New ground for the new season..

Met up with Red today and went exploring for new fishing grounds for the new season. Walked miles of likely looking stream in deepest darkest Somerset. Even saw a few wild Brownies...

Starlings at New Passage

Beautiful day and opportunity for sunset over bridge encouraged me to make an after work trip with Henry (my middle son) down the road to New Passage to see the starling roost. Eventually a few thousand Starlings turned up to perform in front of a small assembled crowd although they could have flashed across the sunset as a grand finale . Some of the photos suggest a balmy summers evening but it was freezing!

Woolly wake up call....

Surfed Woolacombe today with bro Rich and Tom. Low tide coming in. Surf a good 4' with the odd head high set and light onshores. Low mist almost obscured line up for most of day. Had a tough time taking a while to get out on occasions - time to get fit!

Chew Grayling into the pink...

Another trip to my great little local Chew. Target species again Grayling. The weather was overcast but really mild with hardly any wind. The river had been coloured and high for the past few weeks but it was looking good today with just a little colour. Met up with Red and guess what another three anglers turned up to float fish on the Bathampton stretch. We went off downstream to Keynsham stretch. I started with the usual patterns but bites were infrequent and I lost the first fish on the Brassie, it was one I hadn't changed for a while so lost faith in the point of the hook. Decided to push the boat out today and changed to a pink nymph. This is one I had tied a while back  - it had a fairly large red glass bead head and flashy pink dubbed body and had never caught for me in the past. It looked heavy and bright and as I felt my earlier Brassie wasn't getting deep enough I thought I would give it a try. I flicked it out under the Klink and within 20 minutes I'd netted three Grayling and lost two. The biggest getting towards a pound. If anything the bead was a bit big for the hook which probably lost me the two.

Next run and I lost both flies in an overhanging tree. I just had one more nymph with a pinkish hue and glass bead head. It caught me a further two Grayling. Pink is clearly the colour for December Grayling. I was also pleased I was not attracting the attention of the resident trout which have been conspicuously pre-occupied with spawning hopefully.

Both Red and I discussed how the recent spates had had quite a profound affect on the river. Clear areas of gravel had emerged and silt had been consolidated in areas where the current had slacked off. This stretch has plenty of tree root obstruction, overhanging trees and fallen debris to create a diverse river environment which is invaluable to spawning fish and makes for some really interesting fishing. It tests your skills but it is incredibly rewarding.

Frosty trip to the River Chew

Met up with Red and fished the Chew this morning. Lovely crisp morning probably the coldest we have had this year really made us wonder what we were doing getting togged up to tackle the river. Even had problems with the rings freezing. Flow a bit higher than in the summer with a slight colour. I fished the first stretch and after about a dozen casts heard a splash and instinctively lifted into medium sized Grayling on the Klink. It took the fly in a turbulent riffle in an area where it was near on impossible to see the post of the fly.

First fish to the dry

For some reason my casting wasn't coming together!

After trying a few other faster runs where I'd caught Grayling before I ended up catching another five Grayling in one confined run just a couple metre square. The fish were clearly shoaled up in specific areas and it was just a case of locating a shoal. The best fish taking the dry while smaller to medium sized ones taking the nymph. Another fisherman, James, on the bank today and also met Rich Denning and Jon from the committee on the return to the car. Glad I made the effort to get out again and great to be on the river after a bit of  lay off.

Best Grayling of the day to the dry





Nothing better to beat the winter blues.

Woolacombe surf pumping

Surf trip to Woolacombe  which served up the goods with a pumping head high swell and strong offshore winds. A bit of crew me bro, Rich W, Paul and Tim met up at Taunton. Can't say I had a great session with really tough paddle outs and blind take offs - still if you were fit and up for it there were some great waves to be had. Only caught a few big ones. Surfed over high tide it gradually decreased over the day and the stiff SE wind dropped. Should have gone in a bit later when things had calmed down but sometimes you have just gotta get out there without the risk of conditions deteriorating. The session was a good bit of exercise and kept me in touch with the ocean. Mild with some sun and no need for gloves or hood. Photos were from after I'd come in on the dropping tide when things were looking more manageable.

Rich on a nice left

Summers return in November and the Carp on the feed..

A really mild sunny day on the lake today with Common Darter dragonflies sunning themselves on the bank side vegetation. Red and I started on the Rainbows. I managed two on an olive Shipmans and Red had one on small olive Klink.

Common Darter - thinking its spring!

After an hour or so a few Carp just started to break surface. I noticed a nice double figure fish just under the surface 20' out. I had a dilemma do I stick with my 8'6" Greys Xflite 5 weight or do I rig up the 9 weight. In the heat of the moment I went for the easy option and quickly switched leader to an 8lb fluro chucked on my foam bread fly and cast right on its nose. It turned inspected then engulfed the fly in slowmo. I lifted and hit rock solid resistance. It never really ran but sort of used its dead weight to lunge from side to side. After a bit of a tussle Red helped me net, only just about in the net incidentally, a pristine Common Carp of over 10lb - my biggest on the fly to date. I caught another Common at about 2lb before the now resident inquisitive Mute Swan's finally forced me to head for the river.

Fished the Chew for the last few hours of light on coarse gear. The river was in good form with a nice flow and some colour. Loads of trout rising. Caught a couple of Dace on worm after I'd scaled down my tackle to a Size 16 on 3lb line. Met Rich Denning Keynsham Club president who had had good days fishing catching Chub, Dace and Grayling.

Dace from the Chew