Saturday, January 21, 2012

Resolutions and first outing of 2012

I swore I wouldn't make any resolutions this new year as I never stick to them.
I've decided to make one but I'll probably fail miserably, and that one is to try to keep this blog up to date. The trouble is that I always set off with good intentions then the trout season will start and that will run into the autumn salmon run, and that will run into the winter grayling, and as often as I can get away with it, when I'm not working I'm fishing, and everything else, including this, is put on the back burner.

Anyway, here is the first entry of hopefully many in 2012

We've had a miserable wet winter up here in Northern England and my Grayling fishing has been a bit of a disaster, after a few decent sessions in October I didn't get out again until December and that was a short session fishing a swollen river but I did manage to save a blank - just !
I managed another session last sunday - to be honest the river was a touch on the big side but falling after yet more rain and another rise, but I decided to give it a go anyway.
The conditions suggested that a team of short lined bugs would be the method for the day and they did produce one grayling but it was a struggle in a big water. Happy with saving a blank, I was about to give up when I saw three fish rise on the flats, the only fly I spotted on the water was one Large Dark Olive that floated past and continued on downstream as far as I could see without being bothered.
So not being sure what these fish had risen to I decided to re-rig with a team of spiders, Waterhen bloas on top dropper and point and a small black spider in the middle. I never saw another fish rise other than to my team or to be more specific, the Waterhen Bloa on the point, it produced seven offers resulting in two Grayling to hand and two lost, two out of season Brown trout and an offer from a fish that I didn't see and it didn't connect.