Another great day :D

Fished the river again today as i had a good day Tuesday and have been told to have the rest of the week off work with pay :D  Anyways i hit the river a nice little wind and warm weather brung on a hatch and the fish were rising freely so i decided to fish a single dry fly, after a couple of casts i hit into my first fish a nice little fish around half a pound and stunning red spots.  After i put it back to the wild to swim freely i noticed some nice fish rising in the same pool which i was fishing and they lookied like some reaaly nice fish too as they were doing what big fish do while rising they only sup at the water ot just poke thier nose out while gauging at flies coming down river.  I put my hares ear klinkhammer about 4/5 foot infront of one of the rising fish and nothing happened...........  So i tried it again and waited all tensed up waiting for a little sup or rise to my fly, and then it happened the most gentlest of rises.  I struck softly as iv been told that i strike too hard and all hell broke loose.  The fish ran me up and down side to side leaping 3/4 foot out of the water trying its best to snap me off but i kept myself calm and didnt rush the fish and as soon as i tried to bring it to hand it made one more run for it and leaped high into the air and spat the hook out.......... But i would say that the fish was around 4lb.  I was not amused :(

So after that dissapointment i gave the pool a few minutes to quit down and wait untill i could see more fish rising again before i put any line out.  I saw a few more rising fish after 10 minutes wait sitting in the overgrowth getting eaten by the midges and dodging the spiders :/  again i put my fly about 3/4 foot above the rising fish closest to me but this time it stuck straight away and run straight down river leaping absolutly everywhere twisting and turning but this time i was not letting it go so easilly, i waited untill i knew it was properly ready to bring to hand.  Not as big as the one that got away but a ncie 2 1/2lb fish and stunningly beautiful red and black spots which put a really big smile on my face :D

After that fish i moved on to other spots on the river and caught some nice fish around the 1lb mark and smaller but this time in deeper water i used klink & dink method which always works ;)  but the one thing i will say about the day is that ill need to tie up a few more nymphs from loosing them on fish and tree's etc ;) and will definatly be fishing the main river a fe more times before the season is out :D

Here a few pictures of the beautiful fish today :D





A true monster :)

a day for the big ones :)

Today saw me having ANOTHER day off and doing some chores around town for the better half and whilst down there i couldnt resist having a quick sneak peak into the local river after a big spate all last week and over the weekend.  As i was walking up the river i saw a lot of fish rising to olives, mayflies, brook dunns etc as they flutter down stream so peacefully while the trout chomp on them and thought to myself  "i gotta have me some of that "  So i quickly rush off  home drop the chores off and said to her quickly that i was going fishing for a few hours before she could ask me to do anything else hehe, and off i went. 


I got onto the river around 3:30pm and the sun was high in the sky and a strong downstream wind and all the fish that i saw rising an hour before had all stopped, so i resorted to something which i dont do very often klink & dink as i like to think as myself as a purist and fish on a single dry fly onlny ;)  I put my flies into the fast water running off big boulders and calm water and nothing was bitting so i decided to have a break for five and wait untill the wind calms down a little and see if anything starts to rise again.  After about 2 minutes of me having a rest a large hatch of olives and brook dunns came on and all of a suden there were fish rising all around me and though way hay :D  After a few false casts and working out where the fish were and how far to place my flies above them so that they would take my fly more easilly i set my flies down and after a few mist takes i finally hooked into my first fish of the evening, a nice 2lb brown trout and stunnign spots on him too and the next cast i caught one a little bit smaller and thought to myself hold on if these big ones are in here could there be a monster in here somewhere!!!!!!!!!!  So i kept on with the klink & dink and then it happened i hooked into something which i can only explain as a true monster and took me for a ride up stream and took nearlly all of my line out to its backing and jumping out of the water at every chance it got trying to snapp my leader. Which after around 5 minutes fight and a lot of line reeled back in it did :(


But i am glad that i ventured off onto the main river again after a very long absence and will definatly do it again before the season ends ;)

Here are a few pictures of the fish of the day










 And a safe release

Fathers day Special :)

Sunday saw the rains of the following week go away and replaced with some clouds and sunshine :D  I havnt been able to go fishing for most of the week due to the rivers and stream being in spate so when the better half could see me sulking on the sofa she kindly said to me " oh go on then go bloody fishing " you can imagine my response :D   i quickly shot up with a big smile on my face and got my gear on and off i went.  I hit the stream and was expecting a it of colour and high water but it was none of these things.  It was gin clear and a few inches of water in it so it must have dropped quite a lot over night as it was in spate the day before.  Anyways  i could see fish rising all around for as long as i could see up stream and that got the heart racing a little and thought to myself bloody hell if things go rite this is going to be one hell of a day :)  first cast first fish :D a nice 10 inch browny with stunning gold colour with bright red spots and i had another 3 out of the pool too.


As the day got on and the sun high in the sky, every glide pocket and run i put my fly into there was a nice little wildy brown trout there to great my fly and i was more than happy to let thyem have it :) and then it happened at around 3 o'clock the fish switched off, there was still a lot of fly on the water Mayfly, BWO's, large brook dunns etc but the fish just wasnt interested so i decided to have a rest and wait for them to rise again and take some nice photo's.

The home stream :)



Then they came back on the feed and all hell broke loose, fish after fish they came to hand big and small same as before.  Then the better half phoned me ( i know i know never take your phone fishing with you ) and said you do know you have a home to come back to ( hehe ) so i had to retire on the river at around 7 o'clock and make the 6 mile hike back down the valley to get home.  But one awsome day, one hell of a fathers day presentand i cant wait to greet the home stream again :D

Fin perfection and spots hand painted by God himself.

Monday morning saw me having another day off ( which i wasnt complaining about ) due to some rain in the early hours of the same morning.  So when the heavens finished shedding its load and the sun and blue skies made an apperance i decided it was good fisihgn weather so i gave my pal Mostyn a quick ring to see if he fancied a good fe hours on the stream and he was more than happy to tag along ;)

As we were walking to our local stream before we even seen the river we were greeted by a sign of things to come, a HUGE mayfly that had flown away from the stream.  That lifted our spirits a bit and we both rushed to the river side in excitement to get our lines wet.  The water on the stream was a little bit high and muddy due to rain the day before and the early hours but still fishable with BWO's, mayfly, olives, large brook dunns and millions of midges on the water.  The first pool i popped my fly into proved so with 3 nice fin perfect wild trout around 5/6 inches all took in the fast water.  As the day got on and myself and Mostyn made our way up river and high into the mountains the water was going down a little and getting a bit clearer.  Nearlly every glide, pocket and riffle we were putting our flies into there was a fish to great and snap it up and we were more happy to give it to them, Then as i was in a pool i heard Mostyn shout DANIEL DANIEL come here quick.  When i arrived from a few pools down what greated me was a big almighty splah in the water whilst Mostyn played a nice fish i would guestimate at arount 2lb but sadly it unhooked itself to fight another day.  But at the end of the day myself and Mostyn couldnt count how many fish we both had caught and we oboth cant wait to get back on the stream :D

Some nice pools full of fish :)




The mayfly which greeted us before hitting the stream  and a BWO spinner :)




Mostyn striking into a nice fish but sadly loosing the battle :(

And the rewards :D








One of the prettiest trout i think i have ever seen :D

A Great Few Days Fishing

I havnt been fishing for a while so when i found out i will be having a few days off work i knew i had to get out on the rivers and small streams here in South Wales.  First up Sunday 05/06/2011 was the lower River Taff.  I only had 2 hours fishing from 4:00pm to 6:00 pm but what a 2 hours they were :) first i started off with a duo klink and dink method and managed quite a few all to the dink in rough and fast water of the little wiers on the stretch i was fishing and the bigger fish were winding me up leaping furiously out of the water saying haha you cant catch me no matter how hard i tried grrrrrrr.  But after fishing the wier pools of the lower Taff i came to a slow moving bit of water in the middle of the pool, the fish were rising freely but didnt want to know with the klink and dink so i tried a griffith gnat instead.  Still nothing, so i tried a single claret klinkhammer on a size 14.   My first cast and i rose a fish BUT i only seen a little flash so thought it was only a little fish around 1/2lb so i put a bit of pressure onto the line, what a mistake, ther was crash, bags and what all i could fell was thud thud thud and a big splash and the fish was gone :(

So after loosing my favorate klinkhammer i thought ill try a fly which i have never used before a black klinkhammer with a peacock hearl as the thorax and again my first cast i was into a fish, not as big as the one that got away but a decent size fish about 1 3/4 lb and sped off down stream jumping and splashing giving off a good show for the onlookers watching me as i fight him to the net.  But after i landed that fishi i had another fish around 1 lb and gave just as good a fight.

A nice 1 3/4 lb trout
 




Day twoand three06/06/20100 & 07/06/2011 was the return of the home stream.  Those of you which know me personally will know where this little beauty of a stream is, but for thise of you which dont......... tough luck ;) but myself and a good friend of mine Mostyn started out both days at around 12:30pm.  Before we hit the water we were greated by a special sight of the mayfly and upright olives floating and flying down and up river with wilder brown trout supping and splashign at the on the water, some even leaping out of the water trying to catch the flies :)  Mostyn creeps up to the water and gets on his knees so that he doesnt sppok these wild beauties and it payed off first cast first fish, a nice 5/6 inch wild brownie.  So this imidiatly gave me the good vibe and couldnt wait to get into one myself.  I found myself surrounded by slow and fast water fishing a single klinkhammer and first cast into the fast water a nice little trout came to the fly but didnt hook on so i tried and tried again and after about 5 minutes of trying it hooked on, my heart was racing even though it wasnt a big fish around 5/6 inches BUT it was a wild brown tout and i love them :) as the day went along myself and Mostyn caught plenty of fish and some nice ones too for a small stream reaching to 1 1/4 lb in weight and lovely marking on them too.

Here are quite a few pictures of the two days :D

there was a good head of mayfly coming off the water :)

I cant wait to get back on this stream and catch these little fin perfection beauties :D









Mostyn fishing a nice pool on the home stream and grinning from ear to ear at a mayfy :)