We're getting there....



Our weather is still being dominated by strong south-westerly winds with the odd cold northerly thrown in. But, as I said in my last blog, that suits me at the moment, as the wind plus cloud is perfect for lake fishing at this, the prime time for fishing our northern lakes.

My good friend and fellow AAPGAI instructor, Clive Mitchelhill, accompanied me on my last outing in the lakes. It was touch and go as to whether we should hit the lake on our chosen day, the weathermen had forecast winds in the high teens with gusts into the mid twenties, I know I like a bit of a blow but that was just a bit too much for a comfortable day afloat. Given that the forecast for our area had changed about five times in 24 hours - according to my regular checks on the internet - and the weather can often be different to what is forecast once you get among the lakeland fells, we decided to risk it.

I'm pleased we did, the forecasters were wrong, as usual. We had wind but not too much, it gave us a decent ripple, and we had cloud. Perfect conditions, that gave us sport throughout the day....

 

River reports have been pretty negative lately, with many saying sport was slow. Luckily, that wasn't the case when I had John, a newcomer to the sport of fly fishing, out on the river last Monday. The plan was to have a taster day. These days are split in two, the morning is spent looking at the gear required, lines, leaders and casting. In the afternoon we look at flies, safety when wading and doing some fishing. 

 

By the time we started fishing, the wind was blasting upstream, but there were a few Large Dark Olives about so I set John up with a three fly cast. Two flies were going to be a bit ambitious for a beginner, but John was doing well so we went for it, the middle dropper would be left blank. A Waterhen Bloa went on the top dropper and an Olive nymph on the point. His first fish on the fly came to the nymph.

 

 

Flies were being buffeted all over the place in the strong wind, I kept thinking I could see small sedges, possibly Grannom, but they were gone before I could be sure. I thought I saw an Iron Blue Dun, a few February Reds and one or two March Browns, but a positive identification was impossible before they were all blown out of sight. A Large Stonefly was blown onto the water, a fish slashed at it , missed it, and got it at it's second attempt. Then another fish had two splashes at something but I didn't see what it was. This suggested to me that the fish were looking to the surface and as John was coping well with the conditions, and his two flies - no tangles - I decided to upgrade him to a three fly rig.

The Waterhen Bloa was relegated to the middle dropper and a Partridge and Orange was put on the top dropper. 

 

The Partridge and Orange did the business for John, with the rest of his fish coming to it....
He did very well for his first attempt at fly fishing, but I wasn't surprised. He was looking to take up this discipline after many years as a coarse fisherman, and in my experience, most of the coarse fishermen that I've dealt with cope relatively well with a change to the fly.

Nature is playing catch up after the cold start to the season. I had a positive Identification of a Grannom in the middle of the week and their numbers have increased significantly since then. Black Gnats, Hawthorn fly, Olive Uprights, Large Brook Duns and Yellow May Duns can't be that far away. In a normal year, our true Mayfly (Ephemera danica) usually make an appearance around the middle of the month, so I'd like to think, we're getting there...