The morning after the night before… sunrise creeps above the treeline as viewed from the Cammarch Hotel on the Irfon. For Warren, James, Richard, John and I it was to be the start of a few days fishing for the Maxia team and the hopes of a misinformed and ever changing forecast.

Breakfast devoured we load up only but the essentials and pile into the sunshine bus, a Peugeot thingy built in an age when manufacturers thought that installing useless electrical gadgets was a really good idea. There was some weird flashy light s%#t going on with the dashboard and stuff!!!

…it reminded me of something but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it…mmm

We’re fishing the upper beats to start with, a foray here last year proved very successful so we couldn’t really do any worse than to revisit some of the known lunker locations.

We had it in mind that with conditions slightly against us and deteriorating it would be prudent to fish subsurface with a nymph… we’re all using 10ft #2 with ‘RYR’ indicators and 7ft leaders.

The RNPTN’s a favourite, probably the most prolific here with but the odd exception.

We’re concentrating our efforts in the channel where a significant ledge drop off occurs on the right bank which can be seen in the picture above as Warren guides his indicator waiting for the slightest of movement. (The rain is imminent)

I’m fishing in the same channel downstream of Warren, I miss netting my first fish… beneath tree cover which I’d forgotten was there, I had no place to go whilst attempting to maintain rod tension so the fish slipped off with ease – what else?

Almost immediately and in the midst of a forthcoming downpour, a fish rose twice within the zone I’d just nymphed, having spotted a few stonefly and olive some moments earlier with haste I slipped on a CDC olive in the hope of meeting the fish during rise No 3. With presentation somewhat slightly compromised as the tapering was more favoured to a nymph, I managed to place a cast all be it luckily in the perfect spot… slam dunk, this beauty nailed the fly and took off downstream before succumbing to some unwieldy pressure and my desire to get it to the net pronto.

Here it cometh ‘the rain’… meanwhile James is underneath the tree way down stream of Warren below and has just hooked into a superb grayling on a RNPTN – his personal best.

The picture doesn’t do this fish justice, James is shaking with the adrenaline rush.

An absolute stunner

Guided by James who decides to have a break, Richard jumps into the same pool. A few casts later having run the RNPTN through the same pocket water… Richard hits into yet another grayling.

Another beauty… the rain’s now falling harder

Now we’re stuffed, the heavens let rip almost immediately. 2 weeks of lovely Olympic weather then this, we’d been waiting so long for this opportunity to all come together… ruddy sods law.

Warren’s so pleased he’d had his hood sewn up, that flat cap more than makes up for it though.

My jacket is to being waterproof what Chernobyl was to the environment… useless

John, Richard and James with no where to hide… stair rods ensue… 3 hours of it non stop

As fast as it falls, is as fast as it rises, and as fast as it colours… oh joy!

Having stopped with only but the odd shower as an after thought, riffles and pockets have become just long murky glides, the visibility that once was is now all but lost… the likely hood of any fish?

In the hope that it’ll run off quickly and clear to a point so to mistake it for a chalkstream, we wait in vein for something to happen… like it’s ever going to… we’re willing it to happen… Bored anyone?

Some observe and fiddle with tackle… some just kip

We sit and relax for an hour but fear the worst, the forecast is for more rain and lots of it. Deciding to make our way back prematurely to the hotel and the bar, it quickly dawns on us that the likely hood of fishing the river tomorrow is futile at best.

Early the next morning having seen the river continue to rise and colour, we’d decided to settle up and leave the hotel for blighty and to the Coln. I know this river like the back of my hand and new that although the rain had pretty much hit everyone hard, it would still be fishable.

What a contrast… arriving midday we were inspired to see clear water, the wind however knocking 20mph didn’t deter us as there was plenty of good cover.

Almost mimicking the setups of the previous day all be it with slightly shorter leaders we covered the length and breath of the river, one fish coming to a dry midge but the remainder by all to the RNPTN or a pink head Hairy Mary.

John has a very successful afternoon in the upper reaches

Covering all eventualities I spend the day on the duo trickling through the glides

This peach came to the RNPTN #18 drifting 4ft below the klinkhammer fished tight into the margin

Leaving no stone unturned as it were…

Sunshine all day long, a pleasant contrast to the previous day and not a drop of rain

It was certainly worth the drive back for some good fishing… Richard eagle eyed in the lower reaches

fish spotted, targeted and nailed… the nymph on ceremony yet again.

The only fish I could tempt to a dry fly today… olive cdc

Warren hunkered down at the ford. Interesting here in that he lost 3 fish very quickly, under tension the fish seem to extricate themselves with ease, offsetting the throat off the hook slightly seemed to rectify it from there on in.

They were lost no more

Thankfully the day on the Coln rescues our dampened Welsh spirit, with such a premature visit it sounds like another good excuse to get out and away for a further few days, Wales anyone?

With Andy and brother Rob having committed many weeks ago to spend some very rare time together, they weren’t going to let, storms, thunder, tsunami’s or roaring winds dampen their appetites to do a spot of fishing… I’ve been out fishing in a whole host of different and adverse conditions but this weekend… WTF!

Having originally planned to fish on rivers, recent weather put pay to that so to a fishery we went in search of some forgiving and perhaps willing fish.

There’s just something about this sky that tells you hell is coming your way

Having gone through as much as possible huddled in the ‘Fishermans rest’: tackle, setting up and a bit of fly life… we could delay it no longer, outside into the great outdoors we go… did I say great?

I get Rob and Andy to start from scratch and set themselves up

We were fortunate in that their choice of venue had a good tree line that circumnavigated the fishery thus relieving us of an almost non stop pounding. Watermark Trout Fishery (Glouc)

Between storms of cataclysmic magnitude we had the occasional midge hatch affording us some tremendous top of the water sport all be it in brief sporadic offerings… here Rob casts straight a head as the next rise breaks surface to his left, darn typical is that… tut!

Andy is in first on a Shipmans buzzer… like the fish give a monkeys if its raining – carnage ensues

The guys are coping well in miserable conditions, the occasional fly descending on branches and foliage to the rear sometimes interrupting proceedings but soldier on they did… this is epic and I’m bloody freezin’

Rob… determined to get that line out into the oncoming wind

The obvious but a must – where some eye protection if you want to go home with the same quality of sight you came with… that was a broadcast on behalf of the ‘Elf and Savvy’ department.

At last perseverance from Rob sees him beguile a fish from the deep to a gold head damsel

Star fisherman for the weekend – Andy hunkers into another, the fish are feisty and fighting hard

With a few of their fish cooked for them by the Bull Hotel the previous evening for supper, the guys took plenty for the weekend whilst a few more as below were returned thus avoiding the menu.

As utterly miserable as it was I take my hats off to both Andy and Rob, they listened intently, learned bucket loads and caught fish… it was a pleasure to spend with them what could have been an otherwise miserable weekend, not so in this case ~ see you guys in August.