‘I have just guided for the last four days on different waters and have seen all weathers from strong gusty cold winds, to hail and some sunny snaps in between where you could almost believe it was spring. More like early-April generally than mid-May.

On the first and last day I was guiding on the lower Test where few fish were rising, including surprisingly the smaller fish which normally provide such great sport when the larger Trout are uninterested. We secured Trout on both days on the lower Test and a black Klinkhamer was the most productive fly. There were signs of Mayfly; more so yesterday (16^th May) when by 5pm there were increased numbers of duns sailing down the river but clearly the trout are deep and not switched onto them as yet.  The water was tinged compared with normal and very cold. Once that chill in the air goes the sport should increase no end. Speaking with the keeper this seems pretty consistent up and down the river at the moment.

On the middle days we fished the upper Test and the Itchen. It turned out on those days that when the fish switched on we had great sport on para Adams. Lots of risers in between strong winds and some heavy rain. With Olives hatching the best method was to present with a parachute cast soft drop to get the takes. It took a while to get going but worth missing lunch for and when fish are rising keep fishing!

On the Itchen it was a similar story…..the river looked dead first thing and clients needed convincing there was anything in the water. Fishing right to the lift…under the rod tip…reaped the benefit with a near on 2lb out-of-season Grayling and some good Trout. After 2pm with countless rises and some lovely Trout we had some great fishing over the gravels and tight to the banks on a mixture of olive representations and black gnats.

Top tip …cast and give a tug back. Drops like a feather and minimises drag…..fussy fish will take more confidently. Also, whilst Olives were hatching today so were black midge at the same time and be prepared to change if both hatching at same time. Fish can be selective and it would have been easy to stick to para Adams and get caught out with fish taking the other insects.

Also, we were on .11 diameter tippets. When I changed to that yesterday, takes increased by 50%. Also, degreasing the tippet is worth the 20 seconds it takes when takes get fussy.’

and… our guide Mick reported on 12th May: ‘Large Dark Olives in medium numbers with fish picking of the odd fly. Good hatch of very small olives when the still cold wind drops.  Trout to 4lb on ‘F fly,  Tups and Klinkhamer.  River level perfect.’

The Appletreewick, Barden and Burnsall Angling Club had a successful day and received many enquires regarding their fishing on the River Wharfe and Barden reservoir, a good number of membership application forms were handed out to visitors who expressed an interest in joining the club.

From my own point of view it was great to see so many old friends and Go Fly Fishing UK customers and I look forward to being there again next year.

The still water fishing has been rather better with Rainbow trout responding well despite the conditions but they have still been very much on and off, yesterday a client had a fin perfect Blue Trout of just under 4 lbs. plus several other good fish.

The best is yet to come but when we do get a change in conditions my prediction is that things will really “kick off”.

At Romsey the Grannom Sedge are fairly reliable in signalling the river starting to come alive after a long winter. With warm weather newly arrived on Tuesday 23^rd I was not disappointed when clouds of Grannom appeared at 10.30 and over some gravel shallows the smaller fish rose freely. These are always good sport and being lightening quick are a great way to speed up one’s reactions after the long winter. The overwintered trout on this day preferred a nymph and several came mainly to a tungsten caddis.

The following day the Grannom again obliged on time and after two days’ warmth a few trout rose to the Grannom in the faster and deeper water. These interestingly ignored the Pheasant Tail nymph but came instantly to a black Klinkhammer dry/emerger pattern. A good overwintered Brown trout about 2 and a half pounds came to the net but the rises then ceased and the trout played hard to tempt.

Lower River Test in early April

By the 26^th the temperature had dropped drastically and the winds were gusting from the North /North East. The Grannom showed briefly but much later and the resident fish seemed locked away back into their winter hideaways. Following some overnight rain the water was pushing through hard and there was more of a tinge to the water. There are two choices on days like this and amount to speculating in the slacker water and eddys with a weighted nymph and hoping to tempt a Brown or fining down the tippet to .12, and fishing a small dry or size 18 PTN at any rises, often tight to the banks. This was a really good day in many respects with a fair yield of smaller wild fish but each reached with satisfaction in that they were hard fought for.

The 27^th was even colder the night before and at 09.00 the temperature was a cold 4 degrees. The Grannom hardly showed at all and the winds increased by the hour.  The fish needed to be shown something new and a goldhead Daddy Long Legs eventually provided the answer for two Browns. The best of the day was standing in torrential hailstones for 10 minutes and then watching a hatch of Large Dark Olives bring on the small fish rises about 4 pm. On went the dry fly and the response was instant but short lived.

The week has seen all manner of weather but generally the signs of things to come look good. Certainly there is plenty of water this year!

He reports as follows:

” A one minute kick sample on the River Aire near Skipton produced an amazing quantity and variety of bugs and other trout food.  Lots of large Heptageniidae nymphs, many Baetis nymphs of differing sizes and species, one Large Stonefly nymph, a few caseless caddis, midge larvae, aquatic worms, leeches and bullhead  Later on turning over stones produced more of the same plus large numbers of cased caddis, lots of bullheads and even a toad!  The River Aire is a food rich Trout and Grayling river, no wonder they grow so well.”

Large Stonefly Exuviae

One From The Wharfe

The Still waters have fished a little better at least on the few warmer less windy days that we have had and clients have had some pretty good fishing at Beaver Dyke reservoir taking fish on both dry flies and buzzers.  Again a spell of warmer less windy weather is needed to really get the buzzers hatching in large numbers and to bring the fish properly on the feed.

Orvis were founded in 1856 and have been very active in the UK for many decades.  They have over twenty retail stores in the UK and their UK headquarters are in Andover, Hampshire.

The new Orvis Helios 2 was recently (April, 2013) rated by a ‘Trout & Salmon’ magazine review as the best top end river Trout fly fishing rod.

Leshem had fished before and landed a number of trout.  The day had been bought for him via a Go Fly Fishing UK fly fishing gift voucher.

They took two home for the pot and said they were delicious!

They are now looking forward to a day on the river.

Walbran’s book ‘How to Catch Grayling’, published in 1895, was influential in me taking up fishing and in me having a life-long love affair with Grayling.  Not many people can say this but as a child I knew about Grayling, even before I had started to fish.  My grandfather Owen Bowen was given Walbran’s book on his 18th birthday in 1919.  I read it as a child and I still read it now.   I now have my grandfather’s copy of Walbran’s book and also my grandfather’s fishing tackle.

Walbran mainly fished the River Wharfe and the River Ure for Grayling and 120 years after he was fishing them both are still excellent Grayling fishing rivers.

I now live less than half a mile from one of the spots on the River Wharfe that Walbran mentions in his book - at Ilkley.

Francis Walbran

If you find my reminisces at all interesting you might also like to read an article I wrote for the Ilkley Angling Association website – see http://www.ilkleyanglingassociation.co.uk/articles/My%20First%20Grayling%20David%20Martin%20(2).pdf and a piece which was published in some Yorkshire newspapers –  http://www.ilkleygazette.co.uk/news/10038011.Ilkley_angler_hooked_from_early_age/

A recent (late-March) day at a trout fishery in the heart of the Meon Valley in East Hampshire is a prime example. The Go Fly Fishing UK instructor/guide was Colin Alexander, and the clients were Christian and Saltren who work in London and Portsmouth respectively. Christian owns the Northbank Restaurant in London and a day in the country was a welcome diversion from work and all that goes with employing twenty plus staff. Saltren also has a busy work life with a young child and commuting to London several days a week. They arrived with a sense of humour…always an asset for a beginner to fly fishing……and were impressed with the scenery and peace of the Meon Valley. Colin taught them to cast for about an hour on the grass area and then moved them to the lakes.

It was a very cold day with an easterly wind…a lazy wind…it went straight through them instead of going around…and in these conditions fishing can be testing especially with bright skies. However, nymph tactics soon netted the first fish and when Colin demonstrated how to spoon the fish, (i.e. examine the stomach contents) there were lots of small olive buzzers to be seen. The clients could easily see how the size and colour matched in with the size 16 Hares Ear nymph that had caught the trout. Not everyone spoons their fish but please have a go…you will either be pleased that you have matched the hatch or you will find out that whilst your fly has caught the fish it bears no resemblance to what the fish is naturally feeding on!

With lots of cups of tea this was a typical small water day for novices. They each caught four fish, and took two home apiece having returned the others. They learnt to cast safely, both overhead and roll cast and as they were staying overnight they were able to return to fish on their own the following morning and succeeded in catching more fish by themselves.

The weather has been slow to warm up in 2013 but there are splendid days to be had on small waters where you can learn or hone up casting skills and catch trout whilst waiting for the rivers to spring into life. Christian and Saltren will no doubt be back.