Winter Grayling on the River Itchen

Working in the Lloyd's of London insurance market has many benefits, not least of which is the inclusion of the apostrophe making this something which one can be proud of, and rightly so. Insurance can be something of a dull topic, but Lloyd's has a long tradition and well-deserved reputation. The spirit of Cuthbert Heath is alive and well, a fact which will be of some comfort to the inhabitants of New York, New Jersey and other states in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

As a fly fisher and member of the Lloyd's Flyfishing Society, another benefit is access to some fisheries which are a little off the beaten track. This includes two stretches on the River Itchen, which - along with the Test - is a famous chalkstream in Hampshire.

A lovely bit of countryside!

2012 has seen very poor weather for much of the year, and my first season as a member of the Society was disappointing and frustrating. Turning up at the water in monsoon conditions and retreating home without setting up or wetting a line has been a common occurrence, as has water the colour of drinking chocolate - only a marginal improvement when measured on the fly fisher's scale.

Today, I headed to the Itchen confident of some sport, ignoring the nagging desire to build a very large boat and gather two of every animal species based on the amount of rain that has fallen in the last week or two. A chilly and overcast day saw me beside a river which, whilst running higher than on two recent previous visits, was still clear enough to spot the fish.

Couldn't resist a quick snap of this fine little fellow!

With the closed season for trout upon us, my quarry today was grayling. Unfortunately, the trout seemed blissfully unaware that they were out of season, and proved eager to take my offerings. When this happened I did two things:

1) Gently unhooked and swiftly returned said trout and

2) Moved on, to try and locate the grayling.

Actually, I had a pretty good idea where the grayling might be, based on past experience of two consecutive Saturday's in November of catching the little ladies. Today, it seemed like wherever I went there were trout.

On a chilly and unwelcoming late November day, I was amazed at the number of rising fish. Most of these were trout, but the grayling were at it too. This was behaviour more akin to May or June. Again, as they are out of season, I did my best to ignore them! We are expecting a cold snap overnight, lasting for a few days, and I wonder if the trout's feeding frenzy was in preparation for these conditions.

Anyway, perseverance paid off and throughout the day I managed to bring several grayling to the net. Several more slipped the hook, including some very small fish which I must admit I encouraged by giving some slack. I really didn't want to handle and unhook such delicate creatures if I could help it. They didn't seem to mind, anyway.

That's more like it!

This beauty - not a huge fish - took my dry fly - a Parachute Adams. It really is very exciting to see a fish rising, cast to it, and have it eat your fly.

Spot the difference!

I can't honestly say how many fish I caught today. Too many were trout, but enough were grayling, and some of both were memorable.

Beautiful dorsal fin

Maybe it was my own fault for sacrificing ZERO flies to the Tree Gods. All in all, a very pleasant way to spend a day's annual leave - much better than Christmas shopping.

Hamish @ 6 Months!

As recently promised, for lovers of BTs here is a short update on Hamish, whom we received as a puppy in November 2011.

Hamish was a wee chap when we got him, and here he is now!

Not such a wee chap now!

Inevitably, love them - feed them - exercise them - and this is what they grow into. By the way, he hasn't finished growing yet. Looking at the size of his paws he has a little way to go.

Today, Ellie was out visiting so Hamish and I had a sunny New Forest to explore without big sis. This was the first time he would have been out on a solo mission, and we were intrigued to see what he would make of it.

Hmmmmm, Ellie who?

Well, being the well-brought up chap that he is, Hamish was fine. He kept very close to me and was responsive to commands. He was well-treated as a reward, mind, but a pleasure to walk with. There were some social encounters with dogs, people and horses, all of which passed off without incident.

Me and my shadow!

Borders are a fantastic breed. They have very good "engines", and can adapt to either lots of or very little exercise without batting an eyelid. Another point in their favour is that the breed hasn't been - how shall I put this - spoiled by selective breeding. See pictures of the breed from 100 years ago and you'll know what I mean. A working dog that still works well, no health issues or defects, and generally a lovely temperament.

Eager to stay in dad's good books :-)

Anyway, keeping this short as it's a lovely day and I owe Ellie a bike ride, one more picture of "H" as I like to call him, or "wee Jock" as a certain Cornish/ Scottish gentleman christened him:

Wee? Wee? I'll show you....

Hamish, 6 months old, and doing very nicely. He is slowly calming down in temperament as he matures, and is delightful company. We are truly blessed with two such wonderful doggy companions.

Last Day of the Grayling Season?

Grayling are wonderful fish. Wild, skittish, beautiful to behold and my passport  to fishing rivers in Hampshire I wouldn't want to afford during the trout season. One of these is the River Test, and this entry relates my visit on Friday to Wherwell, which is one of the premier venues for grayling in England.

The main river here is supplemented by a network of carriers, but it was to the main river I went alone with my hopes and ambition to snatch a last day on this beat before the trout season and sky-high prices were back upon us.

I had been to this water before with Jim Williams. After my last trip out on still water at Holbury I was eagerly anticipating being back on running water, and the different challenge this presents, not just the moving water but completely different quarry, tackle and technique.

On to tackle. My chosen method was fishing what is known as "the duo" or "klink n dink". The main point to note is that this means fishing two flies at once. One is a dry, or floating fly, which sits on or in the water's surface. Attached to this fly one adds a nymph, which is a fly designed to sink through the water and imitate aquatic morsels that fish like to eat. If a fish takes the nymph, the dry fly disappears to indicate the "bite"; so the dry fly is dual-purpose as fish might think that it is something nice to eat, too!

Technically the Klinkhammer is an emerger pattern which means it isn't quite the same as a dry fly. You'll see in the picture below what it looks like, complete with hi-viz "post". This is also akin to the "New Zealand" method!

Klinkhammer and Nymph (actually, a shrimp pattern)

On this occasion I had about a metre of line between the dry and nymph flies. The nymph is actually a Southall Shrimp pattern, one of several generously given to me by Peter Anderson, one of the most experienced and effective grayling fishers I know. Like most fly fishers, Peter is a true gentleman and a great example to novices such as myself.

An inviting looking pool!

Tackle-wise, I decided to use a 10ft 4wt Scierra Flylite rod with an Orvis Battenkill reel, neither of which had ever caught a fish before. This was also my first attempt at using a needle-knotted leader to fly-line connection rather than my usual loop-to-loop. I was also experimenting by building my own leader - something I've only recently started doing. The leader is a length of nylon or similar material which attaches to the fly-line at one end and fly or flies at the other. I believe this 3-5 metres to be the most important part of the whole fishing set-up.

Looking good?

Anyway, I had a mare! The idea of building your own leader is to taper it so that when you cast the energy transfers efficiently along the flyline and through the leader which causes the fly or flies to "turnover" and land on/ in the water in a neat & tidy way. In a nutshell, I made a mess of my leader build which resulted - courtesy of only a couple of casts - in a horrible tangle of monofilament  which I had to cut off, accompanied by the required amount of bad language....

So...I had a cup of tea and reached for some of Mike Barrio's tapered leaders which I'd recently purchased. I attached one of the 3 metre 5lb variety onto the end of my fly-line, then added another metre or so of Stroft tippet material. Back on with the klink n dink, and we were ready to go! A couple of trial casts away from my intended first pool confirmed that this set-up was turning over beautifully. Translation for non-flyfishers - the energy I was imparting in the act of casting was being transferred very effectively into and along that all-important last 3 - 5 metres of my fishing tackle.

Anyway, back to the fishing....

The first couple of fish were - ummm - caught, but "released at distance". One was a wee grayling whilst the other was a brown trout, a decent sized fish which just threw the hook. I was going to put it back anyway, as they're out of season! What I was really after were grayling but after fishing up the pool to the bridge, which is the upstream boundary of this beat, I'd only had trout.

The most noteworthy of these morning trout leapt clear of the water to take my Klinkhammer BEFORE it landed in the surface film. This was quite spectacular, I can only assume the "dink" attracted its attention sufficiently. All good fun, but not what I was really after. Later, I noticed a good pod of grayling upstream of the beat boundary bridge - out of bounds, in golf terms.

After lunch I moved downstream to fish the inviting glides. As I walked along the bank I spotted a few grayling and made mental notes of locations to try on my way back upstream. Anglers move upstream so as to come up behind the fish, which hold facing into the current on the lookout for food.

Inviting!

Anyway, long story short. I was in for a disappointing afternoon. This yielded a couple of small grayling which didn't do the river or myself justice. I got bogged down and stayed in one spot too long. My focus wasn't great and I couldn't get "in the zone". I snapped myself out of this slough of despond and got moving upstream, started fishing half-decent and picked up the small grayling; then, I suffered the most almighty of tangles (bad casting and degraded leader as a result of numerous rebuilds). At this point, I realised that She Who Must be Obeyed coming home from a week in Scotland was becoming more pressing than fishing. I decided to forego rebuilding my tackle and further piscatorial effort in favour of being a good husband.

Highlights were my morning trout leaping clear of the water to snaffle my Klink, and a day on the water. It was good to have my wife coming home as well, to put it mildly, after a long week coming into a cold, empty house after my commute to London each day. I also enjoyed taking some fish on the Southall Shrimp pattern. Lowlights were not being able to practise any level of skill in watercraft, i.e. you must find the fish and fish where they are! I think I was speculating/ prospecting, a.k.a barking up the wrong tree.

It was also good to give this rod/ reel combo an outing, and to take some fish with it. I really do believe, though, the hardware generally is of secondary importance to the software. That 3 to 5 metres between the end of the fly line and the flies is the most crucial part of the whole setup. Here is a great "how to", from the one and only Jim Williams, which is very straightforward and easy to understand. I'd also recommend East Sleep Fish Ezine in its entirety.

I suppose the real highlight was ending up in my wife's good books for being back early enough to help her after her looooong drive from Scotland.

For lovers of Border Terriers, watch out for my next blog entry. This will be an update on the one and only Hamish McCheffings, now approaching six months old!

An addendum to yesterday's entry.....

I was looking today more closely at the pictures of both fish. Notice how one is much more heavily spotted than the other?

The heavily spotted fish was the second of the two, caught from Long Lake. I don't ever recall seeing a Rainbow like this before, and Rainbow it certainly is with that tell-tale stripe.

Interesting; wonder what the reason is for such contrast between two fish from the same location? Obviously these are stocked trout, so I guess they could have come from different farms.

At Last - Fly-fishing Content! :-)

A short entry to relate a brief but nonetheless hugely enjoyable visit this afternoon to Holbury Lane Lakes.

Recently, I've had the pleasure & benefit of being tutored and guided by Jim Williams on the River Test. The latest session was some three weeks past, and I'm venturing back on the river for my first "solo flight" in a couple of weeks. I wanted to get out today primarily to wet a line and make sure I didn't backslide into a couple of faults with my casting that Jim corrected last time out. Granted, this was still and not running water - but Holbury is a cracking venue and the weather today was glorious. Holbury includes a decent stretch of the River Dun, a Test tributary, is very well-kept and a delight on most days.

Island Lake - a picture in late winter sunshine

In possession of a two-fish ticket, I had a quick look at The Pond, and Island Lake. Noticing some fish high in the water and some unseasonal rises, I tackled up my Sage Fli 9ft 5wt with a tapered mono leader. I added some fluorocarbon tippet and tied on a Klinkhammer. This was about 13.00 - the warmest part of the day - and I wanted to have a go with the dry fly in order to ensure my casting was up to scratch.

Two things happened. My casting was working well, but I realised quickly I was barking up the wrong tree. Off came the Klink, and on went an olive  Demoiselle. This I chose mainly for colour and being weighted but not overly so, as I didn't think the fish were tight to the bottom.

On the third or fourth cast, I had a spectacular take  "on the drop" where I could clearly see the fish in the top quarter of the water column. A decent fight ensued, wherein my three turn water knot was tested, not to mention my clinch knot. On 3lb tippet this chunky, fit Rainbow gave a good account of itself.

Fish & Fly!

I decided to move on, have a look at the Dun (which I wasn't fishing), and settle on a spot to try for another.
Long Lake does what it says "on the tin":

Gin clear water

This is a favourite spot of mine as there is a good flow in from the river at this point, although the Dun's course takes it the other side of the trees. Keeping the same fly, and with encouragement from a friendly member of staff, I set about my task. The sun was low and moving round to be directly behind me, and even with stocked fish you need to watch your shadow.

Long story cut short, casting towards the left-hand bank shown above, within a few casts the end of the fly-line began to slide away and I lifted gently into my second fish. This Rainbow fought hard, taking line on three or four surging runs which had my Greys GTX screaming. Before too long, however, it was in the net and I ended with a fine brace of very fit Holbury Rainbows.

5lbs of fin-perfection

Just time to take a couple of shots of the Dun, before heading home.

Upstream

The river is looking very well cared-for, and the only thing it lacks in my view is a decent head of Grayling. There are some wild fish as well as stocked Browns & Rainbows.

Clear water downstream

So I made it home at a reasonable time. After cleaning the fish, it was time to walk Ellie and Hamish. So, in the same day I fished with fly AND walked with BTs! The weather was glorious and this made for an exceedingly pleasant afternoon. I am looking forward to my next outing, back on running water, confident that my cast will behave itself!

Meet Hamish!

Evening all, long time since our last blog entry. No excuses, busy with changing jobs, dealing with unemployment, commuting to London. A pretty unremarkable year's fishing so far, but at long last a blogworthy event. Actually, getting our front garden landscaped, three weeks on holiday in Scotland - these were blogworthy, but this latest event is positively pawsome.

Pawsome event?????

So, without further ado, meet Hamish!

Hellloooo, I'm Hamish!

Yes, a new addition to our family. One border terrier has already brought much fun and joy into our lives, what will a second one do? Hamish will provide the answer to this important question.

Hamish writes:

"Well, I am not only a posh boy (due to the fact I have a lot of champions in my pedigree!) but a very brave boy too!  I was put in a bag in the back of this big car and then driven away from my birth place.  I admit I did cry a little for about 10 minutes but that wasn't long really!  Ellie just went to sleep and ignored me so I thought I would do the same. 

Once I got to my new home, I had to investigate the garden. I first had a quick word with Ellie just to make sure she was going to be ok with me!



Ello for you, my pal?

I'd heard she was a friendly sort of dog, and she had a lovely garden for me to explore....



I'm in there somewhere! :-)

Investigating the front garden was fun, so many plants to hide under and attack.  It was very difficult for my new Mum to get a decent photo as I am very fast.

Ellie adjusting to the situation while Hamish snoozes

Time for a bit of food back in my crate, and then a nap! Ellie kept an eye on me while I was asleep.

Today, Ellie and I have been getting to know each other a lot better. She is being very kind. She seems to be still a puppy at heart herself, which is just as well....

My big pal is a good sport

Phew, I need a wee and all this typing is tiring. Off for a nap now."

I should just mention - before the RSPCA gets all medieval on me - that the bag Hamish refers to is actually more like a luxury, purpose-built doggy car tent.

Tale of the tape - Hamish is seven weeks old. He hasn't had all his shots yet, and he is a little chap, settling in well. He has received a number of visitors already and house training is going well.

Thanks for reading, more soon!

Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen! Ellie Home Alone?

Belatedly, a short note about our visit to Copenhagen over the Royal Wedding BH weekend. I missed out on all the fuss around Pippa Middleton's bum, but at last I found a use for teenagers - dog sitting!

First of all, for Ellie's fans, here is a picture of her n her pal Nandie. Nothing to do with Copenhagen but....

Little n Large!

Speaking of little n large, this is our friend Flemming, whom we stayed with in Copenhagen...very reasonable b & b rates (we took him out for dinner one night...)...

Arriving at Flemming's place

Copenhagen is a beautiful place, although there is rather a lot of construction disruption presently due to a new Metro line being built.

Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen's Royal Gardens

We particularly appreciated the Royal Gardens and the Botanical Gardens, although we passed on Tivoli. Flemming feels that Copenhagen has become a much dirtier place than it used to be, but to us visiting English it seemed beautifully clean. Some of the architecture is stunning, both old and new. A guided boat trip on the canal network is a great way to experience this aspect of Denmark's capital.

....a map helps, too! :-)

Here's some attractive "old" architecture....

gr8 weather!

.....and some new.....

National Theatre, Copenhagen

We stayed from Thursday through to the Sunday, did lots and thoroughly enjoyed this marvellous city.....

Tired boys

...and would go back like a shot. Not the cheapest of places to visit, but superb for short breaks.

Now if only I could find some time in between work and being a gardening slave to go fishing...........