Fly Fish with Chris...

New dates and guided days added to my website

2012-01-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Events.

River Dee Grayling trips.
The first of these trips will be 12th and 25th February 2012, these days will cover all Grayling tactics,
the price is £65 per person and is limited to 4 places, the price also includes your day ticket and a selection of Hand tied Grayling flies.

17th and 31st March 2012, Wet Fly Tactics, Leaders and flies, these days will cover all wet fly fishing on Rivers, Including Clyde Style flies and tactics, the price for these days are £70 and includes your day ticket, maximum 4 anglers for these trips.

14th and 15th April 2012, a 1 day course as an introduction to still water fly fishing, this will take place at Oak Royal Golf and Country club, this is limited to 3 anglers on each day and will include a 4 hour fishing permit as well, each day will include 4 hours of instruction then 2 hours
aided fishing, plus 2 hours further fishing with help as needed. Each day will cover from choosing and setting up all the way through to landing and cleaning your catch. the price for each day is £45 per person.

Salmon, and chasing them

2012-01-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

So, at the beginning of last year I decided that this had to be the year for me to catch a Salmon, I had been trying on the Welsh Dee for a few years without any luck, I had seen a few fish, but not landed any. I had a trip up to Scotland in April 2009 to fish a beat on the River Nith, a superb river but I caught it during a heatwave with quite low water. I did manage to lose a clean fresh fish in one of the pools. I was going through the motions on day 2 when the fish jumped, a bar of blue and silver, this made me concentrate a little and make sure I covered the fish. I covered the fish 3 times, the first time it boiled behind the fly, I rested the fish for an hour, next time I covered it I got the gentlest of takes and then the fish was on and off really quickly, to quickly for a Salmon novice like myself. So I phoned Alun Rees for advice and with his advice ringing in my ears I covered the fish a couple more times with one aborted take. So that was it for 2009, I fished the remainder of the season on the Welsh Dee but with no luck.

Onto 2010, I fished the Welsh Dee for this season, and I gave it some stick as well, saw a few fish and heard about people catching fish, but none fell to me, I hooked and lost a couple of things that I never got to see, I then got told that a good friend and guide had landed a 27lb fish for a client, well done, again this fish came off the Welsh Dee, what was I doing wrong!!

2011 arrived and I had decided that this was my year, definitely, yep, this was it, again my assault began on the Welsh Dee, and I got to July with no luck, although the Dee has a good run of late fish, so it was still early to be writing off my chances, in July a good friend took pity upon me and started taking me on some superb water on the River Lune, way beyond my meagre pockets, I saw lots of fish, and I mean lots, I think in one day I saw more fish that I had seen on the Dee in the previous 2 years. Still no luck, but I started looking for clubs closer to home, and I found one, a private beat on the River Ribble, maybe my luck would change.

Late August was Sea Trout time in South Wales and I was invited by Alun Rees to spend a few days with him trying to catch some sea trout, but when I arrived the conditions were not the best, so I allowed Alun to take me on to Llandegfedd and graciously I allowed him to catch more fish than me, I know how to behave as a house guest!
The following day I was taken Salmon fishing for a few hours on a productive beat near Alun, he sent me down a pool and I saw a decent fish jump a few hundred yards downstream of me, I reported this to Alun and he said there would be more fish working there way up, then, I was in, a subtle take and I lifted into a powerful fish, the fish was well hooked and was under control and going nowhere when the nylon on my polyleader snapped! I think I did well, I didn't cry, swear or try to drown myself, I even managed to keep hold of the rod and not launch it into space.

So, back onto the Ribble for the last couple of months, I was fishing low down on my beat when I got a cracking take, I had just mended the fly to allow it to come around some rocks when the fish took, it was well hooked and blind panic didn't cover it, still it was a nice Chub!

I was then back on the River Ribble in late September 2011, I had the place to myself and witnessed about 30 fish all making their way upstream, I fished hard that day with no luck, so I decided to fish the following day as well, I got to the river and fished through the lower beats, I then stopped at the hut for some soup and coffee before making my way upstream. I fished through the pool I quite fancied when I got snagged, snapped my leader and had to change the fly, so on went a small Orange Shrimp fly of my own creation and I started down the pool again.

I got a really gentle take, well, it felt like I had snagged but I knew that there was no snag in the area of my fly, I lifted the rod and felt the fish kick, I set the hook and then nothing happened, or I couldn't do anything, the fish just sat on the bottom holding station, I do not think it knew it was hooked, I then got below the fish and it moved about 6 yards upstream and sat there again, this went on for what felt like an eternity. the fish finally came to life by launching itself out of the water and that is the moment I got a little worried, I could see the end of my leader and I could see the tail of the fish and there was about 4ft between them! I played the fish for about 15 minutes, and kept looking up the bank, no luck, I couldn't get to my net as I had removed it when i got snagged, so I had a spot to beach the fish, I did this after about 6 attempts, I laid the fish next to the rod, took some quick photographs and then got it back in the River, I sat astride it for about 5 minutes till it swam off strongly, I then just sat on the bank in shock and decided that was enough for the day\week\season. I had finally managed to land a fish after hooking a few.

I got to the car park to see another member, we compared the photograph and measured the rod, the fish measured at 42"(106.7cm), which puts it at about 25lb(11.3kg) a fish of a lifetime for anyone. So I had finally cracked it, with a bit of luck, lots of practice and advice, so, do I recommend Salmon fishing! Good question, in my opinion you need a few things;

A River with a decent Salmon run
Close proximity to the River, saves on journey time, 2 hours from the river can mean the fish have been and gone or have been hammered by the time you get there.
Being able to cast and mend your line, this will help your fly to be where you want it
Luck, sometimes lots of it, add into this some more Luck
Be the fish, think like a fish* this is from Alun, put yourself in the fishes shoes, where would you lie and why, adapt to the water conditions etc

Hope to see you on the River

Chris

Winter Grayling Fishing on the Welsh Dee

2011-11-16T01:52:00.000-08:00

Game Fishing Instruction, Winter Grayling- An Introduction

This is the outline for the Grayling day to be held on Sunday 11^th December 2011. This will also be run on 8th January and the 12th February 2012. This is limited to 4 places to allow us to maintain a 2 -1 client to instructor ratio

The plan for the day is as follows;

· Meet and greet then head to the river, H & S talk.

· Discuss the tackle we will be using and explain how to set it up.

· Entomology, looking at the foodstuff of the fish and our imitations.

· River craft, looking and reading the river, safe wading, getting in and out of the river safely.

· Demonstration of Dry fly fishing, then duo and trio fishing.

· Demonstration of Nymph fishing.

· Demonstration of Czech Nymphing.

Break for Lunch

· Split into 2 groups, one group will dry fly fish using the techniques above and one group will Czech nymph and nymph fish

· Swap over the groups

· Finally you will be let loose on the river under supervision to have a go at any of the techniques described, we will be on hand to help and to guide you, and we will even photograph your catch!

What you need to bring.

· Waders and wading boots (there may be some waders available for loan)

· Good warm and waterproof jacket and clothing

· Hat and Glasses

· Rod Licence

· Wading staff (again, we may have some available)

· Life vest (available to loan)

· Lunch, including a flask

· Change of clothes, just in case

· Fly rod and reel, 9ft 5 weight is ideal up to a 10ft 6weight, we will have rods available for use.

I will supply each person with 6 flies which will cover the days fishing, and the techniques described above.

The cost is £65 per person and this includes your day ticket.

Please get in touch with any queries.

Chris

NW casting club returns

2011-11-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

The next date is Sunday 20th November at Oak Royal in Withnell, Chorley

10am onwards for about 6 hours.

Price for the morning is £10, the reason for the price is to pay for what we have planned, there will be a multitude of rods for people to try out, from a 6ft Glass fibre stream rod up to a 15ft 10 weight DH Salmon rod, and all things in between, including Saltwater rods, pike rods, river and reservoir outfits, all from differing manufacturers with differing actions.

I am hoping to have a few qualified GAIA instructors on hand to help you with any casting queries on the day, and there will be a few demonstrations.

Distance Casting
Slack Line Casts
DH handed, how to get started
Pike on the fly

I will only run this day if there is sufficient interest, as I have had a few of the casting club sessions with only 1 person turning up.

Please let me know if this interests you either on this thread or via PM

Regards

Chris

Sea Trout, Sewin, Silver Bullets.....

2011-07-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

Geoff in action.

So, it was my birthday on the 9th of July and instead of spending it staying up till 3am and getting drunk, I spent it on the River Lune trying to get a Sea Trout....I met Geoff at 4pm and we headed up to the Lune, this would give me a chance at throwing a line for Salmon, prior to getting ready for the Sea Trout. So, we arrived at what I can only describe as some of the nicest water I have seen in a long time, I was stunned, the place really was lovely. I started fly fishing mainly to fish a section of the Welsh Dee, seeing this river gave me the same feelings I had when I first saw the Dee above the Horseshoe falls.
So, tackle was set up and Geoff carried on with his mission of making me walk as far as possible, before allowing me to cast a line, nothing better than getting hot and sweaty then standing in a river to cool down. I fished through the pool and had no luck, didn't even see a fish, although the river was dropping, it still contained quite a lot of colour.
Salmon fishing completed and it was time to change tack and set up for the Sea Trout, we headed back to the car, with Geoff extolling the virtues of the Simms hard bite wader studs. You can guess what happened next... yep, we crossed the river and Geoff got out of the river and then did an impression of a man that has been pushed very hard in the back, he stumbled across the bank for about 5 yards and almost saved the fall, at the last minute he threw the rods (not far, we will come back to this) and hit the deck. I promise now I did not laugh, well, till I realised that the rods were OK and that Geoff was fine. It was about 3 minutes later that Geoff let on that he had a fly buried right into his finger, hence when he threw the rods they didn't go far, due to the fly being on a dropper.

Geoff pondering what fly next

We got to the car and discussed removal options, I got the Leatherman pliers together, clamped onto the hook and innocently asked if I could pull my "Sex Face" whilst pulling the hook. This was met with a negative and Geoff buggering off away from me! Geoff returned with the hook removed, brave chap, we tackled up and headed back upstream to fish.
We fished for a number of hours, with no luck, plenty of pools were fished, likely lies covered to no avail, I had a tentative pluck and Geoff had fish on, albeit briefly. We then got to a lower pool as a fish crashed through the pool, we got in to cover it, but we heard it leave the pool as fast as it had entered, and that was it for the night, 2am, no fish but a really good experience on a tremendous piece of water. We headed back to the car then back home.
I would like to thank Geoff for the invite and the laughs, I would also like to thanks the kids for allowing me a lie in after getting to bed at 4am....

Steelhead Rats, a variation

2011-07-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

I was looking through the Chris Mann, Hairwing and tube flies for Salmon, the Mike Brooks steelhead rats caught my eye(Page 123) so I tied a variant of these and I think they have come out ok.
Dressing.
Hook to suit, I have used Size 9 Salars
Thread 8/0 black
Tag - Gold Holo
Tail - Red Floss
Rear Body - Red Holo (or to suit)
Front Body - Peacock glister dub
Rib - Gold Wire
Wing - Squirrel tail (dyed if you want)
Hackle - I have used a dyed whiting hen cape

Red Rat

Yellow Rat

Orange Rat

Chris

Sunday 26th June 2011, Broughton Show

2011-07-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

Large Brown Trout

I woke early on the Sunday, my volunteer day for the Salmon and Trout association at the Broughton Game Show, after Salmon fishing the day before, a day which heralded a rather large trout to a Salmon fly, it added a bit of excitement to what was a dour day with rain, wind and cold weather. So, to awake on Sunday to clear skies and what looked like it was going to be a warm day (26 degrees actually). I grabbed my flask and set off towards Skipton to set up some GAIA banners and hand out leaflets. The gates opened at 10am, well a little earlier as I got the first client at about 10am and 30 seconds, and this set the scene for the day, a very hot day with little breeze and teaching in 15 minute segments for 6 hours with a 30 minute break for lunch with my Wife and kids.

Wife and kids.

It was then back to the action of teaching and more teaching, I did help officiate at the distance competition, then it was wind down time, I managed to have a few minutes with my kids and to try and help them catch Nemo and Dory!!

Casting on her own

Just to finish, a lot of money was raised for the S&TA and the Cave rescue organisation, I have added a letter from the organiser

Hi All

Just a quick email to say thanks for all the support you gave to Broughton Show. I am not too sure how much we raised but it was well over £300.

The instruction did extremely well and I am sorry to put so much pressure on the instructors you worked like demons.

We may have to think about the distance competitions next year, they seem to be losing popularity and it might be better to focus on other things but we shall see.

Once again thank you to the trade for your support and prizes and thanks again to all on the stand.

Cheers

Stephen Cheetham

Salmon & Trout Association

West Yorkshire Branch

NW Casting Club, Oak Royal Golf and Country Club

2011-07-04T02:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

I will be starting the NW casting club at Oak Royal starting this Wednesday evening at 7pm for about 2 hours, this will continue till the end of August, the price is £4 and this covers insurance and the use of the facility.
The idea is to have a get together and try out a few rods etc, I will have various rods to try and there will be casting tips and techniques, I will also have some targets set up and the chance to improve in a relaxed atmosphere.
This is not casting lessons, let me get that straight from the start, this is a get together to help improve and to try kit

I hope to see some of you there

Chris

Updates...watch this space

2011-04-20T03:46:00.000-07:00

Updates and the blog, I really need to make a little bit of time for this, I have a few things to talk about, new tying materials, Double handed casting, Pike fishing, a days fishing on Stocks, beginners day at Oak Royal, wet fly and spider fishing on the Welsh Dee, I will begin later today with the wet fly and nymph day on the Welsh Dee, need to update my website I have to make a few changes for bookings, I have been left out of pocket by a couple of people cancelling at the last minute, I know that peoples circumstances change, but from now on I am going to have to collect a 50% deposit for these days, if people do not show at least I won't be out of pocket, if there are good reasons then we can discuss options, what I cannot have is other clients suffering and it costing me more money than I make to put on a day.

Till later this afternoon

Chris

Stillwater fishing, An Introduction, only 2 places left

2011-03-30T04:31:00.000-07:00

17th April 2011 and 19th June 2011. An Introduction to Small Still water fishing. 4 places available on each day. THE APRIL DAY IS NOW FULL

This will take Place at Oak Royal Golf and Country Club, at Withnell, near Chorley
• Setting up for Stillwater fishing
• Beginners, an ideal outfit and lines
• Knots, good and bad
• Leader set up and how to make them, this will also deal with leader material
• Casting techniques and dealing with wind
• A look through my fly boxes, question and answer session
• Natural imitations and when to use them
• Lures and when to use them
• Retrieval methods
• Playing and landing a fish
• Releasing your catch
• How to despatch your catch

This course covers all aspects of small stillwater fishing, from stalking at close range, matching the hatch, basic entomology, tackle and equipment, the price includes a selection of flies and a fish to take for the table if required. £40 per person, please email me for more details regarding this course

Chris

2011-03-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Some positive feedback from a client today, I had Bill for an hour and made a few adjustments to his casting and I got this reply from him today.

Chris
Can't tell you how delighted I was with the lesson.
Although I probably should have kept away from the water and practised on dry land, I fished for 6 hours afterwards.
No tangles and I only hit my rod on the very "very last" cast of the day, when I was in a hurry to get my line out.
My flies must have been in water for 20% more time than usual and I was able to reach the islands with ease.
It's good to have some tools to analyse my casting with. I kept listening to my rod and consciously slowing down and working for smoothness.
Know I've a long way to go, but I'm really pleased with the improvement so far.

All the best

Bill

Fly Forums day Out, Barnsfold Fishery

2011-03-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

I had a great day out yesterday, and an unusual one for me, I actually got to go fishing, with real flies and hooks and a chance of catching a fish or 3, which is exactly what I took home. The Fly Forums meet up was suggested by Black Knight (real name with held to protect the innocent) and Barnsfold was suggested, I think I have fished here in the dim and distant past in my days where I couldn't get enough of small stillwaters. The venue consisted of 2 lakes separated by a grass embankment. I started about 70 yards up the bank into the wind with a Di3 and a lure with a couple of pulling buzzers above it, this proved fruitless but a change to a cats Whisker on the point and I was into a fish first cast, a really gentle take, I then decided to be brave and fish the windswept bank on the other lake in the hope that the fish would all be following the wind and into the windiest bank, how wrong I was! It doesn't help when you get to the farthest point from the WC that you body decides that is the moment you need to pay a visit.

I fished along this bank and had just one follow that I saw, I lost a couple of flies trying to drag bottom with out resorting to boobies. I then worked my way onto the less windy lake to fish, where I discovered that a Di5 with a booby would do the job, I rigged up and after 3 fish in 4 casts I thought that I needed to change tack, I think I would have caught all day on this method but seeing as I like a challenge I changed to an intermediate line with a GRHE on the point, "secret super cruncher variant" on the middle and a black pennel on the top, 3 casts in and I caught when seemed to be a healthy over wintered fish, it fought better and looked in better nick. I returned this fish to fight another day, satisfied that I had already bettered my expectations.

Dave (Noeyedeer) then offered to share his wares with us, so bacon butties were served and bloody goo they were as well, after a bit of abuse aimed at Woz, the fishing began again, this was to be a frustrating afternoon, lots of nips and plucks with no fish to show, I think I released 4 fish at long range and had another half dozen that refused to stay on.

In all it was a great day with some great like minded people, even Woz (do not pass those flies around) and I can't wait for the next one

Chris

PS, thanks to Noeyedeer for the image, I forgot my camera as I am a tit

South Wales massive.........and pre assessments, part 2

2011-02-25T02:30:00.000-08:00

So, here I sit, rods and clothing all packed for a trip to South Wales to help out with one of their mentoring days, should be a good day, I get to do some work with Gareth Lewis (I think mainly on his arms.....) we have been paired together for Saturday, not to sure what we are doing, it maybe slack line work and all things related, I'm really looking forward to it.

The on Sunday morning I am getting some Double Handed tuition from what I believe is one of the very best instructors GAIA has within its ranks, step forward Alun Rees, the most unassuming person you could wish to meet, yet one of the finest teachers I have met. Sunday morning will be spent going through the GAIC DH syllabus, I intend to take this assessment in November this year all being well. Sunday morning will let me know if I am being reasonable in my timetable for this assessment.

I will also have some tackle reviews next week, I have a new small stream set up and a Salmon rod to report back on, that and the GAIA NW region open day is getting busier, a new amended timetable will be posted up here soon

Chris

GAIA NW Region Open Day

2011-02-14T02:21:00.000-08:00

GAIA North West Region Open Day

Saturday April 2^nd 2011

Oak Royal Golf and Country Club, Withnell, Nr Chorley, PR6 8SW

----------------------------------------------

This day is open to all GAIA members and any new prospective members; we will be running interactive workshops throughout the day as well as holding some pre-assessments in the Morning.The price for this day is £20 per person.

The morning workshops will begin at 9.30am and run until 12.30pm, there will be an hour for lunch. The afternoon workshops will begin at 1.30pm and run till 4.30pm.

Itinerary

· 9.00 am, meet and greet and Oak Royal

· 9.30 am, Morning Workshops and pre-assessments,

i. Pre-assessments with Louis Noble.

ii. Distance casting workshop with ……………Chris Aldred.

iii. Slack line\short line river workshop with Jeremy Lucas.

12.30pm Break for Lunch at the clubhouse, this consists of Soup, Sandwich and Coffee.

· 1.30pm – Afternoon Workshops

i. Double handed Workshop with Louis Noble.

ii. Single handed Spey casting workshop with Chris Aldred.

iii. GAIC and APGAI syllabi demonstration, questions and answers with (2 people)

4.30pm, signals the end of the day, hopefully you will have all taken something from the day and learnt something. I am looking forward to meeting you all on the day

Chris

GAIC and New Beginnings

2011-02-14T01:38:00.000-08:00

So, back to last week, I finally made a decision, new assessment, what to take...? I finally settled on the GAIC Double Handed assessment, going to have a crack at this in November, gives me a good run at it and the chance to do lots of practice, left hand up is the thought in the foremost of my brain. This could be an interesting journey.

I also gave a lesson to Tony, he wants to do his GAIC single handed in November, so I will be a busy chap running up to November, Tony did well, throwing some nice loops and I think I helped him decide on what set up to use for his assessment, so, that order has been placed, I also gave Tony the names of Mike Roden and Louis Noble who are the nearest mentors to him.

Onto the double handed stuff, I have to have a play with the 15ft rod, a little bit of weight maybe added to the butt of this rod, I tend to use lightweight reels, on this occasion, the reel is to light for the rod, so, a couple of wraps of lead may help matters

More news coming soon as the GAIA NW open day is happening on Saturday 2nd April 2011

Stay tuned

Chris

A few more flies

2011-02-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

May as well start with a pike fly, I tied this for clear water, all you really need is a outline of something to instigate a response from the pike, I hope this does the job.

I will be stepping up the pike fishing this season, at least for a couple of months, need to get back into it before a demo I have planned

First attempt in a while at a dabbler, I need to pick up some decent Bronze Mallard

Sculpin, something to throw around the deeper holes in the Dee, hoping this will pull up a surprise fish

Dry Flies, tied to order

2011-02-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

I have been at the bench for a couple of hours, completing a Dry Fly order, got it finished and thought I would share a couple of images with you all, if you want to place an order for flies then get in touch, prices start from under £1 per fly and there is a scale of charges depending upon the work involved

Size 16 Klink on a Varivas 2200

Olive Emergers

Olive Emerger

April 3rd River Dee, an introduction to wet fly and Nymph fishing

2011-02-03T05:14:00.000-08:00

This will take place on the River Dee in North Wales, Cost for this day is £85 per person, this includes your day ticket and it is limited to 4 places, this is a full day of tuition from 2 APGAI instructors with over 60 years river experience between them, we will cover, flies, leader make up, fishing techniques, different Wet Fly techniques including Down and Across, Upstream, please email me for more details regarding this course.

This course has sold out, rather quickly, even caught me by surprise! as with all of my courses and days out, the instructor client ratio is 2 -1, this way I can ensure that you get the best tuition and a decent amount of 1 - 1 time as well.

I can do this course again, if anyone wants personal 1 -1 tuition or even wants to bring a friend to do the course then please get in touch to arrange a date and prices

Chris

All for a good cause

2011-02-01T01:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/lets-tackle-cancer/118144-lot-55-days-river-fishing-chris-aldred.html

Happy Bidding folks, there are some tremendous prizes on there and well worth a bid

Chris

Sunday 30 January 2011, Grayling for the first time

2011-01-30T13:14:00.000-08:00

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.

A bugging duo, Woz uppermost with Cliff in the "hole"

Cliff with his first Welsh Grayling

Woz, and his first ever Grayling

Tomorrow and Aprils Course

2011-01-29T14:52:00.000-08:00

I am ready and packed for tomorrows River Dee Grayling day, it should be a great day and the river is at a good level and the weather looks good, Can't wait..

Aprils Wet Fly and Nymph day is selling fast 2 places definitely gone and only 2 provisionally booked, may look at doing another date if the demand is there, watch this space.....

Upcoming events

2011-01-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

April 3rd 2011, An introduction to Wet Fly and Nymph fishing

This will take place on the River Dee in North Wales, Cost for this day is £85 per person, this includes your day ticket and it is limited to 4 places, this is a full day of tuition from 2 APGAI instructors with over 60 years river experience between them, we will cover, flies, leader make up, fishing techniques, different Wet Fly techniques including Down and Across, Upstream, please email me for more details regarding this course.

17th April 2011 and 19th June 2011. An Introduction to Small Still water fishing. 4 places available on each day.

• Setting up for Stillwater fishing
• Beginners, an ideal outfit and lines
• Knots, good and bad
• Leader set up and how to make them, this will also deal with leader material
• Casting techniques and dealing with wind
• A look through my fly boxes, question and answer session
• Natural imitations and when to use them
• Lures and when to use them
• Retrieval methods
• Playing and landing a fish
• Releasing your catch
• How to despatch your catch

This course covers all aspects of small stillwater fishing, from stalking at close range, matching the hatch, basic entomology, tackle and equipment, the price includes a selection of flies and a fish to take for the table if required. £40 per person, please email me for more details regarding this course

GAIC and the casting club

2011-01-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

Roll cast set-up from Steve

I had a good morning on Sunday, well, it was freezing cold with a horrendously cold wind, add in to that some heavy hail showers and you are left with almost perfect fishing conditions!! It was however good in the sense that I got to meet with Dudley Hosfield and Steve Daley and talk them through some issues they were having. They are both doing the GAIC assessment in May at Caer Beris and they had a few issues to be ironed out and wanted some exercises to help them. They are having similar issues to the ones that I had, whereas most of my practice for my assessment was done on my own with no-one to tell how my back cast looked etc, they had also been involved in a mentoring e-mail sessions with myself, Alun Rees and Chris Price who all hold the APGAI qualification, so there are a few questions flying about, the aim is to give them a better understanding of what is needed and confidence and knowledge prior to their assessments.
So, the plan fro Sunday was to work on the overhead cast and roll cast, these 2 casts are the base for a myriad of other casts and once you have these correct, you then have the groundwork and basis for all of the spey casts as well as a number of variations using the overhead cast, so you can see why this was important. I asked Dudley and Steve to critique each others OH casts and this went very well, it is always good to see that only little tweaks are needed, I believe it also helped to show them what I was looking at when they were casting, a few little tweaks were applied and things started improving, although I have to admit the very strong wind did make this a little interesting.

Roll cast Delivery from Steve

I then gave them a few things to watch and listen for when casting, they way the line lays out, tips for checking the tracking, all things that they can do when practising alone, the main thing to work on is the STOP, the crisper and smaller the speed up and stop then the better the loop formation and it also helps generate line speed. Just keep working at it gents and it will come, last word, watch the stop on your BC, needs to be earlier!

Onto the roll cast, I was going to show them the way I do things, this was shown to me by Leslie Holmes this can be summed up in three words, POP, STOP.......and DROP, you set up the roll cast as per usual, in doing this you must raise the elbow a few inches, so, first movement on the delivery cast in to POP the elbow down from where it came, whilst POPPING the wrist over, then STOP, just wait, allow the line to unroll above the water and once the line is fully extended then DROP the rod by following the line to the water, this can cast about 60ft of line comfortably with the odd adjustment. Dudley and Steve gave it a go and I hope that they are going to incorporate it into their arsenal as the line was zipping out with some very nice, high, fast loops. Lots of questions and answers followed and I hope that both gents were happy with the progress, I am hoping to see them again in February and to see if they have been practising, I will be watching you boys

Chris

Casting Club dates for 2011

2011-01-05T01:46:00.000-08:00

Morning Folks, I hope that you all had a good Christmas and New Year, I think I overdid it a little, so my first few months of this year will be spent cycling, casting and in the gym, coupled with some fishing, guiding and family life I should be busy to say the least

Anyway, Casting dates

Sunday 16th January
Sunday 20th February
Sunday 20th March
Sunday 17th April
Sunday 15th May
Sunday 19th June
Sunday 17th July
Sunday 21st August
Sunday TBC September
Sunday 16th October
Sunday 20th November

I hope to see a few new faces this yea and to improve as a teacher along the way so please get in touch if I can be of any help to you

www.gamefishinginstruction.co.uk

Chris

2010-12-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

No Casting club tomorrow, too much snow, sorry about this but conditions are horrible, hope to see you in the New Year

Final Casting club of the Year

2010-12-14T05:51:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note, this coming Saturday 18th December will be the final casting club of the year, Oak Royal golf and Country club Withnell is the venue, the plan is to meet at 10am for a couple of hours casting then retire for some food and a coffee at the club house

I hope to see a few of you there, I will bring a few rods for people to play with and a couple of Salmon rods

Chris

Casting Club Sunday 21st November

2010-11-20T17:02:00.001-08:00

Another shameless plug for the casting club, this will take place this coming Sunday 21st November at Oak Royal Golf and Country club, 10am start and depending on how many people we have will dictate the finishing time

£3 and I will meet you at the Car Park off Belmont Road

Grayling Day 5th December, 1 place available

2010-11-16T03:37:00.001-08:00

Sunday 5th December, An introduction to Grayling fishing with Chris Aldred and Louis Noble, both qualified GAIA instructors, this day will be on the Welsh Dee near Llangollen, world famous for its Grayling fishing and for the quality of the fish.

The day costs £70 and includes all tuition, day ticket and a selection of flies for the day, there ore 4 places for this trip and it will fill very quickly

Caer Beris GAIA weekend 10 -14th November 2010

2010-11-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

What can I say but, what a great weekend, lots of laughs, the odd cocktail! and assessments passed and some failed, so back to Wednesday night. I travelled down to Builth Wells to check in at the digs, Bronwye, same one as last year and a lovely place to stay at, I cannot recommend Lorna and Adrian's hospitality highly enough. I checked in about 6pm and dumped my clothing and decided to have a cast on the field in front, but surely it was dark I hear you all say...! this was lit up due to the local rugby union team having a training session, to say I was rusty would be an under statement, So I put my gear away and had a drive up to Caer Beris Manor then headed back to the room for a spot of TV and an early night.
The early night plan was foiled by me having a terrible nights sleep, mainly due to me thinking about the assessment, and coming down with a stinker of a cold, being nervous prior to a practice day isn't an ideal start, so morning eventually came and I had a great Welsh Breakfast and headed over to Caer Beris for practice, I set up some cones, hoops and then the wind picked up, a lot. This was going to be a testing practice session, so I started on the grass and wasn't as bad as the night before, I then moved onto the water, this I really enjoyed, I relaxed and got into the swing of things, at this point Gareth Lewis and Justin turned up to warm up before their assessments, so we had a chat and I put the rod away for a few hours, I had a walk around and met up with Leslie Holmes, Alun Rees, Philip Maher and a few of the other GAIA assessors, we had a chat and I drifted off into town to grab some lunch and the obligatory Lucozade for the weekend.
Assessments began at Midday on the Thursday and Chris Price was one of the first up, I passed my GAIC at the same time as Chris so it was good to be in his company again, I left the boys to get on with their assessments and had a coffee at the hotel and a chat with Bryan Martin, he had just passed his FFF Masters in Single Handed fly casting and had been one of my assessors for my GAIC, he had a chat with me and settled my nerves.
So, later in the afternoon I headed back onto the river, Chris Price came with me fresh from passing his APGAI assessment, I wanted a fresh pair of eyes to check on my casting. So the river went well, I had a play with the cones and hoops and Chris suggested I put the rod away and relaxed for a few hours. I ate at the hotel that evening and had my 1 allowed beer before heading back to the digs for another night of no sleep, Frank Williams had turned up at this point and was to have a restless night due to my prowling and tossing and turning, his comment at 5am asking if Santa Claus had been yet was comedy genius, sorry Frank for the lack of sleep.
So, to judgement day, another good breakfast, followed by Beechams All in one cold solution and a nasal spray, I headed to the hotel to meet Leslie Holmes for a practice, after a few nuggets of advice and a threat of a shin kicking from Leslie it was almost time for my assessment, I headed to the river and Brian Mcglashan joined me as I ran through the river casts,to be truthful the river casts all went perfectly, Brian gave me some words of advice along the lines of "you'll piss this" all very good advice if you are not shaking like a leaf and panicking, I got the option to open my assessment on the river and I went through all of the tasks, I relaxed as it went on and really settled into it, this was helped by my assessors Tony King and Scott Simmonds. We moved onto the grass and worked though all of the tasks, this went really well and after a quick discussion between my assessors they shook my hand and congratulated me on passing.
I don't remember much for the next few hours, we got together that evening and headed out for a curry, a great meal and a few beers, we then headed back to the hotel for a few more beers and we even opened the Irish Bar a night early.

Time for Saturday and the CPPD day, this is the day when you improve as an instructor and your casting improves, you pick the events you want to see and you tag along, I witnessed displays by Leslie Holmes, Philip Maher, and Mike Heritage, all of which I took something from, it was amazing to watch the bouncing bomb back cast, something to have a play with next year. Saturday evening was the presentations and the GAIA meal, a raffle was held and I managed to win a case of beer, that should help with weaning me off the stuff, especially after trying to empty the Irish bar on the Saturday night, 1am arrived and the casting club opened, tip section of a fly rod and a 6 weight line, I was beaten into second place by Danny Williams, a good show all around and the highlight was listening to Gwilym Hughes talk fishing and watching Rob Doyle drink more whisky than I though possible, Sunday was the AGM, I managed to hold I things together for that, I didn't feel the best and had a spot of lunch before heading home to see my Wife and Kids.

So, looking back, I felt it was a great weekend, well Planned by Mike Roden, some great demo's, a lot of beer drunk, some new friends made and some old acquaintances met again, I loved every bit of it. Congratulations to Phil Ratcliffe, Gareth Lewis, Chris Price, Rob Doyle, Justin Connolly and anyone else that passed their assessments, to the guys that just fell short, keep going and come back stronger

As a footnote, the cold has taken a good hold of me and I feel like crap, still Casting club on Sunday and that should be fun

Chris

Casting Club Sunday 21st November

2010-11-15T05:52:00.001-08:00

2010-11-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

Firstly I need to apologise for not updating the blog enough this year, it has been a busy one, and I have had a lot of commitments. But, enough of that, as I type this I am 3 days away from my APGAI assessment, nervous does not cover it, that coupled with a dodgy elbow will make it an interesting day.
So, to backtrack a little, I decided in March after attending the GAIA get together at Tweedswood that I would have a go at getting the APGAI single handed qualification, I was given some coaching by Mark Patterson and Leslie Holmes on the weekend back in March, followed by an invitation from Leslie to head over to Ireland to spend some time with him preparing, I took Leslie up on this offer and arrived for a weekend back in June, that was the weekend that really gave me an idea of what was in store for me, my knowledge and casting ability improved about 200% on that weekend alone, I also improved my alcohol tolerance as well....!
I then spent time with Louis Noble on the Welsh Dee improving and learning, time with Dylan Roberts and Paul "Tango" Ainsworth from Uk Fly dressing who kept my feet on the ground and allowed me to practice on them, I also put my new knowledge to test on my many clients that I had seen, this again improved me as a teacher. So, then it was practice, practice and a lot more practice, I worked the North Wales Country Show with a few GAIA instructors and got a lot of help from Alun Rees, a special mention has to go to Alun, he has been at the end of the phone for me more times that I care to recall and I also took up an invite to go and stay with him for a weekend to help with my preparation, this was the point where I felt I was about 10% off where I needed to be, so I have reigned in the practice sessions, mainly due to an elbow injury and partly due to some terrible weather, so, here I am 3 days away with a sore elbow and the chance of gaining the highest casting qualification in the UK, no practice for the last 2½ weeks due to injury and I am getting very worried, so, practice today, nice loops will do, then travel to Builth Wells on Wednesday night for a nice practice session on Thursday, 2 sessions during the day on Thursday, then on Friday I get an hour with Leslie Holmes before my assessment... should be a manic few days, wish me luck..........

2010-10-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

The day costs £70 and includes all tuition, day ticket and a selection of flies for the day, there ore 4 places for this trip and it will fill very quickly

HURRY, ONLY 2 PLACES LEFT

South Wales massive.........and pre assessments

2010-10-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

Just back from a great weekend in the Valleys, terrible weather but good fun, actually the weather wasn't to bad whilst casting but overnight it did its best to flood us out.
I met up with Mark Roberts, Alun Rees, Gareth Lewis, Chris Price and quite a number of GAIA members and instructors, there was a lot of knowledge available and hopefully people made the most of it to help them improve for their upcoming assessments.

So, today, I sent out a few mails and filled in the forms to do my APGAI assessment, this is the highest level in fly fishing exams in this country, the knowledge and casting ability need to be smooth, polished and without faults (well, maybe 2 faults but if they can be avoided then good)
In my practising for this assessment I have been to England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and had help from a great instructor in Eire, so I am trawling the UK for help with this assessment. The best thing about this help is that is is freely available and people cannot do enough to help you pass, I think that is the benefit of being a member of GAIA, all egos are put aside and everyone pitches in to help.
So, study night this evening and I may get out and have a few casting sessions this week

Speak soon

Chris

Casting Club Cancelled

2010-09-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the short notice the venue for the casting club is closed today. Only just found out.

Chris

Wet Weather Gear needed

2010-09-19T00:42:00.001-07:00

Casting club today Ladies and Gents, 12 midday onwards

Wet Weather gear is essential, unless you are waterproof!

See you there

Chris

Falconry and the Casting Club

2010-09-14T03:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody... Hi Doctor Nick ( I do realise that if you don't follow The Simpsons the previous sentence will be lost on you)

So, hawksdrift falconry came and went, it was nice to meet Layla and the assorted Owls, Falcons and Hawks, some absolutely stunning creatures and hope that they are up at Oak Royal again soon and I get to see the birds flying. The idea is to have corporate days where you have a morning with the Birds and Layla then you get the beast which is me in the afternoon for some fly fishing, I hope that it will be a good venture and if nothing else the chance to watch the birds in action would be brilliant.

So, onwards to the casting club and lessons, the club has been steadily growing with new members turning up each week, the problem was that the evenings began to draw in a lot quicker than I thought they would, add to that the midges and it became quite hard to get a few hours in. So, we have moved the dates, the club will run every third Sunday of every month until summer once again puts in an appearance, so this Sunday from Midday onwards the club will commence, I have a lesson booked in from 1pm for a couple of hours, but will be available from Midday till 1pm and again after the lesson.

On the subject of lessons please get in touch if you want a lesson or even for a chat and some advice, I am getting quite busy now and as a further day I will be running Winter Grayling day on the Welsh Dee, this will be for 4 people and I think 3 of the places are taken

I hope to see some of you this Sunday

Cheers

Chris

Hawksdrift falconry

2010-09-06T02:19:00.000-07:00

An exciting development is coming on Thursday, I am at Oak Royal for a Falconry display by Layla from Hawksdrift Falconry, this was featured on dragons Den and there will be opportunities for a photo and there will be a press release regarding displays and corporate days involving the Fly Fishing as well as other country pursuits, I can't wait, camera is ready and I hopefully get to hold a Falcon.

As for other news, the casting club will take place on Wednesday evening, 6pm till 8pm again, hoping for the same weather as last week and a few people as well.

Tuesday night I may actually get back to the fly tying club, there is a competition and I am going to give it a go this time around, 6 different flies to be tied and lots of different techniques to try to master.

Hope to see some of you on Wednesday and I will put some pictures up from Thursdays display

Chris

2010-09-01T02:32:00.001-07:00

This is on this coming Wednesday 1st Sept 201, 6pm till 8pm to allow for the lessening light.

I will run it like this for this month then it will go to once a month, on the 3rd Sunday in the month till the spring, hopefully we will get a few new faces to meet up with the regulars

Regards

Chris

Casting Club This evening

2010-08-11T06:52:00.000-07:00

For any hardy souls that fancy it, 7 - 9pm, I'll be there earlier as I have a lot to work on, hoping that the weather holds out for us and we can avoid the lightning and thunderstorms that have plagued us for the previous few weeks.

Hope to see you later

Chris

Ducking and Diving

2010-07-27T03:29:00.000-07:00

Casting night tomorrow evening, I think I have my facts right this time, I was had us at the wrong end of the field hence the attack of the golf balls...... sorry gents. So, back to last week, there was 4 hardy souls, having a few casts, dodging golf balls and getting some improvement, what happens, 90 minutes in and we get another storm, thunder, lightning and plenty of warning to allow us to run away, I hung around and got a couple of pictures of the rainbows and the weather closing in, before beating a retreat home to unload the car and get a soaking.

So, tomorrow, it will be a similar set up, cones and targets will be set up for anyone that wants them and I will be on hand to dish out any hints and tips, I hope to see a few of you there and I am praying for some decent weather.

Tuition deals

2010-07-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

To coincide with the start of the NW casting club and the move to Oak Royal Golf and Country club, I have a few tuition deals.

Adult and child, £20 per hour, this means the adult pays and the child gets free tuition, this expires in September.

Learn To fly fish tuition day, Sunday 15th August 2010, this is a full day and incorporates all you need to know to start fly fishing, there are facilities at the clubhouse for a bacon roll to start the day and for a 1 hour lunch break, this is a full day and will cost £35(excluding food) and includes 2 hours C & R fishing at the end of the day.

Please get in touch through my blog or my Website for further details

Chris

2010-07-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

This is on again tomorrow evening, I will have some hoops and cones set up to challenge you and there is facilities for distance casting, just hope that the weather holds out this time

From 7pm onwards £3 I hope to see a few of you there, venue is on the link below

NW casting Club Venue

Casting Club and other things

2010-07-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

The first time meeting for the NW casting club went well, I arrived early, set up a few targets and cones with a tape measure.....then, a huge storm hit, thunder, lightning and torrential rain, I dropped the lightning conductor I was holding and sat in the car till it passed.

I quickly posted on fly forums to cancel it and went to the car park to inform Tom (buzzer1234) from the fly forums that it was off, pity,but we will try again next week and hopefully the weather will be a lot kinder to us. I hope that there are a few more people as well, the more the merrier, £3 which covers the venue usage and there are some excellent facilities for a coffee afterwards or a beer.
Moving on, I think I am going to do my APGAI exam in November, I have been practising and have had a trip to Ireland to have a weekends tuition from Leslie Holmes this proved to be a huge help, I cannot recommend him highly enough.
So, practice, lots of it, I have stepped it up this week due to me needing to recover from a toe operation, it is going well, I hope. I have a few lessons coming up in the next few weeks, Louis Noble and Alun Rees both APGAI badge holders will be helping me and closer to home I always find that a few hours with Mike Roden helps no end.

I will start updating the blog on a regular basis again and hope to meet a few of you at the casting club
Tight Lines

Chris

North West Casting Club

2010-07-12T03:56:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have a venue for the casting club, Casting Club Venue this is just about 2 minutes off the motorway, M65, Junction 3, it has a bar and catering facilities for use after casting or before!! there is a separate car park for the fishermen and we are off the golf course.

The dates will be every Wednesday evening from 7pm till the midges turn up or 9pm, the cost would be £3 per person (this covers the venue and insurance), this is not a one to one teaching evening, it is a a casting club, where people can turn up to try out rods, improve and learn from others, ask questions and have a laugh.

I apologise about the delay in setting this up, I hope to see you down there, starting this Wednesday, please get in touch either via a PM or via my website to let me know if you are coming or if you need any further details

Chris

New venue, new teaching times

2010-07-07T03:45:00.000-07:00

I have moved venues for teaching, I will be teaching at Oak Royal, Withnell, this is a lot closer to home and is an intimate 1.3 acre water, it is set up for teaching as well, there are platforms all around the lake and there is ample car parking.
I hope to see you there, my dates for the rest of the year are;

FISHING TUITION LATEST NEWS

Chris Aldred, who is a GAIA qualified Fly Fishing instructor will be holding a series of casting days at Oak Royal throughout the year. These will be on the 3rd Sunday of every month, commencing at 9am ’til 5pm when the light allows.

He will also be available every Wednesday evening, between 7pm and 9pm throughout July and August 2010. Please call Oak Royal on 01254 830616 for details

Intended dates for 2010
Sunday 18th July
Sunday 15th August
Sunday 18th July
Sunday 15th August
Sunday 19th September
Sunday 17th October
Sunday 21st November
Sunday 19th December

Click on the link below for relaxed Gamefishing tuition to suit you by Chris Aldred.www.gamefishinginstruction.co.uk

2010-05-20T00:47:00.000-07:00

Just a catch up of my blog and what I have been doing for the past few weeks.
I had a good 3 days fishing the River Nith at Thornhill, Dumfries, a lovely piece of the River, I managed to hook and lose one salmon with a take from possible the same fish later on in the day. the lack of Salmon was set aside by the quality of some of the Grayling I caught, I will get some images posted up of them, they were huge, and plentiful, at one point I have 12 fish in about the same number of casts. A big thanks you to Ian at Game fishing Supplies for the auction in which I won the Salmon fishing and to Barrie at Linsley brothers for supplying the fishing.

I then got back to practising for my APGAI casting exam, this has been going slowly as I was trying to find a set up I liked, many changes later and I have settled on a Loop Evotec 9ft 6# rod coupled with a Rio Gold WF6 line, this is beginning to feel like an extension of my arm.

Then it was off to Wales, Corwen to be exact for a weekend fishing the Dee, a great weekend it was to, the fish in the picture was the highlight of the weekend for me, fin perfect trout caught out of some shallow fast water. The Saturday was a great day, I met up with Dylan, the spy on the hill (pictured right) and had a good time, Saturday morning was a struggle with only a couple of fish between us, so we headed off the river for lunch and a change of beats, we then stumbled across, well spotted Dylan, a hatch of Olives and an area of free rising fish, I took 3 fish in 3 casts and then settled down to average a fish every other cast and Dylan had the same, some huge unmentionables(Grayling, out of season) and some nice trout showing some scars from spawning.

At Bolton Fly Tying Club we had an evening with Gwilym Hughes, what a great evening it was, he spent a few hours tying different patterns for us, the bonus being that all of the patterns came from Gwilym being on the the river and having to adapt and create patterns to match what the fish were taking, this led into stories behind the flies, the reasons for their use, why they work, trigger points, colours etc. In all a brilliant evening and one of the best tyers we have had at the club, one I would recommend for any tying club, also, if you are a beginner a day with Gwilym would be money well spent, check out his link for what he has coming up and for his contact details.

All in all it has been a busy few weeks, I am on Walkerwood this weekend, a full day of introducing beginners to still-water fishing, this will be a good day and I am looking forward to passing on some knowledge and I hope the 5 people on the day enjoy it as much as I will

Chris

Walkerwood Beginners Day

2010-05-04T00:35:00.001-07:00

The tuition day for May is Sunday 23rd, this is going to be a Stillwater beginners and tactics day, this will be 6 hours of tuition in a group and a couple of hours fishing at the end of the day to put what you have learnt into practice.

This day will include;

• Setting up for Stillwater fishing
• Beginners, an ideal outfit and lines
• Knots, good and bad
• Leader set up and how to make them, this will also deal with leader material
• Casting techniques and dealing with wind
• A look through my fly boxes, question and answer session
• Natural imitations and when to use them
• Lures and when to use them
• Retrieval methods
• Playing and landing a fish
• Releasing your catch
• How to despatch your catch

The Price for this will be £40 excluding the price of your day ticket, this includes 6 hours group tuition with a break for lunch (not supplied), 2 hours fishing, I will walk the bank during this time to help out with any issues\questions.

I am limiting this to 5 people to allow me to spend time with each person, as for what flies to bring, bring what you have and we will talk about them on the day

Please get in touch if you are interested, there are only 3 places left

Chris

Busy Busy Busy

2010-03-16T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hello, well, long time no speak, what a busy few weeks, I worked the Spring Fly Fishing show at Newark, then I was in Scotland for the GAIA gathering, both good weekends, I will post some pictures when I get a minute.

This weekend, Walkerwood on Sunday, I am doing a teaching day, I have a few slots available for tuition just get in touch and I will try to fit you in.

The water is fishing very well, there is a healthy stock of fish and they are moving around the reservoir and taking buzzers and chasing lures, definitely worth a visit, even if it just for a brew from Pete in his cabin

Tight Lines

Chris

Teaching and progress

2010-03-02T01:24:00.000-08:00

Sunday was a good albeit cold day, I had 4 clients and a long day on Walkerwood. First up was Martin who was returning to the sport after a layoff, so we started of with roll casting and practice, then moved onto the overhead cast, then we combined both casts, as you would in a fishing situation, at the end of the lesson Martin was putting out a good line and fishing well, till he snapped his rod playing a fish......
Alan was next, Alan got in touch through the fly forums and was an improving fisherman with a wealth of knowledge on all fishing matters, as anyone reading some of his posts on fly forums will agree with. He had been having a few issues which he had tried to work through on his own, and after the lesson he was casting very well, it is then a matter of practising to get them ingrained, which I am sure he will do, Alan stayed to fish on, catching a few fish late on, although when I went to see him later in the day he looked a little cold to say the least, it can be a brutal wind on Walkerwood at times.
Finally another Alan, but this time with his 10year old son Matt, I started with Matt and had him over head casting well, there was some tackle issues which we got sorted and he began to put out a decent line, he actually fished on and caught a few fish, even casting and catching fish in a difficult wind, well done Matt.
Alan was a novice and again we started with the roll cast which he picked up really well, then we moved onto the overhead cast, and agian, this was picked up really quickly, we worked on the combination of the casts adn he was doing great, he fshed on with his son and hooked and lost a couple of fish, it is always the way, the kids will always show you hoe it is done

Chris

Walkerwood Sunday 28th February

2010-02-26T03:27:00.000-08:00

Teaching this Sunday, I will be at Walkerwood Still Water Trout Fishery this Sunday, this is a slight change, enforced by the snow and bad weather from last weekend which led to to delay the tuition day. I have about 6 bookings and I am at the water from 9am onwards, I am booked 9-10am then I am tentatively free till midday.

If you are thinking about heading over for a lesson then get in touch and I will endevour to book you in

Hope to see you on Sunday

Chris
http://www.gamefishinginstruction.co.uk/walkerwood.html

This week

2010-02-22T02:00:00.000-08:00

I am hoping that I can get to Walkerwood this coming weekend, more changes are afoot, hopefully there will be a cabin on site this week to allow Pete to have a few home comforts and to keep an eye on the place. More tree felling has taken place, and I want to visit to see the improvements to the place.
As for the teaching washout from yesterday, I have moved most of my appointments to this coming Sunday 28th Feb, just waiting for confirmation from one or two, so, get in touch if you want a lesson.

March is a busy month for me, I am at Newark with GAIA for the Spring Fly Fishing Show, I will be teaching on the GAIA stand and hoping to pick up some materials from the trade stands, hope that some of you can make it. The following week I am in Melrose, Scotland for the GAIA spring meeting again this will be a great event and I hope to have a good weekend and advance my teaching and casting skills.

Chris

Walkerwood tuition today............

2010-02-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

Cancelled for a week due to the bad weather, snow on the ground and too much ice to even contemplate getting over there and teaching

Hope to see you next week

This Sunday....

2010-02-17T03:46:00.000-08:00

......... is filling up fast, I have 6 people lined up for lessons, so if you want a lesson then you need to get in touch quickly, I just hope that the weather picks up a little. I'll bring Jaffa cakes and brew gear so even if you want to pop along for a brew then it would be good to see you

Hope to see you on the water

Chris

This Week.

2010-02-15T01:36:00.000-08:00

Hello followers, some of you may have noticed that I have taken the plunge on Fly Forums and become a Pro member, so, I can tout myself around and hopefully raise my profile and in the process get a few bookings. If it works I hope to be a little busier and in turn this should improve me as an instructor.

This coming Sunday, 21st February, I am teaching at Walkerwood, it is my monthly tuition day, I have 3 bookings and a tentative enquiry so if you need tuition and can make it over to Walkerwood then it would be good to see you, my contact details are on my website, drop me a mail or give me a call to book a slot.

Talking of Walkerwood, there is a lot of work happening, Pete Ross and his team are working hard and transforming the banks and walkways, brush is being cleared as are some trees, paths are being marked out and wood chippings are being laid to define the pathways, it is worth a visit just to catch up and have a good look around.

Hope to see you on the water

Chris
Fly Fishing Instruction

This teaching thing..

2010-02-05T02:31:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about teaching and ways to improve, this led me to get this post together, I gather a lot of you will have had a lesson at one time or another, this will just give you an idea of what happens. It starts with us getting a call from a prospective client and we go through what the client is after, simple enough, then to the day of the lesson.
Meet the client, first impressions do count, so your instructor should be clean shaven and looking professional, not appearing as if they have just got in from a night out. Then you have to run through the health and safety briefing, your instructor will have compiled a risk assesment on the venue and will base his H & S talk around this. Once this talk is over with, you go through the clients expectations again and what they want to achieve from the lesson. Then the teaching begins, I have been allowing the client to show me a few casts, I then break down the casts, I try to break them down into a few simple actions, so when they are combined, they make a reasonable cast and let the client know the main points of each cast, and how they ultimately affect the cast.
I then ask the client to demonstrate the cast, and work though it till they have a firm grasp of what they are doing, it is also good to let the client see, yet know, how to fix any mistakes, this will allow them to sort any issues when they are on their own. If you give the client ownership of the lesson then they become responsible for putting into action what they have been taught. At the end of the lesson I ask the client to fill in a feedback form to provide an assessment how I performed.
It all seems simple enough, but, after the client then leaves there is still a lot of work to be done. I look at the clients assessment of me, I then have to assess the client, and fill in what we worked on, and how it went, I then have to assess myself , this will be harsh when I assess my performance and will never score 10/10, this in turn will become incorporated within my action plan and can be assessed at any time by my peers. The result from all of the assessing and the action plan that I keep adding to, is that your instructor should always be improving in the way he teaches.

When I get home for the teaching I will e-mail the clients to remind them of the main points of the lesson and give them a few things to be working on, then all of the paperwork from the days teaching goes into a file, my intention is to keep a file for each client and then if they return I can always keep track of their progress.

I hope this gives you a little insight of what happens

Chris

www.gamefishinginstruction.co.uk

Teaching and Walkerwood

2010-02-01T01:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a good day at Walkerwood, my first day teaching and I thought it went well, first up was Chris, a beginner by his own admission, the lesson went well, he took on board all I had to say, and at the end of the session he was casting well, he had brought along 2 rods as he was struggling with one of the rods, most people tend to buy a rod, then upgrade to another rod with a different casting action, this is what causes the difficulties, Chris overcame this at the end of the session and was casting a nice line with both rods and throwing some neat tight loops, well done Chris.

Next up was Mike, I have known Mike for a few years and he is a member of Bolton fly tying club, we did quite a bit of work on getting back to basics, this is a good way of working and once you have the basics, it then opens up a lot more advanced casts, an example is the roll cast, nail the roll cast, get it smooth and fluent and this sets the foundation for, the single spey cast, double spey cast, the snake roll, the jump roll, then you can add hauls in to the casts mentioned. You can cover a lot of water with the named casts and they can be used on stillwaters. At the end of the session Mike had a firm grasp on what was needed and I know he will be practising, again well done to Mike

Next session is 21st February 2010

Hope to see you on the water

Chris
Game Fishing Instruction

Website is live

2010-01-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

Just a quick not, my website is now up and running, have a look HERE and I hope to see some of the followers of this blog at Walkerwood for some fishing

Walkerwood this weekend

2010-01-26T00:08:00.000-08:00

Good day Folks, just a quick note to let you know I will be on Walkerwood this coming Sunday, 31st January. I will be teaching and I am currently booked up from 10am till Midday and have a further booking to come, so, if anyone is interested in a lesson or just calling over for a chat then it would be good to see you

Give me a call or drop me a mail for further information chris@gamefishinginstruction.co.uk

Chris

2010-01-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let you know that I have added an additional day added for Walkerwood, I'll be there on Sunday 7th February, I am teaching from 10am - 12 midday then I am free, if anyone wants a lesson or needs to brush up on anything then give me a shout I am hoping to also have a preview of my website this weekend so hoping that it may be launced as early as Sunday evening, watch this spacve as they say, again and again.....

Sunday

2010-01-17T23:58:00.000-08:00

Sunday was fun, I drove to Walkerwood and met up with Woz and TanjiPete from www.flyforums.co.uk it was good to put faces to names. the reservoir was still frozen but I had a play with 2 new rods, one being my 13ft Salmon rod and the other being my 9ft 6# rod for my casting demos and the like, what did I discover, ring rust, I need to be out with the rods more, that is going to happen over the coming month so that in February I will be a lot sharper.

Back to Walkerwood, the place is coming on, there is a lot of work being done, hard work at that, being done by Pete Ross who will take over the reins in March from John who has become something of a fixture at the place, Pete has plenty of plans in place for Walkerwood and was last seen working on the disabled acccess to the water.

Hope to see you at Walkerwood in the future and keep an eye out for the new prices and more information on the float tubing.

2010-01-12T05:34:00.001-08:00

So, the day draws closer, this coming Sunday, will Walkerwood be ready, well, will it be ice free is more to the point? At the moment it is warming up which is leading to a slow melt of snow and ice but the cold wind is not helping things.
I will be there from about 9am, call over and I’ll make a brew and we can have a chat, if the place is frozen then I will still be there to get some photographs together for my blog and for my website. Talking of the website there is a lot of work being done in the background and things should be taking shape, I just need to get some text written and some images together to make it look good.
I’ll head off for now and do my day job for a while, fly tying tonight, some buzzers I think, orange, red and green will do 10 of each to set me up for the coming early season on Walkerwood.
Hope to see you on the water
Chris

Walkerwood Trout Reservoir and Me.

2010-01-11T00:40:00.000-08:00

Long time no speak, so, here I am a week or so after the start of the new year and I have news for you.

I am going to be working with Walkerwood as the Fly Fishing Instructor and I will be there the third Sunday of every month, the dates are listed below;

17th January 2010
21st February 2010
21st March 2010
18th April 2010
16th May 2010 and so on throughout the year, I will also be available for additional dates as needed and for bookings

There will be Float tubing allowed on the water from March and the launch fee for the tubes is £5 plus the cost of your day ticket, the tickets range from £10 for a 5 hour sporting ticket upto £18 for a full day 4 fish ticket. Be warned though, this is not a heavily stocked water that you can turn up to and empty, you need to use your head and get the methods correct and you can have a great day with a chance of a grown on double figure fish

If you are interested in a casting lesson then mail me at chris@gamefishinginstruction.co.uk and we can discuss the options available

Hope to see you soon and keep looking here, as my website should be up and running this week

Chris

Teaching Now available

2009-12-07T02:47:00.000-08:00

I'm back, after passing my exam I took a break to refresh and recharge the batteries, just been having fun with my family and enjoying beer.............. to much beer so it is now time to pimp myself to the world at large.

My website will be up an running in the coming few weeks, I hope that it will be useful for anyone wanting any tuition or help. I have managed to secure a stillwater to teach on for the coming years Walkerwood in Stalybridge is the place, it is one of the first waters I ever fished on and I love the place, lovely settings, some huge fish, great fly life as well, something for everyone to get to grips with, be warned it is not an overstocked pond, this is quite a big water with a healthy head of fish, get it right and you will have a great day, John runs the place and will put you onto the tactics and the fish and even the times that the fish will switch on, yes, he does know the water that well.

Prices for tuition at Walkerwood start from £20 for an hour, this includes a 5 hour sporting ticket for you to work on your casting after the lesson

Watch this space as I will be posting on a regular basis ion the coming weeks and please get in touch for any tuition

Chris

Fly Fair Time

2009-11-06T04:08:00.000-08:00

It is the Fly Fair at Trentham Gardens this weekend, a full weekend dedeicated to spending money, oops sorry, it is dedicated to Fly Tying and to allow us poor tyers to replenish our stocks of materials. A good thing to spend time on is the tyers row, this is full of professional tyers from all around the world, they are there for you and for you ato ask questions,they are all very approachable and will give you as much advice as you want\need, so, if you have a question this is the place to ask it. There will be people tying Fully dressed Salmon Flies, ultra realistic nymphs and flies, as well as lots of people tying great fishing flies. There is a Tyers clinic, comprising of Chris Reeves, Chris Watson, Mauro Raspini, Frederico Renzi, Ian McKenzie and
Wendy Gibson, lots of knowledge there that will answer any question you may have.

The best stand to vistit will be the Uk Fly Dressing Stand, it is next to the bar, a few libations may be available upon request, come and pay us a visit and we'll have a great weekend

Woo- Hoo, Passed

2009-10-30T06:29:00.000-07:00

As it says in the title, passed with flying colours, where is the bar. . .

I,m here . . .

2009-10-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I arrived in Builth Wells today, looked at the River Irfon, it looks great, lots of leaves though, I had 3 fish take my wool when I was practising. My casting was good, same again tomorrow please , that goes for the weather as well.

Bugger, 17 hours and it will all be over. . . .

It's the Final Countdown...............

2009-10-27T01:50:00.000-07:00

de de derr derr, de de de de derr.etc etc, I hate that song, really annoying rubbish, anyway, how is the casting I hear you all ask? Well, I fished on Sunday with Bolton Fly Tyers at Foxhouses lake, the weather left a little to be desired, to be truthful, after a quick poll most of the lads would have stayed in bed, but due to the club commitment we braved the driving wind and rain, Orange Blobs were the fly of the day, strange but I would say that 90% of the fish fell to Orange flies. I spent a lot of the day fishing into the wind; at least I know my double hauling works well. Winner on the day was Bob, whose surname I cannae remember with a joint 2nd for Mike France and Dave Vickery, but well done to all of the lads, I managed to lose 3 fish and catch one, a good day in difficult conditions.

I went out on Monday, Spey casting on the lake, this was interesting but I got the hang of it towards the end of the session, a nice calm day, same for Friday please. Then later in the day working on my overhead casts, hauls, mends on the grass, this went very well, I had a play with my overhead cast, it is amazing how little effort it takes to throw 50ft of line, try it, cast and aim to cast so that only the fly line straightens and not the leader, or, cast normally and the next cast take some power out, same again and again and you will be amazed how little effort it does take, we all fall into this trap of feeling the need to T H R O W the line out when with little effort you will cast a tighter faster neater loop that unrolls to the target with about a third of the effort.

So, I am out later today, Spey casting again and some more overhead work, then I will start getting my kit together for the weekend, need to remember all of my notes. I am packing spare everything, 9am Friday is looming ever larger on the horizon; I just need to control my nerves, which leads to another question...........

Whisky or Vodka on my Cornflakes on the morning of the assessment?

The one that got away

2009-10-19T01:21:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, what a day, the weather changed dramatically, gone was the sunshine, in came the frost and wind, I was heading over to the Dee again, for a run through of my Casting assessment with Louis Noble, and we were meeting at the Berwyn Arms section of the River Dee. Before arriving at the car park I took a road that had been pointed out to me by Fred the last time I was on the Dee, a nice cut through over a hill! there was a lovely cloud inversion over the Dee valleyAnd dropping into Glyndyfrdwy, it was awesome, no recommended in the dark or snow or ice but on a good day I would recommend this road to anyone!! Unless you are scared of heights!

So, the assessment, it went well, I got into the river, warmed up and Louis turned up, after being surrounded by cattle when trying to cross the railway, so he abandoned his car and walked over, leaving the car to the cattle, the Speys went well, very well, and the mends, wiggles and any other casts worked well, I am beginning to feel confident about the casts and really happy, the Speys have really come together after the hard work of the past month, the next 11 days (holy poo poo, 11 days!!!) will be spent adding polish to the casts and getting the patter together. Lots of reading to get through, and things to brush up on.

So, onto the fishing, I changed rods and worked my way upstream with the dries, had a couple of small parr and Grayling straight away then nothing else. Time for a move, but before that some lunch. I moved to above the bridge in Corwen , fancied fishing some heavy bugs in the faster water and the deeper holes, the falling leaves made fishing dries almost impossible, I fished my way across and picked up a couple of small grayling, then just after taking a call from Dylan I hooked what I thought to be a fresh grilse! The line stopped, I lifted into it, saw a flash of sliver then as the fish neared the surface I saw a big dorsal fin and the fish went to the bottom and stayed there for the next couple of minutes, I couldn’t really do much with it, I saw glimpses of it and it decided enough was enough and releases itself, I was gutted, I have had 2lb Grayling and this thing looked and felt a lot heavier, I suppose that is why it is called fishing and not catching though.

That was it, my last session for a couple of weeks, lots of studying and casting to be done, then the Fly Fair then more fishing, the leaves will be gone and the grayling will be about, I can’t wait.

Final day after Salmon

2009-10-19T00:40:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was to be my last day out after Salmon, It was a long fruitless day as well, good fun and nice to be out before the crowds descended on the weekend for the last day on Saturday. It was good to be out, I had a look at Chain pool but it was full, so off to the Berwyn Arms and Taylor’s pool, I met up with Fred on the car park and we walked up the pool, it looked god, we spotted fish, so Fred went down the pool first and I had a go with a sink tip, this proved to be a little to heavy so I changed to an intermediate, no luck on the first run through for either of us.

Second time down the pool and Fred thought he had snagged, only when pulling the line did the snag kick and make good its escape! Not before showing itself on the surface!!
I then moved over to Chain pool for and couple of runs through the pool; again I saw fish but no luck.

I then called Tango as I thought I saw him downstream of me, nope, he was upstream, so I was invited up for a paned and a chat, I met him and Dylan and we moved over to Typhos for some Salmon fishing, I fished with Dylan who is a very knowledgeable man and knows the Dee very well, it was good to fish with him but the River crossing left a lot to be desired, hairy to say the least, waist deep and really pushing through and after a confession from Dylan about his swimming abilities I was a little worried to say the least.
In all, a good final days fishing a good to meet up with a couple of lads I will be sharing a table with at the Fly Fair

16 days and counting down.....

2009-10-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

Time for panic or is it a cool demeanour knowing that I can do all the casts, I just need to do it on the day. I was out last night doing all the land based casts, overhead casts, wiggle, Aerial mends, Belgian Casts, hauls, Pile casts etc, all went well. They actually went better than that, they went very well, I was struggling to find fault with any of them, I dare say the Assessors on the 30th will have plenty of questions about them though, speaking of assessors, I have Mark Roberts and Bryan Martin assessing me. I have met and spoken with Mark, he is a nice very knowledgeable chap, he has recently passed his FFF masters exam, probably the highest he can attain.

I have been tying flies recently as well, lots of flies, quite a few Salmon flies as tomorrow is my last day out on the River Dee chasing them, it beats a day in work. The fly tying has been brought on my me being asked and accepting to tie a few flies up at the Fly Fair this coming November, 7th – 8th to be precise. I will be on the UkFlydressing stand, come up and say hello, be nice to me as well, I’ll be sat shaking like a leaf, snapping threads and generally making a fool out of myself.
Casting later then off to Fly Tying for an extra night, Pat Stevens is over and will be demonstrating some of the competition flies, should be a fun night

Luck, or lack of it..

2009-10-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

Time for a moan, just working out a few things, in the past 2 weeks, I have droppped and replaced a Loop reel due to me cracking it badly, managed to drop and almost write off my Salmon reel, the spool is done for the cage maybe ok. To cap it am struggling to find the tip for my Salmon line, a line that would cost £130 to replace, balls, it is looking like I have to empty the garage tomorrow to find the tips, I hope I find them, I want one more days Salmon fishing and without them I am snookered
Still, soon be the weekend..

Chasing Silver

2009-10-12T00:31:00.001-07:00

What a day, I was on the Welsh Dee all day on Saturday, chasing Salmon, chasing being the operative word. I arrived and was on the bank at the side of the Chain Pool at 9am, bright! Well, misty and early, decided to start with an Allys shrimp fly, worked all of the pool and saw 1 fish roll, this is an achievement for me, actually seeing a Salmon whilst fishing for them. I fished through the pool and kept my eyes peeled for any other fish and noticed a Salmon, well downstream, that looked to be moving up. I sat down and had a change of flies, I put on a tube fly to get a bit further down in the water and fished through again, still nothing.
At this point another chap turned up to fish the pool, I moved out of the pool and let him fish it as I had a coffee and a ponder as to what to do next, a large cascade fly was the next try, I fished the pool through and spotted another fish entering the pool and really took my time making sure I covered as much of the water as possible, so, that was it on the Chain Pool, time for a move and a coffee, I headed back to the car for a move to Taylor’s pool just below the Berwyn Arms.
I arrived to find a very full car park, but only 2 anglers on the pool, I put my name on the board and headed up to the pool with a chap named Mick, I was allowed to fish down the pool first this went well till I hooked the far bank and lost my fly, leader and had to set up again, whilst I was setting up I spotted a couple of fish enter the pool, so I hurriedly set up and I got in the river again and followed Mick down, guess what, snagged to bottom, leader and fly no2 sacrificed to the river gods, I had another r 2 runs through the pool, changes of flies brought no luck, but, the pool had been fished heavily all morning, also the river was a little high and the fish were ploughing straight through without stopping.
Out of the pool as my time was up, back to the car and time for some dinner, I had one more move to make and I decided to have a break for an hour and head back to Chain pool as I had seen a few fish there, I had my dinner and a coffee and headed back up to the chain pool, luck on my side again as there was only one angler fishing it, Although, 2 other anglers turned up, they run the syndicate and the angler on Chain was being a little naughty so I believe he got told off for fishing water he shouldn’t have been fishing, so, I had another fish through the pool, saw nothing, another angler turned up to replace the chap spinning, I was following him down when again, I got snagged, just not my day, leader no 3 departs and I decide that I have had enough, it has been a long day…………
In all a good day, a long day but lots of fun and the casting is great fun, hitting the other bank to much though and I need to take a little out of it, hoping to be back over this week

Out on Doffcocker

2009-10-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

I was out this evening, lots of practice, about 2 hours worth, no thumb issues which means that my grip is sorted, not strangling the rod anymore!! Or as much as I used to anyway! So, I kept it low key, no Tony to cheer me or heckle me. I started off with some overhead casts, nice and easy, not tailing loops, unlike Monday! The onto roll casts and jump rolls, still going well, then I tried putting all of the spey casting info into practice, that didn’t start of too well but for the last 30 minutes or so of the session things began to click into place, the cast felt a lot better, the consistency was there and the line was going out well.

I had a play around with the reach mends, aerial mends and all the slack line and wiggle casts, they all went well, I just need to visualise each cast before I attempt it, I have to start doing this on my own and when I am out with people, every cast must be a good cast. All in all a good session not without frustration but I am a lot happier with things.

I tried out a couple of different lines as well tonight, I intend using the Greys Platinum Hi-Viz line for the exam but I have a couple of the Pitsford Pirate fly lines as well, these cast very well and I think they are an absolute bargain for the princely sum of £15.50, there is not a lot of difference between them and the Greys line, grab a bargain folks, they are out there and available. They have no memory, fly out of the rod and roll and spey cast very well, look here for the lines

Weather permitting I’ll be out again tomorrow and I can hear the Grilse calling me for the weekend

Tight lines

Last Night

2009-10-07T00:11:00.000-07:00

I was at the AGM for Bolton Fly Tyers, should be an interesting year, lots of good moves forward last night and one thing I put forward was totally vetoed, oh well, I just await the same people bitching and moaning, then I can smile and walk away.

Looking forward to seeing Malcolm Greenhalgh on the 3rd Novemebr, should be a cracking night to be had by all and I can't wait to see him as I believe he is one of the best and most intelligent tyers and fly fishermen around.

Back to Square One....

2009-10-06T01:30:00.000-07:00

I was out last night with Mike Roden, a run through of the exam, so I had a 5 minute warm up! I think on the day I need to have about 45 minutes running through all of the casts, especially if last nights performance is anything to go off. We started of with the roll casts and jump rolls, all went well, not difficult at all, nice relaxed slow casts with a good forward stroke. Next up, the speys, single spey off my right shoulder, hit 2 good casts, I thought, then they went pear shaped, bugger, over to the cast off the left shoulder, disastrous, same with the shoot of line, same with the double speys, unbelievable, I fished and practised for weeks to make an absolute mess of things, so, Mike gave me a few questions, I answered them correctly, he made 2 minor adjustments, guess what, Casts all nailed, so, the main issue was I was putting too much line into the anchor and this was sticking, so, I need to raise the rod a little higher\faster when forming the D-loop, this in turn puts less line in the anchor and he forward stroke sends the line out, simples. I need to work on getting consistent anchor points, lots!

So, we left the water after me failing dismally, onto the field with the target rings and the distance tape, start off, overhead cast, nice and slow, tailing loop, FAIL, I then made 3 decent casts, I must remember to STOP the rod the PAUSE before lowering the rod, this keeps the loop tighter and shows a positive STOP. Next cast, false casting to 45 ft, consistent loops, guess what, buggered this up as well, second attempt I nailed it, Then it was varying the loop size, this went well, I need to work on this a lot more. Next up wiggle and pile casts, again, no issues. We then moved onto the targets, great, hadn't practised this for a while, so, 2 attempts at the target at 30 ft, 1 attempt at 20ft and 1st time into the 45ft target, hurrah, something went well, we then moved onto the casts with various winds, I can do these, need to remember to STOP THE BLOODY ROD AND PAUSE before lowering the rod! Are you getting the impression that I need to work on anything? Then it was time for the Belgian cast, I did this no problem, Mike says I have a different style to anyone else he has seen, not to sure what to make of that, but, the cast does what it is supposed to, so pass. Onto the reach mends, nailed, Aerial mends in the line, again, I managed these but need to work on them a little more. Change of direction casts, I demonstrated the Tension cast and the clock face, I then had to details advantages and disadvantages of the casts, Pass!

Hauls, single and double, again, not practised this for a while but managed all of the single hauls on the FC and BC, time for the distance cast, I well and truly buggered this up, rod creep was the issue so I relaxed a little, drifted more and sent the line past the 75ft mark, did it again to prove I could do it, just need to remember to sop the rod a little higher and drift up and back.

So, from that little lot I would have failed miserably, things I need to work on, I need to relax more, pause before commencing the cast and get it straight in my head, visualise the cast then do it. After talking to Mike he said I should walk the test as long as I remember to do all of the above, I have the knowledge and the casts, I just need to relax, think then nail the cast.

I got home and tried to kick the neighbours’ cat, failed at this; I was not in the best of moods, I settled down with a beer and phoned Alun Rees, I had a good talk with him, he took the GAIA test last year and passed so he gave me a few tips and we had a good chat about the fly fair, I am on the ukflydressers table tying for a few hours on the Saturday and the Sunday, so I am looking forward to that, I just need to pass this test before then, I’m practising later, the rain is hammering down, all good character building stuff, then this evening it is the AGM for Bolton Fly Tyers, if only I didn’t have work tomorrow..

Blown on course..

2009-10-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

I had a free day, so I decided on Friday to meet up with Phil on the Dee at Corwen, the weather forecast wasn't the best but on checking late last night all systems were go, I woke up with sniffles, a runny nose and feeling like crap, The weather that greeted me when I went to load the car was, not the most inviting, but, it was a free day and I had to get some Casting practice in, and have a go for the Salmon before the end of the season. With all this in mind I loaded up the car with 4 rods! ! 15ft DH Salmon rod, 1 x 10ft 5# bugging rod, 1x 9ft 6# practice rod and my Loop AEG 5# for duo fishing or dry flies if the wind dropped and the weather improved. Add to that lot all the related reels flies etc, I really need to work out a way of going fishing with just a small shoulder bag. You know, like you see in Orvis catalogs and Hardy Brochures, So, I set of for Corwen and got a message off Phil, he couldn't make the trip, at this point the wind was getting up and the driving was fun, I plodded on, casting practice is casting practice and on the day of the exam it could be a blustery rainy day. So, I cross the border into Wales (Cymru or Gymru??)and the skies cleared, the sun comes out and the wind dropped, unbelievable, I was hoping it would last.

I arrived at the river and parked up to be met with strong winds and rain, damn you Phil! Ha Ha, I set up the Salmon rod and the practice rod and wandered up to the Hut on what is becoming my most frequented bit of the river, I tied on an Orange Shrimp pattern of my own design and wandered up to the top of the pool keeping my eyes peeled for the shoals of Grilse waiting to be first to my fly, yep, you guessed it, I fished through the pool and didn't see or move a thing, but, it was good to have a go with the double hander and my casting has improved no end, mainly due to me practising so much with the single handed rod, that I can put the essentials into practice with a DH rod. I picked up the practice rod and had a go at the Speys and Roll casts, looking good, I can now make mistakes an know immediately, but, I did the lower sweep on the single spey and the cast went well, quite a few times, I got a lot more right that wrong, double speys went well, roll casts and jumps rolls, check, what a good hours practice, more good casts then bad, the tide maybe turning. So, back to the car for a coffee and some food then a move upstream to visit a Crogen 3 for the second time in a week. I arrived at the beat to be met with stronger winds and no rain, I took the bugging rod and the Dry Fly, If nothing else I am an optimist!
I entered the river and dropped off my dry fly rod, well, I propped it against a convenient bit of tree that had been washed down in high water, then it was back in the water with the bugging rod, I wandered downstream for my upstream Czech nymphing assault, first thing I see, a fish take a hatching Olive of the surface! I decided to go for it with the nymphs, I worked my way up and had a take on the fourth cast\lob, this came off but it was a good start, until I missed the next 3 takes, ring rust isn't a good thing, I then connected with the next take and reeling in something so small I still have no idea what it was, the nymph was half its size, I do like a trier though, still working my way upstream and the water got a little shallower and I could get across to the trees and fish them, I worked my way across and into shallower water, I missed a definite take, so I put the nymphs back across and didn't miss the take this time, a hard fought battle ensued as the fish headed straight into the faster deeper water below me and made me work for it. After what seemed like a very long time it graced my net, taken on the Candy Floss woven bug, my biggest Grayling of the season and the season has only just begun,
it was a long fish with not a lot of depth to it, I took a quick picture and released it, brilliant. I then fished through the rest of the run, one bumped fish. I walked about 200 yards upstream the what was the end of one run and just before a deeper run, I spotted a fish rising and had a quick cast with the dry fly, I managed to hook the fish but it came off after a quick battle, back to the bugging rod for the next stretch of water, a fast run into a deep pool, I had another Grayling just before the heavens opened, time to call it a day, the weather was atrocious and getting worse.

I was cold, hungry and had caught a few fish, my casting had been great so I couldn't have asked for more, well, a pint and a bacon butty would have been good! So, that is it, a great day on a fantastic river. To cap it off I had this view as I headed home via the Horseshoe Pass , typical, I pack up to go home as the sun breaks through and the sky clears completely

I think we have had a breakthrough

2009-10-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

At least, I hope I have...I was out practising on what was a nice evening, clear skies and a cold breeze, it was a brilliant evening and a good way to see in October, Pike season beckons but I will get to that in the coming months. I went out with the intention of practising my Spey casts, more importantly getting the anchor placement correct on the single spey, this was becoming my nemesis, so tonight it would either kill me or the rod was going for a swim. Well, I had about 45 minutes practising and frustration, I was doing what I thought was correct and blamed everything on the swirling wind, but I persevered and finally got it right, I remembered my call with Louis and didn't lift the rod as much and kept it level coming across my body, guess what, great anchor placement and a nice cast, so, more of the same in the coming weeks and I will be a happy man.

The picture is of Tony, a friend from the Fly Tying club and he has pretty much been my casting companion for the past 6 months, he keeps telling me that I am getting better, I am starting to believe him, the thing is, Tony's casting has improved beyond all recognition, so much so that if I pass the exam he won't be needing any lessons, as he has had them for free whilst listening to me swear and curse on the bank. His improvement though has helped me, he has been my guinea pig for teaching and explaining, it must be working as he can now, Double haul to about 70ft, roll cast, jump roll, put wiggles\slack line into his cast, spey cast, he has taken a lot in and is becoming a better all round angler, he seems to be taking this to the River as well as his catch rate is improving and he admits that he is really happy with the improvements. I just need to work out a way of removing all of the knowledge so that he becomes a paying customer!!

Make and Mend

2009-09-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

Twice in a day, what is this, a honeymoon! I was out for another 45 minutes this evening, Aerial mend time, with and without a shoot of line, guess what, no problems, managed to get it working very well and the mend were even in the right places. How did I do it? I hear you ask (I don't care if no-one is following this blog....) I took lots of power out of the forward cast and put the mends in, the line straightens, apart from the mend, same with the shoot of line, back cast into forward cast, mend, shoot line, voila, nice aerial mend, do it immediately after the stop for a mend at the end of the line, do it later for mends at the middle of the line and even later still for mends under the rod tip.
Next on the agenda, side casts, these seem to be working for me if I use a wristy action, as opposed to using a stiff armed action, no idea why, everything says they shouldn't work but they are working, so I may keep it that way.

I then had a quick work out on the single hauls, they went well, nice relaxed hauls with a high finish, then double haul for distance, yep, full line and the backing knot out of the rod, really impressed, again, less rod hand, more hauling hand and a high finish, which is exactly as shall leave this, on a high.

Post crappy casting session

2009-09-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

I'm back again, I was out last night, windy, raining, crappy night, not the best of nights to be practising spey casts! But, practice I did, they seem to be getting better, my anchor points are getting a little more consistent, still not good enough though. On a seperate note I think I managed to crack my aerial mends, well, the mend specifically at the end of the fly line, got it nailed consistently last night and the pile casts went well, nothing to difficult about them though. Night off tonight from the casting, which means reading time, or I may even get a bit of time at the vice to tie up some flies, I have a few, 15! Czech nymphs to finish off, then I need to tie a few shuttlecock emergers, the picture above is of a CDC GH Sedge, I liked it that much that I haven't fished with it, possibly due to the reason that every fly I tie with CDC sinks like a bloody stone, I would be better using it to weight my nymphs I think. As Warner Bros say, thats all Folks...

A weekend away comes to an end

2009-09-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a weekend in Wales, listening to my daughter have a temper tantrum makes me wish I was still there, I wonder where she gets it from!

Friday, met Louis Noble for a lot of spey casting tuition prior to my exam in 5 weeks, this wasn't to good, I now have a definite idea of what I need to be doing though, so my practice for the next 2 weeks is... yep, spey casting, lots of it, need to get the anchor points nailed consistently.
After the tuition I had an hours fishing, lots of fun on my Sage ZXL 4#, still undecided about the rod though, I have to almost fall asleep when casting with it, it works though, I need to relax more, beer before going in to the river.........nah, I'm not from Wigan!!

Saturday, A full day to myself on the river, I decided to head to the top of the CADAC waters to see what they had to offer, lovely water, nice start to the day and a few fish, lots of small stuff, I lost a grayling of about a 1lb then landed one a little smaller, the sun then came out and I decided to have some dinner and move further downstream to a beat I was told about over a year ago. I loaded up the car, well, put the rods onto the racks and moved to Pont Cilan bridge, I walked downstream for about 20 minutes and couldn't find anywhere to get in the water, very deep and not Trout water at all, so that wasted about an hour of my day, I loaded up the car again and headed to the Typhos beat, I hadn't fished this beat prior to Saturday but I will be back, lovely glides broken up with faster riffling water, perfect trout and Grayling water, as I got onto the river the sun broke though and a clear blue sky appeared, buggering up the fishing for the afternoon and making it a little sweaty in the waders.

Sunday, what a day, nice and over cast, 18 degrees, perfect, so I got the practice rod out and had an hours spey casting which left me frustrated, I think I need to do this when there are not fish rising every 30 seconds all around me, it is, shall we say, not good for the concentration, so, a quick change of rods and out with the Loop AEG, a new rod, crisp fast action coupled with a Platinum 5# line, lets have some fun on the dry fly. I had a small, size 20 klinkhammer of to start as I searched the faster water, no luck, a couple of small fish had a go, then out of the corner of my eye I noticed what looked like a bigger fish taking something from beneath a row of trees, there were some small pale wateries coming off so I put a creamy yellow shuttlecock on and had a go, 1st cast, nailed it, side cast under some trees right on the button and after a very good scrap a fish of over 1½lb ws in the net, I got a head shot before it did a back flip and returned from where it came, damn, my biggest wild brown trout from the dee for years and I drop the thing! Back on with the fishing and I moved upstream to fish some faster riffly water, klinkhammer time, for the purpose it was designed for, not, I add as an all purpose dry fly which it seems to be at the moment.

So I got to the faster water and had a good look, I spotted what I though was a rise about 50 yards upstream of me, so I worked my way up there covering lots of likely areas, I picked up a trout of about 6 inches, safely returned as I made my way up to the rising fish, it was in faster water and I assumed it was a Grayling I was right, a nice plump Grayling was returned and it was time for me to head home, a good weekend, the sun on Saturday caught me out a little but a great time, looking forward to the Winter grayling fishing and praying for rain for the end of what has been a poor Salmon season

Looking forward to Winter...?

2009-09-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

Just thinking, trout season is almost over, I have hardly fished for them due to my casting commitments, looking like it will be a full winter chasing the Ladies of the Stream, not really a bad thing though is it, I managed to sit at the vice today and tied my first half dozen heavy nymphs, going to make a big effort in fishing them and to see if I can learn a lot more about what I should be doing and when, always learning, the day you think you have it cracked is the day it turns rounds and bites you on the arse. I must remember the dry fly rod as well, if the temperature increase by as much as 4-5 degrees and there is a little sun on the water then flies will hatch and the fish will move up to intercept them.

The Clock is ticking...

2009-09-24T01:47:00.000-07:00

Thursday 24th September 2009, 35 days till my exam date, sneaking up on me! So, what do I have in place, My rod and reel combo is sorted, Greys 9ft 6# Platinum XD with a Loop CLW Clear reel, Greys Platinum Hi-Viz lines, I have a new line loaded up and ready to go, that will only be used in the week prior to the exam, I'll stick with the old tired line I have been using, new leader attached, all systems go as far as that is concerned. I have a waistpack\bum bag for the day of the exam, it will contain, line dressing, spare leaders, super glue, floating yarn and a wad of used £10 notes.

So what point am I at regarding my casting, I am confident I can do all the casts that they require. The oral side of the test, this has been helped by my reading and trawling the web non stop, I will hopefully have a full run through about 2-3 weeks prior to my actual exam, also I need to say thanks to Mike Roden and Louis Noble for lots of lessons and testing

One of the things that was drummed into me were the 5 essentials and the six step guide to analysing faults and how to cure them by Bruce Richards I know the 5 principles according to Bill Gammell

Elimination of Slack line is a must, slack line will ruin a cast.
Proper accerleration of the fly rod.
Rod must travel in\as close to a Straight Line Path.
Casting stroke increases with the length of line you are casting and vic versa.
You must pause at each end of the casting stroke to allow the line to unroll\extend

I think that is it for now, I am packing for a weekend away to North Wales, The River Dee at Corwen beckons I have my gear with me, lots of single handed Spey Casting and roll casts\jump rolls etc to be done, that and some fishing, hopefully a lot of fishing, all dependant on the river I may even have a go for the Salmon, at this point is isn't looking likely though...

Chris

Brook Dun, minus a tail or two

2009-09-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

2009-09-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it, my first blogging post, what am I doing this for, well, about a year ago I decided that I would like to become a Fly Fishing Instructor, no reason, well, that is a lie, the main reason was so I could retire early and not have to work in B & Q (apologies to people working in B & Q) So in march of this year I took and passed my GAIC fly dressing examination, then in May I took and passed my Angling Development Board Level 1 coaching certificate, so, I'm on my way, I'm an assistant fly dressing coach!!

I then decide to go for my GAIC Single Handed casting exam, that come up this October, 5 weeks from now, bugger, where has the past six months gone, oh, I remember, it went on buying a rod and a few fly lines, lots of casting lessons and practice, lots of practice, on average 3 times per week, add onto that Physiotherapy bills and having a day job and I will soon need pictures of my kids attaching to the handle of my fly rod.

That will do for now, I'll keep you posted of the build up to my exam date and my casting practice, did I mention I have to learn the theory this and this have been useful, that and lots of reading, you know, books........