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!
Friday, 7 September 2012
Thursday, 6 September 2012
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
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
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