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Entries in this blog

River Test & LRA - 05-06/02/2011

After receiving the all clear from my girlfriend I set about organising a fishing weekend that I was really looking forward to. Saturday was to be spent on the Little River Avon (LRA) in search of Grayling and the icing on the cake was Sunday where I had been invited down to fish the hallowed waters of the Test. I would be trotting the main river (the last time I fished one of the carriers - see 09/09/2010) in the hope of some of the large Grayling that this stretch (and indeed the whole river)

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Itchen - 29/12/2010

A sortie to the Itchen for a day’s trotting for the Grayling with three friends; Alan, Mark and Ted. The last time I was here the river was quite swollen and coloured so I was relieved to see the river still quite clear despite the recent snow melt. It was lovely to be back - it is always a special days fishing here no matter what the conditions. The fishing itself was a little harder than I expected; perhaps the cold water temperature and snow melt had put the Grayling down. I think I ended th

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Wylye - 16/01/2011

With the deluge of rain that persistently fell throughout the week my fishing options for the weekend were pretty limited. In the end I decided to pop down to the Wylye for a day Grayling fishing. Wading isn’t allowed after Christmas so I took my trotting rod as well as my fly rod with the intention to fish for a while initially on the fly before trotting. The river was on a couple of inches up and had a tinge of colour, all in all the conditions looked excellent. I started short nymphing and qu

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Test - 26/12/2010

Going fishing on Boxing Day when the thermometer is registering -10C really makes you question your sanity. That was exactly the case when Alan and I ventured off in the half light early on Boxing Day. Despite the Siberian conditions we were both very excited. A day Grayling fishing on the Test is always special and although the weather was doing its best to force us indoors, nothing was going to get in the way of us getting to the river! I must admit, when we arrived and got out of the warm car

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Hampshire Avon - 05/12/2010

Another freezing Sunday this time spent on the Hampshire (well strictly speaking the Wiltshire) Avon again in search of the Grayling. Similar to last Sunday the day was a tale of two halves...the morning was spent on the lower end of the fishery and with exceptionally low water we struggled to see let alone catch a single fish.         Vince my fishing partner did well taking a couple of small ones from a pod whilst I was tangled! In the afternoon we explored the upper half which thank

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Kennet - 28/11/2010

A very cold day on the middle Kennet trying for the Grayling on the fly. Very cold conditions combined with low and clear river made the fishing tricky and by lunch I had only had 4 small Grayling and one of season BT. After a hearty lunch I decided to adopt a more mobile approach to the morning and walk along the river/carriers until I either spotted fish or came to a particularly good looking spot. The approach allowed me to explore the remainder of the fishery (it was my first time here) and

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Irfon - 09-10/10/2010

After another wash-off on the Wye I decided to go through with my planned fishing weekend in Wales and instead fish one of the Wye’s main tributaries, the Irfon, well noted for the quality of its Grayling. With that in mind I set off slightly later than intended on Saturday morning. It took a while to get to the river and by the time I had gone through the formalities of purchasing a ticket and tackling up I only had a few hours left to fish. The conditions looked good but the clear water, gusti

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Thames - 02-03/10/2010

A great weekend spent fishing the Thames with Alan and his dad Trevor. Saturday was spent at Trevor’s secret location, a beautiful spot that gave us an appetiser for the sort of fish it can turn up on my last visit (see 29-30/08/2010) but sadly that time we were left empty handed. This time we had decided to adopt a more relaxed approach and feeder fish through the day hoping to build the swim up for Bream and possibly Chub and Barbel later in the day/night. The feeder fishing was excellent with

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Alness - 23-25/09/2010

Three days Salmon fishing with family on the River Alness in the Scottish Highlands. Salmon have proved to be a bit of an enigma for me. Unfortunately I don’t get the opportunity to fish for them very often but when I do it seems like I have been beset by bad lack with only tales of lost fish to take away with me. Usually the fishing is very hard due to low water and on a spate river like the Alness having enough water on the gauge is everything. This year however was different, for the first ti

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Monnow & Honddu - 18-19/09/2010

After getting a taster for fishing in Wales the previous weekend (See September 12) I decided to make a weekend of it and invite my friend Alan over to join me on a trip that I had been excitedly looking forward to all week. Early Saturday morning I picked up Alan from the train station and before long we were making our way to the river. I decided that we should try a stretch upstream of where I had fished the week before and one that I had heard was particularly nice. The river here is especia

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Wellow - 16/09/2010

A pleasant but all too short evening session back on the Wellow. Haven’t fished the stretch since July so it was nice to be back. Managed to winkle out a couple of lovely small WBT and lost a few more. Sadly the nights are definitely drawing in and after work fishing sessions are particularly limited.

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Monnow - 12/09/2010

The following day I made a slightly mad and last minute decision to drive over to Wales and fish the Monnow for the day. I had been mulling over a trip across the border to sample Wale’s delightful river fishing for a while and finally decided that today was the day. Two hours of driving later (it should have been considerably less but I took a ridiculous countryside ‘short-cut’ which turned out to be a huge mistake) and I had arrived at the Monnow and boy was I excited!     The river lo

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

LRA - 11/09/2010

A short afternoon trip to the LRA. Despite fishing the same stretch that has been so successful on my previous trip (see September 04), the fishing on this occasion was noticeably harder. I ended up with only 1 WBT, 10 Grayling to around 1lb, 1 Roach and 1 Minnow, still an enjoyable day but certainly more challenging that my previous trip.

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Test - 09/09/2010

This was a day I had been looking forward to for a while...a chance to fish the River Test in season and on one of the most famous Estates that line its illustrious and manicured banks. On this occasion I would be restricted to fishing the main carrier but just getting the opportunity to fish an arm of the Test was very special and after a sleepless night I woke up at the crack of dawn aiming to get down there for first light and take advantage of the prime fishing time.   Upon arrival I exc

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Blagdon - 05/09/2010

The following day after my bumper session on the LRA I had a relaxed days fishing on Blagdon Reservoir with my flatmate and fishing partner James. It was my first time on a still water for a while but I was looking forward to a change of scenery. We had agreed that we would have a friendly match between the two of us but the day started slowly with neither of us registering so much as a pull for the first hour or so. However a change of location reaped instant rewards with both of us into a fish

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

LRA - 04/09/2010

An afternoons fishing on the LRA turned out to be my best ever session there and one of the best days fly fishing that I have ever had. It was just one of those days when everything seemed to click into place and to help matters the fish seemed more than willing to cooperate! I ended up with 22 Grayling, 10 WBT, 1 Roach and a Minnow.     The Grayling were noticeably feeding harder now the Summer was coming to an end. I usually struggle in the slower sections of the river but I found that

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Wellow - 02/09/2010

A short evening session after work with Vince on his syndicated stretch of the Wellow. It was a new stretch for me but Vince had fished it a few times before and as time was short, guided us both towards the more productive pools. The fishing turned out to be pretty tough with no rising fish spotted. As such we stuck to nymphs but after catching a small WBT in the first pool we came to, it was hard going thereafter. However, as the light drew in Vince suggested we make our way to a particularly

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Box Brook - 01/09/2010

A very pleasant evening spent on the Box Brook. This was my first visit to the BB for a few months but after the recent rain I decided that now was the perfect time to reacquaint myself with the place. I decided initially to explore slightly further downstream from where I usually fish but despite some lovely looking runs and pools I only managed one small WBT. As the light began to fade I ventured back up to fish the stretch I am familiar with and managed three more lovely WBT with a few more n

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Thames and Wylies Lake - 29-30/08/2010

A weekend back in my home town fishing with friends. Saturday was spent on the punt with Alan and his Dad (Trevor). The river was slightly up and coloured and Alan decided to go for the Barbel straight away, usually a slightly hit and miss affair during the day. However, within 10 minutes he had had a confident bite and was into what turned out to be a small Barbel around 2lb. We spent the rest of the day catching small stuff with a sleeper rod left out in the hope of a bonus Barbel or Chub. As

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Bristol Avon - 24/08/2010

Decided to finally have a go for the Barbel that I spotted on the Bristol Avon (see Aug 3rd). After the recent rain the river was a bit coloured and looked spot on so I was quietly confident. Took me a while to find the spot as it’s not a ‘known’ swim. Eventually recognised it (I was on the other bank before so it wasn’t obvious) and after scaling the barbed wire fence and making my way through the shrubbery I was gobsmacked to find someone else fishing there!! Couldn’t believe it. Disgruntled I

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

LRA & River Wylye - 21-22/08/2010

Firstly I must apologise for being so behind in blog entries - I have been quite busy and was also away for the past month. I'm determined to catch up however so here's the start of many more to come...!   This weekend had been allocated towards a fishing trip in Wales which I had been looking forward to all week. Sadly and annoyingly, the deluge that we had towards the end of the week put an end to that plan as most of the rivers in the area were rising quite rapidly. Instead I decided to ha

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Chew Magna - 19/08/2010

Couldn’t make my mind up where to fish so I decided to be lazy and fish the reservoir for the Rainbows. To be honest my heart wasn’t really in it and it didn’t come as a great surprise that I blanked.

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Bristol Avon - 17/08/2010

New stretch of the Bristol Avon fly fishing for Chub. Wasn’t a great session really. Despite the fact I could see lots of Chub the deluge which greeted me soon after I arrived seemed to put them down and they just weren’t interested. Eventually tempted a nice fish but stupidly tried to hand land it in the water. It spooked and the hook pulled! Oh well, lesson learnt

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Ullapool - 09 - 15/08/2010

A week’s holiday with family in the north of Scotland near Ullapool. Unsurprisingly I managed to fit in some fishing where I could! The scenery, wildlife and fishing were fantastic, the weather unfortunately less so but it didn’t really dampen spirits.   On the long drive North I stopped off at Pitlochry to have a punt at fishing the Tummel, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. The river is lovely but I was woefully unprepared with my small brook rod and no wading staff. The Tummel

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Bristol Avon - 03/08/2010

Despite slightly cloudy weather and a drop in temperature I decided to have another go at the Bristol Avon with the fly rod but also with the aim of finding some good spots to coarse fish. The river had dropped since my last visit and looked like it could do with a significant amount of rainfall to breathe some life into it. However, the low water meant that fish spotting was a bit easier than usual and for the first time I spotted some Barbel which was very exciting! One shoal in particular wer

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

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