Winter Blues

As we all know winter is now here!! However I decided that the forecasted rain would not put me off and I was on my way to High Newton trout fishery.

I knew the fishing would be hard at this time of year and that most of the would have gone deep. The lake it's self is only around 15 feet at its deepest so I set up my DI3 forty plus line with a 5 foot leader of 5 pound Fulling Mill fluorocarbon  To the end of this I attached a black booby with yellow eyes. Simple but effective.

As I approached the lake it started to rain. I started on the far end of the dam. This is a favourite spot of mine and only a few weeks ago I caught 20 fish from the same spot. After 15 minutes I had nothing, the guy next to me had managed an out of season brown, so I moved. I moved along the dam the the tower. First cast and a fish took on the drop, it was a spirited fight and the first fish was in the net. I continued in the spot by casting out the whole Airflo forty plus and allowing to sink for 20-40 seconds then bringing it back with a slow figure of eight retrieve and on the 3rd cast fish number 2 was in the net.



I decided to move again to stay warm!! So I moved into a small bay with some deep water on one side and shallow on the other, perfect. Lone behold I get one first cast on the drop at over 45 yards, only to bring it all the way to the net for the fly to come out. I persist in the area and manage three more fish on the same fly and method  Then the wind picked up and it became hard to cast far enough to reach the fish  and it was freezing so I move back to the dam.

On the way I saw an old friend Dave Willacey who I first met in the Ulverston fly dressers guild. We have a chat and he tells me he is finding it hard going but has had 3 on small buzzers. As we chat fish start to rise in front of him and he misses several short sharps takes on the buzzers. I cant resit any longer and move along side him.

20 Minutes later I have 4 more fish, but this time I am using an olive booby with orange eyes. All of the last 4 fish are stunning blue trout and one was around 4 pounds. These are fantastic fish and put up a very strong fight. By now it is 1 o'clock and I decided my 10 fish is enough and head home to watch the rugby.

Overall not a bad day, I have had some cracking fish and England won the rugby!!

James

BLOBS!

Well it has been a while since I have had the chance to get out on a pleasures day fishing. But yesterday was my chance.

Last weekend I fishing in the national final of the Greys bank master championships  this is the qualifier to fish for the England bank team. Unfortunately things did not go as planned. I only managed 3 fish, you needed 8 to get in. I knew the fishing would be hard especially against some of the best anglers in the world. I did gain valuable experience from it and I will be ready next year, so with a good draw of pegs fingers crossed I will get in. On the bright side I did get a nice interview with Sky Sport, so watch out on tight lines!

Moving on to yesterday, me and my dad wanted to fish the Eden for Grayling. However the water was high and there was access to my favorite beat, so the decision was made to fish High Newton reservoir. This is a small water 12 acres in size. Things looked promising from the start with lots of fish active on the surface. I set up with my new Airflo Fast Glass to try it out as it was new. It did not  take long for me to get a fish, then another and another  Not a bad start 3 fish in 10 minuets. All of these fish were caught on snake flies. However takes dried up quickly so a move was needed. I also changed to the famous blob in a sunburst colour. Then the fishing came alive.

First cast with blob, a fish on the drop, next cast another fish on the drop. third cast no take on the drop so I started a slow figure of eight then another fish. It was obvious the fish wanted it slow, so I cast out again and started the slow figure of eight, this time lots of taps with no real connection so I stopped the fly when I felt a tap and watched the line under the rod tip, up it lifted and fish on. This situation carried on and I got 10 in 10 casts. I carried on getting to about 20 fish then takes stopped so a change of fly to a blue apps bloodworm, this added 2 more fish but sport was not as quick, so another move.

I moved to the down wind shore as I knew the stockies would push down there. The fishing was the same fish after fish but this time in more numbers I kept fishing the blob nice and slow and stopping it every so often and the fish just coming. I got to around 45 fish, then it went quite again, so another move. This produced 5 more fish but the fish were not as concentrated so I moved back and quickly picked up 10 more fish. 60 fish is a great way to en the season but I decided enough was enough and left.

So what did I learn. Distance proved to be key as after the first couple of fish they pushed out and being able to cast 40+ yards allowed me to keep catching. But the key on the day was the blob as this far out fished other flies, but more importantly was to fish the fly ultra slow and keep retrieving till it locked up as I received taps before they took. Getting them to take can be tricky but by stopping the fly and the occasional speed up you can usually get the take.

So what next, all my focus will now be on the international Grayling competition in November on the River Dee in Wales. So I will have another report then.

James

Photos

As promised here are some photos from last weekend.

Here are some pictures of the flies I used as well. My best Fly was a red neck pheasant tail with a red rib but unfortunately I have none left so I don't have a picture of them. Other than that enjoy!

Gold

Last weekend the river Wharfe hosted the England Youth Rivers National Final. Fortunately the rain managed to hold off enough so the event wasn't cancelled. As it turned out the river was in my opinion in perfect condition for really good fishing.

The event is run over 2 days, the first day is a kind of introduction to competition river fishing to the younger participants and the second is match day. The first day was held at Burnsall on the River Wharfe, we split the group in half and some went down stream and the rest up. I went up stream with 4 new lads. The fishing was quite tough with a strong wind developing quite soon after starting, which made it very hard to present the nymphes accurately and made it hard to stay in full contact. We still caught plenty of fish and it gave us a chance to see what flies would be working the next day. All of the members caught fish and I think they all benefited that me and other members of the world time had given them, and hopefully they would put the tips in to practice the next day.

Match day. In the morning the conditions were similar to the previous day but thankfully it was not as windy. At the beat draw we drew are section of river we were to fish and also the starting place. The rule is that you can go anywhere in your section as long as you start at your given place. My draw was perfect, I had the lower section by the abbey in the morning and the upper (by the cafe) in the afternoon, and my starting places were in my 2 Favourite pools on the river.

The morning session I was in the bridge pool by the abbey, this is a very deep pool but as long as you aren't scared of wet wading it can be very productive. I had thought to my self I would need 15 to 20 fish to win the session so that was my aim. The start time came and off I went. I hooked my first fish on the third cast, what a start. I then worked my way up the pool and then back and round so as to cover all of the good looking water. I had 5 fish in the first 20 minuets but then the pool died a bit, but I did manage 7 out of it. By now it was 35 minutes in and I was soaked as the wade back to the controller was deep and came over my waders every time. I then moved up into the next pool, strangely I only got 1 fish out of the next 3 pools but then the next pool was stuffed. I gradually worked up all of the pools with my French nymph set up and I just picked fish up all the way along. By the end of the session I had 20 fish including some nice trout to 40cm. As I was walking back to the car it became clear that I had a terrific session as the next best catch was 8.

I then moved to the upper section for the afternoon. Here I started in Cavandish pool. The pool was a lot higher then when I had fished it 2 weeks previously. It didn't take long to be back into the fish, and again I just worked the whole pool. I even waded to the far side of the pool, this included river bouncing which is when as the name suggests you bounce along the river bed to allow you to wade over your normal depth. This paid off though with 17 fish from the pool including a 41.4cm Grayling. But by then time was up so it was back to the organiser Dave Mee for tea and medals. It turned out that I had won the second session as well giving me 2 placing points overall and 37 fish. As the results were read out it was clear that I had won, but I had no idea it was by such a large margin. I had 21 more fish than second place. It was a brilliant feeling to know all the hard work over the years had paid off and to know I was National champion.

Over the 2 days I almost exclusively used my new Fulling mill Gold XT 10 foot 3 weight fly rod, I feel that it soft tip is perfect for French nymphing as it casts well. But the rod also plays fish really well as it cushions the runs and head shakes meaning I lost only 1 fish all weekend. To go with this I used 2 size 14 jigs on 3.6 pound Orvis Mirage Tippet. This was by far the best method for me.

I will do another post tomorrow with the full results attached and all of the pictures from the weekend. I will also attach the pictures of the flies that I used so you can all see them.

James Atkinson

Scotland

Hi

Over the last week I have been staying in the caravan with the family. Fortunately the caravan site sits right on the banks of the River Brann. This is a fantastic river that was full of Trout and Grayling. The river it's self flows into the River Tay at Dunkeld , but the river is still a fair size with plenty of holding pools for the Salmon.

On arrival the river was high but still fishable. So I set to work digging all of the gear out of the van only to find that I had left the fishing rods at home!! This lead to a very interesting conversation with the parents, and its was decided that we would make the journey to Glasgow the next day to Glasgow Angling Centre. This was a thrilling experience, the shop is big and holds lots of high quality fishing equipment. First job was rod searching.  After having a quick browse, we asked a member of staff for some advice on a decent rod but that was not to expensive. To cut a long story short we came to find a Fulling Mill Gold Xt 10ft 3wt. After a few more hours searching for some new accessories I had purchase a new chest pack, a selection of fly tying materials, a C and F fly box and a Greys Platinum fly line, not cheap but all well worth it.



As soon as we got back to the site I had to try out the new rod. Immediately I was very impressed with it's quality. It is light weight and casts a French leader very well, it also a soft tip which is ideal for playing out big fish on light lines but it still has plenty of back bone for French netting the fish. I combined the rod with my French leader and 2 of my favourite nymphs. It didn't take long to get into some fish which kept me interested all day. As the holiday progressed I got up early every morning to go fishing before we went out. As I fished every day a pattern soon emerged that the fish were happy to take nymphs but I hadn't seen 1 fish rise, I tried dries but to no avail. The nymphs also had to plain with no bright colours, however flash in the fly added extra appeal. Over the week I put this into practice and my catch rate just went up and up. I also managed a nice Grayling around a pound and a half and Trout to two pounds all on plain nymphs. I leant a lot over the week and also got a lot more confidence in new patterns. The main point that stands out to me and to use more in future is to fish all of the shallow water before entering the water and then go back and fish the deeper water after then to follow it up keep changing flies till a pattern emerges then you can focus on flies that all work.



We got back on Sunday night and I had a call from a good friend Tom Gott. We arranged to fish Raygill trout fishery the next day. On arrival we could see fish all over the surface but there was obviously fish deeper to. I set up on a DI 5 Sweep with a Minkie and a blob while Tom went for a DI3 and Apps Bloodworms. We fished from the boat so we could fish fresh water and it didn't take long for us both to get into fish. There was no set pattern to the day but it became obvious that it was crucial to keep changing flies and search all depths to keep catching. We just searched the depths and caught fish at all depths but the stand out flies were the apps worms in all colours. The day progressed and we caught consistently all day, we got to around 30 fish each and decided to try something different and fish the top lake for pike as there is a fish in there that is the British record!! Unfortunately no luck on the Pike front but it was worth a go. The day had been a success and I am sure the experience will stand me in good stead for the England Bank Qualifier in October.





This is an example of the Pike in the lake, unfortunately they were not biting.

I Have the rivers national Final this weekend where I will be attempting to become the national champion. I will write about it next week to let you know how I get on.

James

Twitter

Hi

I have now taken a new step and joined Twitter. So if you would like to see more about what I am doing, and what new adventures I am undertaking then go onto twitter and follow me at 'James Troutpro'.

James

Last Few Months

Hi

As you can see it has been a while since I updated this page. So I though I had better get back on top of it.

So far this year has been fantastic. I have had lots of successful competitions at youth and senior levels. I have also had my biggest ever Brown Trout of 9 pounds from a river, and my biggest Grayling. Then to top all of that I have had lots of amazing practice days, where I have honed my skills.

As I have done so much this year, I think it would be best to just summarise some of my activities.

First of all I fished my first competition in early may. It was at local water Bank House Fly Fishery. I had never previously fished the lake but it looked good. It was the newly formed Iain Barr Airflo bank masters competition. To cut a long story short the weather was awful with high winds and heavy rain, but the fishing was good, I managed 14 fish which was enough to win the match and take me through to the final. The best method on the day was an intermediate line with a sparse Pitsford Pea on the point and an Amber Apps bloodworm on the dropper.

A few weeks later, it was time for a trip to Elinor and Grafham Reservoir. This was to fish in the Aiflo individual Final and also the Final of the Iain Barr Bank Masters. First came Practice, Elinor was out first port of call and it did not disappoint. Practice went really well with several fish coming to the net on several meathods, and things looked good for match day. Then over to Grafham, it was a similar story here with a cat booby and pink and yellow blob on a Di7 being the best tactic. I also managed a 6 pound rainbow on a Pearl Nemo. Match day at Grafham greeted us with similar conditions to practice. Unfortunately it was not my day and lots of lost fish meant a poor performance from me and 20th place with 6 fish. Next day was the Bank Masters at Elinor, I was hopeful for a top 10 finish after a bad day the day before. It soon became clear that the fishing was nothing like practice with 150 anglers on the lake the fishing became hard. I worked hard and caught 4 fish on 4 pegs which got me 11th place and top junior.

Now the big one the world championships. This year it was in France. The rivers were small and the fish extremely spooky. 4 days of practice later and hundreds of flies tied it was match day. The start was good when I had the first session win for England in 3 years with 11 fish all on nymphs. Unfortunately the second session was not as good with a bad beat draw a blank took me from 2nd individually to 18th. Things look a bot better in the third session with a nice beat. Until I asked my controller how many fish had been caught on the section and he replied 'Zero'!!. I managed 1 fish which kept me in contention. The final day saw me fishing the lake perhaps my best session. I managed 11 fish which was the most but the American angler beat me on fish points, but a 2nd place not the less. I was 11th going into the last session, but on the hardest river where 1 fish could win the session. Unfortunately another blank and a 21st place finish. I was later to find out that 1 fish could have got me 7th place. It was a fantastic experience, I learned a massive amount in new flies and leader set ups. The best lesson for me was a new presentation cast that presents a dry to a fish before the leader every time. I also met lots of new people who I hope I can keep in contact with in the future.

The last big competition I fished in was the loch style international. This year it would be my final year in the team due to age. We went for 2 days of practice were we identified areas and flies. It was decided that the method was a slow or fast intermediate with a Green Peter Stimulator on the top dropper a Claret Dabbler on the middle and a Black and Silver Dabbler on the point. Match day saw huge waves, perfect for fishing wets. I managed 7 fish which was top individual rod making me International champion. The whole England team had fished well with not 1 blank. This meant that we had 38 fish, 10 more than the Irish. So team and Individual gold. What a weekend!!

So that is a brief overview of some of my competitions this year. I will keep updating  this blog with practice days and more competition as they come. If you have any questions please get in touch

James Atkinson