Today I went to West Tanfield, next to the River Ure in Yorkshire, to pay my respects to Francis Walbran.  It was moving for me as I stood in front of his tombstone.   As you can see from my pictures it was a stonemason’s work of art and interesting to me that even in 1909 he was so highly respected that the tombstone was funded by ‘voluntary subscription’, presumably by his friends and readers of his books and articles.  Click here to read more

The River Wharfe at Ilkley provides excellent fly fishing for Brown Trout and Grayling.  Ilkley Angling Association control a long stretch of the river at Ilkley and Ben Rhydding and day, week and season permits are available.  The club has not stocked the river for many years so all the fish are wild.  There is a very large population of wild Brown Trout – most are in the 4oz to 12oz size range but each season fish in the 3lb to 4lb size bracket are caught.  Click here to read more

The River Test really is a superb Grayling river for fly fishers.  It has to be the best Grayling river in the UK for winter fly fishing. There is a consistently large population of Grayling with many in the 1lb to 2lb size range; it never floods; in the upper reaches it almost never gets coloured; and small nymphs and even dry flies can be used all winter long…no matter how cold the weather gets. Click here to read more

Long Trotting for grayling is very much a traditional method of fishing for grayling during the winter months in the Yorkshire Dales, not only is it a skilful and pleasant way of fishing it’s also very effective.  Historically many of the angling clubs in the Yorkshire Dales permit long trotting for grayling, (usually with worm), after the brown trout season has finished and it’s a great way to extend your fishing season. Click here to read more

2nd November was the 40th anniversary of my first ever Grayling fishing session.  This was on the River Wharfe at Ilkley in 1972.  So on 2nd November 2012 I went to the exact same spot on the River Wharfe to re-create the event on its 40th anniversary.   Click here to read more

I have personally carried out over 900 guiding days on the chalkstream rivers and this last week I saw some of the best dry fly sport I have ever seen on them.  I guided five consecutive days from Monday 15th to Friday 19th October, Click here to read more

With the onset of the cooler autumnal weather fly hatches on the River Test have really picked up recently.  The upper River Test is currently looking superb – better than I’ve seen it for a couple of years.  Click here to read more

It’s not long before our thoughts turn fully to Grayling.  August has already brought some spectacular Grayling catches to my clients with fish to over 2lbs from the upper River Itchen and to nearly 2lbs from the upper River Test.  Click here to read more

The last month of the season produced mostly very good Grayling sport (with the exception of 9th March mentioned in my last Blog post).  I ended the season with a day (Monday 12th) guiding two fishers on the River Itchen near to Winchester and a day (Wednesday 14th) guiding one on the upper River Test.  What was striking about these two days was the size of some of the Grayling caught.  Click here to read more

On 9th March I did my 400th professional day of fly fishing on the River Test.  I am very lucky to be able to work so often on this great river.  It usually doesn’t seem like work! Click here to read more