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Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Spring Fly Fishing

Ok I know it's more like summer at the moment - sunshine, light breezes and no water but we all know this ain't going to last much longer and then we will be back to "proper" spring like conditions.

I was on the Ribble yesterday with a real nice guy, Tom Holden who wanted help with his spey casting. I enjoy all lessons but this one was particularly good in so far as Tom responded very well to all the fixes I suggested and in no time at all his casting was markedly better.

The river was very low but there was a small hatch of Olives that got limited interest from a few local trout but all of them looked to be a good size. Half way through the lesson there was one big splash from a frustrated Salmon stuck in the pool and not able to make progress upstream.

For those of you intending to get out onto the river, look out for Olives and then as we get into April, large Dark Olives and Grannoms.
For the Stillwater/Reservoir fly fisher, look for Sedges, Hawthorn flies and Heather flies.

Monday, 26 March 2012

Hardy/Greys

Went up to Hardy HQ at Alnwick last Friday with my good friend Stuart Minnikin, a fellow academy member.
The main reason for our visit was to thoroughly test all the new rods and reels for 2012 and also to pick out some equipment that I will be using this year for all my lessons and guiding.

It was quite a task as the range of rods in particular is truly awesome from tiny brook rods to big double handers there is definitely something for everyone and every type of fly fishing.

The standout rods for me were the Zeniths. These are the rods that use the new "Nano" technology that makes them both strong and light.
 I will be using the Zenith 13'8" DH#8 and the Greys XF2 13' #8 for all of my Spey lessons and salmon fishing this year.  I have decided to fish much lighter and smaller this year.  Most of the river I fish like the Ribble, Lune, Tyne and Eden are more than suitable for these shorter rods and the Zenith in particular can handle longer casts with a full range of lines.
For the choice of single handed rods I have the following: Greys XF2 9' #6 and the GRXi 9' 6" #6 for all the stillwater tuition and the Zenith 9' #5 and the Greys Streamflex 11' #3 for all the river tuition and guiding.

All of these rods and a selection of other Greys rods are available for testing at my tackle shop at Curley's Fishery just give me a ring or email me to arrange.


Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Warming up

Only a day or so away from the Brown Trout Season now.
This starts on the 15th March at least for those of us fortunate to reside in the North West. Yorkshire rivers only open up on the 1st April.

The end of March and on into April see the first hatches of meaningful insects particularly the Large Dark Olive and Grannom and then as the air warms up even more we get all the other species of olives and sedges. Every year these hatched vary a lot from sparse to frequent and numerous. Let's hope for a good showing this year to get the trout looking up and picking insects off the surface.