open day with yours truly representing Hardy/Greys. I'll be there to show the latest tackle including the new rod and reel ranges. So if you are in the "market" for some new gear and you want to try before you buy this will be a great opportunity, where you can try all the rods along side each other for direct comparisons. So let the "tackle tart" in to come to the fore and come along for a chat and a play!
Hope to see lots of you on the day.

click here for more details

Spring Fly Fair 2011

Hi all
Did any of you go the the Spring Fly Fair at Newark last weekend??
It's the first time I have missed the show in about 4 years but this year it was joined with the Shooting show and didn't have the same flyfishing content as previous years.

My friends at the British Fly Casting Club (BFFC) were there and managed to find some video of Mike Heritage doing his stuff with some commentry from Charles Jardine

Click here to watch

Preparation for the season

Apart from getting your ff tackle together as explained in my last blog you may want to consider doing some casting practise! What a surprise me talking about casting practise - however a new twist to the theme

Have a look here for the Salmon & Trout Mag review of the new Hardy Sintrix Zenith rods - apparently they do all the work and anyone can cast with them!!!!

 Mmm?? I have cast with a couple of these and they are great rods but......

Brown trout just around the bend!!!

Hi all

The start of the "new" season doesn't really mean as much nowadays since we can literally fish all year round.  For a most it is really based upon the start of Spring and the promise of better weather.

Either way we should all be looking at our fishing tackle and making sure it's up to scratch, particularly if it has all been in hibernation over the colder months!

Strip your line off the reel and give it a good clean, use a proper line cleaner on all floating lines to re-invigorate the "floatabilty" The 3m line dressing is the best I have found - look here

Inspect your reel, clean and very lightly oil if required. Then give your rod some attention - clean the blank and the rings and carefully inspect the rings for any signs of wear or damage. Damaged rod rings are a major reason for the destruction of your fly line!

Finally look at your fly boxes - no matter how anal some of us are about our fly boxes they always require an overhaul - throw away any that are damaged or rusty!!! Get the rest into some sort of order even if it's just basic grouping, Nymphs, Dries, Wets, Lures, colours,  it will help and maybe give you a feeling of satisfaction - or is that just me being very anal?

Last but not least - how about tidying up your bag, get rid of all those bits of leader and loose flies that you couldn't be bothered to put in a box last time out!!!

As the old saying goes "failure to prepare is preparation for failure!!"

Tightlines