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

Having acquired the river and completed the hard bit: that being trimming, strimming and tidying

It was now time for the even harder bit… to fish it, in anticipation I feel this part of the Wylye has barely seen a fly rod, nor the fish an imitation of a fly probably, hopefully – what a challenge!

It’s critical that one’s in the right frame of mind, nowt sorts it out better than a cup ‘o’ tea. Having donned wellies and with rod ready to go it’s now a game of patience… and mines slowly running out

there’s a rise and so to it I go… what remains in my cup tells me there’s a hatch of midge

A few casts of the above ‘F’ fly beneath the upstream canopy and I’m into a fish, surprisingly it’s a grayling… pleased as punch I am… it means some possible winter fishing on here then me thinks.

A pretty we Lady she is

Moving on and being stimulated by more frequent rises, all be it seemingly from the same fish I make some basic numpty errors on otherwise spooky fish by positioning myself too close to the bank to get a clearer view & cast – consequently putting them down.

I decide to go long on the leader, with my new system I’ve changed in mere minutes to 14 feet without affecting the front taper, using my ever faithful 10ft #2 (a length of which I’ve used exclusively now for the last 3 seasons) I stay well back from the edge whilst still very much in touch with the line, leader and more importantly the fish.

The fish rises on a further 3 occasions before I make a covering cast… that’ll do for me as I nail it on the fourth. The #2 weight buckles as the trout sets off downstream, this fish feels far bigger on the rod than off it, I’m tickled pink as it lunges skyward only to fall with a mighty splash… you can’t buy fun like this – it’s like a hard 5lb fish on a #6 weight.

Just gorgeous – a wild trout, bloody livid if you ask me… impressed to be caught it was not

That beautiful blue hue on the gill plate

Alarm bells had obviously sounded across the pond so to speak… following it’s release everything went still, very still. Impatience got the better of me so I thought I’d give a nymph a wetting – I couldn’t resist offering a Red Neck PTN to the current. Changing the leader to a shorter 7 foot length yet again with ease I dropped the fly into the murky depth and drifted the fly some 8ft towards a grassy outcrop on the right bank… a twitch in the line was followed by yet another grayling, a wee bit smaller than the first – like a really care.

She parts company none the worse for wear

Through the interruption and need of another cuppa there is but a brief hatch of Mayfly, does counting half a dozen actually count as a hatch?

None the less I tie on a nice silhouetting Mohican and cast at some casual rises… rises of which are not at the Mayfly I see – what the heck, in for a penny.

In quick time a number of pretty wild’uns come to the fore, pictures of which don’t do them justice.

Today was a great success in many ways… the water has got fish in it and nice ones at that, my new leader system worked a treat, and the #3 hi-vis Barrio line I recently dyed at the tip didn’t mess with my head, nor did it seem to have an impact on the fish… now onto reading currents with it.

The 10 foot dyed tip is inconspicuous… a result

I’ve yet to hear of any significant Mayfly hatches as yet from friends and colleagues, the water temperatures are still cold… for me I think June will be the killer month, May is pretty much written off already, I hope however it’s not so for you ~ enjoy your fishing regardless.