Hectic is my excuse for the lack of blog entries over the last 2 weeks, prior to going on holiday I met up with Ian May to do some filming on the river whilst nymphing. The very man below with more guts than I to expose nigh on six grands worth of kit to the river.

The aforementioned holiday saw Sarah, Holly and I take to a cottage in Barbrook (Exmoor) for some much needed peace & quite. The downside however was the trout season had ended and the cottage had access to a lovely stream… tut!

Are we there yet?… a rather disgruntled Holly.

Luckily the weather stayed mild and mostly dry so days were spent either visiting the glorious beach at Woolacombe or exploring the moors. Ahhh the fresh air…

…oh! and lots of sheep, cow and horse s##t which holly found ideal as a snack in between meals.

Although the peace and quiet were welcome, I couldn’t venture out without the just in case, you never know fishing stuff. I managed to tie up with good friend Pete Tyjas in the hope of some fishing. Unfortunately an early morning deluge put pay to any hopes we had of tucking into a few target grayling… high and stained is probably a polite way to describe the rivers appearance.

Never mind, we enjoyed one of our far too infrequent get togethers and talked about developing the ESF ezine over coffee for a few hours at a local pit stop.

Having returned home subsequently with an unfortunate 8 hour trek on the back of an AA truck due to a breakdown (What a calamity of biblical proportions that was), it’s been back on to the river with Warren… we’re looking at shot patterns and fly weight for nymphs. The recent rainy weather has given the river some height so plenty for us to work on. Yesterday afternoon was superb with Warrens setup coming up trumps to steal the days best numbers and catch.

Although olives were abound we saw no more than 2 rises throughout the afternoon, regardless… they were to be ignored today for the sake of the nymph.

Shallow stretches that were no more. It was good to know the river well and where the pockets and hazards potentially exist. Not for safety I might add, I just didn’t want dunking.

Fishing into the wee small hours, I say ‘wee’ & ‘small’ but meant about 6pm… I was almost blind as a bat from there on in, the only downside to October onwards – your fishing days get shorter.

Now it’s prepping for the AAPGAI meet up this week. I’m assessing candidates and doing demos… the highlight is meeting up with guys ‘n’ gals I’ve not seen as a result of the country fair cancellations that have dogged us throughout the year. If you’re up for a day out we have an open day on Saturday the 20th… more details.

Here’s looking forward to many grayling days from here forthwith… until then, enjoy your fishing.

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Having posted on Facebook recently an image of a #3 Barrio fly line I’d dyed, Andrew Parker got in touch and asked for a ‘How To’… this ones for you Andrew – hope it helps.

The exact process followed to secure the above colour in the fly line using Rit Dye – Dark Green No.35

1 – Wipe clean fly line area to be dyed with a minute amount of fairy liquid on a damp cloth.

2 – Run hot tap as hot as it’ll go – in my case circa 50 degrees centigrade, and fill bucket with 5ltrs.

3 – Empty sachet of Dye into bucket of water and stir until dissolved.

4 – Put required part of fly line to be dyed into bucket.

5 – Bring one kettle full of water to the boil and add to bucket, move fly line to one side whilst pouring.

6 – Using anything (Excluding your best cutlery or finger) gently agitate/stir the water around the fly line to be dyed until desired shade achieved, the change in colour happens quite quickly so don’t take your eyes of it for a moment.

7 – Once happy with shade remove it immediately and rinse the fly line in cold water.

8 – Finish by wiping with a cloth. (I didn’t treat afterwards)

I am still using this fly line regularly as you’ll see in recent blog post pictures, the coating is still perfect, it floats as it did when I bought it and is still bullet straight.

This method works for me every time and has done so on 6 other previous occasions with absolutely no issues… these include RIO, Wulff and Snowbee fly lines.

Choosing to follow this method is at your own risk. I’ll not be responsible for how your fly line ends up nor any burns you acquire whilst doing it ~ Best of luck then!

PS: I’ve not tried on any mono core fly lines, only braided ones.