Traditionally, fly fishing has been seen as the preserve of the middle/upper class male but that is all changing. Theses days though, fly fishing is gaining in popularity across the board and prime time TV is showing it to be more accessible and less rigid than it once was.   Years ago, the buffoonery of…

Those tortuously long and hot summer fishing days are almost a distant memory. But worry not, these shorter autumnal days are generally far more productive. It’s been possible to run several morning lessons and still capitalise on the great fishing conditions in the afternoons. Friday mornings casting lessons were a challenge in the 6m/s winds…

After having an impending birthday gathering postponed by the Prime Minister, Mike was left looking for alternative ways to celebrate his upcoming ‘big‘ birthday. The full extent of Mikes importance cannot be divulged on these pages, suffice it to say that he had his chauffeur, Brian drive him up to the Dee for a days…

A full day of casting lessons yesterday at Chirk left me with a nice little break in the middle of the day. Instead of having lunch, I decided to reacquaint myself with the stretch of the river Ceiriog that runs alongside the fishery. There were no fish rising so I chose a small nymph and…

Having cancelled this weeks guiding on the Dee due to poor conditions, I was presented with another opportunity to go out and fish. The Derbyshire Wye is often fishable when the Dee is not so I went back to do some more dry fly fishing.   Again, it was the small cdc patterns that managed…

The sudden, seasonal change in the weather usually signals the beginning of the end for the Trout season. It’s going to be shorter than usual this year so I figured we should try and make the most of what’s left of it.   Hopefully, there will be plenty of time to fish nymphs over the…

Jon has been trying to arrange a day on the river Wye since I first started raving about its population of wild Rainbow Trout a few years ago. Finally, after a couple of false starts we were on the hallowed banks.   The weather had been decidedly ’iffy’ recently so we were both pleasantly surprised…

Returning client Jona had now got a few days fishing under his belt but his brother Neil and their good friend James were relative beginners, having only dabbled in the past. They shared a common goal however, to improve their fly fishing skills. I’d warned them in advance of the potentially poor weather but having…

Ever spent a summers evening trying to tempt those fish that are gently sipping something off the surface? The chances are they were taking ‘spent spinners’, adult females that have returned to the water to lay their eggs. After completing their task, they die and float downstream with their wings splayed flat on the surface….

Last week was an exceptional week in fishing terms. 5 of the 7 days were spent on a river either guiding or fishing and I was fortunate to be in the company of both novice and expert flyfishers.   The rivers have been up and down ‘like a lady of the nights undergarments’ and condition-wise,…