Fly Fish with Chris...: Sunday 30 January 2011, Grayling for the first time

Attentive audience.

What a day, hard work and cold sums it up, perfect conditions for the Grayling on the Dee, but a suspected release from the reservoirs put down the fish. The day started by us all meeting at the Sun Trevor to fish the Dee near Llangollen golf course, we arrived at the river to find a clear river, slightly above summer lever and what looked like great conditions for some Grayling fishing in winter. We started with a talk regarding czech nymphing, its origins and uses, we then turned some stones for a spot of bug hunting, we found some small nymphs, Louis saved the day by producing some specimens he had prepared earlier. We then had a look at the flies we would use to represent these bugs, we had an assortment of woven nymphs, Czech and tungsten beaded nymphs. All ties to represent the Caddis larva, mainly the Hydropysche and Rhyacophila larvae. Then it was time to discuss different leaders and fishing techniques, this was interesting as I had tied a few new brain leaders up for the occasion, these

Woz bugging a deeper hole

incorporated some hi-viz pole float sleeves, and they worked very well on the day. I gave a demonstration of czech nymphing, albeit one without any fish! We then broke for coffee, after the coffee a demo and practical of duo fishing was given, again no fish produced. Cliff asked for some hands on bugging tuition and was given it whilst the rest of the group had dinner and another coffee before packing up and moving beats for an afternoon of hands on fishing and guiding.

Cliff bugging a streamy run

We moved beats and split into 2 groups, one headed upstream and one headed downstream to do some duo work and a bit of bugging, Cliff started bugging straight away as he had been given tuition before we moved beat, I spent some time with Woz in a slightly deeper run, which I knew to contain fish, although as the day progressed the river did not seem keen on giving up its bounty, Woz and Cliff fished hard through the shallower streamy waters, into the deeper hole and I was convinced that they would encounter fish. Tony was duo fishing and in my upstream exploration I disturbed a fish, so I set Tony up at the bottom of some clearer water and he set about working his way up with a Duo rig. This proved to be futile as the temperature dropped and it started getting colder, I was hoping that someone would get a fish. Cliff then shouted "fish on" in the deeper hole, he played the fish well and then realised that it was over a pound in weight, he backed off a little bit and netted the fish, he was a happy man, I then told Woz to jump in where Cliff had been as there would be more than one fish there, Woz did this and within minutes there was another should of "fish on". That was it for the day, 2 very happy people, Brian had caught a fish on the Duo downstream and I think everyone learned a few new tricks on the day that should help them through a river season. Well done to all of the boy for perseverance on such a cold day and in a very cold River Dee.