Warren tentatively suspended above our section of the Wylye at the weekend, I am of course safely on the bank watching in anticipation (Ready with a camera for that YBF moment)… I pleaded old age being the excuse for my inept ability to leap up into branches and brave it’s instability.

What a complete calamity the day turned out to be… the scrapes, the scratches and the tearing of waders & shirts… oh yes! and a note to self for future reference: “When throwing rope attached to a clunking great piece of metal over an unwanted branch, don’t stand directly underneath it when pulling the other end ~ you plonker”

This I did and consequently split my head open as a result, ***kinell that really hurt – thankfully Warren came to the rescue with a first aid box full of wet wipes, eye patches and finger bandages.

Mind you, for all the pain we’d incurred the river looked exceptionally stunning once we’d finished.

The remainder of the week has been somewhat painful for other reasons… short term cabin fever almost set in as the high winds and heavy rain put pay to many planned days of guiding and teaching. I did however manage to get out onto a lake with Steve and his partner stripping damsels on sink tip lines which seemingly was to be the only way of getting in touch with a few of the lively residents.

Yesterday was back to the Wylye with Warren. Winds of 34mph and with not much hope of any fishing we went to check on how our previous cutting, lopping and churning of trees and vegetation had progressed. I’ve come to the conclusion that we’re both fiddlers… any misplaced twig, weed or surface debris has to be dealt with for fear of it looking unsightly, crikey! I’m not that tidy at home.

Having fiddled we spent time just observing the liquid beauty that is the river, some tiny Mayfly were hatching… so tiny we almost mistook them for Olives at one point. Never forgetting the rod, the occasional rise did call for a cast, and there were many… most of which saw nothing come to our imitation, all but one however which nailed a Grey Wulff placed tight under an overhanging branch…(Need to trim that branch when we get a chance – strewth)

A finely finned and fettled troot

With a break in the weather today it was great to get back out teaching on the river with Erica…

…her first time fly fishing, an occasional gust did little to dampen her enthusiasm or perseverance. With nothing rising we looked to a size 16 PTN to get amongst low lying trout in marginal cover. Numerous takes to the fly were reacted to with great speed but being as yet unaware of the need for the agility of bringing the hands, line and a flexing tip together as one, this unfortunately accounted for the loss of numerous fish before we managed to net this fine specimen… how’s that for a first?

Spurred on and with a few more missed takes… one in particular being a lunker of a fish that came to the fly twice before refusing all further attempts will forever haunt us… size mattering not, a few little feisty treats did succumb putting an end to what has been a superb day – well done Erica.

Looking forward to the next 2 hectic weeks… tomorrow is a day of admin and the sorting of some leader design stuff, then it’s off to host a corporate day with Vic Knight at Lenches lakes on Tuesday, followed by a trip up to Cumbria fishing and catching up with friends Tony Riley & Paul Procter… back down on Saturday for a day at the British Fly Fair International before then flying off to Spain for a week.

If you’re up at the Fly Fair this coming Saturday come and say hello, I’ll no doubt be lingering by the AAPGAI casting pool… Tight lines till then ~ Jim

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.