Fly Fishing Diary – An Amazing Feeling to ‘wet a line’ in May

After seven weeks of Lockdown compliance, it was a relief to see a reducing Coronavirus infection rate. Paving the way to an easing of the restrictions in England and making it possible to go fishing again, add something to my fly fishing diary, and…

‘Soothe My Cabin Fever’

Welsh Dee fly fishing diary:

Fly fishing at Shocklach:

Not being allowed to travel into Wales has limited my fishing trips to the lower Welsh Dee at Shocklach in England.

This was my first visit to fish the Welsh Dee at Shocklach and my primary objective was reconnaissance but with my dry fly rod in tow.

It had been a very hot, sunny day but as I approached the river at 8 pm I could see several fish rising – a welcome sight.

I couldn’t work out what they were taking so I tied on a claret spinner and hoped for the best.

After a few casts, I had a couple of small dace, take the fly but almost immediately threw the hook.

Eventually, a trout surfaced and took my fly and after its leaping-fit I safely netted my…

1^st brown trout since lockdown

I fished on down through the beat until sunset but just cause several small dace & roach, all of which took the claret spinner.

Fly fishing at Llangollen:

At Llangollen, local anglers have reported tough fishing conditions during the last two weeks of May. However, fishing small nymphs on a French Leader close to the bottom has produced brown trout and OOS grayling.

One of my friends has seen a fresh salmon jump above Llangollen. So, even on this low water, a few salmon are pushing upriver.

Fly fishing at Bangor-On-Dee area:

I’ve heard that one salmon has been caught on the fly near Bangor-On-Dee and a few other fish have been seen in the river. Therefore, if you are able to get to the river you should have a chance of being rewarded with some…

‘SILVERWARE’

A friend, Tim, has caught a few trout on the Bryn-Y-Pys waters fishing wet flies.

Another angler, Mike, caught three beautiful brown trout fishing one of my favourite dry flies, Elk Hair Caddis, on the Welsh Dee at Bangor on Dee.

If you have any catches that you would like to share then just send me a note via email and I will include them in my next Welsh Dee fly fishing diary report.

River Ribble – fly fishing diary

I made a trip to fish the River Ribble at Hurst Green, while I’m unable to fish the Welsh Dee at Llangollen.

Dry weather since the start of April had taken the River Ribble to its bones and in many places, it was full of weed.

While it was still sunny, I fished the streamy sections with a team of wet flies (point: black hopper #14; middle dropper: March Brown Spider #14; top dropper: Iron Blue wet #16) spaced 3ft apart on 3lb copolymer.

After the second cast a fish swirled, the line tightened, and the rod bent into the first fish of the evening…

An OOS grayling, which had fallen for the Iron Blue on the top dropper.

Fishing the remainder of the fast water with the wet flies produced a few parr (trout & salmon).

Fish had started rising close to the far bank but couldn’t determine what the were taking.

I switched to my dry fly rod (9ft 5wt) and set up to fish the double dry fly (sight fly – Elk hair caddis #14, point fly – Griffith’s Gnat #18) on a 7X leader.

I missed several takes before I managed to hook one, which turned out to be a roach.

Fishing on with the dry fly, until it was time to go home, produced a few more roach.  

Not sure where the trout were hiding or sulking!

Stillwater – fly fishing diary

Grizedale Reservoir

The long spell of dry, sunny weather has not been good for fishing my local rivers, which are in desperate need of rain. Therefore, I ventured out with my son to fish Grizedale Lea Reservoir for rainbow trout. 

The water level in the reservoir was very low but we were encouraged by the sight of trout rising, and a few anglers had caught trout fishing small wet and dry flies.

I started fishing a foam daddy but when this didn’t stimulate any interest, I switched to fishing series of small dry flies that also didn’t work.

After a few missed takes, George was the first to land a rainbow trout that had taken the copper cormorant (#10) point fly.

If you can’t beat them, join them…

So, I switched to fishing a team of wets flies (point: black & silver cormorant #10, middle dropper: black & silver spider #12; top dropper: black hopper #14) spaced 4ft apart on 6lb fluorocarbon.

After a couple of missed takes, the line went tight and the rod bent into my first ‘bow” of the day. 

There were a couple of risky moments when the trout went airborne, but it was soon under control and netted safely. The rainbow had fallen for the black hopper on the top dropper.

We both fished on until the lighted faded but didn’t get anything else.

Pike – fly fishing diary:

Rumworth Lodge Reservoir

To keep myself occupied during lockdown I’d been practising tying pike flies and I was keen to give them a swim and see if they would attack any pike.

It had been 10 months since my last pike fishing trip, and the initial outing to the local reservoir was for casting practice, more than anything else.

Surprisingly, however, a couple of small pike were fooled by my offering:

These initial pike must have been beginners’ luck because three more evening sessions haven’t produced any more pike.

Overall, all it has been great to get out fly fishing again and hopefully, this will continue during June.

Tight lines, Andrew

If you are interested in fly fishing on the Welsh Dee there is some excellent Day Ticket water at Llangollen and Bangor-On-Dee.